Prewired for Hope

	For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God's people, which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News.

— Colossians 1:4–5

Did you know that you were prewired for hope? There is a restlessness in the human heart for something more than this world can offer.

As Augustine said, "You created us for Yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You."

As believers, our hope is built on a sure foundation, and that is the hope of heaven. The apostle Paul spoke of faith that springs from this hope: "For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God's people, which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven" (Colossians 1:4).

It is a bit like the Golden Plovers. Native to Hawaii, these little birds migrate during the summer to the Aleutian Isles, some 1,200 miles away. There they mate and lay their eggs. Then, after their little fledglings are born, they return to Hawaii. Even more amazing is that their little fledglings, which are too young to return with their parents, fly to Hawaii once they have grown a little. God has given them a homing instinct that makes this possible.

In the same way, God has given us a homing instinct for a place we have never been. We have never been to heaven, but we long for it, because heaven is our home. C. S. Lewis calls it the inconsolable longing. This is what the Bible means when it says that God has set eternity in our hearts (see Ecclesiastes 3:11). Like the Golden Plovers, we have a heavenly GPS.

A NEW RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN JESUS AND MARY

Hi everyone....is your relationship with Jesus such that you can receive His rebuke without taking offense or crawling into a corner?  Can you respond to His truth-even a hard truth-by adjusting your life to His right way of thinking and then continuing to serve Him as faithfully as before?

A NEW RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN JESUS AND MARY

John 2:3-5  When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no more wine."  And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does that have to do with us?  My hour has not yet come."  His mother said to the servants, "Whatever Hesays to you, do it."

Returning to the wedding at Cana we come across a major crisis-the wine ran out because the supply was insufficient.  this potential embarrassment for the couple and their families could have stigmatized them for the rest of their lives.  Mary was apparently helping to oversee the catering of the celebration and became aware of this serious problem.  She anxiously said to Jesus, "They have no wine."

Jesus abruptly reply, "Woman, what does that have to do with us?" signaled a major change in their relationship.  It was an idiomatic expression that asks rhetorically what the two parties in question have in common, and has the effect of distancing them.  By calling Mary, "Woman" 9a polite, but not intimate, form of address instead of "Mother', Jesus politely but firmly informed her that their relationship was no longer to be what it had been while He was growing up.  His public ministry has begun, and earthly relationships would not direct His actions.  Mary way to relate to Him no longer as her son but as her Messiah, the Son of God, her Savior.

Undeterred by the mild rebuke, and aware that He was not saying no to the request, Mary said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."  Mary shows us how we should respond to the Lord.

more to come...have a restful weekend and a good worship!

WHO IS THE LAMB OF GOD?

Hi everyone...we know that our sin, though dealt with ultimately and eternally, continues to be a problem for us to face and address.  Are you surprised at the strength and tenacity it still wields within you?  How do you go about quieting its ferocious appetite and considering yourself dead to it (see Rom. 6:11).

WHO IS THE LAMB OF GOD?

John 1:29-30  The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!  This is He on behalf of whom I said, "After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me."

On the day after he spoke to the delegation, John "saw Jesus coming to him."  In keeping with his role as a herald, John immediately called the crowd's attention to Him, exclaiming "Behold, the Lamb of God."

The concept of a sacrificial Lamb was a familiar one to the Jewish people.  All through Israel's history, God had revealed clearly that sin and separation from Him could be removed only by blood sacrifices (Lev. 17:11).  They were also aware that Isaiah's prophesy likened  Messiah to "a lamb that is led to slaughter" (Isaiah 53:7).  Though Israel sought a Messiah who would be a prophet, king, and conqueror, God had to send them a Lamb.  And He did.

The title "Lamb of God" foreshadows Jesus' ultimate sacrifice of the cross for "the sin of the world."  With that brief statement John made it clear that the Messiah had come to deal with sin.  The Old Testament is filled with the reality that the problem is sin-a problem at the heart of every person (Jer. 17:9).  All men are sinful and incapable of changing the future or the present, or of repaying God for the sins of the past.

So who is the Lamb of God?  He is Jesus, the only One who has the remedy to your sin problem.

more to come...

have a restful weekend and a good worship!

THE APOSTLES CHOSEN TO HAVE AN IMPACT

Hi, everyone – Are your words and expressions of faith pointing others to Christ? Are they reflective of His distinct power and the presence of His Holy Spirit within you? If you sense yourself burning low in the power tank, where do you think the leak is occurring? Be sure what you do points to Christ.

THE APOSTLES CHOSEN TO HAVE AN IMPACT

Matt. 10:1: Jesus . . . gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.

Jesus granted the twelve disciples God’s divine authority to do exactly what He Himself had been doing. To do the kinds of works Jesus did would demonstrate they were sent by Him, just as what He did demonstrated He was sent by the Father. The book of Acts catalogs the very works Jesus gave them the authority to accomplish.

The apostles cast out many unclean spirits and healed every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. Peter and John healed a lame man at the Beautiful Gate of the temple (Acts 3:2-8). Their ministry became widespread: “At the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people . . . Also the people from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing people who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all being healed” (Acts 5:12, 16). To the man in Lystra “who had no strength in his feet, lame from his mother’s womb, who had never walked,” Paul said, “’Stand upright on your feet.’ And he leaped up and began to walk” (Acts 14:8, 10).

The apostles manifested the kind of kingdom power that their Lord had manifested, and by their faithful obedience they turned Jerusalem and then the world upside down (Acts 17:6). Jesus promised they would do even “greater works” than His (in extent, not power), and His words began to be fulfilled.

More to come . . .

THE APOSTLES SOVEREIGNLY COMMISSIONED

Hi, everyone – Have you routinely thought of God’s calling on your life as having this kind of urgency, intention and purpose? Are there other priorities that are siphoning off the importance you should be placing on the tasks God has called you to accomplish in His service?

THE APOSTLES SOVEREIGNLY COMMISSIONED

Matt. 10:1A: Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority.

When Jesus summoned His twelve disciples, He was making more than a casual request. The word Matthew used is an intense term that means to call someone to oneself in order to confront him face-to-face. It is used of God’s calling the Gentiles to Himself through the gospel (Acts 2:39) and of His calling His chosen men and entrusting them to proclaim the gospel (Acts 13:2; 16:10). The vocabulary implies that this summoning was connected to an official commissioning to the Lord’s service.

Behind Jesus’ commissioning and training of the twelve disciples are several foundational facts. First, these men were chosen sovereignly by God. None of the twelve initiated the idea of following Jesus and becoming His disciples, much less His apostles. It was entirely God’s planning and doing. Mark tells us that Jesus “summoned those whom He Himself wanted” (Mark 3:13), and near the end of His earthly ministry Jesus reminded them, “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you” (John 15:16).

The men themselves were not consulted nor were any other men. Jesus’ only consultation was with His heavenly Father. Like Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah and all the prophets, the twelve disciples were chosen by God’s sovereign will and for His sovereign purpose, being foreordained to His service before the foundation of the world. That has always been God’s way. He divinely chose Israel. He divinely chose His prophets and His apostles, and He divinely chooses those today who become the leaders of His own Body, the church.

JESUS MEETS BLIND MEN’S NEEDS

Hi, everyone – Test the strength of your concern for others’ spiritual state. Is it as strong as it should be? Does your grief over their lost condition extend to your active pursuit of their repentance and trust in Jesus? What would it take to fan the flames of your evangelistic passion?

JESUS MEETS BLIND MEN’S NEEDS

Matt. 9:28-30A: The blind men came up to Him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” Then He touched their eyes, saying, “It shall be done to you according to your faith.” And their eyes were opened.

Sometimes at conversion, the Lord wants sinners to give a more public profession of their trust in Him, in keeping with Paul’s teaching, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9) This was the kind of confession Jesus drew out of the blind men, and it testified to the eyewitnesses of what He requires for salvation. “Yes” indicated they believed He could do what they requested of Him, and “Lord” set forth their faith that He was the promised Messiah and coming Savior, who was now in their midst.

The men’s testimony proved that their understanding of Jesus was biblical, unlike many misguided and insincere followers. It distinguished them from those who thought Jesus was only a military and political deliverer, those who believed Jesus was merely a competent and charismatic human leader. Their confession emphasized that Christ was primarily a spiritual leader, whose first concern was saving people from their sins. Though His compassion for physical suffering was genuine, it was far greater for lost souls.

Jesus prompted the blind men to openly confess their faith in Him, not so much for curing their physical blindness but for the sake of their spiritual sight. They acknowledged Him as Son of David and came asking Him for spiritual mercy and salvation, and thus they received a gift far greater than simple restoration of their eyes.

More to come…

THE BLIND MEN REACH OUT

Hi, everyone – How much of your everyday conversation is taken up with what the Lord has done for you? Is it because you’re trying to be sensitive to the unsaved around you? Or is it more because you just haven’t thought about it that much?

THE BLIND MEN REACH OUT

Matt. 9:30B-31: Jesus sternly warned them: “See that no one knows about this!” But they went out and spread the news about Him throughout all that land.

Usually believers need to say more, not less, about the gospel of Jesus Christ. But here our Lord had definite reasons for commanding the people to whom He had ministered most directly not to publicize what had occurred.

He did not forbid them from speaking simply because He did not want their specific healing made known or because He did not want His miracles in general to be proclaimed. The miracles were evidence of His deity and legitimate mission. Christ commanded silence because it was not time to widely publicize His messiahship, lest the news stir up premature opposition to Him or encourage revolutionary Jews to rally around Him as a political deliverer.

Jesus also did not want to overemphasize His miracles. While they were a key element of His ministry, they were not the primary reason for His incarnation. Many already were not understanding the miracles rightly: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled” (John 6:26).

Another reason why the Lord may not have wanted the men heralding His messiahship was because He wanted others, especially the Jews, to look to Scripture for the fulfillment of prophecy about the Messiah.

But in spite of Jesus’ command, the blind men still “went out and spread the news about Him.” This was disobedient of them and was the wrong response. However, it could not resist telling everyone of their miraculous deliverance.

More to come…Have a restful weekend and a good worship. My Grandma is very happy to be back home, and so are we!

CHRIST’S SAVING COMPASSION

Hi, everyone – Without already knowing Him, this is not what most of us would expect from the One who created the universe and continues to sustain it by His mere word. A God who cares? Worship Him today for this gracious quality of His.

CHRIST’S SAVING COMPASSION

Matt. 9:36: Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.

Jesus felt compassion for the crowds as only the Son of God could feel. It is among God’s attributes to love and care because “God is love” (1 John 4:8). The term for “felt compassion” literally refers to the intestines, and most often occurs in Scripture with the figurative reference to the emotions, the way we use “heart” today. But Jesus’ concern was not just symbolic. He no doubt physically felt the symptoms of genuine caring—ones such as aching and nausea when encountering the agony of people’s struggles with sin and hardship. In order to fulfill prophecy, “He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases” (Matt. 8:17).

Of course Jesus did not physically contract people’s diseases and infirmities. But in deep, heartfelt compassion and sympathy. He physically and emotionally suffered with all who approached Him for relief. He was not unlike the concerned father who becomes ill from worry about a desperately sick child, or for one in danger or difficulty.

After Jesus had been in a boat following the death of John the Baptist, crowds sought Him and He “felt compassion for them and healed their sick” (Matt. 14:14). Shortly after that, Jesus told the Twelve of His real concern for the masses who had no food on hand (15:30-32). But our Lord’s omniscience was an infinitely greater need in people’s lives—the profound, pervasive nature of their sin and their desperate plight of spiritual blindness and lostness. Of this horrific condition He was most compassionate of all.

EXAMPLES OF JESUS’ COMPASSION

Hi, everyone – What does Christ’s compassion inspire in you? How could you be more daring and deliberate about taking His heart with you into your world of need, touching others with the love and mercy of Jesus?

EXAMPLES OF JESUS’ COMPASSION

Matt. 9:36A: Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them.

Examples in the Gospels of Jesus’ compassion are notable. When He saw Mary and others weeping for the deceased Lazarus, “He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled” (John 11:33) and wept with them (v. 35). The phrase “deeply moved in spirit” connotes physical as well as emotional and spiritual anguish. As He saw Lazarus’ friends and family grieving, He entered into real crying with them.

When arrested in the garden, Christ was more concerned about the disciples than Himself: “If you [soldiers] seek Me, let these go their way” (John 18:8). While on the cross He still had concern for His mother: “He said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son!’” (19:26).

In one of His poignant expressions of deep compassion for others, Jesus lamented, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling” (Matt. 23:37; Luke 19:41-42).

Commenting on two familiar verses about Jesus’ compassion and sympathy (Heb. 4:15; 5:8), Paul Brand said,

A stupefying concept: God’s Son learning through His experiences on earth. Before taking on a body, God had no personal experience of physical pain or of the effect of rubbing against needy persons. But God dwelt among us and touched us, and His time spent here allows Him to more fully identify with our pain.

BEING A SHEPHERD

Hi, everyone – Begin to develop Jesus’ motive for ministry as your own. Take every opportunity to introduce others to the Great Shepherd.

Matt. 9:36B: They were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.

One of Jesus’ main motives for ministry was the knowledge of man’s lost condition. He saw the people He lived among in the reality of their need. He was moved by their diseases and sickness, and He healed every one of them (v. 35). But He was moved even more deeply by the deepest need that most of the multitude did not even know they had—to be freed from their bondage to sin. He saw their hearts, and He knew that inwardly “they were distressed and dispirited.”

Jesus saw the multitudes as being inwardly devastated by their sinful and hopeless condition. The idea behind “dispirited” is to be thrown down prostrate and utterly helpless. Jesus saw the dispirited multitudes as sheep without a shepherd to protect and care for them.

Those who claimed to be the shepherds of the multitudes were the scribes and Pharisees, yet it was those very shepherds who were largely responsible for the people’s confusion and hopelessness. The people were spiritually led by uncaring, unloving leaders who should have been meeting their spiritual needs. That’s why Jesus calls people “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 10:6)—God’s chosen people who had been left to perish.

More to come…

COMING HARVEST INCLUDES IMPENDING JUDGMENT

Hi, everyone – Think of the cost that sin has already extracted from you, here where God’s mercy is still available and the promise of His restorative forgiveness is actively in force. Imagine its cost on those who will be paying its price forever. Be sure that as you witness, you don’t minimize the cost sin brings.

COMING HARVEST INCLUDES IMPENDING JUDGMENT

Matt. 9:37B: The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

As Jesus changes the metaphor from shepherding to harvesting, He gives another motive for His ministry. He ministered because people face God’s final judgment.

Jesus ministered compassionately and tirelessly because He could see the ultimate consummation of divine judgment toward which every person was headed—every one in the multitudes who did not trust in Him. Paul said, “Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men” (2 Cor. 5:11).

In 2 Thessalonians, Paul paints a vivid picture of God’s judgment: “The Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (1:7-9).

It is easy to lose awareness of the imminence and the inevitability of God’s judgment, but the Christian who loses sight of that judgment loses a major portion of his motive for witnessing.

When Jesus saw the crowds, He taught them, preached to them, and healed them—all for the ultimate purpose that they might come to Him and escape the harvest of judgment they could not otherwise avoid.

More to come…

PS(Today is the day that I am posting ALOT of devotions to make up for the days I missed)

THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS’ FALSE SOLUTION

Hi, everyone –  Pray for my Grandma. She just got out of surgery on her hip. Now she is rehablitating. Your prayers mean alot to me and my family
Here is the Devotion for today.

You may not mean to do it, but does the gospel you present to others involve more requirements than Jesus Himself placed on it? Make sure the gospel you proclaim is all about lifting their burden of sin, not loading them with more than they’re carrying already.

THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS’ FALSE SOLUTION

Matt. 9:36B: They were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.

The scribes and Pharisees offered a religion that only added burdens instead of lifting them. For them, the common people were the object of disdain, not compassion; individuals to be exploited, not served. In that sense the scribes and Pharisees were true descendents of the false shepherds against whom the Lord called centuries earlier through Ezekiel (34:2-4).

Many religious leaders today are still endeavoring to keep people out of the kingdom by distorting and contradicting God’s Word and perverting the way of salvation. By telling people they are already saved because “a good God would never condemn anyone to hell,” they lead people to be content with themselves and see no need for repentance and salvation—thereby shutting tight the gracious door God has provided. Similarly, when people are told they can work their way into God’s favor by avoiding certain sins or by performing certain good deeds or participating in some prescribed ritual, they are likewise deceived and left in their lost condition.

How wonderfully refreshing it must have been to hear Jesus say, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30). What a contrast those words were from the teaching of the scribes and Pharisees.

More to come…

STUBBORN FURY AGAINST JESUS

Hi everyone....has anything occurred in your life lately to cause you to doubt God's goodness or feel unsure about His faithfulness?  Why is such  a conclusion always incorrect?  How can you guard against being subject to this kind of spiritual confusion?

STUBBORN FURY AGAINST JESUS
Matt. 9:3  And some of the scribes said to themselves, "This fellow blasphemes."

To charge someone with blasphemy was truly a serious statement for ones to make in the religious culture in which Jesus ministered.  But that was the outlandish accusation against Him brought by the scribes because they rejected His claim to forgive sins (Luke 5:21, Mark 2:7).  They knew that forgiveness comes only from God (Isa. 42:25, Mic. 7:18-19), but because they didn't believe Jesus was God's Son, they had to conclude He was blaspheming.

Unlike the paralytic and his friends, the scribes felt no need for forgiveness-they considered themselves already righteous.  They rejected Jesus' authority to forgive and further believed it wrong for someone simply to ask in faith that he or she be forgiven.  For the Jewish leaders, real forgiveness came only by self-righteous and legalistic efforts to earn it.

The scribes' furious apposition to Jesus was part of a growing pattern of persecution of Him by the establishment-a situation that led to His death.  The Jew themselves, ironically, were guilty of blaspheming  their Messiah when they accused Him of being satanic: "He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons" (Matt. 9:34).

Every miracle that proved who Jesus was served only to burden the hearts of the scribes and Pharisees and drive them further from belief and repentance.  We can thank God for His Spirit spared us from such a condition, and pray always that our hearts remain soft toward Him.

more to come...

JESUS VS. DEMONS

Hi everyone....seeing the demons so obviously in fear of Christ's domination should encourage us that He is more than able to handle any situation.  Have you been withholding a need from Him, not sure He cared or could do anything about it?  Bring it boldly to Him today.

JESUS VS. DEMONS
Matt. 8: 28-29  When He came to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, two men who were demon-possessed met Him....and they cried out, saying, "What business do we have with each other, Son of God?  Have you come here to torment us before the time?"

Demons can attack people mentally, physically, or spiritually, they oppose true religion, promote the false, and control the occult.  Intellectually, they advocate false ideologies, insanity, and masochism.  Our Lord always recognized demonized people as being victims of powers beyond their control and in need of deliverance, not condemnation or exhortation.

By calling Jesus "Son of God," the demons controlling the Gadarenes men showed they knew His true identity.  They recognized Him as their spiritual antagonist who had the full authority to destroy  them at will.  Their question "Have you come here to torment us before the time?" further recognized that there is a God-ordained schedule, not yet completed, when He will relegate them to eternal damnation.  As in other subjects, the demons had a correct doctrine of last things.  But such belief is mere recognition, not acceptance.  James reveals that even they tremble at the consequence of unbelief: "the demons also believe, and shudder" (James 2:19).

Demons despise everything about God and His Son.  Yet they can't do anything but pay Jesus the greatest deferential respect when in His presence.  That supports Paul's teaching that one day at the name of Christ, "every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:10-11).

more to come...

THE APOSTLES MARVEL AT JESUS' POWER

Hi everyone...pause long enough to marvel at the glory of your ever-present God.  Put your feelings of awe into words of worship.

THE APOSTLES MARVEL AT JESUS' POWER

Matt. 8:17  The men were amazed, and said, "What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?"

There are no realities more overwhelming than a glimpse of God's glory and the sense of His presence.  Such occurrences make it impossible to be utterly dumbfounded before Him.

The disciples realized after Christ stilled the storm that He indeed was God standing in their boat with them.  Peter displayed the same reaction of awe and terror when he briefly walked on water after his Lord did.  A storm surged up and caused Peter to panic.  When Jesus rescued the disciples and calmed the storm, all the disciples in the boat worshipped Him saying, "You are certainly God's Son.!"  (Matt. 14:33).  That is simply the proper reaction any believer should have when getting a first glimpse of the Lord's power in this world.

God's servants in Scripture had far more astounding encounters with His magnificence than we ever will, but their examples are instructive.  Daniel, for example, after beholding the Almighty, remarked, "No strength was left in me, for my natural color turned to a deathly pallor" (Dan. 10:8; Isa. 6:1, 5).  When the risen Christ halted Paul (Saul of Tarsus) on his way to Damascus, "he fell to the ground" (Acts 9:4).

Our daily dependence on God and sense of His presence should be no less important for us than for the prophets and apostles of old.  Isaac Watt's lyrics capture this concept well:

On thee each moment we depend,
If thou withdraw we die.
O may we ne'er that God offend,
Who is forever nigh.

more to come...

JESUS REBUKES THE FAITHLESS DISCIPLES

Hi everyone....when was the last time you despaired of life and safety, feeling as though there was no escape from your current situation without divine intervention?  In fact, how many of these has God allowed you to live through-and to see His capable deliverance?

JESUS REBUKES THE FAITHLESS DISCIPLES

Matt. 8:26A  Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?

Sometimes events seem so obvious to us, we wonder why others don't see the problems or difficulties just as clearly?  During the storm the disciples wondered two things: why Jesus could ask them what was so frightening, and how He could not be afraid Himself.  In the midst of chaos, any response seemed absurd.  They even accused Him of insensitivity: "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing? (Mark 4:38).

But Christ had to rebuke His men because their fear sprang from faithlessness.  He basically asked them, "Haven't you been with Me long enough to see what I can do and to know you are perfectly safe?  Even if you should drown, that would mean instant heaven.  There's nothing to worry about."  They should have remembered Psalm 89:8-9, "O Lord God of hosts, who is like You,  mighty Lord?  Your faithfulness also surrounds You.  You rule the swelling of the sea: when it's waves rise, You still them" (cf46:1-3; 107:23-30).

For the disciples, Jesus would literally fulfill the psalms.  And for believers today who are aware of His power and love, there is still no need to be afraid of anything.  God will see us through the most tumultuous of life's storms because He can and will take care of His children.

more to come....

Have a restful weekend and a good worship!

FAITH OUT OF DESPERATION

Hi everyone....what do we forget on ordinary days, times when we feel like we can manage well enough on our own without God's help or provision?  What would desperate faith look like on a typical, average day?

FAITH OUT OF DESPERATION

Matt 8:25-26A  And they came to Him saying, "Save us, Lord, we are perishing!"  He said to them, "Why are you afraid, you men of little faith."

Sometimes God has to bring us to a point of desperate need before He can get us to turn to Him.  That's what happened to the disciples when the storm was about to swamp their boat.  They had no other human solution for their emergency and had to come to Jesus with their need.  If He could cleanse the lepers and heal every other sort of disease, maybe He could control nature.

Even the greatest believers in redemptive history have wavered in their faith in their most difficult circumstances.  The psalmist asked, "Why do You stand afar off, O Lord?  Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble?" (Ps. 10:1; 44:22-23).  Isaiah even wondered why God seemed not able to help His people: "Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake as in the days of old; the generations of long ago" (Isa. 51:9).  Much like the disciples on the lake, the prophet could not see why God was asleep when His people were dying.

God wants people to turn to Him especially for salvation when it's a matter of spiritual life and death.  We can often get out of dire situations involving finances, health, or family relations without the Lord's direct intervention.  But when it comes to spiritual salvation, there is no other resource but God.  After we are saved, the Father still wants to hear from us-in that way we show we have not forgotten Him, even in desperate circumstances.

more to come...

RESPONSE TO THE GREATEST SERMON

Hi everyone...think back on the many lessons taken from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.  Which struck you with new force?  Which are your children in greatest need of hearing?  Don't let His Word grow quiet within you.

RESPONSE TO THE GREATEST SERMON

Matt. 7:28-29  "When Jesus had finished these words, the crowd were amazed at His teaching for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes."

The response to the best and most astounding preaching ever-the Sermon on the Mount-was itself very remarkable.  Likely some among our Lord's audience that day believed in Him for salvation.  But quite probably the number converted was small, affirming Jesus' assertion about the narrow gate.  "there are few who find it" (Matt. 7:14).

The verb translated "were amazed" means to be struck out of oneself, or to be beside oneself with astonishment.  The crowd utterly flabbergasted by the power, comprehensiveness, and extraordinary insight of Christ's words.  Never had people heard such a penetrating description of true righteousness or such a relentless condemnation of self-righteousness.

Even more remarkable is the way Jesus spoke with a power ("authority") that proved and reflected His sovereignty.  Unlike the Jewish teachers, who quoted the rabbis' words and additional sacred writings.  He quoted only Scripture and spoke as the final authority on truth.

The Sermon on the Mount is important for everyone to hear.  But the response to it must not conclude with mere amazement but real, saving faith.  If we have read it and meditated upon its instructions and imperatives, we also need to move from astonishment to obedience.  Such obedience entails moving from intellectual knowledge of the narrow gate and way to actually entering the gate by faith and following the way to eternal life.

more to come..

COST OF COMMITMENT

Hi everyone...are we guilty of trying to make Christian faith so attractive that we disguise its demands and difficulties?  What are the logical consequences of such a tactic on those who come to Christ without counting the cost?

Matt. 8:19-20   Then a scribe came and said to Him,  "Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go."  Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."

Superficially, Jesus' expression "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head" has nothing to do with the scribe's confident words.  In proverbial style He simply wanted to caution the man that even though He was God's Son, His ministry did not include comfortable living-He actually had fewer amenities than some animals.

Christ wanted the scribes to assess the sincerity of his assertion.  It's easy to make a bold, impressive profession of loyalty, especially if you don't first think about the cost of commitment.  Early in His ministry, our Lord knew that many did not have a genuine faith.  He "was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men....He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man" (John 2:24-25).  Many committed only to the thrill of following Jesus around and seeing miracles performed, not to His Person and saving works.  They were examples of the seed that had no root but fell away soon because of adversity (Matt. 13:5-6, 20-21).

Bible commentator R. C. Lenski once noted that people with eager but uncertain vows of allegiance to Christianity are like those who view "the soldiers on parade, the fine uniforms, and the glittering arms and [are] eager to join, forgetting the exhausting marches, the bloody battles, the grave, perhaps unmarked.

more to come...

JESUS CHRIST'S AMAZING MINISTRY

Hi everyone! Today is my Grandma Perla's Birthday! She is the one who writes the devotions I post. She is amazing and I LOVE her!!! Okay here's the devotion for today!

   

Think of all the things that are truly amazing about Christ.  If you were asked what you love the most about Him, what would you say?  You never want to be at a loss to share the specific ways He makes life distinctly abundant.

JESUS CHRIST'S AMAZING MINISTRY

Matt. 8:17  "This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet:  "He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases."

Even excluding the miraculous healings, Jesus' ministry was unprecedented and amazing.  "Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks" (John 7:46).  The man born blind, whom Jesus healed, told the Jewish leaders, "Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind.  If this man [Christ] were not from God, He could do nothing" (John 9:32-33).

When Jesus healed the paralytic, the onlookers "were awestruck, and glorified God" (Matt. 9:8), and after He expelled a demon they said, "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel" (v.33).  When He stood before Pilate, Jesus did not say a word in His own defense, "so the governor was quite amazed" (Matt. 27:14).

Everything about our Lord was astonishing, excellent, and humanly beyond explanation.  It is hard to understand how anyone who witnessed His preaching and miracles, or has even just read about Him in the gospels, can still refuse to accept and obey Him.  Some are drawn by His charisma and power, and they marvel at the things He taught and did, but they still take nothing to heart and don't believe.  Sometimes they are willing to call themselves Christians, but they need a commitment that is more than superficial- one that perseveres in faith to the end.

more to come...