March 31, 2024
Luke 24:5-8 “And as they (the women who came to the tomb) were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they (the angels) said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words”
All of Christianity hangs on the words, “He is not here, but is risen”. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15:17, “And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins”. When Jesus died, it was late in the evening and His body had been hastily wrapped in cloth by Nicodemus and a man called Joseph of Arimathea and placed in the tomb. The Roman soldiers then rolled the massive stone over the entrance of the tomb and sealed it with an official seal. The soldiers then stood watch at the tomb to ensure no one stole the body of the Savior. That early Easter morning when the group of women journeyed to the tomb with spices to give the Lord’s body a proper burial, they were discussing how they could move the huge stone to get to the body. The Bible says in Mark 16:3, “And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?”. When they arrived, they found the stone had been rolled away, the guards were gone, and so was the body of Jesus. Today’s verses tell us that the angels proclaimed the resurrection of Jesus and that it had been just as He had promised. Our hope of eternal life rests on the foundation of the fact that Jesus was dead but arose from the dead in a glorified body. When the scriptures say that we were crucified with Him and raised with Him, they are speaking of God’s plan of salvation that allows Christ, by proxy, to represent us just as Adam, by proxy, represented us in the beginning. In God’s plan, we died, were buried, and arose as new creations. Along with the imputed obedient life of Christ, His death, and resurrection, the Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead now lives in us and He gives new life to our mortal bodies. It’s time for us to dig into God’s Word and understand that what happened to Jesus that first Easter weekend happened to us simultaneously. He is alive forever more and we also are alive forever more!
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March 30, 2024
Luke 23:42-43 “And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise”
The dying thief, crucified beside Jesus, asked for mercy and received it. We don’t know how much he knew about the Lord but we know from his words he believed Jesus to be a King because he asked to be remembered when the Lord came to His throne of power. Perhaps he was able to read the words described in John 19:19, “And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS”. But we also know the Lord heard his request and promised they would be together in paradise. The word “paradise” was used in the Greek language to describe a beautiful place of enclosed gardens with trees and a flowing river, similar to the description of the Garden of Eden. For all those who believe salvation comes to us as a result of our good deeds and holy living, the salvation of this man shoots a hole in that theology. Many have scoffed at people who get saved late in life or who ask God for salvation in their dying moments mockingly calling such experiences “deathbed conversions” and doubting their reality. But God hears the cry of those who place their trust in Jesus and He makes no difference between the faith of a little child and that of an aged sinner who asks to be saved. The question comes to mind: How could Jesus, in the pitiful, suffering, and bleeding state He was in have the presence of mind to focus His attention on others? He thought of his mother and her future and asked John to take care of her. He had compassion for those who crucified Him and cried out to God to forgive them. And here He is, doing what he came to do, save people, as he shows grace and mercy to a thief dying beside Him. It brings to mind the lyrics of the hymn, “What a Savior is Mine”: “There, on the cross, where He died for my sin, Oh, what a Savior is mine! Giving His life a poor wand’rer to win, Oh, what a Savior is mine!”. This Easter weekend, we rejoice that Jesus died to save us, wretched and undeserving as we are and we find our example in this story of the salvation of the dying thief.
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March 29, 2024
Matthew 27:38-40 “Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left. And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross”
On this Good Friday, we commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus our Lord. With all the four gospels, what stands out besides the incomprehensible suffering of our Savior was the sheer callousness of those who surrounded the cross as He was dying. The Bible says in verse 26, “And sitting down they watched him there”. The soldiers watched as part of their duty and others like the priests and religious leaders along with those passing by all mocked the Savior, making fun of His ministry and His preaching. Emmanuel, God in a human body, hung there naked and beaten to a pulp while the very people He created and loved more than they could imagine made fun of Him. The word “reviled” means to blaspheme. Luke recorded Jesus’ response to them in Luke 23:34, “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do”. How can we understand such love and compassion? How can we listen to His Words and then walk away as if they have no meaning? But so many people do, just as cold and heartless as the people that day around the cross as they mocked our Lord. What kind of people could delight in the torture and death of an innocent man, one who blessed them, healed them, the one who spoke Words of mercy and truth? It would be one thing to ignore Him but to hate Him, demand His death, and then laugh and jeer as He died? The startling fact is that they are us. We and our sins called for His death, despised His Words, and made fun of His suffering. We swung the hammer and drove the nails. Good Friday is long over and done but what happened that day changed us all forever. For us who have believed the gospel record of the cross and the empty tomb, we have abundant life because of what our Savior did. For those who long for love and life yet reject Jesus, they’re turning away from love so incredible that words can’t describe it. Love hung on the cross and love was raised from the dead because the Bible declares in 1 John 4:8, “God is love”.
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March 28, 2024
Romans 8:1-2 “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death”
The word condemnation here means judged and found guilty. We could summarize verse one as God will never judge and find guilty those who belong to Jesus Christ. Maybe we sometimes forget that Jesus resisted every temptation, avoided every pitfall and trap set by the devil, and never once succumbed to even the smallest sin. So, God never judged Him and found Him guilty of anything. His record was completely perfect and that record has been imputed to us. Since God does not condemn Jesus, He does not and will not condemn us. Some have twisted the words, “who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit” trying to make them a conditional statement. But they simply describe the nature of the new creation the Lord made when He gave us the new birth. If we make the phrase conditional then none of us would ever escape condemnation because none of us always walk in the Spirit while we are in this flesh. There is a bondage that holds some believers back from enjoying their freedom of salvation because they are always reminding themselves of their sins and mistakes. The enemy also is there, whispering to them about their imperfections and they think God also is remembering the same. But today’s verses tell us we have been set free from the law of sin and death because the Spirit of life broke the chains and liberated us. The old laws that once placed demands on us that we could never completely obey have been replaced by a new law, the law of the Holy Spirit. That law is that we trust in Jesus, the only one who ever kept all the old laws. His obedience is now seen by the Almighty God as our obedience. We are uncondemned and free. When we worship this Easter weekend, remembering the suffering of our Savior, the excruciating pain of the crucifixion, and the glorious resurrection, we do so remembering that God purposed all those things so that His Son could do for us what we could not do for ourselves. We will not listen to the lies of the enemy who wants to make us think we are responsible for saving ourselves, obeying the law, and appeasing the wrath of God through our efforts. The devil wants us to see ourselves as condemned as if Jesus didn’t pay it all. But praise God He is risen and we are not condemned!
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March 27, 2024
1 Corinthians 15:54-55 “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. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”
Verse 54 looks back to Isaiah 25:8, “He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it”. The glorious thought is that we change from corruptible to incorruptible and from mortality to immortality. The specter of death always looms over the living and has since the day Adam fell and dragged the entire human race down with him. The joy of our children’s birth is overshadowed by the fear of death the first time they have a fever or show signs of illness. But the resurrection of Jesus from the dead changed it all and where death carried a sting, that has been taken away forever. The sting of death is that when this life is over, those who die without Jesus Christ as their Savior must appear before the white throne judgment of Almighty God and give an account for all their sins. And then, to pay for their sins all souls will be cast into the lake of fire which is the second death. This is the ultimate meaning of the first part of Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death”. No matter how hard we fight to stay healthy and strong, without the hope of the glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ the grave is the victor. But the second half of Romans 6:23 declares, “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”. The sting of death has been destroyed by the sinless, perfect life of Jesus that has been imputed to us on His cross. The victory of the grave has been defeated by the victory of Christ’s resurrection. When we were crucified with Him on the cross, buried with Him in the tomb, and raised back to life with Him in the resurrection, then as Jesus Christ is risen and alive forever more so are we! He is the One with the power of an endless life and as He is, so are we in this world (1 John 4:17). Death has no sting and the grave has no victory for the children of God.
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March 26, 2024
John 17:20-21 “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me”
St John 17 is the prayer that Jesus prayed before He went to the Garden of Gethsemane where he was arrested. Some have called this prayer the prayer of our great High Priest because it is a prayer of intercession for the disciples and for all of us who believe. As we begin this week before Easter, the words of our Lord are especially dear in today’s verses because they are a plea to the Father that believers would be unified. His prayer is that we would be one as He and the Father were united. He sees His church rising above all the things that tend to separate people, race, color, ethnicity, social class, age, economic differences, and anything else that divides people. When we study this prayer, called “The Great Prayer”, we understand that the Lord’s desire for unity, oneness, is an important thing to Him and it is no wonder that the enemy has schemed through the ages to destroy the very thing the Lord longed for. In Matthew 18:20, the Lord said, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them”. The reality is that often when two or three are gathered they are divided, suspicious, jealous, and self-righteous. And yet, despite our differences and the diversity of our ministries and callings, we must believe that the prayers of Jesus were answered and that we are one in our love for Him, our love for the lost, and our desire to see God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Sometimes what we see as the lack of unity is contradictions between the wheat and the tares and not disunity within the body of Christ. We have God’s Word on His desire for the unity of His family in Psalms 133:1, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”. It is expressed in Ephesians 4:3-6, “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all”. Let’s re-read this prayer Jesus prayed and ask the Lord to fulfill His will in us and unite us around the cross of Christ.
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March 25, 2024
Isaiah 12:2 “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation”
When I had my third-year follow-up CT scan in October, marking three years since I had a cancerous tumor removed from my throat along with my vocal cords, It took me by a bit of surprise when they said the cancer had returned and was inoperable because of it’s location in my neck. They sent me for a PET scan and sure enough, the tumor showed lit up along with a spot in my colon. The Doctors decided to treat the tumor in my neck first and concentrate on the colon afterward. I finished up the radiation in December and the chemo in January and went for a follow-up PET scan on Tuesday last week and on Friday, they told me the throat tumor had “disappeared”. However, the spot on my colon is still lighting up. I can’t tell all my family and friends who have prayed for me, requested prayer, and put me on their church’s prayer lists how grateful I am for their prayers and support. Praise the Lord, He answers our prayers and honors His Word. As many of you know who have gone through radiation and Chemo, one or the other or both as I did, it is a difficult time especially dealing with all the side effects. But for believers, we know the Lord is with us in the fire and He sustains us when we are weak. The throat tumor is gone and I am slowly getting my strength back, back to walking a couple of miles a day, and as soon as they remove the feeding tube this week, back to working out in the gym a bit. The next hurdle is to have the mass in my colon, about the size of a peanut, examined and I know the Lord will be with me in this phase of the journey. Today’s verse declares our salvation is God. Doctors and hospitals have their place but the creator and sustainer of life is the Lord. When we belong to Him, and trust in Him and His Word, we have no reason to fear because life and death are in His hands. There’s a point in our journey when we know we have no control over our lives but we must trust that they are in the palm of His hands that we can quit fearing whether we live or die and just trust the Lord. He is our strength and song. My wife and I appreciate your prayers and we promise to pray for you.
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March 24, 2024
Psalms 51:1-3 “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me”
King David wrote these words after he made a big mess with Bathsheba including having her husband murdered. When we read about all he did including the premeditated plan to murder Uriah, we might think he went too far and that God would never forgive him. But David knew more about the Lord’s ways than we do even though in David’s life God’s revelation of love in Jesus Christ was hundreds of years in the future. David prayed a bold prayer here and it is captured for us in the Bible as the Word of God. Instead of running away from God and saying, “Well, there’s no hope for me because I’ve sinned beyond the Lord’s willingness to forgive”, he came before the Lord and began his prayer for forgiveness by calling on God to show him mercy from the storehouse of God’s multitude of tender mercies. David understood that the Lord forgives us even when we have a hard time forgiving ourselves and each other. It is hard to grasp how the Lord would call David a man after His own heart and pledge a promise to David in 2 Samuel 7:16, “And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever”. Twice in one verse, God gives His promise covenant that the lineage and throne of David would never cease. The Bible calls Jesus the son of David in Matthew 1:1, “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” and the angel gave this promise to Mary when he announced she would bear the Christ: Luke 1:31-33 “And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end”. David’s sin, as hideous and grotesque as it might seem, could not stop his destiny. God has a plan for our sins and that is to forgive them, wash us clean, and set us upright and holy as though we had never sinned. Salvation is of the Lord (Jonah 2:9).
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March 23, 2024
Mark 14:72 “And the second time the cock crew. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon, he wept”
All four writers of the gospels tell the story of Peter’s denial of Jesus. It was something Peter had determined before the fact that he would never do. The Bible says in Mark 14:29-31, “But Peter said unto him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I. And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. But he spake the more vehemently, If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise. Likewise also said they all”. But the fear of people and the pressure of certain situations can be a powerful force against us and when Peter was face to face with those who were identifying him with the Lord, his resolve to remain loyal to Christ crumbled. But before we fault Peter for his fear and subsequent failure, let’s remember that perhaps we also have failed the test of allegiance to God. It’s easy to bear witness to the Lord when we’re safe inside a church and surrounded by people who are believers. It’s easy to join in the singing and worship, bow our heads to pray, and show reverence for the name of Christ. But when we’re surrounded by an unbelieving world or in a place that’s far from a church house, there is often a fear or hesitation to boldly declare that we belong to Jesus Christ. When the conversation around us turns off-color or people begin to take the name of God in vain, it takes great resolve to distance ourselves from the crowd. The name of Jesus Christ is not welcome in many places and when we bear His name and associate with Him, our Lord reminds us in Luke 6:22, “Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake”. Thank God Peter’s story didn’t end with His denial of Jesus. Traditional history tells us he died a martyr’s death, choosing to be crucified upside down because he said he was unworthy to be crucified like Jesus.
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March 22, 2024
Psalms 38:22 “Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation”
We talk a lot about the need for patience, submitting ourselves to God’s will, and waiting for Him to work things for our good. The scriptures witness and teach this in places like Hebrews 10:36, “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise” and in Psalms 27:14, “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD” where the word wait appears twice as if to assure us our part is to stop being restless while the Lord does things in His own time. But today’s verse gives us a prayer to pray where we ask the Lord to help us quickly. “Make haste to help me”. It is not a contradiction because we can be resolved to wait upon the Lord while knowing and trusting that He is able to do things quicker than we expect. When Peter was walking on the water and began to sink the Bible says in Matthew 14:31. “And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him”. In Mark 1:40 a leper came to Jesus asking to be healed and Jesus said, “Be thou clean”. The Scripture says in verse 42, “And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed”. When we are believing God for an answer to our prayers, we can remember the words of Jeremiah 1:12, “Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it”. He is watching over His Word and the Scriptures tell us in 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness” where the word “slack” means to delay, to be slow, or to hold back. It’s a wonderful thing when God moves quickly and it’s not unbiblical to ask Him to do so. But it’s also a blessing and a time of growing when we must wait and walk through the trial or valley while He works things for our good and His glory. But at least eight times in Psalms, David, a man after God’s own heart, prayed for the Lord to act quickly: Psalms 40:13, 40:17, 70:1, 71:12, 141:1, 143:7 and here in 38:22.
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March 21, 2024
Titus 2:7-8 “In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you”
When people do woodworking, make clothing, do arts and crafts, and a lot of other things, they often use patterns they follow to get the results they want. Recipes and instructions for cooking are types of patterns that sometimes become family heritages and are passed down through generations. Several times the Bible tells us the Lord spoke to Moses when the Tabernacle was being built and reminded him to follow the pattern God gave to him on the mountain when He gave instructions for the Tabernacle. When David was planning the temple that his son Solomon built, in 1 Chronicles 28:19, the Bible tells us the Lord came to him and confirmed the pattern to use for the construction of certain aspects of the temple. Today’s verse tells us that we are to be a pattern to others, a good example, of a life lived to follow the Lord. We all have patterns in our lives and if we were to plot our movements and travels, record the words and phrases we say, and write down what we think about we would discover that we do most things repeatedly. Even the way we walk, our gait, is a pattern of who we are. The scriptures here are calling us to live good lives and do good things. We are to make sure that what we believe about the Lord and the things of God are true, honest, and uncorrupted. When we speak, we should speak words that are clean, clear, and accurate so that what we say is unblameable. When we live following a pattern that honors God, those who oppose us have very little they can truthfully use as ammunition against. It doesn’t mean they will not falsely accuse us as they did our Savior, but what we’re talking about is living our life with integrity. We represent the King of Kings and when we bear the title, “Christian”, it literally means, Christ-like, one who follows the ways of Christ. The Bible says we are the salt and light of the world and as people often say, we might be the only Bible people around us ever read. We all make mistakes but our mistakes do not define who we are. We receive God’s forgiveness, get up, and keep living lives that are good patterns.
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March 20, 2024
John 18:10 “Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus”
Luke 22:51 “And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him”
This took place in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus was arrested. Peter, a fisherman by trade and not a soldier or warrior, swings a sword and chops off the right ear of the high priest’s servant. We can understand his anger and fear and his desire to strike out at those who came to arrest the Savior because it’s a natural human emotion. Sometimes when the assault against God, the ways of God, and the people of God are severe and relentless, we might feel like we want to pick up swords, sticks, guns, and whatever else is handy and punch the world in the face. But Jesus answered with the words, “Suffer ye thus far” which loosely translated in today’s familiar English, amounts to something like, “Stop! No more of this!”. And then the Lord healed the man’s ear. There was a purpose in everything that happened to Jesus including His betrayal and arrest and it had to run its course as God had planned it. The call of God on Peter’s life was not to fight back the world with an iron sword. But as Acts 2 shows us it was to take up the sword of the Holy Spirit which is the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17) and pierce the hearts of those who heard the gospel. It’s really very silly when we look at it. Peter the former fisherman, who along with the other disciples could not stay awake for an hour and pray while Jesus was agonizing in the garden, was then ready, by himself, to take on a group of trained, hardened professional soldiers. And all he could manage to do was swing his sword and cut off an ear. Some have said it’s a miracle from God that the soldiers didn’t immediately hack Peter into a hundred pieces. Praise God for the betrayal and arrest of Jesus! Praise God for the trial and suffering of our Savior! Praise God for the crucifixion of the Christ! And, praise God for the empty tomb that held His body for three days! It was all the plan and purpose of God to demonstrate His love for us and to bring us the gift of salvation.
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March 19, 2024
John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid”
It is tormenting to live in fear and yet for much of the world, that’s the way people live. In our normal news sources, we see very little factual news from other countries, and some of them like North Korea, keep information about their people silenced. What we do know is that crime, brutality, violence against women and children, and the sum of societal messes leave people with very little peace and a lot of fear. But it’s not just people in other countries, it’s here in America and that’s not God’s plan for His creation. The Bible says that Jesus is the Prince of Peace and He promised a special kind of peace, a kind that the world cannot give. The scriptures tell us in Philippians 4:7, “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”. Our Lord tells us to not give in to things that trouble our hearts and overcome us with fear. One way we can do that is to hear more of God’s Word and less of the clatter of the world. When we are assured and certain that God is with us and we claim His promises such as Psalms 5:12, “For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield”, then we are taking steps forward, walking in truth and walking away from the world’s message of fear. Fear comes when we start thinking things are out of control, that we are vulnerable to the enemy, that hope is taken away, and that we will be overtaken by evil. That is the theme of the world’s view of life. Without the light of Jesus Christ, all that’s left is the despair of sin and the curse. But praise God, Jesus has delivered us from the curse, and in Him, we are safe, confident, and blessed. He gives us peace, the mind of Christ, the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, and He assures us that it is well with our souls. We walk deeper and deeper in His love and the Bible says in 1 John 4:18 that His perfect love drives out the fear.
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March 18, 2024
Psalms 68:19 “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah”
Daily benefits. That’s the theme of this verse and it reminds us we have nothing to complain about but everything to be thankful for. After all, the life of a believer is a daily walk as our Lord declared in Luke 9:23, “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me”. The past is behind us with its blessings and its trials and like the Israelites who received their manna day by day, we cannot live on yesterday’s blessings or change yesterday’s trials by worrying about them. God’s provisions for us are daily as prayed in the Lord’s prayer, give us this day our daily bread. The Bible says in Psalms 118:24, “This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” and it encourages us to consider the Lord’s daily benefits starting each day with new mercy and with the promise that every moment of the day the Lord is with us, sustaining us, blessing us, and directing our steps. It’s a wonderful way to start each day as soon as our eyes open in the morning by declaring it’s the day the Lord has made and we take our stand on faith that no matter what comes, we will rejoice and be glad. Many people see themselves and their lives as loaded down with trouble. They talk about their “bad luck”, they say, “I can’t get any breaks”, and they live with the expectation of failure and disappointments. But God’s people know a better way to see life and that is one loaded down with benefits, showered with favor, filled with new daily mercy, and with the expectation that all things are going to work for their good. Not just a few little blessings here and there but blessings over us, ahead of us, under us, and behind us. Blessings in the past, in the future, and loaded down with daily benefits and blessings. Blessed be the Lord! Those words mean, “Thanks to God” and “Praise the Lord”! When people ask us: “How’s it going?”, we can say, “I’m loaded down…with God’s benefits.
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March 17, 2024
Luke 23:18-21 “And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas: (Who for a certain sedition made in the city, and for murder, was cast into prison.) Pilate therefore, willing to release Jesus, spake again to them. But they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him
We would think that any community would want people who are honest, peaceful, kind, compassionate, and who help others especially those who are sick and suffering. Common sense would tell us that people who riot, rob, and murder should be locked away in jail. But that is not the way it was with the crowd that demanded that Jesus be crucified. It didn’t matter to them that He had brought the light of truth into their communities, had relieved so many people and families by healing multitudes of sick people, and had proved that God loved them and wanted them to have peace and a better future. When it came to choosing which prisoner they wanted to be set free, they screamed for Barabbas, a robber, a leader of riots, and a murderer. Perhaps they thought Barabbas was on their side and was trying to lead an uprising to set them free from the Roman Empire. But if that was the case, why would they want the death of Jesus? All He was doing was making them well, bringing joy, and the good news that God hadn’t forgotten them and was preparing a future for them that was blessed beyond their wildest dreams. Their heart was revealed in that they were not interested in living God’s way and they rejected anything God had for them including His only begotten Son. They wanted religion, not salvation God’s way. They wanted the ceremony and ritual of the law rather than the freedom Christ offered. It’s not much different from many today who choose anything and everything except for Jesus Christ. The “people’s choice” when it comes to choosing to follow Jesus Christ and the ways of God or the ways of the world can be seen in the mess all around us. The fallout and chaos, the dysfunction of families, the upheavals in society, and the mass confusion in areas of morality and societal norms are a product of those who choose to walk away from God’s offer of an abundant life in Jesus Christ. Like the Jews of Christ’s day, choosing Barabbas means we are stuck in our bondage, still in the chains of sin, and doomed to destruction.
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March 16, 2024
John 10:27-30 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one”
These verses are some of the most powerful in the Bible in giving us the assurance of how eternally safe we are with God. Every believer should know them and use them whenever doubts arise about how secure we are in our salvation or whenever the enemy tries to make us think that God might for some reason, cast us aside as if we’d never been saved. Sometimes we say that God has us in the palm of His hand and that is the primary meaning of these verses. God didn’t just choose us for His team and set us aside while He goes about His business of being God. He is holding us safe and sound as the scriptures tell us in Isaiah 41:13, “For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee”. Those who teach God might cast us aside also teach that our salvation depends upon our efforts to maintain it and that we are responsible for making sure we stay saved. There is already a natural air of uncertainty in us because of our weakness of unbelief. So, when we are led to believe that what Jesus did on the cross did not eternally save us and seal us, it robs us of the joy and peace our Lord bought for us with His precious blood. The gift of God is not potentially eternal life depending on our obedience but it is eternal, never-ending, never failing, blood-bought, we can’t lose it, Jesus paid it all, hell-proof, and devil can’t take it eternal life. Jesus knows us, we know Him, we will never perish, and no one can pull us out of God’s hand. The enemy would love for us to spend our days on this earth uncertain of whether or not we’re saved and missing the blessings that come when we know God loves us eternally, saved us eternally, and nothing can ever change that. When we trust in Jesus and know and believe that we are safe in God’s hands we can live in full assurance of faith (Hebrews 10:22).
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March 15, 2024
Matthew 26:21-22 “And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I?”
When Jesus and His disciples were eating their final meal together, the Passover Supper, the Lord told them that one of them would betray Him. Except for Judas, none of the disciples had considered such a possibility. All eleven of them were taken by sadness and surprise at the Lord’s statement and they each began to question his own possibility of such a horrendous and disgraceful act. We wonder why they didn’t begin proclaiming, “I would never do that” and then perhaps questioning some of their fellows. Yet they teach us a lesson here that each of us should realize our weakness and the possibility that we might succumb to some temptation and sin that we never thought about. In the words of the old hymn, “Not my brother, not my sister, but it’s me, O Lord, Standin’ in the need of prayer”. The enemy knows how to set traps for us and twist the truth as the Bible gives an example Matthew 24:24, “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect”. None of us are so spiritually high and mighty that we are immune to the lures of this world, the whispers of our flesh, and the devices of the enemy. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10:12, “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall”. It is a good thing to pattern after the disciples in this matter and always look within ourselves and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal our hearts. He knows us better than we know ourselves and is always ready to show us the right way to walk. He gives us warnings and wisdom to follow the Lord in truth and His job is to bring the Word of God to our minds for use when we need it. The Bible says in John 14:26, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you”. Remember the disciples’ question, “Lord, is it I?”.
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March 14, 2024
1 John 3:5,8 “And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. (8) He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil”
Easter Sunday will soon be here and we will look back across time to that weekend when Jesus suffered, was crucified, and rose again. Sadly, many people do not recognize Easter because they follow other religions that do not have a Savior and do not have a way to heaven. And then, there are many people who acknowledge Easter but they have little or no understanding of what it means. The two verses above give us a summary of what the life of Jesus Christ was all about and they answer the question as to why He left Heaven’s glory, became a man, and died on the cross. The first reason is that the sinless Son of God came was to take away our sins. He didn’t just neutralize them, minimize them, or rename them as something more politically correct and less harsh. He did away with them. The words, “Take away” means: to take away from another what is his or what is committed to him, to carry away and cause to cease to exist. We can rejoice at Easter and every other day because Jesus took away our sins and caused them to cease to exist. The second reason given here for Christ’s coming to the earth was to destroy the works of the devil. Sin is associated with the devil and the word “destroy” here means to loosen a person or a thing that is bound as if by chains, to break the authority, to set free as if from prison. Jesus came to break every chain of the devil, every prison he has made to hold people captive and destroy every trap he has set for our demise. All that is associated with the curse caused by sin will be destroyed and new life, freedom, and hope will prevail. Concerning the devil himself, we look forward to that day described in Revelation 20:10, “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever”.
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March 13, 2024
Psalms 32:7 “Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance”
In the midst of his troubles, in Job 14:1, Job described this life as such: “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble”. Trouble on the job, trouble in the home, trouble in our bodies, and trouble with the things we own. That’s why we buy car insurance, homeowners’ insurance, and health insurance. We hope we never need it but experience has taught us it’s better safe than sorry. Nowadays, many times when you buy something they ask you at the checkout if you want to buy an extended warranty. If it’s something like an expensive TV, it might make sense because when they cause trouble, most people just throw them away rather than try to get them fixed. But no matter what troubles come our way, believers have the assurance that we have a hiding place in times of trouble. It’s not something, it’s a person. The scriptures tell us here, “Thou art my hiding place”. The Bible calls the Lord a lot of things that picture a safe place in trouble. He is a shield, a strong rock, a fortress, a covert, a mighty fortress, high ground in a flood, a shelter, and here, a hiding place. The words hiding place refer to somewhere that covers us and is secret and safe. Such a place is spoken of in Psalms 27:5, “For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock” and in Psalms 31:20, “Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues”. One scripture that tells us that God is able to hide His people from trouble is Jeremiah 36:26, “But the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet: but the LORD hid them”. While in this life, trouble may be inevitable but the Lord will never abandon us to just do the best we can. He is faithful and gives us His promise in Psalms 50:15, “And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me”.
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March 12, 2024
Psalms 32:5 “I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin”.
God’s will for us is to live honest and open lives before Him and that includes willfully confessing our sins. We tend to hide our wrongs and attempt to cover them up. When Adam and Eve sinned against the Lord, they tried to cover the result of their sin by sewing fig leaves together to make clothes and when the Lord came seeking them, they ran away and hid. You’d think we would know that when we try to cover our sins or deny them, that it just sets us up for more trouble. But in today’s verse, the Psalmist says he acknowledged his sin and the word acknowledged means to own up to, to know and understand, and to declare. We can not move forward until we deal with our wrongs and this is especially true when our sins involve others. The willingness to confess our sins should be made easier knowing the Lord is always ready to forgive us. And in the big picture, He already has dealt with all our sins on the cross. As the Bible says here, we must come to a place where we say, “I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord”. We have the wonderful promise of 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”. Confession does not earn God’s forgiveness; we receive that from the Lord because He offers it as a gift. Confession clears the air between us and the Lord and it helps us to have a clear conscience. A clear conscience helps us because we know when we pray, we can pray with the full assurance of faith. That doesn’t mean the Lord shuts us off when we’re in a time of trial but on our part, when we have a clear conscience, our faith is stronger and the Lord honors faith. It also prepares us to deal with others who do us wrong and we learn from God that as He is willing to forgive us, we also are willing to forgive other people.
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March 11, 2024
Hebrews 9:11-12 “But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us”
In Old Testament times, anyone wanting the mercy and forgiveness of God had to come to Him and offer a sacrifice of animal blood. The story of Cain and Able tells us how Able offered an animal sacrifice and was accepted by the Lord but Cain offered fruit and vegetables which God would not accept. When God gave the Law, every year the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled on the lid of the ark of the covenant on a spot called the mercy seat and the Lord had mercy on Israel. The Bible says in Hebrews 9:22, “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission (Forgiveness)”. When Jesus came, God’s plan to show mercy and forgive sins was through the Son of God. Where before animal sacrifices were the way of mercy now the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is the only way to have mercy and the complete forgiveness of sins. The Bible says in 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”. The way of salvation before the law and the way of salvation by the law have all been fulfilled in Jesus Christ as today’s verses tell us. He offered His own blood in the presence of God to obtain eternal salvation for us. Now God accepts only the blood of Jesus as a payment for our sins. Nothing else. No works we can do, no religious teachings other than salvation in Jesus Christ alone, and no other sacrifice or payment for sins will be accepted. The unbelief of mankind is such that no matter how many times this truth is declared and no matter how clearly it is presented, people will not believe it. The world is filled with religions, churches, and religious people teaching everything except Christ alone plus nothing minus nothing. But there is still only one covering for sins, one sacrifice that will forgive them forever: The blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin.
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March 10, 2024
Luke 19:41 “And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it”
This verse records one of three times the Bible speaks of Jesus crying. One, the shortest verse in the Bible John 11:35, “Jesus wept”, was at the tomb of Lazarus and our Lord was groaning within Himself as Mary and others were crying. Even though Jesus knew that He was there to raise Lazarus from the dead, He was not pitiless or dismissive of the agony death causes. Jesus identifies with our human condition and our pain when the people we love die and He knows our sorrow when we are overcome by grief. When we come to the throne of grace in our times of need, it is comforting to know the Lord hears our cries and understands us. In compassion and mercy, He is ready to help. Then the Bible records today’s verse and tells us our Lord was moved to tears as He considered the future of Jerusalem and the people He came to save. Despite His willingness to be their Savior, they rejected Him and as He looked ahead at their future and saw their destruction by the Romans followed by many centuries of pain, disgrace, and sorrow, He cried. Even to this day, the Jews are despised and are suffering the fulfillment of their words of Matthew 27:25, “Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children”. When we hear many people of the world shouting today for the destruction of Israel, it is the same cry against God’s people that has reverberated through the ages: “Death to the Jews”. When we hear it, may we remember the tears of our Lord, shed long ago for people He loved. And then we have the words of Hebrews 5:7, “Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared”. It tells of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, crying as He faced suffering and His death on the cross. He was not crying to be delivered from what lay ahead of Him but crying that He would be completely surrendered to His Father’s will. His struggle to completely obey God’s will means He completely understands our struggle to live as God desires. Whenever temptations or trials make us think no one understands, remember the tears of our Lord as He battled within Himself until His sweat became as great drops of blood. Jesus understands.
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March 9, 2024
Song of Solomon 2:11-13 “For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle(dove) is heard in our land; The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away”
These verses speak to us of the arrival of spring and all the beauty and hope it brings. The chill of winter winds gives way to warmer breezes and the days get longer and brighter. It is a time of rebirth, a time when all that looked dead and dark starts blooming with color and that special spring shade of bright light green. It’s in this season when the Dogwoods, Redbuds, and early flowering bushes and flowers are so beautiful that we celebrate Easter and focus our attention on the death, burial, and resurrection of our Savior. He endured the darkness and pain of His betrayal, arrest, trial, suffering, and horrible death but His story wasn’t over when they buried Him. We are reminded that the tomb couldn’t keep Him and He is risen forevermore. He conquered death, hell, and the grave and has appeared in the presence of God on our behalf. His invitation to us is given poetically in the above verse, “Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away”. He calls us to Himself, to the security and safety of His presence. We are welcome and wanted by the Creator of all things and with the invitation comes the hope of eternal life, blessings beyond imagination, and a home in a land where there’s no more sorrow, pain, suffering, or death. When Jesus suffered, bled, and died, we were there with Him. The Bible says in 1 Peter 2:24, “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed”. Galatians 2:20 says, “I am crucified with Christ” and Romans 6:6, “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin”. The winter is past and death and sorrow have given way to new life in Christ. It’s time to rejoice, to sing and celebrate, and to declare Romans 6:4, “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life”.
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March 8, 2024
Luke 17:5 “And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith”
It is interesting that the disciples made this request to the Lord, not after seeing Him perform a great miracle, but after He told them how they were to repeatedly and continually forgive people who’d done them wrong. We usually think of needing more faith when we are believing God for something we’re praying about or when we’re waiting on a deliverance from a trial or a healing. But the disciples here were looking within themselves and recognizing they did not have the capacity to follow the Lord’s Words about forgiveness. It’s especially true when other people cause so much pain and anger and stir us to get revenge, get even, and hold grudges. And then, when we try to forgive, they counter it by doing us dirty again. It takes faith to believe the Lord is seeing all that is happening and that He is the one who will set the record straight. The worse and more prolonged the offense, the greater faith we need to wait on the Lord to help us. Forgiveness is something we learn from God and of all His dealings with us, it is the one thing that should amaze us, how He forgives us over and over and never holds our past offenses against us. He forgives us of the same things again and again even after we’ve declared we will never do those things again. His mercy to us is renewed every morning and the sum of all Jesus came to do on this earth revolves around His power to forgive even though we don’t deserve it and we do not have a way to pay Him back. The depth of sin He is willing to forgive is beyond our understanding and when we know we are being called to follow in His steps to forgive others, it will make us pray like the disciples, “Lord, increase my faith”. Faith tells us the Lord will cover us with protection and that He will deal with those who do us wrong. Faith tells us He knows every heart and every intent and that He knows how to set the record straight far better than we do. Faith tells us the Lord also loves the people who are doing us wrong and if they are not saved, He desires that above all else and wants us to love them and desire their salvation.
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March 7, 2024
2 Timothy 1:11-12 “Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day”
When Paul wrote these words to the young preacher Timothy, he wrote them from a prison cell where he had been imprisoned for the second time in Rome in a cold, cave-like hole in the ground with an opening at the top where food was dropped to him. He was reminding Timothy he was praying for him and this epistle was his words of encouragement to the young man. And, as they are recorded in the Holy Bible, they speak to us today as the inspired Word of God. In today’s verses, Paul does not say, “I know what I have believed” or “I’ll tell you my opinion and what I think”. He says, “For I know whom I have believed” and he’s not talking about preachers, religious leaders, popes, and church doctrines. He is talking about Jesus Christ and he identifies himself in verse 1, “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God”. Much of the confusion between various denominations and church traditions is from people believing in things that other people say and they follow those teachings as if they were from the mouth of God. And some of the people they follow claim to be speaking on behalf of God as if they have some special divine appointment. It’s all a bunch of hogwash wrapped up in ceremonies and routines, complete with symbols, artifacts, traditions, and religious pomp. Paul goes on to say he was, “persuaded that he (Jesus) is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day”. Who was keeping him secure and safe? Not the church, not the church traditions, not his own abilities, not some professing “guardian of the faith”, and not someone claiming to be acting on behalf of God. Jesus is the One he trusted and Jesus was the One keeping that which was committed to Him. Our life, our soul, our future, and our hope are in the hands of the Son of God and He is the One that called us to Himself, saved us by His grace, and is keeping us by His power.
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March 6, 2024
Romans 11:2-4 “God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal”
In Elijah’s day, the news was all about Baal, how King Ahab and Queen Jezebel were worshiping Baal, temples and altars to the false god were everywhere, and the nation had gone off the cliff of idolatry. Elijah, even though he was a powerful miracle-working man of God, saw all the signs of widespread idolatry and mistakenly assumed he was the only person left in the nation who was living for God. In today’s verses, the Bible says he even made intercession against his own people Israel because of their sin. But the Lord answered him that not everyone was aboard the Baal train and that God had set apart seven thousand people who were worshipping the true God of Israel. We sometimes hear the news and all the sins that are embedded in our nation and feel like there are just a handful of people who are saved and following the Lord. Hearing and seeing the apostasy from coast to coast can make us discouraged and like Elijah, we might feel like there’s a target on our backs. But just like the days of Elijah, the Lord has people everywhere around the world, even in places where the gospel is forbidden. People who believe in Jesus and follow Him. In fact, God doesn’t need a lot of people to get His work done. He almost always uses a few so that He gets the glory. Remember how He kept telling Gideon that he had too many soldiers to fight a battle and to send most of them home? The way of faith in Jesus Christ is not being stamped out by the world and God’s people are still alive, still more than conquerors, and the Holy Spirit is still within us keeping us sealed to the day when Jesus comes. People are still getting saved, the cross is still being preached, and there will always be hope because the God of hope is still on heaven’s throne.
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March 5, 2024
Psalms 77:11-12 “I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings”
There are some things we should forget. The Bible says in Philippians 3:13-14, “This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus”. Things that hold us back from God’s best, sins and mistakes that God has forgiven, wrongs others have done to us, and anything else that reminds us of hurt, sorrow, and of the ways of the world should be forgotten. Remembering such things will only bring the pain and regrets of the past to ruin our joy of the present. But today’s verses tell us there are things we should remember and not only remember but meditate on. The things God has done, the wonderous miracles He has performed, should be a part of our thinking. In ancient times, when the Lord would do a great thing, people would build an altar or make a pile of rocks to mark the place as a way of remembering what the Lord did. They would use those markers to teach their children about what God did for them and their testimonies would pass into the oral history of their families. We spend so much time and energy remembering junk that has no value and being anxious about the past we can’t change that we do not keep the wonderful works of the Lord on our minds and we do not meditate on how He delivered us, came to our rescue, answered prayers, and changed our lives. It’s as if the enemy steals those memories and replaces them with thoughts of failures, past disappointments, and times of sorrow. All the Biblical accounts of how the Lord intervened on behalf of His people should be a part of what we think about and meditate on because they tell us of His great power and give us faith and hope that He will do the same for us. And, all the things the Lord has done for us and our families should be a constant part of what we think about and what we talk about. What a better way to live than living under the shadow of failure and disappointments and what a better way to talk when we praise the Lord for His goodness and His promise that the best is yet to come.
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March 4, 2024
John 5:25-26 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself”
Nothing or no one gave life to God the Father, He has life within Himself and when the Son of God, Jesus was born, His life was as God the Father. The Bible says in John 1:4, “In him was life; and the life was the light of men”. In today’s verses, Jesus was teaching that the life He gives is eternal life and He declared in verse 24, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life”. That life began to work in people as they heard the Lord speak hence the phrase, “The hour is coming, and now is”. Jesus said when we hear His Word and believe, we pass from death to life. The power of the Word of the Lord to raise the dead was seen at least 3 times in the Lord’s earthly ministry. To Jairus’ daughter in Mark 5:42, Jesus said, “Damsel, I say unto thee, arise”. In Luke 7:14, to the young man being carried to his burial spot at the city of Nain Jesus said, “Young man, I say unto thee, Arise”. At the tomb of Lazarus in John 11:43, “He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go”. But death takes on a different meaning when we consider that because of sin, we are already dead and declared dead by the Lord. We are quickened, made alive by the power of the Word of God as the Lord said in verse 21, “For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will”. Jesus said in John 6:63, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life”. We do not have to wait until the resurrection of the dead to have eternal life, we already have it because the hour has come and now is.
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March 3, 2024
John 16:24 “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full”
Jesus spoke these words before He was crucified and they were first given to His disciples but we have them now as the inspired, infallible Word of God. Our Lord didn’t suffer and die an excruciating death to have us walk around moping, complaining, discouraged, weak, and filled with pessimism. Our testimony is not, “Woe is me, I’m just a poor, helpless, and pitiful victim of my life and its circumstances”. God’s will for us is to be filled with joy, strong in the faith, and walking in the truth that sets us free. Free from what? Free from sin, free from defeat, free from anxiety, and free from fear. We are free from the clutches of this world and free to live as victors as God’s Word declares in 2 Corinthians 2:14, “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ” and in Romans 8:37, “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us”. Sure, trouble comes, disappointments happen, and life shoves us until we wind up on our knees. But that’s not the end of our story! Jesus came to fill us with joy. The joy of salvation, the joy of hope, and the expectation that God is working all things for our good. The Joy that the Lord is always with us, hearing our prayers, and making our crooked places straight. Sometimes it might look like we’re trapped with no way out but God is bigger than all our problems and there’s nothing too hard for Him. He is the God that works the impossible, helps the helpless, and delights in showing mercy and grace. He forgives the unforgivable, rescues the hopeless, and keeps His children safe in His love. He gave us His Word, His eternal promises as declared in 1 John 1:4, “And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full”. He invites us repeatedly to “Ask, and ye shall receive” and what He says, He means. Just as we want our children to be happy, contented, and full of joy and opportunity, our Heavenly Father wants us to enjoy blessed lives filled with His joy and peace. Song of Solomon 2:3, “I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste”.
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March 2, 2024
2 Corinthians 6:14 “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?”
This verse looks back to Deuteronomy 22:10, “Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together” to establish a principle for Christian relationships. The idea is that two animals of different kinds cannot cooperate in plowing because of their differences in temperament, size, gait, and so on. We most often use this verse to warn against marriage between believers and unbelievers but the meaning is far greater than that and tells us that believers and unbelievers are of completely different worlds. When we become partners with the world and its influences and world-views of this life, we can lose our bearings for the cause of Christ. A similar verse that speaks to this is 2 Timothy 2:4, “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier”. And, it is warfare because this world is opposed to the things of God, and by the Holy Spirit and the new birth, we are set apart for the glory of God. Jesus set us free and all that is in the world including the world’s religious systems and denominations are traps to rob us of our liberty. Even what seems to be something good for us, like the legalism of the law, is not God’s will for us as given in 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”. Notice again the use of the word “yoke”, describing something laid upon us to take away our freedoms and bring us under the bondage of the world, the flesh, and the devil. The Lord wants us free to live a life that honors Him, one that is filled with joy, peace, and hope and when we align ourselves in any way to this world and its ways, we are out of fellowship with the Lord and the things of God. God’s promise to us is in 2 Corinthians 6:17, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you”. The “them” here refers to the unbelievers of verse 14 and is a picture of the life we live which is in the world but not of the world. We are not called to join with the unbelieving crowd and become influenced by them, but to love them as Jesus does but remain separated as He was (Hebrews 7:26).
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March 1, 2024
Ezra 3:11 “And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the LORD; because he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid”
After 70 years of exile in Babylon, Ezra and a group of Jews returned to Israel and began the arduous job of rebuilding the temple. There may have been times during their exile when it seemed they would never again live in Israel and that Jerusalem and the temple would never be rebuilt. But the Lord had not forgotten His promises to His people and when the time was right, God set things in motion that caused the nation to return to their land and rebuild their wall, Jerusalem, their other cities, and the temple. When people get off course, stumble, fall in their faith, and end up in a bad place, it might seem like they will never get back to a place where they are again walking close to the Lord. Like the prodigal son, when they end up in the pig pen, it might seem they’ve blown it so badly that they’ll never be restored. We might give up on them and they might give up on themselves but the Lord is a God of restoration, a God that delights in mercy. He is able to deliver us from every trap the enemy sets, every mistake we might make, and every situation we find ourselves in and He can rebuild what was torn down, restore what seems too far gone, and heal what seems to be hopeless. In today’s verse, they celebrated not because the Temple was completely rebuilt but because they laid the foundation, the first step in rebuilding. We should take the time to celebrate every victory, no matter how small it might seem when fallen people begin their return to the things of the Lord. Every step in the right direction is something to shout about. When a wayward child begins to look again at their home and from where they have departed, shout for joy because it’s a step of hope. When people return to the house of God after long absences, it’s time to praise the Lord because they are again seeing their need for the things of God. Sometimes the hardest part is taking the first step and laying the foundation was a testimony that the years of exile were ending and a new day was beginning.
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