Bible in One Year: 1 Kings 8-9; Luke 21:1-19
Saturday, April 30, 2022
The Spontaneity Of Love / Oswald Chambers
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The Church: God's Design / Charles Stanley
The Church: God's Design
When you hear the word "church," do you picture a little white building full of smiling people in fancy clothes? As lovely as that image may be, God's design for church is unrelated to it. He created the church to be a unified fellowship of believers who encourage each other and carry out His ministry to the world.
The Bible clearly defines the following as ministries of the church: worshiping the living God, instructing and edifying believers, making disciples of all nations, and serving the needy. Unless the leadership is careful, however, these purposes can all too easily get out of balance, with the unfortunate result that the body ends up malnourished. For example, a church with too heavy an emphasis on praise might become introverted. Congregations that overemphasize teaching could lose their joy, and those that evangelize to the neglect of the other areas could miss out on great faith.
Because of sin and human imperfection, we do not experience church as it was originally intended. Instead, there's a tendency to overstress certain ministry areas. What's more, divisive arguments--many of which concern minor issues, such as music preferences--too often destroy unity. Greed, pride, selfishness, and gossip can also tear a congregation apart.
Since they're composed of imperfect people, churches will be imperfect too. Though expecting anything else leads to disappointment, we should nonetheless strive for God's original design, continually measuring ourselves against Scripture and correcting course to realign with His purpose.
Have You Ever Accepted You? / Adrian Rogers
Have You Ever Accepted You?
Sermon: 2224 – Christ-like Love
Pray Over This
“And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Ponder This
Most of us have never really accepted ourselves. We’re still struggling and trying to make ourselves acceptable. But we can’t. Just accept by faith that God has accepted you and be at peace. That is real peace.
I hear people say you’re not supposed to love yourself. No, that’s wrong. You’re to love yourself. You’re not to love your faults. I’m not talking about egotism. May I ask you a question? Does God love you? Is it all right for you to love what God loves? What does the Bible say? We are to love one another as we love ourselves. Now, if you don’t love you, you can’t love me. See? How do we love ourselves? We understand we are what we are by the grace of God. We have been born of God. We’re going to God. We have that peace.
- Do you love yourself as described in today’s devotion?
- How can you love yourself in this way while still honoring God? Why is it not sinful to love yourself in this way?
Practice This
Write out a list of ways God loves you. Consider how you are to love yourself so that you can display true love to others.
Servants of the Night / ODB
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Adopted into God’s Family / Max Lucado
Adopted into God’s Family
Click below to listen to today's devotional
When the doctor handed Max Lucado to Jack Lucado, my dad had no exit option. He couldn’t give me back to the doctor and ask for a better looking or smarter son. The hospital made him take me home.
If you were adopted, however, your parents chose you. Surprise pregnancies happen, but surprise adoptions? I’ve never heard of one. Your parents wanted you in their family. You object: “Oh, but if they could have seen the rest of my life, they might have changed their minds.” My point exactly! God saw our entire lives from beginning to end, birth to hearse, and in spite of what he saw, he was still convinced to adopt us into his own family, bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.
You see, to accept God’s grace is to accept God’s offer to be adopted into his family. It really is this simple.
Responding to Another’s Success / Alistair Begg
Responding to Another’s Success
He dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers
and said, ‘Behold, I have dreamed another dream.
Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars
were bowing down to me’ … And his brothers
were jealous of him.
Envy is a feeling common to humanity. It is also a monster—a giant that can eat anyone alive.
How do you struggle with envy? Who are those in your sphere of influence or your field of vision who are experiencing favor or success, and with whom in some way you wish to swap places? We must be careful. “The odious passion of envy,” writes George Lawson, “torments and destroys one’s self while it seeks the ruin of its object.”[1] Envy tends to destroy the envier.
They did not yet know it, but Joseph’s brothers were on the road to the evils of deceit, malice, and slave-trading their own sibling—to the most detestable forms of cruelty. The first step on that road was their jealousy of him. But they did not see it, and so they walked towards actions they presumably had not countenanced when Joseph first started sharing his dreams of grandeur.
We must learn to see our envy and to deal with it. So how can we handle others’ success without succumbing to bitterness and jealousy?
First, we recognize that God is sovereign over the affairs of man. God determined for Joseph to have what he had and be what he was—and He determined a less significant position for Joseph’s brothers. If they had been prepared to consider this, although it might have been hard, they would have been spared the self-inflicted pain of their envious hatred.
Second, we turn to God in prayer. F.B. Meyer, a great 19th-century preacher, once told of how another preacher came to minister in the same area in which he was already ministering, and suddenly there was a drift from his congregation. Jealousy began to grip his soul, and the only freedom he could find was to pray for this fellow pastor—to pray that God would bless another’s ministry. Prayer loosens the grip of envy on our hearts.
God is the one who sets up and brings down. If Joseph’s brothers had grasped this truth, they would have had no occasion to be envious. God is also the one who gives us every breath as a gift from Him. If they had grasped this, they would have had more desire to give thanks than to grow bitter. Today, search your own heart, recognize and repent of any jealousy that has taken root, and bow in humility and thankfulness before your sovereign God.
1 Samuel 2:1-10
April 30 / C.S. Lewis
On kindness
Love is something more stern and splendid than mere kindness. For about a hundred years we have so concentrated on one of the virtues—“kindness” or mercy—that most of us do not feel anything except kindness to be really good or anything but cruelty to be really bad. Such lopsided ethical developments are not uncommon, and other ages too have had their pet virtues and curious insensibilities. And if one virtue must be cultivated at the expense of all the rest, none has a higher claim than mercy. . . The real trouble is that “kindness” is a quality fatally easy to attribute to ourselves on quite inadequate grounds. Everyone feels benevolent if nothing happens to be annoying him at the moment. Thus a man easily comes to console himself for all his other vices by a conviction that “his heart’s in the right place” and “he wouldn’t hurt a fly,” though in fact he has never made the slightest sacrifice for a fellow creature. We think we are kind when we are only happy: it is not so easy, on the same grounds, to imagine oneself temperate, chaste, or humble. You cannot be kind unless you have all the other virtues. If, being cowardly, conceited and slothful, you have never yet done a fellow creature great mischief, that is only because your neighbour’s welfare has not yet happened to conflict with your safety, self-approval, or ease. Every vice leads to cruelty.
From The Problem of Pain
Compiled in Words to Live By
The Problem of Pain. Copyright © 1940, C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. Copyright restored © 1996 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. Words to Live By: A Guide for the Merely Christian. Copyright © 2007 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
April 30 / Wisdom from the Psalms
Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp rasor, working deceitfully.
Ed ran the blade along the cardboard cartons with speed and skill. He broke down the boxes and stuffed them in a crate. He had done the job a thousand times before, and it had become second nature to him. Often he let his mind wander. On this occasion, it was a poor idea. With lightening speed, the blade ran across the back of Ed's hand, cutting deep and wounding him severely.
Just as a blade cuts deep into flesh, unkind words cut into the heart. A sacred trust has been entrusted to Christians. That trust is the dignity and feelings of the rest of God's children. We become our neighbor's keeper. It is our duty to love and defend them. The tongue has enormous power to build up or to tear down. How will we choose to use it?
Prayer: May every word out of my mouth be one that encourages, builds up, or praises. Remove from my heart the desire to hurt others by my words. Fill my mouth with Your thoughts and words, Lord. Amen.
After the Avalanche, Part Two / Chuck Swindoll
After the Avalanche, Part Two
Could it be that you are beginning to feel the nick of falling rocks? Maybe the avalanche has already fallen and you're more than a little desperate. Job is our model for staying faithful when life is reduced to rubble. How'd he do it? Let's take a look.
First, Job claimed God's loving sovereignty. He sincerely believed that the Lord who gave had every right to take away (Job 1:21). Stated in his own words:
"Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?"
(Job 2:10)
He looked up, claiming his Lord's right to rule over his life. Who is the fool that says God has no right to add sand to our clay or marks to our vessel or fire to His workmanship? Who dares lift his clay fist heavenward and question the Potter's plan? Not Job! To him, God's sovereignty was laced with His love.
Second, he counted on the promise of resurrection. Do you remember Job's immortal words?
"I know that my Redeemer lives,
And at the last . . . I shall see God."(Job 19:25–26)
He looked ahead, counting on his Lord's promise to make all things bright and beautiful in the life beyond. He knew that at that time, all pain, death, sorrow, tears, and adversity would be removed. Knowing that "hope does not disappoint" (Romans 5:5), he endured today by envisioning tomorrow.
Third, he confessed his own lack of understanding. What a relief this brings! Job didn't feel obligated to explain the "whys" of his situation. Listen to his admission of this fact:
"I know that You can do all things,
And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted . . . .
Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand,
Things too wonderful [too deep] for me, which I did not know . . . .
I will ask You, and You instruct me."(Job 42:2–4)
He looked within, confessing his inability to put it all together. Resting his case with the righteous Judge, Job did not feel compelled to answer all the questions or unravel all the burning riddles. God would judge. The Judge would be right.
For you, adversity may seem 10,000 miles away. That's the way Job felt just a few minutes before the landslide.
Review these thoughts as you turn out the lights tonight, my friend, just in case. Consider Job's method for picking up the pieces.
Cloudless days are fine, but remember: some pottery gets pretty fragile sitting in the sun day after day after day.
God’s Thoughts / Spurgeon
God’s Thoughts
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
Divine omniscience provides no comfort to the ungodly mind, but to the child of God it overflows with consolation. God is always thinking about us, never turns His mind from us, always has us before His eyes; and this is precisely how we would want it, because it would be dreadful to exist for a moment outside the observation of our heavenly Father. His thoughts are always tender, loving, wise, prudent, far-reaching, and they bring countless benefits to us: It is consequently a supreme delight to remember them. The Lord always thought about His people: hence their election and the covenant of grace by which their salvation is secured. He will always think upon them: hence their final perseverance by which they shall be brought safely to their final rest.
In all our wanderings the watchful glance of the Eternal Watcher is constantly fixed upon us—we never roam beyond the Shepherd’s eye. In our sorrows He observes us incessantly, and not a painful emotion escapes Him; in our toils He notices all our weariness, and He writes all the struggles of His faithful ones in His book. These thoughts of the Lord encompass us in all our paths and penetrate the innermost region of our being. Not a nerve or tissue, valve or vessel of our bodily frame is uncared for; all the details of our little world are thought upon by the great God.
Dear reader, is this precious to you? Then hold to it. Do not be led astray by those philosophical fools who preach an impersonal God and talk of self-existent, self-governing matter. The Lord lives and thinks upon us; this is a far too precious truth for us to be easily robbed of it. To be noticed by a nobleman is valued so highly that he who has it counts his fortune made; but how much greater is it to be thought of by the King of kings! If the Lord thinks upon us, all is well, and we may rejoice evermore.
Daily Blessings / April 30
Daily Blessings
“For I was alive without the law once—but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.” - Rom 7:9
The Apostle describes in his own case how men are affected toward the law before it enters as a condemning sentence into their heart. “I was alive without the law once.” The law was hanging over him as a condemning sentence, as a minister of death, as a messenger of wrath, as a consuming fire, but he felt it not. As with a thunderstorm in the remote distance, he might hear the low mutterings of the thunder which once rolled over Sinai’s fiery mount, or might see from far the play of those lightnings which scorched its top. But at present the storm was in the distance. He went about without thinking, or feeling, or fearing, or caring whether the law was his friend or enemy. In fact he rather viewed it as his friend, for he was using it as a friendly help to build up his own righteousness. He had gone to it, but it had not come to him; he knew its letter, but not its spirit; its outward commands, but not its inward demands. He therefore speaks of himself as being “alive without the law,” that is, without any knowledge of what it was as a ministration of condemnation and death.
But in God’s own appointed time and way, “the commandment came;” that is, it came with power into his conscience. He found that he could keep every one of the commandments but the tenth; for according to his apprehension and his interpretation of them, they did not extend beyond an external obedience. But the tenth commandment, “You shall not covet,” struck into the very depth of his conscience, for it was a prohibition from the mouth of God of the inward lusts of the heart, and that prohibition attended with a dreadful curse.
Under this stroke sin, which before lay seemingly dead in his breast, revived like a sleeping serpent; and what was the consequence? It stung him to death, for he says, “And I died;” for the commandment which was ordained unto life he found to be unto death! Sin could not brook to be thwarted or opposed; it therefore rose up in enmity against God, took advantage of the commandment to rebel against the authority of Jehovah, and its guilt in consequence falling upon his conscience, made tender in the fear of God, slew him.
It would not have done so had there been no life in his soul; but there being light to see and life to feel the anger of God revealed in the commandment, when the law came into his conscience as a sentence from a just and holy Jehovah, the effect was to produce a sentence of death in himself. And this experience which the Apostle describes as his own is what the law does and ever must do when applied to the conscience by the power of God. It kills, it slays the condemned sinner; it is a sentence of death in a man’s own conscience, which only awaits the hour of death and the day of judgment to be carried into execution.
The Depths of His Love: He Came to Serve and Sacrifice / David Jeremiah
The Depths of His Love: He Came to Serve and Sacrifice
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.
Mark 10:45
Recommended Reading: Philippians 2:6-8
Robert K. Greenleaf (d. 1990) was a corporate executive who became disenchanted with top-down, authoritarian leadership styles in major corporations. In 1964, he left the corporate world and founded the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership. He spent the rest of his career consulting with major corporations, institutions, and organizations—spreading the idea that the best leaders are those who are servant leaders. The servant-leadership movement continues to grow worldwide.
Long before Robert K. Greenleaf coined a new term and model for leadership, Jesus was employing it in His own ministry. Servant leaders were a rarity in Jesus’ day; the religious leaders of that day promoted their own authority and prominence. But Jesus set aside His authority when He came to earth to be a servant to mankind. What motivates someone to serve others? Nothing short of unconditional love. Servant-leaders seek the best interests of those they lead, expecting nothing in return. Jesus’ love for the world motivated Him to serve by sacrificing His life for us.
Jesus demonstrated the depths of His love by sacrificing His life as a servant.
A Christian man is a perfectly dutiful servant, subject of all, subject to all.
Martin Luther
The Unpayable Debt / Billy Graham
The Unpayable Debt
Years ago King Charles V was loaned a large sum of money by a merchant in Antwerp. The note came due, but the king was bankrupt and unable to pay. The merchant gave a great banquet for the King. When all the guests were seated and before the food was brought in, the merchant had a large platter placed on the table and a fire lighted on it. Then, taking the note out of his pocket, he held it in the flames until it was burned to ashes. The king threw his arms around his benefactor and wept. Just so, we have been mortgaged to God. The debt was due, but we were unable to pay. Two thousand years ago God invited the world to the Gospel feast, and in the agonies of the cross, God held your sins and mine until every last vestige of our guilt was consumed.
Daily Prayer
In gratitude I kneel before You, Lord Jesus Christ.
“who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,”
Galatians 1:4
Let Nothing Hold You Back / Greg Laurie
Let Nothing Hold You Back
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us” (Hebrews 12:1 NLT).
I’ve read that a successful Olympic athlete will work out an average of four hours a day, 310 days a year for six years to prepare for competition. Olympic athletes have to be disciplined, because they’re competing for the gold.
On more than one occasion, the Bible uses the analogy of running a race. For the Christian, the race of life is knowing God and having a relationship with Him. But it isn’t enough just to run the race. We have to finish the race we’ve begun, and that takes discipline.
I know the trend today, especially among younger people, is to say that we don’t really have winners or losers. You get a participation trophy for just showing up. But that isn’t real life. We need to understand that in the race of life, there are winners and losers.
God wants us to win the race that we’re running right now. The Bible tells us, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us” (Hebrews 12:1 NLT).
We don’t want anything to hold us back. There are things that help us run faster, and there are things that stop us from making progress. But obeying the Lord isn’t a duty; it should be a delight.
I’ve met runners who enjoy running. Sometimes after they go for a run, they’ll say, “That was a great run!” I’ve never had a great run, by the way. I’m always looking forward to when it ends.
But if you’re walking with the Lord, if you’re running your race for Him, then you’ll discover there’s joy in it. So run to win.
Fresh Touch with God / Streams
Fresh Touch with God
And the ill favored and lean-fleshed kine did eat up the seven well favored and fat kine...and the thin, ears swallowed up the seven rank and full ears - Gen 41:4,7
There is a warning for us in that dream, just as it stands: It is possible for the best years of our life, the best experiences, the best victories won, the best service rendered, to be swallowed up by times of failure, defeat, dishonor, uselessness in the kingdom. Some men’s lives of rare promise and rare achievement have ended so. It is awful to think of, but it is true. Yet it is never necessary.
S. D. Gordon has said that the only assurance of safety against this tragedy is “fresh touch with God,” daily, hourly. The blessed, fruitful, victorious experiences of yesterday are not only of no value to me today, but they will actually be eaten up or reversed by today’s failures, unless they serve as incentives to still better, richer experiences today.
“Fresh touch with God,” by abiding in Christ, alone will keep the lean kine and the ill favored grain out of my life.—Messages for the Morning Watch
Friday, April 29, 2022
Gracious Uncertainty . Oswald Chambers
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The Church What Is It All About / Charles Stanley
The Church What Is It All About
Church buildings are plentiful in our country. Locating one may be easy, but wisely deciding which to join involves more effort. God's Word gives us some specific instructions in this matter.
First, let's explore the original biblical meaning of the word "church." The term ecclesia meant a group of people who are called out of the world's system by God's grace for the purpose of assembling to worship and serve Christ. Ephesians 5:29-30 further specifies that believers are the body and Jesus is the head of such a fellowship. Under His leadership, we can enjoy the unity and purpose that He intended.
God's design for this sacred gathering involves worship, instruction, encouragement, evangelism, and ministry to those in need, both within the fellowship and outside its walls. A healthy, vibrant congregation is possible only when members rely fully on the Holy Spirit's guidance. The work of the church is to be done in His power, in humble, prayerful submission to the Lord.
To help you determine whether a church is following the design laid out in Scripture, here are some important questions to ask: Do they believe God's Word is infallible and inerrant? Is the church disciplining her people? Does the fellowship have some kind of missionary or evangelistic program?
Joining a congregation is an important decision, as a fellowship of believers is one tool God uses to mature and encourage His children. Those three questions can be helpful in discerning God's will. Listen for His Spirit to warn or direct as you prayerfully investigate your options.
Jesus Became Nothing For Us / Adrian Rogers
Jesus Became Nothing For Us
Sermon: 2224 – Christ-like Love
Pray Over This
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.”
Ponder This
Jesus stepped out of Heaven and went from sovereignty to slavery. He humbled Himself. He became obedient. Satan, in contrast, in his pride said, “I will ascend. I will be like the Most High.” He thought, “I’m going up, up, up, up.” But God said, “No, you’re going down, down, down, down, down.” Jesus stepped out of glory and humbled Himself. It is for this reason the Bible says, “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow” (Philippians 2:9-10).
Many of us fight for reputation. Jesus laid aside His reputation. We like to talk about how we came from nothing to something. Every now and then, you’ll have an evangelist who will travel from place to place. Maybe God saved him in prison and his message is, “From the Prison to the Pulpit.” I’m glad for that, but Jesus came from something and made Himself of no reputation for our sake.
- How does it affect you to remember that Jesus made Himself nothing out of something for your sake?
- How does this compare to the way you live daily and the goals you pursue for yourself?
Practice This
Consider how you might practice humility this week and prayerfully take action in that regard.
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