June 30, 2023
1 Timothy 6:11 “But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness”
This verse follows the warning that the love of money is the root of all evil. It seems ironic that it is first given to Timothy, a minister of the gospel. The lure of money has corrupted a lot of ministries, and churches, and caused a lot of scandals. We’ve all watched as several superstar ministers claiming to represent Jesus have made out like bandits to the tune of millions. When we take a step back from it all we can see clearly the words of the scriptures in 1 Timothy 6:7-8, “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content”. And again, in verse 6, “But godliness with contentment is great gain”. We can be confident that God will always supply all our needs because He promised and not only our needs but the Bible tells us in Psalms 1:3 that whatever we do will prosper. But it is an error when we think that prosperity is centered on money and the promise here does not mean that whatever we touch will bring us wealth. Such teaching is false and twisted to line the pockets of those who use it to fuel people’s greed. Prosperity is the sum of all in our lives and the word “prosper” means “to come to a good success”. Our lives, families, ministries, and so on will produce good fruit and our Lord taught us in Matthew 7:17, “Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit”. The pitfall of the desire and quest for money is given in Ecclesiastes 5:10, “He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity”. It becomes a never-ending cycle that never brings us contentment and brings a bitter end of misery. God tells us to flee, to run away from the temptation offered by money and wealth, and instead, desire a life where we do what is right. We walk as God would have us walk, and build humble lives centered on faith, love, and the power to wait upon the Lord. The very words of our Lord Jesus are our truth: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal”.
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June 29, 2023
John 9:25 “one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see”
Jesus healed this blind man and immediately the Pharisees started a ruckus. They didn’t show any joy at the fact the man had been healed but they used the miracle to start an argument. They said that Jesus was a sinner and since sinners couldn’t do miracles something must be wrong about the man’s healing. They even tried to drag the man’s parents into their commotion and pestered the man and his parents with questions trying to stop them from giving honor to the Lord. Their actions are proof that religion cares nothing for our souls or our well-being but is a system of pride and at its core lies despicable unbelief. The story has relevance to us today in that whenever God does something, people try to explain it away or give someone or something else the credit. The Pharisees, the religious leaders of that time, could have celebrated the man’s miracle and rejoiced with him, his family, and his friends that God had done the impossible. But the ploy of the enemy and the nature of our flesh is to rob God of the honor due to His name. When the Pharisees couldn’t get the man to renounce Jesus, they threw him out of their synagogue, the equivalent of throwing him out of their church. The man’s response, based on the simple truth of what happened when Jesus healed him, has become a line in our wonderful song “Amazing Grace”. I was blind but now I see. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 11:3, “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ”. Much of the confusion surrounding Christianity could be cleared if we would just return to the simplicity of, “one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see”. Keeping it simple would help us to worship together without division and help us stay free of religion’s turmoil so that we can focus on pointing others to Jesus. There will always be Pharisees who want to muddy the water and use their divisive techniques for control. But may our desire be that of Paul in 2 Corinthians 1:12, “For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation (the way we live) in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward
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June 28, 2023
Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord”
All things exist and are maintained by the Word of God. The greatest need for humanity is to know the Word of God and allow it to fill them with its power and wisdom. It is heartbreaking to see that through the ages and more so now than ever, God’s Word has been replaced with religious traditions, denominational teaching, and a mixture of human thought and philosophy. Much of the teaching and preaching we’ve heard in these last days is not an exposition of the Bible, but crafted sermons designed to be interesting, politically correct, and appealing to our senses. Jesus, praying to His Father and speaking of the Word of God, said in John 17:17, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth”. If the Word of God is truth, then see where we are today as the scriptures tell us in 2 Timothy 4:3-4, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables”. The Word of God is alive and better that someone simply stand and read the Word of God than to ramble on for an hour with a man-centered religious speech they palm off as a Biblical sermon. When the Word of God sinks down into our being as Jesus said in Luke 9:44, “Let these sayings sink down into your ears” we cannot help but be changed for the living Word of God transforms us, enlightens us, fills us with faith, and works God’s grace by making us spiritual and wise. The Word of God fills us with God’s goodness and leads us to encourage each other and to break loose in spontaneous worship. Does this sound like the Christian life you’re living? And do you find yourself often singing or humming a gospel song or a song of praise and worship? The Word of God is a seed that when it falls in good ground produces fruit. Our prayer is that the Holy Spirit will help us understand God’s Word and draw us to its pages. And as infinite and great as the name of God is, the Bible says in Psalms 138:2, “For thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name”.
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June 27, 2023
Galatians 5:1 “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage”
The church at Galatia had been infiltrated with false teaching that said Christians must keep parts of the Law of Moses to be acceptable to God. The Holy Spirit, through the Apostle Paul, gave the Book of Galatians to teach us all that we are no longer under any of the demands of the Law. Praise God, as this verse begins, Christ has made us free! The Law was perfect and it expressed the perfections of the Holiness of God and yet it was not God’s plan for the Law to be permanent. He had a better plan in the New Covenant of Jesus which the book of Hebrews repeatedly calls a better way. Now that the transition has been made from the Law to grace, it is foolishness on our part to think that under the grace of God, we can create some rules of our own that will please God more than the finished work of Christ. Any rules we make are flawed and imperfect and are actually an insult to the cross of Christ as if what we obtain through faith in Him is not good enough. The freedom Jesus has given us is coupled with the words, “And be not again entangled with the yoke of bondage” where the yoke of bondage does not refer to sin but to the demands of the law! Legalism, the belief that we can not please God without following some set of rules, is a prison that keeps us from enjoying what the Lord has done for us. He died to set us free from sin and also from the belief that we can earn righteousness or favor with God through our efforts. What a blessing to know we have been made fully acceptable to God when we look to Jesus for salvation. And even more than that, when the Lord sees us, He sees only the blood of Jesus Christ which has cleansed us from all sin and made us complete and whole as if we had never sinned. The words, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free” gives us the imperative to refuse to be shaken from the foundation of grace. And if anyone denies the freedom of the fullness of God’s gospel of grace the Bible says in Galatians 1:8-9, “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed”. The Lord is serious about our liberty!
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June 26, 2023
Galatians 5:16 “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh”
Our human nature is drawn to all the things that are against the Lord and His best plan for us. It was true when the Holy Spirit moved Paul to write these words and in today’s world with the amount of ungodly influence, opportunity, and temptations surrounding us, it is glaringly true. All of the works of the flesh cataloged in verses 19-21 in this chapter are what the enemy and the world offer us daily to entice us like a trail of breadcrumbs away from God’s plan for us. But the path to victory given to us here is to “Walk in the Spirit” and it’s important to know what that means. It is not an intense emotional experience because any of those we might have is temporary and fleeting. But it is when we live Christ-centered, ever aware that the Holy Spirit is living and working within. Jesus said in John 14:26, that the Holy Spirit, “shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you”. Then our Lord said in John 16:13-14, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me”. When we pray, asking the Lord to fill us with the Holy Spirit, when we bury the Word of God in our hearts by meditating on its principles, and when we believe that walking in the Spirit is a full-time occupation and pursue such a walk, then we’re on solid ground to defeat our fleshly desires. Our flesh will not surrender without a battle but the Lord will cover us with the grace to win because He has already defeated our enemies. Let’s keep encouraging each other, keep reaching out to God through a Christ-centered life, keep praying faithfully, and keep acknowledging that we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. God is faithful and He will not allow us to be tested above what we’re able to withstand. And in His faithfulness, He will never leave us or abandon us in the fight. Notice the positiveness and power of the promise in today’s verse: “Ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh”. Halleluiah!
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June 25, 2023
2 Corinthians 6:17-18 “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing;”
The call to separate from things that are not of God is not so that we can wear a badge of peculiarity. Nor is it so that we can take a position that we are holier or more spiritual than some. But it is the call to a way of life, a way of daily living where we renounce sin as something God hates and we pattern our ways so that we avoid it. Such a call begins in verse 14, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness”. Sometimes we use this verse to speak only that believers should not date nor marry unbelievers and while that is part of it’s meaning, it doesn’t stop there but covers any and all personal and intimate associations we might make both in our business dealings and friendships. It is a reminder to us that while we show the Love of the Lord, we cannot honor God if we walk, live, act, do business like those who do not follow Christ. Sometimes the verse is misquoted as “come out from among the world” but it says “them” and looks back to what is referenced in verse 14: “unbelievers”. This is not unmerciful hardball theology but it sets a standard that is from the Lord and so much so, that there is a promise given to us of a deep, wonderful relationship with God that says, “and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty”. It’s unnerving that we are so resistant to the truth that we will read this and hear this but then dismiss it as if it is of no importance. Maybe it’s because it seems to contradict the “love at all costs” misinterpretation of the gospel that’s prevalent today. It is an error is we think that to love people we must live by their standards and accommodate their lifestyles. The example we follow as in all things, is that of our Lord Jesus Christ who was the epitome and eternal standard of God’s unfailing love. Yet the Bible says in Hebrews 7:26 that our Lord was, “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens”. He was not unequally yoked with an unbelieving world.
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June 24, 2023
2 Thessalonians 3:3 “But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil”
The Apostle Paul wrote these words in a plea for prayer given in verse 1, “Finally, brethren, pray for us” and asks that prayers be made for opportunities to preach God’s Word and that the Lord would protect His people. The Lord is not only faithful to us, but one of His many names is “Faithful” as given in Revelation 19:11, “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war”. This verse is in response to the previous verse 2 which says, “that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith”. It is a foolish thing to put our trust in people because the faithfulness of man is at its best, limited and flawed. So much heartbreak and suffering could be avoided if we would only make Jesus the Lord of our lives and fully trust in Him. If only we would take His words to heart and purpose to live only according to His teaching. It says here that the Lord will stablish us, a word that means to strengthen, to make mentally steadfast, and to set in a place unmoveable. The Lord does this by His Word and by the power of the Holy Spirit. The wise man in Luke 6:48 built a house that no storm or flood could shake because it was built on a rock and it is a picture of lives built on Jesus Christ and His teaching, the Rock of Ages. All those who are stablished by the Lord can sing, “I shall not be, I shall not be moved” because the Bible says in Psalms 62:6, “He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved”. And then, God promises to keep us from evil where the word also means, “the evil one” or “the evil man”. This points back to verse 2 where it says there are “unreasonable and wicked men”. But behind all the evil, is the enemy of God and the people of God, the accuser of the brethren. No matter if it is evil things, the evil one, or people influenced by him, the Lord will protect His people. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness! Praise the Lord for giving us strength, and praise the Lord for protecting us from evil!
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June 23, 2023
John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me”
This is one of the most politically, socially, and religiously divisive things that Jesus ever said. He didn’t say I am a path to the Father or I can show you a way. He did not identify Himself as one of the options to gain eternal life. But our Lord said plainly that He is the only way to the Father. He said He is THE way, THE truth, and THE life. The brainwashing of the enemy and those who follow him, if they acknowledge Christ as all, present Him as a minor alternative to all the other religions of the world, all the cults, the philosophies, and faith in anything and everything. Even among Christians, there are some who believe that it doesn’t matter what path you walk as long as you’re a good person and believe in God, you’ll be fine on judgment day. A world that’s screaming and demanding inclusiveness at any cost is also dismissing and sneering at the truth of Jesus Christ as if it is an out-of-date and ignorant system of faith. But what would we expect from a world that has thrown away the Bible and declared it is not the Word of God? What would we expect from those who, if they have a Bible among all their other collections of religious writings, say it’s just another of the world’s attempts to open our understanding of the universe? If you were to stand in the pulpits of today’s churches and take this verse as your text and teach that apart from Jesus Christ there is no entrance to heaven, no hope for our souls, and no other plan to reconcile us to the Almighty Father, and speak it clearly and without restraint, what do you think the response would be? What if your pastor preached this in your church? Would it be accepted and declared the infallible truth? For whatever reason, we seem to think God has changed His mind about Jesus and has decided to cancel the cross, the resurrection, and the only hope He gave us when He sent His Son as our Savior. Praise the Lord for those who will still stand in the face of this raging flood of apostasy and speak the eternal message of hope that Jesus Christ is the only name, the only way, and the only door to heaven by which we can be saved.
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June 22, 2023
Acts 27:43-44 “But the centurion, willing to save Paul, kept them from their purpose; and commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land: And the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land”
Acts 27 gives the account of one of the three shipwrecks the Apostle Paul endured in his lifetime. It is an amazing story of God’s grace and the courage of the 276 people who survived a horrible cyclone that battered their ship for 14 days and then finally smashed it to pieces off the island of Melita which is probably what we call Malta. By a miracle of God, all 276 were saved. There are a lot of parallels between the story and the times in our lives when enormous storms of trouble hit us and we begin thinking we will be destroyed. The Lord is the One who calms the storms and brings us out safely and in His own time but in the process, like the people and Paul in Acts 27, we may get battered, soaking wet, and have to be delivered by holding onto boards and pieces of things that help us float to safety. Thank God this is not the norm for us because God does not allow us to permanently stay in the storm but like the ark that carried Noah and his family and brought them to dry land, the Lord will never fail to bring us through whatever faces us. Several recent devotions here have been about trusting God in troubling times and maybe it’s because we are living in such uncertain times and looking with hope for the coming of the Lord. There is shipwreck all around us and families are being pounded from every side by storms the like of which we’ve never seen. Our children are in duress, parents are stressed to the breaking point, and many people are suffering hardship at their jobs and careers, trying to make ends meet and pay their bills. We are watching our nation floundering in messes and upheavals that seem to be endless and instead of finding relief, sink deeper into trouble. And not just in America but all over the world there is violence, unrest, suffering, and destruction. Like Paul in this story, we are in the same boat with our neighbors, coworkers, and fellow citizens. The difference is that believers have hope and we have the word of God on the matter. The Bible says in Psalms 46:2-3, “Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah”.
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June 21, 2023
Psalms 71:14 “But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more”
David wrote this Psalm when he was old as evidenced in verses 17-18, “O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works. Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come”. His latter years saw times of sorrow as his son Absolom rebelled against him and tried to take the throne. We might forget that even the greatest and most powerful saints, ones that set records and won great victories like David, sometimes have heartbreak over their children and face trials that bring them to their knees. His trials were so great that he said in verses Psalms 10-11, “For mine enemies speak against me; and they that lay wait for my soul take counsel together, Saying, God hath forsaken him: persecute and take him; for there is none to deliver him”. Today’s verse gives us his response as he looks to the Lord for help: “But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more”. No matter the circumstance, no matter how hopeless the situation might look, our only shelter and our only help is in Jesus Christ our Lord. The same Almighty God that directed the flight trajectory of the stone that David flung from his sling and hit Goliath precisely with enough power to take him down stood by David in the time of his life when he was weak and feeble and his heart was broken over Absolom. He sees our suffering, He knows our sorrow, and He will always be with us to carry us through. On our part, we will always have hope and always praise Him more and more. Is there any other answer? Is there any other hope other than our Savior? Is there any other refuge anywhere else in the world except safe in the arms of our Lord? May our confession of faith in times of trouble be like David’s in verses 20-21, “Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth. Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side”.
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June 20, 2023
Jude 1:22-23 “And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh”
These verses concern our outward view of the world and people around us. And especially, how we deal with people who have fallen prey to false teaching and error and those who are unsaved. An important part of their meaning has to do with the words, “making a difference” and is teaching us that we need God’s wisdom to see that there are different types of people and that they have different circumstances. Some have been saved but they are prodigals, at differing places in their departure from the truth. The Lord will help us see where they are in their relationship with God and He will give us words and ways to encourage them or warn them depending on their need. Maybe they just need our compassion, a word that also means encouraging them to be accountable and at all times, they all need God’s love, displayed and given by those who belong to Him. But there are others that need to be rescued because we are fearful for their souls. The phrase, “pulling them out of the fire” reminds us of firefighters going into a burning building to rescue people trapped in the flames. The danger here is that when people are at such depths of sin, there is much there that can threaten our own walk with the Lord. Many believers have gone into evil situations with the hope of helping someone trapped there only to find themselves pulled into a mess by the allure and deception of sin. The “Hating even the garment spotted by the flesh” tells us that there must be an absolute hatred of sin on our part before we attempt such a rescue and not a speck of compromise, carelessness, or a diminished view of the dangers of unbelief. In all cases, this is warfare where believers step outside their comfort zone and introspection and engage others for the well-being and salvation of their souls. We are not just focused on ourselves but we see people that are priceless treasures needing our help and we fight for them. Thank God somebody prayed for me, people witnessed to me, people confronted my sinful ways, and people encouraged me toward the Savior. We are God’s search and rescue, His firefighters, and His EMS workers with the goal to reach as many as we can for Jesus for as long as we can until He calls us home.
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June 19, 2023
Psalms 34:3 “O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together”
These are not times when we should be silent about the greatness and goodness of our God. People who have a favorite team, those who favor a certain political party, and those who feel strongly about something are not afraid or ashamed to wear their team’s colors or speak out to voice their opinions. So why should God’s people be silent when we have the name that is above all names, the only name that can deliver and save? People need the Lord. They need to know He loves them and wants them to live with Him forever. People need to know it’s not about religion or self-improvement but it’s about the glory and power of God. They need to know and believe there is no shame in proclaiming the name of the Lord. Our world needs the message of hope and the message of the grace of God. The Bible declares in James 4:5, “Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?”. The Holy Spirit within us is urging us to faithfully surrender to the Lord and reject the compromise offered by the world and the flesh. When we commit fully to the ways of God, we have then a compelling desire that others may know Him as we know Him. The scripture says in Malachi 3:16, “Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name”. People need to hear us talk about the Lord and when we do the lost are encouraged to turn to Him and the saved are encouraged to be bold and join in, exalting His name together. The words of today’s study verse are a call for us to unite with other believers, lay aside any petty differences we might have, and point in unison to the only One worthy to be praised. In the words of Revelation 4:11, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created”.
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June 18, 2023
Malachi 1:6 “A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour?”
Today is the day we honor our dads or if like mine they have already moved to their heavenly home, we honor their memory. Sometimes when I think this current generation of dads has all gone berserk, my wife and I will see a dad in public doing a great job. Praise God for dads everywhere that are being the best they can be for their families and may the Lord give us words to encourage them. My dad’s birthday was this week and he would have been 104 but what he taught our family about being faithful, working hard, and following the Lord are lessons still with us. He was a wonderful dad and I look forward to the day when we are together in a land where we’ll never grow old. But today’s verse is a question that says if we claim God as our Heavenly Father it should come with us giving Him honor. Maybe this Father’s Day while we honor our dads, we can place our Heavenly Father at the center of all our celebrations and recognize Him as worthy of all our praise. It is by the example of our God and the ministry of His Word that we learn to become good sons, good dads, and good husbands. Our Heavenly Father loves us unconditionally, provides all our needs, helps us on our journey, and has provided an eternal future so wonderful it’s indescribable. While others take His name in vain, we honor His name. While others mock Him and deny His existence, we love Him and proclaim His greatness. While many turn away from Him and turn to other gods, we receive His welcome into His presence and rest safely in His arms. Our Lord Jesus often looked heavenward and honored His Father and when He taught us to pray, the opening words of the prayer are, “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name”. And when He died, the last words Jesus spoke were, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit”. Our prayer today is all dads everywhere will honor God and look to Him for His help to be the best dads they can be. May children everywhere learn about their Heavenly Father through the faithful lives and love of their dads. And in honor of our Heavenly Father and for all dads everywhere: Happy Father’s Day.
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June 17, 2023
Lamentations 5:21 “Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old”
It is a wonderful thing to have the desire to turn to God. Such has been the theme of so many sermons and songs through the years, encouraging people to repent and follow the Lord. But repentance from a Godly sorrow is an act of grace, not of the will of man. The Bible makes this clear in Romans 3:11, “There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God”. Our Lord Jesus said in John 6:44, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him”. So much for all those who take pride in believing they are refraining from evil enough to think they are “living the Christian life” while condemning others they see whom they think are falling short of the goal. Any goodness in us, any power to do right, any desire to seek after God, and any attempts at repentance are just as much gifts from God as our eternal salvation. This is the prayer of today’s verse when prayed from a personal perspective: “O Lord turn me to You and then I will have truly repented and sought You”. Anything else will not turn us and this is why so many have been led to believe that seeking repentance is the same as seeking God. This miracle of us being drawn to God comes through the power of the Word of God and the work of the Holy Spirit moving in us to do what we can not do for ourselves. Millions upon millions have been deceived believing that if they confess their sins to a priest and the priest says he forgives them, then all is well. God must turn us to Himself and when He does, He changes us as the word says, “we shall be turned”. It is not just us saying it, it’s God doing it. We preach repentance because God uses the preached word along with the power of the Holy Spirit to perform revival. Anything else falls in the same category of self-help and will never bring us to God. This prayer for the Lord to turn us so that we will be turned is a great prayer to pray for ourselves, our families, and our nation. Real revival is not conjured by our efforts or brought by our determination. It is a gift of God.
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June 16, 2023
James 5:9 “Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door”
If you have children, you know how much you want them to get along and how frustrating it is to see them argue and fight. Sibling rivalry has disrupted many perfect vacations and followed families throughout their lives. Likewise, the Lord wants His children to walk in unity and love, without grumbling and complaining against each other. He is our loving Heavenly Father and He takes it so seriously that He tells us here if we dishonor each other, He will correct us. When it comes to our words, we’re already at a disadvantage because the Bible tells us in James 3:6, “And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell”. Times of hardships and trials can frustrate us and cause us to speak out sharply or we can get caught up in the world’s mindset and fall into habits of criticizing, condemning, and accusing. We need the fullness of the Holy Spirit to overcome our fleshly nature to control what we say about others. The picture given here as, “Behold, the judge standeth before the door”, is of a judge, ready to step into the courtroom and pass sentence upon people who are guilty of something. The Lord, the righteous Judge, is intent upon His family walking in love. Our pattern is given in Ephesians 4:30-32, “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you”. Unkindness, hatefulness, and complaining against each other are grievous to the Holy Spirit, and may the Lord help us use our words to encourage each other, build each other up in the faith, and show honor for we are all made in the image of God. We are not the Judge; the Judge is standing at the door and He wants a higher standard for His children.
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June 15, 2023
1 Corinthians 10:13 “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it”
The word “temptation” here means trial and the Lord is telling us that nothing we go through is unique only to us. Every person is susceptible to the same trials, the same influences, and the same situations. A ploy of the enemy is to make us feel like we have a target on our back and that no one understands what were going through. But even the saintliest of believers sometimes must endure trials. Whenever I feel life is unfair, I read the words of the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:24-27, “Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness”. After all that from the man God used to write much of the New Testament and was one of the most powerful preachers in history, our situations don’t look so dire. We might even say, “I got it made with my good life”. But above all the trials that come to believers and nonbelievers alike, we have the assurance that our faithful God will not allow us in any situation we can’t endure. He promises to always make a way for us to escape, a phrase that means, “a way out”. Right there, included with every trial is an exit, and may the Lord give us the wisdom and spiritual sight to always see the way out. He will never fail to provide it because He promised. We don’t like the “bear it” part but He will help us carry the load and sometimes sends a friend or someone else to help us just as Simon the Cyrenian picked up the Lord’s cross and carried it.
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June 14, 2023
Luke 10:40 “But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me”
Does Jesus care? Martha was so overwhelmed and frustrated as a hostess to the people who were visiting that day that she walked up to Jesus and accused Him of being uncaring about her situation. Then she demanded the Lord tell her sister Mary to get up from where she was sitting at Jesus’ feet, listening to His teaching, and help her. And Martha isn’t the only one to point a finger at God and blame Him for their frustrations. When Jesus and His disciples were in a boat on the Sea of Galilee with a storm bearing down on them, the Bible says in Mark 4:38, “And he (Jesus) was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?”. We don’t like being in uncomfortable circumstances and when things are not going the way we want them to, we’re tempted to vent our frustrations on the Lord and complain that if He really cared about us, things would be different. It’s as if we are saying, God, if You really cared about me, you wouldn’t let stuff like this happen so all this is your fault”. Some people move on to the next step where they get mad at God and try to hold Him accountable for troubles or they say something like, “I’m going to stop believing in Him because my situation proves that even if He is real, He doesn’t care about me”. Have you ever heard someone like that or maybe have been tempted to think that way yourself? The Lord proved He not only cares for us but that He loves us beyond description when He went to the cross in our place and suffered and died for us. He showed us His compassion when He wept at our human condition and His Word is filled with infallible promises that He is taking us to where there is no more curse, no more fallout from sin, and no more suffering and sorrow. All we face here is not evidence that the Lord is uncaring but a reminder that we chose sin over a Savior and must deal with the results of that choice until the day the Lord makes all things new. Until then, if we will just trust Him, He will go with us through our sufferings, comfort us in our sorrows, and strengthen us for our journey. The Bible says in 1 Peter 5:7, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you”.
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June 13, 2023
Proverbs 28:1 “The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion”
There are two types of people mentioned here: Those who run in fear even where there is nothing to be afraid of and those who stand their ground like a lion claiming his territory. Believers are a sort of paradox because, on one hand, they can be bold and fearless and at the same time, as given in Matthew 10:16, as harmless as doves. After Jesus ascended back to heaven and Peter and John began preaching the gospel, the Bible says in Acts 4:13, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus”. Notice that Peter and John’s boldness didn’t come from their great educations and worldly wisdom but from their personal relationship with the King of Kings. The big shift we’ve seen in our world is that those who oppose the things of God fill the culture with their message. Their media, advertising, merchandising, and entertainment spews profanity, vulgarity, blasphemy, and perversion without restraint. All the while, they demand the voices of those who love God’s Word and honor Him keep silent and they demand it with legal threats and public shaming. They, who speak and act shamefully, point at those who speak the truth and call them the shameful ones. But the boldness of God’s people means they will not be stopped from proclaiming the Lord’s truth and the name of Jesus. We find ourselves like Jeremiah in Jeremiah 20:9, “Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay (keep silent)”. The wicked not only hated the truth of Jesus, they demanded His death by the torture of crucifixion. But our Lord, while as harmless as a dove, was bold in the face of his tormenters and when the battle was over, He conquered death, hell, and the grave. We are not ashamed for the scripture says in Romans 10:11, “Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed”. And we will not be silenced for the scripture says in Isaiah 58:1, “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins”. The righteous are as bold as a lion.
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June 12, 2023
Psalms 25:4 “Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths”
A good Bible study for us is the story of the Exodus and not just how God miraculously delivered the Israelites but how He led them from Egypt to Canaan. The scriptures tell us in Exodus 13:17-18, “And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt: But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea”. If we were planning the route and using a map or our GPS, we’d take the shortest distance, the one that would get us there the fastest but God chose the long journey. He doesn’t usually take the way we would choose because His plans for us involve more than just getting us where we’re going. There’s other things He’s teaching and maturing in us. In Israel’s case, they were beginning to learn about the Lord after 400 years in a culture that worshipped other gods and knew nothing of the Holy and Almighty God. All of Egypt, it’s way of thinking and its slave mentality had to be replaced with God’s ways. Today’s verse is a prayer we can pray for the Lord to show us His ways and teach us how He wants us to live this life. We remember He told us in Isaiah 55:8-9, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts”. Israel may have thought that taking the long way around was a mistake on God’s part but God’s ways are perfect. Likewise, we may not like the times we go through trials or times it seems to take too long for God to deliver us or answer our prayers. We might be tempted to create our own path, follow our own purpose, and take shortcuts that are not God’s will. Sometimes God does take us the easy way and by the path of least resistance. But other times it’s through the flood and the fire and it’s then we earnestly pray, “Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths”.
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June 11, 2023
Deuteronomy 31:8, “And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed”
These words are from Moses’ last sermon to the Israelites before God took him home to heaven. He is telling them the time has come for them to leave the wilderness where they had been stuck for 40 years and enter the promised land. There is always an element of fear and discouragement possible when we are moved from where we are to where the Lord is leading us. Moses’ words remind God’s people that the Lord is going ahead of them to make sure they are protected and blessed. It is very similar to God’s words to Cyrus in Isaiah 45:2, “I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron”. What’s jaw-droppingly remarkable about those words is that God gave them 200 years before Cyrus was born! The Lord’s providence and purpose for us, His detailed care for every aspect of our lives and being is not something that He is making up as we go along and adjusting to circumstances as they occur but He has already foreseen our path and ordered our steps long before we take them. His will and purposes were irrevocably established before the world was created. When He says that He will go before us He is not talking about a step or two ahead but His plans have already decreed our destination. In our age, we’ve seen the technology of GPS and now, self-driving vehicles come to pass. Such things have come a long way since people used the stars and the position of the sun and moon to determine their course. But take courage and have faith that long before we learned to use stars as our navigational aids, our lives were in the hands of God before we were born. Oh, that we could but trust Him completely as a small child trusts a loving parent and believe that all things will forever work for our good because He loves us and He cannot fail us. In trials, times of uncertainty, moments of difficulty and fear, the Lord goes before us. The Lord leaves nothing to chance and He has never missed a detail concerning us. He goes before us and He will be with us. He makes the crooked places straight and He breaks in pieces the gates and bars of iron that the enemy would use to stop us. Because He can not fail, we can not fail.
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June 10, 2023
Psalms 130:3-4 “If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared”
The meaning here is that if the Lord kept a strict record of our every sin, every thought, word, action, and purpose that was against His will, no one would escape His judgment. This shows the foolishness of those who would have us believe we can live in such a way that we are sinless enough for God to pardon us for our well-behaved lives. The purpose of God is not that He can take pleasure in judging us for our sinfulness but that He can show mercy and pardon. The Bible says in 2 Peter 3:9, that He, “is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance”. God wants to forgive us, He wants to wash away all our sins, and He wants us to live forever with Him. That’s the point of it all. He is not reluctantly forgiving us, making us beg for mercy, and then holding salvation over our heads as if at any time He’ll take it away for our slightest wobble. Let’s read again the words of Micah 7:18, “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy”. He delights to show us mercy. Any other view of God is a serious error fabricated from our own twisted, depraved, and evil thoughts of how and why mercy and forgiveness should be given. The Almighty God is not willing that any should perish but that all should turn from sin and come to Him. Such love and mercy cause us to see the Lord with deep reverence and a humbled heart. We fear Him not because we are afraid of Him but in the sense that such compassion is beyond our understanding and it is clearly like nothing humans can show. Not only does the Lord not mark, or keep a detailed record of our sins but He removes any remembrance of them completely from His mind. He said in Hebrews 8:12, “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more” and again in Hebrews 10:17, “And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more”.
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June 9, 2023
Hebrews 10:24-25 “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 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”
These verses are a call for us to encourage each other. And we need that now more than ever because we are in very discouraging times. When we look at the keywords and phrases such as “consider one another”, and “provoke unto love and to good works” where the word provoke means to strongly encourage, and “exhorting one another” which means to come alongside another person to help them, we have our mission clearly spelled out: we are God’s messengers of encouragement. Even when we assemble which we know is usually seen as a time to worship and praise the Lord, there is also the underlying truth that such times should serve as times of encouragement for us all. Acts 4:36 tells us about the call of Barnabas, one of the powerful preachers of the early church. His given name was Joses but he was nicknamed Barnabas which means “the son of consolation” meaning “the son of encouragement”. What a wonderful way for people to see us as someone who brings encouragement. Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:13, “Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine”. Again, the element of encouragement is included as exhortation along with studying the Word of God and following its doctrines. There are some people that you dread to see coming because they’re like a cloud of gloom and doom. They always point out what’s wrong with everything and everyone. They’re against some political party, they can’t see anything good in anything around them. Even the tone of their voice is sharp, confrontational, and alarming. May our prayer be that God will fill us with the desire to encourage people. May He give us words to speak that build them up, words that bless them, and cause them to have faith in our God who will never fail them or forsake them. May we be people of kindness, people who have sweet, humble spirits, and people who see the good in others and not always their faults and failures. When we meet together, may we be Christ-centered and not sin-centered, and may we come alongside those who are struggling, sad, or discouraged and help them strengthen their faith. We will be disciples of encouragement.
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June 8, 2023
Colossians 1:12-13 “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son”
The phrase here, “hath made us meet” means God has qualified us, that He has equipped us and made us fully sufficient. It is part of His assurance that the work of salvation He performed in us is complete and lacks nothing. We can’t add anything to Christ’s finished work and no power on earth can disqualify us. Believers need this profound assurance because false teachers and our own unbelief sow thoughts of doubt that imply, we are lacking something that did not come with salvation or that we must do something else to remain saved. Or that there is some level of spirituality that God is holding back from us and we must beg Him for it or live holy enough to obtain it. Hogwash! Such teaching and such thoughts are the wicked leaven of unbelief that attacks the truth Christ alone saves and that He alone keeps us saved. He is the one that qualifies us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints. He alone is the One who has delivered us from the power of darkness and moved us into the kingdom of God. If we were the ones who had a part in qualifying ourselves, making ourselves fit for heaven then it would not be grace as the Bible says in Romans 11:6, “But if it be of works, then is it no more grace”. If you have some part, even a tiny part in your salvation, you can not say, “Jesus paid it all”. You must say “Jesus and I paid for it”. The cancerous error that we somehow have a part in qualifying ourselves, of making us fit for heaven was refuted by Galatians 3:3, “Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?”. The flesh here refers to our attempts at works of righteousness of which the Bible says in Isaiah 64:6, “and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags”. May we rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ that has qualified us, by grace through faith in His blood, believing that we are eternally fully accepted and fully sufficient, well pleasing to God.
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June 7, 2023
Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me”
The world, with its self-sufficiency, has a similar motto that says, “I can do all things”. Believers know the power to push through and be victorious is from the “through Christ which strengtheneth me” part. God sometimes chooses the weak, the most likely to fail, or the ones less qualified by human standards to do His will so that we can learn nothing is impossible with God and then He can be glorified in us. But no matter what is His purpose or the details of the circumstances, the truth still remains that through Jesus, nothing can stop us. Our Lord spoke of our having faith, as small as a mustard seed, that could move mountains. The smallness of man, that which is least honored and esteemed is what the Lord delights in to magnify. The scriptures are filled with accounts of miracles done at the hands of people who were the most unlikely to do them. Shepherds, farmers, fishermen, and unknown average people did what kings and princes could not do because the mighty hand of God was upon them. And not just mighty acts but some did the impossible in other ways as the Bible says in Hebrews 11:36-37, “And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented”. They fulfilled their destiny on this earth in ways that were only possible through the power of the Lord. The enemy always points out our weaknesses and he is correct because we are dirt-made, fallible creatures. What he doesn’t want us to do is rise up in faith with the confidence that through Christ we are more than conquerors. He doesn’t want us to believe that a child of God on their knees, crying out to God, is more powerful than any device of the enemy. God confounds the mighty as He works through our weaknesses. Our imperfections are His empty canvass upon which He paints a masterpiece of His grace and power. He begins with just a lump of clay on His potter’s wheel and when He finishes, we are a vessel of honor for Him. May our words today be, “I can do it because Jesus is with me”. We will run this race with patience, looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.
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June 6, 2023
John 14:23 “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him”
When we love Jesus, we follow Him, walking and living according to His teachings. The Lord is not talking about the ten commandments and their exposition in over 600 related commandments which were given to the Jews by Moses, but He is referring to the way He taught us to live in the gospels. And all that Christ taught us are a part of His great commandment He gave us in John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another”. The scriptures tell us further that if we say we love the Lord and yet do not love one another, we are liars because it is impossible to love God while hating someone (1 John 4:20). This is the work of the Holy Spirit in us, leading us to follow the way of love which the law and the prophets could never accomplish. All who think they can be justified by keeping portions of the law (and it is always portions because no one except Jesus Christ has fully kept the law and satisfied God’s demands in it) entirely miss God’s purpose in sending Jesus Christ His Son to die for us. We are not following over 600 laws or any set of laws for that matter. We are following one man, Jesus, and imitating Him as His disciples. We are not following the Lutherans, the Baptists, the Pentecostals, or the Pope. We do not follow the Buddhists, the Mormons, or any other religion, cult, or spiritual guru. When Jesus called His disciples, He didn’t say, “Follow Moses, follow the law, or follow your religious leaders. He said, “Follow me”. If we love Him, we will follow Him and live by His words. It’s important to know here that the word “keep” is not a command to obey which some try to use to bring people into some set of laws or commandments. But is the Greek word “tereo” which means to pay close attention to, to treasure, and to attend to carefully. May we listen carefully to Christ’s teachings, may the Holy Spirit bring them to our minds, and may He empower us to walk in the footsteps of Jesus.
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June 5, 2023
John 4:13-14 “Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life”
The City of Johnson City says our city water is clean and safely drinkable. And it might be except it smells terrible and tastes worse. I can’t hardly bring myself to brush my teeth with it let alone drink it. My wife and I sat at the Sam’s Club café Saturday having some pizza and watching buggy after buggy go by with cases of bottled water because people don’t like to drink tap water and it’s also more convenient to carry a bottle of water with you in case you get thirsty. It always reminds me of Lamentations 5:4, “We have drunken our water for money”. Today’s verses are about the Samaritan woman Jesus met at the well. She needed water from the well to quench her natural thirst but her greatest thirst, one which five marriages and her present state of cohabitation could not satisfy, was something only Jesus could fill. As we might carry a bottle of water with us for our natural thirst, so our Lord promised salvation is a well of water within that will satisfy our spiritual thirst, our craving for something to make us whole. Have you ever been really thirsty? Maybe you were working outside or walking until your body cried out for water. The very cells of which we are made need an abundance of water to survive. Likewise, those longings within us, the desires that drive us to look for happiness and contentment are from our need for the water of life that only Jesus Christ can give. We try to satiate that thirst with the things of this world, pleasures, sex, drugs, and alcohol but the thirst is never satisfied. When Christ comes in, when the Holy Spirit makes His home within us only then can we drink the water that our Lord promised will forever take away our thirst. Isaiah cried out in Isaiah 55:1, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters”. The Word of God is calling us today to turn to the Lord because only Jesus can satisfy as the scripture says in Psalms 107:9, “For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness”. See the picture of when you are extremely thirsty and you drink a bottle of water in almost one gulp and know that when we drink deeply of the water of life the fullness of the Holy Spirit will make us whole.
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June 4, 2023
Luke 18:1 “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint”
The parable mentioned here is where a woman kept going to a judge, asking him to resolve a situation for her and, at first, he wouldn’t but she kept coming. After a while, he answered her request. Even though he was not a God-fearing man he answered her because of her persistence. The parable is not saying we get answers from God because we pester Him but that we should learn from the woman’s faithfulness to keep asking. She was perhaps tempted many times to give up and resign herself that the judge was not going to help her but she pressed through her disappointments and doubts and kept going to him and asking. The Lord will always answer our prayers even if He says “No” to a particular request. One man said when he was a little boy his dad loved him dearly and always gave him an answer when he asked for things. When he asked for a bicycle, he said “Yes”. But when he asked him for a shotgun, he said “No”. Getting a “No” from God is because He loves us and knows what’s best for us. We should never let the fear of getting “No” for an answer stop us from praying because the Lord’s ears are always open to our prayers and He is always ready to give us the desires of our hearts when those desires are for our benefit. He is telling us to keep praying even though we don’t see the answer right away. The answer will come in God’s timing. He knows we are prone to faint, a word here that means to give up, to get worn out, and to lose heart. When we first begin praying for something, we are full of faith and hope and we may pray earnestly and faithfully. But in time and after many prayers our faith can become weak and we start losing sight of the answer we’ve been hoping for. Then is the time to double down, turn our eyes upon Jesus, bring our fleshly unbelief in subjection to God’s promises, and pray as we have never prayed before with mounting expectation that God will never fail us. That wayward child or grandchild is not out of God’s reach. That impossible situation we’re in is not impossible to God. That need we have that is beyond our ability is easy for God to meet. Keep trusting, keep hoping, and keep praying.
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June 3, 2023
1 Corinthians 15:53-54 “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory”
God’s ultimate plan for us can be seen in the Lord’s words in Matthew 13:43, “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father”. What a glorious hope! What a wonderful conclusion to all we endure in this life with the threat of death always hanging over our heads! I like to emphasize the word “must” in today’s verse, “For this corruptible MUST put on incorruption, and this mortal MUST put on immortality”. It has to happen. Verse 50 says, “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God”. In order for God’s purpose to be fulfilled we must be changed from mortal beings to immortal ones. Death will be swallowed up in victory and this will happen either at the appearing of Jesus Christ or when we die. Believers have no reason to fear death. We may dread the method of death for sometimes it is through suffering and pain we enter God’s eternity. But the death of this mortal body is an unspeakable blessing because it frees us from all that keeps us from the presence of the Lord. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:6, “Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord” and goes on to say that we would, “rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord”. The mystery of our immortality and what we will be like and what the realm we will live in will be like is not clear to us as the Bible says in 1 John 3:2, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be”. The scripture goes on to say, “but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is”. Our best days down here, where we feel great, have no worries and enjoy every moment of the day cannot be compared to the moment we drop this mortal body and enter the kingdom of our Father immortal, incorruptible, and eternally glorious. Halleluiah and all praise to the King of Kings!
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June 2, 2023
Matthew 13:24-26 “Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also”
Our Lord warns us in this parable that there is an enemy of the truth that works to counterfeit what God does. The good seed here is the Word of God and it produces genuine fruit be it born-again believers or patterns and instructions that are true and pleasing to God. The tare seed, known as “bearded darnel”, looks like a wheat seed and when it sprouts appears almost identical to the wheat plant. Its roots intertwine those of the wheat and the crop looks like a mixed-up mess of ruin. This is a picture of all we call Christendom and, on the surface, much that is religious yet counterfeit, speaks about God, and even invokes the name of Jesus Christ and looks the same as if it is of the good seed of truth. Churches are built, ministers appear, Bibles and other writings are presented, and we are led to believe they are evidence that God is working and the truth is being declared. Those involved have all the appearance and status that would seem to convince that they can be trusted, that they are handling the Word of God and represent the Lord. But they are fake. For our part as saved believers, should we fight to rip out all the false religions calling themselves Christian from the true church? Our Lord answered in verse 29, “Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them”. He said, “Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn”. Our duty is to keep sowing the good seed, keep encouraging each other in the faith, keep doing what is right, keep resisting the influence of evil, and leave the judgment in the hands of God. He will separate the wheat from the tares and He has a final destination for both.
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June 1, 2023
John 6:9 “There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?”
If you grew up in church, by the time you were an adult you probably heard many references to the miracle of Jesus feeding thousands of people with a little boy’s lunch of five barley loaves, and two small fish. The lunch was representative of what poor people would eat, barley being the cheapest and coarsest type of grain and fish plentiful and inexpensive there on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. The Lord didn’t exchange what they had for the gourmet food of the rich and famous but the point is, that it was what was available. The size of the loaves, most people believe akin to the modern pita bread, and the fish similar to small trout, didn’t matter at all because Jesus took what was there and used it for the glory of God and a blessing for the people. We have to hear it over and over because we will latch on to its message and believe that nothing is impossible with God and then before long our unbelief will try to crowd out our faith and we start thinking things like, “We don’t have enough”, “it’s not going to work out”, and “there’s no answer to my dilemma”. And it doesn’t seem to matter how old we get, how much Bible we read and know, and how many experiences we’ve had where we’ve seen the mighty hand of God move on our behalf, we still need this message repeated and reinforced: God can not fail, He does the impossible, and He is always doing what is right and for our good. The truth is, He doesn’t even need the five loaves and two fish because He’s already shown He can rain down manna from heaven, six days a week, for forty years, and feed millions of people without failing a single day. He’s already shown that in the middle of a wilderness desert where there is no water, He can bring water out of a rock and sustain missions of people and all their livestock for 40 years. May our minds go back to that day when five loaves and two small fish were more than enough because there were leftovers and may we trust that same Jesus that He will sustain us, supply all our needs, and not only so but that He will bless us with more than enough.
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