Bible Study

22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

23 And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. - Acts 14:22-23

21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,

23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. - Ephesians 1:21-23

For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. - 2 Corinthians 12:10

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

34 "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. - Matthew 6:33-34

Do You Pray Like Jesus’ Disciples?

BIBLE MEDITATION

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”

(Philippians 4:6)

 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

Prayer is our greatest Christian privilege but—we may as well admit—our greatest Christian failure. We all need to learn to pray more and to pray better. But one of the reasons we don’t pray more than we do is that we have questions about prayer. We’re not sure what’s right and what’s not, so we become uncertain. Our uncertainly leads to less prayer.

But if we’re going to impact our families, nation, and the world, prayer is where we should begin. Just a casual glance at the book of Acts confirms how the disciples totally depended upon prayer. Just before Jesus ascended back to Heaven, He left them with The Great Commission and told them “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). True to His command, “Then they returned to Jerusalem…unto the upper room” and “…all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication…” (Acts 1:12-14), waiting to receive the Holy Spirit.

They didn’t make a move without seeking God through prayer for His guidance. “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2:42). “But we will give ourselves continually to prayer…” they said (Acts 6:4).

ACTION POINT

In these difficult days when there is such need for prayer—needs in our families and needs in the nation—are you making prayer a priority every morning as you begin your day? This commitment takes determination and discipline. If those who walked alongside our Lord for three years were dependent upon prayer, how much more so are we? What a grave mistake if we’re casual about our prayer life.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Possible with God

“I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.” (John 10:16)

God has a people in every people group in the world. He will call them through the gospel with Creator power. And they will believe! What a power is in these words for overcoming discouragement in the hard places of the frontiers!

The story of Peter Cameron Scott is a good illustration. Born in Glasgow in 1867, Scott became the founder of the Africa Inland Mission. But his beginnings in Africa were anything but auspicious.

His first trip to Africa ended in a severe attack of malaria that sent him home. He resolved to return after he recuperated. This return was especially gratifying to him because this time his brother John joined him. But before long, John was struck down by fever.

All alone, Peter buried his brother in African soil, and in the agony of those days recommitted himself to preach the gospel in Africa. Yet his health gave way again, and he had to return to England.

How would he ever pull out of the desolation and depression of those days? He had pledged himself to God. But where could he find the strength to go back to Africa? With man it was impossible!

He found strength in Westminster Abbey. David Livingstone’s tomb is still there. Scott entered quietly, found the tomb, and knelt in front of it to pray. The inscription reads:

OTHER SHEEP I HAVE WHICH ARE NOT OF THIS FOLD; THEM ALSO I MUST BRING.

He rose from his knees with a new hope. He returned to Africa. And today, over a hundred years later, the mission he founded is a vibrant, growing force for the gospel in Africa.

If your greatest joy is to experience the infilling grace of God overflowing from you for the good of others, then the best news in all the world is that God will do the impossible through you for the salvation of the unreached peoples.

John Piper 

Bible Study

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.  - Isaiah 26:3

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. - Colossians 3:15

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. - John 14:27

and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. - Ephesians 3:19

You Will Have a Perfected Body

BIBLE MEDITATION

“Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” 1 John 3:2

 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

We’ve never seen man as we were created to be. If we saw Adam right as he came off God’s assembly line, we’d know just how thousands of years of sin have marred mankind.

I read in a scientific journal that even the most brilliant person will use less than two-fifths of one percent of his brain capacity. Two-fifths of one percent! That’s 0.0040! The incredible ability God put into the human being has been dampened and disfigured by sin.

Hardly anyone reading this doesn't feel pain somewhere right now. We're all going through the process of aging. From the crown of our head to the soles of our feet, deterioration is taking place.

Have you ever wished to sing or serve or pray or just worship better than you do? One of these days, all of the limitations of earth will fall away. There will be no more weakness, sighing, crying, dying, or pain. Every child of God will have the perfection God planned for us from the beginning:

"…And we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality…. then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: 'Death is swallowed up in victory.'” (1 Corinthians 15:52-54)

ACTION POINT

Can you take this in? One day that decaying process will be reversed in an instant. “…In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible…” (1 Corinthians 15:52). Instantly we’ll go from corruption to incorruption. One day, we will be like Jesus.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Go and Sin No More

Everyone on this earth is a sinner! 

No one sin is worse than the other! 

Sin is sin!

So, we are condemned and separated from God who will not look upon sin.

Our only hope is a spotless Lamb that is sin free!

That Lamb is Christ our Lord!

No other was found worthy!

That is the power of the Gospel.

Will you bow before His throne for mercy?

3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst

4 they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.

5 Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?"

6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.

7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her."

8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground.

9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.

10 Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

11 She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."]] - John 8:3-11

15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.

16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me.

17 In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true.

18 I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me." - John 8:15-18

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God." - John 3:17-21

14 But he said to him, "Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?"

15 And he said to them, "Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." - Luke 12:14-15

Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you." - John 5:14

Medicine for the Missionary

“All things are possible with God.” (Mark 10:27)

Sovereign grace is the spring of life for the Christian Hedonist. For what the Christian Hedonist loves best is the experience of the sovereign grace of God filling him, and overflowing for the good of others.

Christian Hedonist missionaries love the experience of “not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10). They bask in the truth that the fruit of their missionary labor is entirely of God (1 Corinthians 3:7; Romans 11:36).

They feel only gladness when the Master says, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). They leap like lambs over the truth that God has taken the impossible weight of new creation off their shoulders and put it on his own. Without begrudging, they say, “Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God” (2 Corinthians 3:5).

When they come home on furlough, nothing gives them more joy than to say to churches, “I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience” (Romans 15:18).

“All things are possible with God!” — in front the words give hope, and behind they give humility. They are the antidote to despair and the antidote to pride — the perfect missionary medicine.

John Piper