October 3

1 Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look and take note! Search her squares to see if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth, that I may pardon her. 

2 Though they say, "As the LORD lives," yet they swear falsely. 

3 O LORD, do not your eyes look for truth? You have struck them down, but they felt no anguish; you have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent. 

4 Then I said, "These are only the poor; they have no sense; for they do not know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God. 

5 I will go to the great and will speak to them, for they know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God." But they all alike had broken the yoke; they had burst the bonds. 

6 Therefore a lion from the forest shall strike them down; a wolf from the desert shall devastate them. A leopard is watching their cities; everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, their apostasies are great. 

7 "How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me and have sworn by those who are no gods. When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and trooped to the houses of whores. 

8 They were well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor's wife. 

9 Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD; and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this? 

10 "Go up through her vine rows and destroy, but make not a full end; strip away her branches, for they are not the LORD's. 

11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly treacherous to me, declares the LORD. 

12 They have spoken falsely of the LORD and have said, 'He will do nothing; no disaster will come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine. 

13 The prophets will become wind; the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them!'" 

14 Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts: "Because you have spoken this word, behold, I am making my words in your mouth a fire, and this people wood, and the fire shall consume them. 

15 Behold, I am bringing against you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, declares the LORD. It is an enduring nation; it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor can you understand what they say. 

16 Their quiver is like an open tomb; they are all mighty warriors. 

17 They shall eat up your harvest and your food; they shall eat up your sons and your daughters; they shall eat up your flocks and your herds; they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees; your fortified cities in which you trust they shall beat down with the sword." 

18 "But even in those days, declares the LORD, I will not make a full end of you.

19 And when your people say, 'Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?' you shall say to them, 'As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.'"

20 Declare this in the house of Jacob; proclaim it in Judah: 

21 "Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes, but see not, who have ears, but hear not. 

22 Do you not fear me? declares the LORD. Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot pass over it. 

23 But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away. 

24 They do not say in their hearts, 'Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.' 

25 Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have kept good from you. 

26 For wicked men are found among my people; they lurk like fowlers lying in wait. They set a trap; they catch men. 

27 Like a cage full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; therefore they have become great and rich; 

28 they have grown fat and sleek. They know no bounds in deeds of evil; they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy. 

29 Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?" 

30 An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: 

31 the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?  - Jeremiah 5

1 Flee for safety, O people of Benjamin, from the midst of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise a signal on Beth-haccherem, for disaster looms out of the north, and great destruction. 

2 The lovely and delicately bred I will destroy, the daughter of Zion. 

3 Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her; they shall pitch their tents around her; they shall pasture, each in his place. 

4 "Prepare war against her; arise, and let us attack at noon! Woe to us, for the day declines, for the shadows of evening lengthen! 

5 Arise, and let us attack by night and destroy her palaces!" 

6 For thus says the LORD of hosts: "Cut down her trees; cast up a siege mound against Jerusalem. This is the city that must be punished; there is nothing but oppression within her. 

7 As a well keeps its water fresh, so she keeps fresh her evil; violence and destruction are heard within her; sickness and wounds are ever before me. 

8 Be warned, O Jerusalem, lest I turn from you in disgust, lest I make you a desolation, an uninhabited land." 

9 Thus says the LORD of hosts: "They shall glean thoroughly as a vine the remnant of Israel; like a grape gatherer pass your hand again over its branches." 

10 To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, they cannot listen; behold, the word of the LORD is to them an object of scorn; they take no pleasure in it. 

11 Therefore I am full of the wrath of the LORD; I am weary of holding it in. "Pour it out upon the children in the street, and upon the gatherings of young men, also; both husband and wife shall be taken, the elderly and the very aged. 

12 Their houses shall be turned over to others, their fields and wives together, for I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land," declares the LORD. 

13 "For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. 

14 They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace. 

15 Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown," says the LORD. 

16 Thus says the LORD: "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it.' 

17 I set watchmen over you, saying, 'Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet!' But they said, 'We will not pay attention.' 

18 Therefore hear, O nations, and know, O congregation, what will happen to them. 

19 Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people, the fruit of their devices, because they have not paid attention to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it. 

20 What use to me is frankincense that comes from Sheba, or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing to me. 

21 Therefore thus says the LORD: 'Behold, I will lay before this people stumbling blocks against which they shall stumble; fathers and sons together, neighbor and friend shall perish.'" 

22 Thus says the LORD: "Behold, a people is coming from the north country, a great nation is stirring from the farthest parts of the earth. 

23 They lay hold on bow and javelin; they are cruel and have no mercy; the sound of them is like the roaring sea; they ride on horses, set in array as a man for battle, against you, O daughter of Zion!" 

24 We have heard the report of it; our hands fall helpless; anguish has taken hold of us, pain as of a woman in labor. 

25 Go not out into the field, nor walk on the road, for the enemy has a sword; terror is on every side. 

26 O daughter of my people, put on sackcloth, and roll in ashes; make mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us. 

27 "I have made you a tester of metals among my people, that you may know and test their ways. 

28 They are all stubbornly rebellious, going about with slanders; they are bronze and iron; all of them act corruptly. 

29 The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed by the fire; in vain the refining goes on, for the wicked are not removed. 

30 Rejected silver they are called, for the LORD has rejected them."  - Jeremiah 6

17 So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.

18 I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me,

19 and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.

20 So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun,

21 because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.

22 What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun?

23 For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.

24 There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God,

25 for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?

26 For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. - Ecclesiastes 2:17-26

19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;

20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.

24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.

25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.

27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. - James 1:19-27

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

30 This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.'

31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel."

32 And John bore witness: "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.

33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'

34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God." - John 1:29-34

Tell What You Are

BIBLE MEDITATION

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

Happiness doesn’t come from what you have, but from what you are. That's why the social gospel will never work. Some well-meaning Christians think that if they could just change people’s conditions, they could somehow change their character and thus change society. That's never going to work. Listen, I want to ask you a question: Where did mankind get into trouble in the first place? In the Garden of Eden. Where are you going to find a better environment than that? Yet Eden was where people decided to rebel against God.

Don't buy into the idea that a better or even perfect environment is going to save the world. Better living conditions improve people’s lives in the sense of meeting their physical needs, and we should want to help people have clean water, sufficient food, clothing, and shelter. But that’s not what we’re talking about here. We’re talking about character.

This is the difference between the social gospel and the saving gospel. The saving gospel realizes you're not going to build the knowledge of God, His character, and His principles into people by providing a nicer environment, any more than you could purify water by painting the pump handle. The Bible puts the emphasis not on what man has, not even primarily on what man does, but on what man is.

ACTION POINT

If you want this world to become a better place, help people understand that what they need is an inward change. To provide the best environment for people to change, share with them the life-changing Gospel.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

God Isn’t Gloomy

The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations. (Psalm 33:10–11)

“Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases” (Psalm 115:3). The implication of this text is that God has the right and power to do whatever makes him happy. That is what it means to say that God is sovereign.

Think about it for a moment: If God is sovereign and can do anything he pleases, then none of his purposes can be frustrated. “The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations” (Psalm 33:10–11).

And if none of his purposes can be frustrated, then he must be the happiest of all beings.

This infinite, divine happiness is the fountain from which the Christian (Hedonist) drinks and longs to drink more deeply.

Can you imagine what it would be like if the God who ruled the world were not happy? What if God were given to grumbling and pouting and depression, like some Jack-and-the-beanstalk giant in the sky? What if God were frustrated and despondent and gloomy and dismal and discontented and dejected?

Could we join David and say, “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1)? I don’t think so.

We would all relate to God like little children who have a frustrated, gloomy, dismal, discontented father. They can’t enjoy him. They can only try not to bother him, or maybe try to work for him to earn some little favor.

But that is not the way God is. He is never out of sorts with frustration or discouragement. And, as Psalm 147:11 says, he “takes pleasure . . . in those who hope in his steadfast love.” So the aim of the Christian Hedonist is not to avoid this God, not to run from him, or tiptoe through the living room lest his gloominess become anger. No, our aim is to hope in his steadfast love. To run to him. To be happy in God, to delight in God, to cherish and enjoy his fellowship and favor.

John Piper 

October 2

1 "If a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's wife, will he return to her? Would not that land be greatly polluted? You have played the whore with many lovers; and would you return to me? declares the LORD. 

2 Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been ravished? By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers like an Arab in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your vile whoredom. 

3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and the spring rain has not come; yet you have the forehead of a whore; you refuse to be ashamed. 

4 Have you not just now called to me, 'My father, you are the friend of my youth- 

5 will he be angry forever, will he be indignant to the end?' Behold, you have spoken, but you have done all the evil that you could." 

6 The LORD said to me in the days of King Josiah: "Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the whore?

7 And I thought, 'After she has done all this she will return to me,' but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

8 She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore.

9 Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree.

10 Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the LORD."

11 And the LORD said to me, "Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.

12 Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, "'Return, faithless Israel, declares the LORD. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the LORD; I will not be angry forever. 

13 Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the LORD your God and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice, declares the LORD. 

14 Return, O faithless children, declares the LORD; for I am your master; I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. 

15 "'And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.

16 And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those days, declares the LORD, they shall no more say, "The ark of the covenant of the LORD." It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again.

17 At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the LORD, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the LORD in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart.

18 In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers for a heritage.

19 "'I said, How I would set you among my sons, and give you a pleasant land, a heritage most beautiful of all nations. And I thought you would call me, My Father, and would not turn from following me. 

20 Surely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband, so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel, declares the LORD.'" 

21 A voice on the bare heights is heard, the weeping and pleading of Israel's sons because they have perverted their way; they have forgotten the LORD their God. 

22 "Return, O faithless sons; I will heal your faithlessness." "Behold, we come to you, for you are the LORD our God. 

23 Truly the hills are a delusion, the orgies on the mountains. Truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel. 

24 "But from our youth the shameful thing has devoured all for which our fathers labored, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.

25 Let us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us. For we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God." - Jeremiah 3

1 "If you return, O Israel, declares the LORD, to me you should return. If you remove your detestable things from my presence, and do not waver, 

2 and if you swear, 'As the LORD lives,' in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory." 

3 For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: "Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. 

4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds." 

5 Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say, "Blow the trumpet through the land; cry aloud and say, 'Assemble, and let us go into the fortified cities!' 

6 Raise a standard toward Zion, flee for safety, stay not, for I bring disaster from the north, and great destruction. 

7 A lion has gone up from his thicket, a destroyer of nations has set out; he has gone out from his place to make your land a waste; your cities will be ruins without inhabitant. 

8 For this put on sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of the LORD has not turned back from us." 

9 "In that day, declares the LORD, courage shall fail both king and officials. The priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded."

10 Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD, surely you have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, 'It shall be well with you,' whereas the sword has reached their very life."

11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, "A hot wind from the bare heights in the desert toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow or cleanse,

12 a wind too full for this comes for me. Now it is I who speak in judgment upon them."

13 Behold, he comes up like clouds; his chariots like the whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles- woe to us, for we are ruined! 

14 O Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil, that you may be saved. How long shall your wicked thoughts lodge within you? 

15 For a voice declares from Dan and proclaims trouble from Mount Ephraim. 

16 Warn the nations that he is coming; announce to Jerusalem, "Besiegers come from a distant land; they shout against the cities of Judah. 

17 Like keepers of a field are they against her all around, because she has rebelled against me, declares the LORD. 

18 Your ways and your deeds have brought this upon you. This is your doom, and it is bitter; it has reached your very heart." 

19 My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent, for I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. 

20 Crash follows hard on crash; the whole land is laid waste. Suddenly my tents are laid waste, my curtains in a moment. 

21 How long must I see the standard and hear the sound of the trumpet? 

22 "For my people are foolish; they know me not; they are stupid children; they have no understanding. They are 'wise'-in doing evil! But how to do good they know not." 

23 I looked on the earth, and behold, it was without form and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light. 

24 I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking, and all the hills moved to and fro. 

25 I looked, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the air had fled. 

26 I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a desert, and all its cities were laid in ruins before the LORD, before his fierce anger. 

27 For thus says the LORD, "The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.

28 "For this the earth shall mourn, and the heavens above be dark; for I have spoken; I have purposed; I have not relented, nor will I turn back." 

29 At the noise of horseman and archer every city takes to flight; they enter thickets; they climb among rocks; all the cities are forsaken, and no man dwells in them. 

30 And you, O desolate one, what do you mean that you dress in scarlet, that you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold, that you enlarge your eyes with paint? In vain you beautify yourself. Your lovers despise you; they seek your life. 

31 For I heard a cry as of a woman in labor, anguish as of one giving birth to her first child, the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands, "Woe is me! I am fainting before murderers."  - Jeremiah 4

1 I said in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself." But behold, this also was vanity.

2 I said of laughter, "It is mad," and of pleasure, "What use is it?"

3 I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine-my heart still guiding me with wisdom-and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life.

4 I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself.

5 I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.

6 I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees.

7 I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem.

8 I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the sons of man.

9 So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.

10 And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil.

11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

12 So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done.

13 Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness.

14 The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the same event happens to all of them.

15 Then I said in my heart, "What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?" And I said in my heart that this also is vanity.

16 For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool! - Ecclesiastes 2:1-16

12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

13 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.

14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.

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

16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. - James 1:12-18

19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"

20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ."

21 And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No."

22 So they said to him, "Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?"

23 He said, "I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,' as the prophet Isaiah said."

24 (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.)

25 They asked him, "Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?"

26 John answered them, "I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know,

27 even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie."

28 These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing. - John 1:19-28

We Are Spiritually Bankrupt Before God

BIBLE MEDITATION

“And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them…”

Matthew 5:1-2

 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

Whatever your circumstances, Jesus’ teaching in chapters 5-7 of Matthew tells you how you can go from spiritual rags to spiritual riches. We call it the “Sermon on the Mount.” It begins with the Beatitudes. He’s talking about how to live from the inside out –– how to be saved, satisfied, and sanctified, how to enter the kingdom, enjoy the kingdom, and express the kingdom to the world.

That’s what serious followers of Jesus want. But it won’t happen without inward change. If all we have are those outer trappings the world thinks are so important, we’re spiritually bankrupt. So, what do we do? A good place to start is what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount.

“Blessed are the poor in Spirit…” We are spiritually bankrupt before a holy God. Give up any idea of self-reliance. Rely completely on Him.

“Blessed are those who mourn…” Come with broken-hearted repentance.

“Blessed are the meek…” Surrender control of your life. Give it to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…” Jesus Christ is our righteousness. Desire Him above all else.

“Blessed are the merciful…” Let His love flow through you to others.

ACTION POINT

The Christian life is a marathon, not a sprint. These five “blesseds” are the basics. Each one of these Beatitudes is an action for you, as a believer, to do. The time to begin is now.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The All-Satisfying Object

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)

The quest for pleasure is not even optional, but commanded (in the Psalms): “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).

The psalmists sought to do just this: “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Psalm 42:1–2). “My soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1).

The motif of thirsting has its satisfying counterpart when the psalmist says that men “drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; and You give them to drink of the river of Your delights” (Psalm 36:8 NASB).

I found that the goodness of God, the very foundation of worship, is not a thing you pay your respects to out of some kind of disinterested reverence. No, it is something to be enjoyed: “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!” (Psalm 34:8). Taste. Taste! And see.

“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103).

As C.S. Lewis says, God in the Psalms is the “all-satisfying Object.” His people adore him unashamedly for the “exceeding joy” they find in him (Psalm 43:4). He is the source of complete and unending pleasure: “In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).

John Piper 

October 1

1 The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin,

2 to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.

3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, and until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month.

4 Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." 

6 Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth."

7 But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a youth'; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. 

8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the LORD." 

9 Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, "Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. 

10 See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant." 

11 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Jeremiah, what do you see?" And I said, "I see an almond branch."

12 Then the LORD said to me, "You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it."

13 The word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying, "What do you see?" And I said, "I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north."

14 Then the LORD said to me, "Out of the north disaster shall be let loose upon all the inhabitants of the land.

15 For behold, I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, declares the LORD, and they shall come, and every one shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around and against all the cities of Judah.

16 And I will declare my judgments against them, for all their evil in forsaking me. They have made offerings to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands.

17 But you, dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them.

18 And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land.

19 They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the LORD, to deliver you." - Jeremiah 1

1 The word of the LORD came to me, saying,

2 "Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the LORD, "I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. 

3 Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of his harvest. All who ate of it incurred guilt; disaster came upon them, declares the LORD." 

4 Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel.

5 Thus says the LORD: "What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless? 

6 They did not say, 'Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that none passes through, where no man dwells?' 

7 And I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things. But when you came in, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination. 

8 The priests did not say, 'Where is the LORD?' Those who handle the law did not know me; the shepherds transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal and went after things that do not profit. 

9 "Therefore I still contend with you, declares the LORD, and with your children's children I will contend. 

10 For cross to the coasts of Cyprus and see, or send to Kedar and examine with care; see if there has been such a thing. 

11 Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. 

12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, 

13 for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. 

14 "Is Israel a slave? Is he a homeborn servant? Why then has he become a prey? 

15 The lions have roared against him; they have roared loudly. They have made his land a waste; his cities are in ruins, without inhabitant. 

16 Moreover, the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes have shaved the crown of your head. 

17 Have you not brought this upon yourself by forsaking the LORD your God, when he led you in the way? 

18 And now what do you gain by going to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile? Or what do you gain by going to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates? 

19 Your evil will chastise you, and your apostasy will reprove you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the LORD your God; the fear of me is not in you, declares the Lord GOD of hosts. 

20 "For long ago I broke your yoke and burst your bonds; but you said, 'I will not serve.' Yes, on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed down like a whore. 

21 Yet I planted you a choice vine, wholly of pure seed. How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine? 

22 Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, declares the Lord GOD. 

23 How can you say, 'I am not unclean, I have not gone after the Baals'? Look at your way in the valley; know what you have done- a restless young camel running here and there, 

24 a wild donkey used to the wilderness, in her heat sniffing the wind! Who can restrain her lust? None who seek her need weary themselves; in her month they will find her. 

25 Keep your feet from going unshod and your throat from thirst. But you said, 'It is hopeless, for I have loved foreigners, and after them I will go.' 

26 "As a thief is shamed when caught, so the house of Israel shall be shamed: they, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets, 

27 who say to a tree, 'You are my father,' and to a stone, 'You gave me birth.' For they have turned their back to me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble they say, 'Arise and save us!' 

28 But where are your gods that you made for yourself? Let them arise, if they can save you, in your time of trouble; for as many as your cities are your gods, O Judah. 

29 "Why do you contend with me? You have all transgressed against me, declares the LORD. 

30 In vain have I struck your children; they took no correction; your own sword devoured your prophets like a ravening lion. 

31 And you, O generation, behold the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of thick darkness? Why then do my people say, 'We are free, we will come no more to you'? 

32 Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number. 

33 "How well you direct your course to seek love! So that even to wicked women you have taught your ways. 

34 Also on your skirts is found the lifeblood of the guiltless poor; you did not find them breaking in. Yet in spite of all these things 

35 you say, 'I am innocent; surely his anger has turned from me.' Behold, I will bring you to judgment for saying, 'I have not sinned.' 

36 How much you go about, changing your way! You shall be put to shame by Egypt as you were put to shame by Assyria. 

37 From it too you will come away with your hands on your head, for the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust, and you will not prosper by them.  - Jeremiah 2

1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. 

3 What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? 

4 A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. 

5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. 

6 The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. 

7 All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again. 

8 All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. 

9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. 

10 Is there a thing of which it is said, "See, this is new"? It has been already in the ages before us. 

11 There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after. 

12 I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.

13 And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.

14 I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.

15 What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted. 

16 I said in my heart, "I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge."

17 And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.

18 For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.  - Ecclesiastes 1

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings. 

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,

3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.

7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;

8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

9 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation,

10 and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away.

11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. - James 1:1-11

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 He was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.

8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.

11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.'")

16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known. - John 1:1-18