Do you act like a World War II orphan?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“And they that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee: for Thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek Thee.” Psalm 9:10

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

After World War II, a group of humanitarians placed orphan boys in tent cities to care for them. But the boys would wake up in the night from nightmares. A psychiatrist surmised that their fear was because they had such an uncertain future.

He decided to feed the boys a big meal each night, then give them each a piece of bread. He instructed them to hold the bread in their hands so it could be their breakfast. Somehow just holding in their hand a piece of bread helped them to sleep all night.

When you go to bed tonight, I want you to have bread—not in your hand, but in your heart. He is the Bread of Heaven and His name is Jesus!

ACTION POINT:

Take a walk with the Lord today. Tell Him your fears. Confidently place them before the Lord. Trust in His love to provide.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Seek Your City’s Good

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. . . . But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” (Jeremiah 29:4–5, 7)

If that was true for God’s exiles in Babylon, it would seem to be even more true for Christian exiles in this very “Babylon-like” world. What, then, shall we do?

We should do the ordinary things that need to be done: build houses; live in them; plant gardens. This does not contaminate you if you do it all for the real King and not just for eye service as men-pleasers.

Seek the welfare of the place where God has sent you. Think of yourself as sent there by God for his glory. Because you are.

Pray to the Lord on behalf of your city. Ask for great and good things to happen for the city. Ask that they happen by God’s power and for his glory. Never lose sight of the ultimate good that the city needs a thousand times more than it needs material prosperity. Christians care about all suffering — especially eternal suffering. That’s the greatest danger every city faces.

But neither God nor his people are indifferent to the health and safety and prosperity and freedom of the city. We all want these things, and Jesus said, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39). In fact, the Lord says in Jeremiah that loving your city is a way of loving yourself: “In its welfare you will find your welfare.”

This does not mean we give up our exile orientation. Peter says that Christians are “sojourners and exiles” (1 Peter 2:11) and Paul says “our citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20). In fact, we will do most good for this world by keeping a steadfast freedom from its beguiling attractions. We will serve our city best by getting our values from “the city that is to come” (Hebrews 13:14). We will do our city most good by calling as many of its citizens as we can to be citizens of “the Jerusalem above” (Galatians 4:26).

So, let’s live — let’s do so much good (1 Peter 2:12) — that the natives will want to meet our King.

John Piper

Are you sharing the gospel with someone but getting nowhere? Here's what's going on...

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Verily, verily I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus saith unto Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?” Jesus answered, “Verily, verily I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” John 3:3-5

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

If you know someone who’s not a Christian, don’t try to argue with them. Nobody was ever argued into the kingdom of Heaven. Anything someone can argue you into, you can be argued out of. The problem is, they cannot see. Would you scold a blind man for not seeing? But a blind man would be foolish to say there’s no light just because he cannot see it.

There is light, but man needs more than light. He needs sight. “...Except a man be born again, he cannot see….” He may have 20/20 sight, but spiritually he’s blind. “Having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart” (Ephesians 4:18). The eyes may be fine, but the heart is blind.

Maybe you’ve shared the Gospel with people—even members of your own family—but they haven’t a clue as to what it’s all about. They never will, until the Holy Spirit opens their understanding.

ACTION POINT:

It takes more than preaching for someone to be saved; it takes the work of the Holy Spirit. Pray, “O God, open the eyes of those who have been blinded, that the light of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ, who is the image of God, might shine unto them.” (2 Corinthians 4:4). Before I ever preach, I get on my knees and pray, “O, God, for those who need Jesus Christ, give them sight.”

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Five Reasons to Be Fearless

Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32)

The reason God wants us not to be afraid concerning money or other things of the world is because that fearlessness — that freedom from anxiety — will magnify five great things about him.

First, not being afraid shows that we treasure God as our Shepherd. “Fear not, little flock.” We are his flock and he is our Shepherd. And if he is our Shepherd, then Psalm 23:1 applies: “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want” — that is, I shall not lack anything I truly need.

Second, not being afraid shows that we treasure God as our Father. “It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” We are not only his little flock; we are also his children, and he is our Father. He really cares and really knows what you need and will work for you to be sure that you have what you need.

Third, not being anxious shows that we treasure God as King. “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” He can give us the “kingdom” because he is the King. This adds a tremendous element of power to the one who provides for us. “Shepherd” connotes protection and provision. “Father” connotes love and tenderness and authority and provision and guidance. “King” connotes power and sovereignty and wealth.

Fourth, not being afraid shows how free and generous God is. Notice, he gives the kingdom. “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” He doesn’t sell the kingdom or rent the kingdom or lease the kingdom. He is infinitely wealthy and does not need our payments. So, God is generous and free with his bounty. And this is what we magnify about him when we are not afraid, but trust him with our needs.

Finally, not being afraid — not being anxious — shows that we trust that God really wants to do this. “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” It delights him. He is not begrudging. It makes him glad to give us the kingdom. Not all of us had fathers like this, who were made happy by giving instead of getting. But that sorrow is not the main thing any more, because now you can have such a Father, and Shepherd, and King.

So, the point of this verse is that we should treasure God as our Shepherd and Father and King who is generous and happy to give us the kingdom of God — to give us heaven, to give us eternal life and joy, and everything we need to get there.

If we treasure God in this way, we will be fearless and God will be worshiped.

John Piper

Do you know a cardboard Christian? Are you one?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.” Matthew 23:27

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

I read an article one time about Art Linkletter, who was a highly respected and famous TV personality for many decades. Art Linkletter said he was a professing Christian. But one day he had a great crisis in his life. He really needed help.

He was meeting with some young people who were on-fire Christians. There was no pretense with them, no holds barred. They were in a hotel lobby in San Francisco. It came time to pray, and those young people got down on their knees in that hotel lobby. Being a recognized public figure, Art Linkletter said, "I really felt funny about getting down on my knees in a public place like that. But I had such a need of God. I realized, all this time I had not been a true Christian. I was a cardboard Christian. I threw all of that away, humbled myself before God, got on my knees, broke through to God, and met reality."

Reality is what this world hungers for. It’s sick and tired of make-believe, cardboard Christians. Reality, not hypocrisy, is the greatest need in the church today. The greatest argument for Christ—and the greatest argument against Christ—is the life of a Christian!

ACTION POINT:

There always have been hypocrites. There always will be. The Lord Jesus Christ devoted the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew to the problem of hypocrites. But how wonderful it is to know Jesus Christ. Serve Him and love Him with reality in your heart and life.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Key to Radical Love

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:11–12)

One of the questions I posed while preaching on loving our enemies from Matthew 5:44 was, How do you love the people who kidnap you and then kill you?

How can we do this? Where does the power to love like this come from? Just think how astonishing this is when it appears in the real world! Could anything show the truth and power and reality of Christ more than this?

I believe Jesus gives us the key to this radical, self-sacrificing love, described in Matthew 5:44, earlier in the very same chapter.

In Matthew 5:11–12, he is again talking about being persecuted, just like he was when he said in Matthew 5:44, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” What is remarkable about these verses is that Jesus says that you are able not only to endure the mistreatment of the enemy, but rejoice in it. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you. . . . Rejoice and be glad.”

This seems even more beyond our reach than praying for our enemies or doing good to them. If I could do this humanly impossible thing — namely, rejoice in being persecuted — then it would be possible to love my persecutors. If the miracle of joy in the midst of the horror of injustice and pain and loss could happen, then the miracle of love for the perpetrators could happen too.

Jesus gives the key to joy in these verses. He says, “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.” The key to joy is faith in God’s future grace — that is, being satisfied in all that God promises to be for you. He says, “Rejoice, for your reward is great in heaven.” Our joy in persecution is the joy of heaven streaming back into this moment of horror and setting us free to love. So, this joy is the freeing power to love our enemies when they persecute us.

If that is true, then the command to love is implicitly also a command to set our minds on things that are above — all that God promises to be for us — not on things that are on the earth (Colossians 3:2).

The command to love our enemy is a command to find our hope and our deepest soul-satisfaction in God and his great reward — his future grace. The key to radical love is faith in future grace. We must be persuaded in the midst of our agony that the love of God is “better than life” (Psalm 63:3). Loving your enemy doesn’t earn you the reward of heaven. Treasuring the reward of heaven empowers you to love your enemy.

John Piper 

If you're looking for the right church, look for the 3 B's.

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Any great church is built on these four things that begin with the letter B.

The Book - the inspired, infallible Word of God. 

The Blood – the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

The Birth – the new birth. 

The Blessed Hope – the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ.

God tells us in Hebrews 10:25, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” He wants us to find a Bible-believing church and connect with the people there.

ACTION POINT:

If you’re looking for a church, find out if they take a stand on the Book, the Blood, the Birth, and the Blessed Hope. If they don’t, saturate that place with your absence. Look for one that does.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers