Amazed at the Resurrection

This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder. (2 Peter 3:1)

As Easter approaches, let’s stir up our thankfulness and joy and admiration and amazement at what the resurrection of Jesus means for us. The curse of our fallen nature is that what once thrilled us becomes ordinary. The reality hasn’t changed. We have changed.

This is why the Bible exists. Peter says of his two letters that they are written to “stir up” or “arouse” by means of “reminder.”

So, let’s stir up our sincere minds by way of reminder.

What has God done in raising Jesus from the dead? Here are a few biblical answers.

Because of the resurrection of Jesus, we are born again to a living hope.

1 Peter 1:3: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

Because of Jesus’s resurrection, he now has the glory for which we were made. Our ultimate destiny is to see him as he is.

1 Peter 1:21: “God . . . raised him from the dead and gave him glory.”

John 17:5, 24: “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. . . . Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”

May the risen Lord Jesus himself awaken and arouse your sincere mind to new depths of worship and allegiance and joy.

John Piper

Be Still And Know That He Is God

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT: 

I read in the newspaper about a fighter plane that fired off a weapon and was moving so fast that it overtook the bullet and shot itself down. Literally! There are a lot of folks I know doing the same thing. They are shooting themselves down.

They don’t take time to slow down and to be still and know that God is God. They don’t take time to experience His serenity and inner quietness. Isaiah 30:15 says, “In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”

How much time do we take to be quiet before the Lord? If you don’t have time to do this, you are too busy! You are going to miss life looking for it.

ACTION POINT:

I have a question for you. Are you spending time alone with the Lord every day? If not, let this be your wake-up call.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Ways To Love God's Way Part Two

Experience God's love so that we can share God's love.

Give without sparing.

God gives to you so that it will flow from you.

All day long he craves and craves, but the righteous gives and does not hold back.  - Proverbs 21:26

1 We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia,

2 for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.

3 For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord,

4 begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints- - 2 Corinthians 8:1-4

Be obedient.

Trust God.

Give.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. - John 3:16

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. - James 1:17

God gave you your life, breath, riches and blessings.

Trust Him.

Trust without doubting.

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. - James 1:6-8

Do you have trouble trusting?

Did someone abandon you?

Broken relationships effect your ability to trust.

1 For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. 

2 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.  - Psalm 62:1-2

Promise without forgetting.

Stand by your word.

Your word is your bond.

Our word has become worthless.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.  - Proverbs 13:12

4 When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow.

5 It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. - Ecclesiastes 5:4-5

Forgive without remembering.

bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. - Colossians 3:13

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 

12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.  - Psalm 103:11-12

He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.  - Micah 7:19

He will forgive.

He will forget.

Can you forgive?

You must repent to get forgiveness.

Bitterness destroys.

Pray without ceasing.

pray without ceasing, - 1 Thessalonians 5:17

Pray for all things.

When you are in the pit, you better hope someone is praying you out.

Thanks Pastor Kevin!

Ways To Love God's Way Part One

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. - 1 Corinthians 13:13

Listen without interrupting.

If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.  - Proverbs 18:13

Trust and communication

In a successful relationship you must have these.

You spend way too much time thinking of your answer without really listening to the question.

Listen quietly.

Process it.

Speak without accusing.

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; - James 1:19

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant

5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; - 1 Corinthians 13:4-5

You feel attacked so you lash out.

Satan takes the little things and sets them deep in your soul so that you blow them out of proportion.

Speak in love or be silent.

Share without pretending.

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, - Ephesians 4:15

Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.  - Proverbs 27:6

Trust friends who are willing to speak the truth.

They only want the best for you.

Don't bow up, listen.

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 8:4-11

Do you wonder what Jesus wrote the second time? Me too!

Answer without arguing.

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.  - Proverbs 15:1

It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife.  - Proverbs 21:9

It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife.  - Proverbs 25:24

Don't be quarrelsome.

Be open to change.

Listen.

Enjoy without complaining.

14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing,

15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, - Philippians 2:14-15

You will stand out in your difference.

Be a joyful person.

Ask God to take you from the addiction of grumbling.

Thanks Pastor Kevin!!!

The Kind of Cold That Kills

He sends out his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly. (Psalm 147:15)

Tonight it will be forty degrees warmer in our kitchen freezer than it is outside here in Minneapolis. The high temperature tomorrow will be five degrees below zero (Fahrenheit). We receive this from the Lord’s hand.

He sends out his command to the earth;

his word runs swiftly.

He gives snow like wool;

he scatters frost like ashes.

He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs;

who can stand before his cold?

He sends out his word, and melts them;

he makes his wind blow and the waters flow.

(Psalm 147:15–18)

This is the kind of cold you do not play with. It kills.

When I came to Minnesota from South Carolina, I dressed for it. But I did not prepare life-saving support in my car in case of a breakdown.

One Sunday night on the way home from church, in this kind of cold, my car died. This was before cell phones. I had a wife and two small children in the car.

There was no one on this road. I suddenly realized, this is dangerous.

Soon it was very dangerous. No one came.

I saw in the distance through a fence a house. I am the father. This is my job. I climbed the fence and ran to the house and knocked on the door. They were home. I explained that I had a wife and two small children in the car, and asked if they would let us in. They did.

This is a kind of cold you do not play with.

It is one more way God says, “Whether hot or cold, high or deep, sharp or blunt, loud or quiet, bright or dark . . . don’t toy with me. I am God. I made all these things. They speak of me, just like the warm summer breezes do, and the gentle rains, and the soft moonlit nights, and the lapping of the lakeside, and lilies of the field and the birds of the air.”

There is a word for us in this cold. May the Lord give us skin to feel and ears to hear.

John Piper 

The Value Of A Soul

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold...but with the precious blood of Christ.” 1 Peter 1:18-19

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT: 

I was talking to a man who sold real estate and asked him, “What determines the worth of a piece of property?”

He said, “What a person is willing to pay for it.”

In other words, it doesn’t matter how much you paid for it yourself. It’s what another person is willing to pay to have it for himself or herself.

That makes me want to shout! You and I must be worth something if Jesus would pay His life to have us for His own. Jesus is the proof of how much we’re worth.

ACTION POINT:

Do you know how much you weigh? Call a jeweler or a bank today and ask how much your weight is worth in gold. Then realize there’s no comparison to your worth in blood…the blood of Jesus Christ.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

When You Are Immortal

When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. (Acts 23:12)

What about those hungry fellows who promised not to eat till they had ambushed Paul?

We read about them in Acts 23:12, “When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.” It didn’t work. Why? Because a string of unlikely events happened.

A boy overheard the plot.

The boy was the son of Paul’s sister.

The boy had the courage to go to the Roman centurion guarding Paul.

The centurion took him seriously and brought him to the tribune.

The tribune believed him and prepared “two hundred soldiers, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spear men” to take Paul to safety.

Every one of those events was highly unlikely. Strange. But that’s what happened.

What had those hungry men lying in ambush overlooked? They failed to reckon with what happened to Paul just before they made their plot. The Lord appeared to Paul in prison and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome” (Acts 23:11).

Christ said Paul was going to Rome. And that was that. No ambush can stand against the promise of Christ. Until he got to Rome, Paul was immortal. There was a final testimony to be given. And Christ would see to it that Paul would give it.

You too have final testimony to give. And you are immortal until you give it.

John Piper