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Friday, June 2, 2023
Used by God / David Jeremiah
Going Nowhere / Greg Laurie
Going Nowhere
Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content. (Ecclesiastes 1:8 NLT)
If you’ve ever ridden a stationary bike, then you know that no matter how much you pedal, you never go anywhere. And even if you’re riding a high-tech bike with a monitor displaying terrain that you’re supposedly going over, a quick look around reminds you that you’re on a machine. And you’re in the same place where you started.
That is what life can be like sometimes. You’re always trying, but it seems like you’re not going anywhere.
Solomon looked at life that way. He wrote, “What do people get for all their hard work under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes. . . . Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content” (Ecclesiastes 1:3-4, 8 NLT).
That’s a bleak way to look at life. But throughout Ecclesiastes, Solomon uses a phrase that helps us explain his outlook: “under the sun.”
Solomon was speaking of horizontal, strictly human living. He rarely looked above the sun for answers. In other words, he was not looking to God. Instead, he was looking horizontally. He was looking to this planet, to this world, for answers.
As a result, Solomon decided to take a crash course on sin. He was prepared to try everything that was out there. He wanted the finest entertainment the world offered and the finest education that money could buy. And he wanted to experience unlimited materialism. Basically, Solomon wanted to experience everything there was to experience.
Solomon had what most people only dream of. But in the end, it turned out to be a nightmare.
This serves as a reminder that if we leave God out of the equation when we attempt to meet the deepest needs of our lives, we always will come up empty.
United With Christ in Death and Life By John Piper
Never Separated Again / Ann Graham Lotz
Never Separated Again
Neither death nor life . . . nor things present nor things to come, . . . shall be able to separate us from the love of God.
Romans 8:38-39, nkjv
I love the sea. Every summer, I spend as much time there as I am able. I love to see the vast expanse of sky and water. I love to hear the waves crashing on the shore. I love to walk along the beach and feel the sand beneath my feet and the breeze blowing gently in my face. But the sea separates families and friends and entire continents from each other! In Heaven, there will be nothing to separate us from each other or from God. Ever!
No hard feelings or hurt feelings,
No misunderstandings or critical spirits,
No divorce or death, . . .
No sickness or weakness,
No dangers or hardships. . . .
Nothing will ever separate us in My Father’s House.
God’s One Goal / Max Lucado
God’s One Goal
Click below to listen to today's devotional
God has one goal: God. God says in Isaiah 48:11, “I have my reputation to keep up” (The Message). Surprised? Isn’t such an attitude self-centered self-promotion? Why does God broadcast himself? For the same reason the pilot of the lifeboat does.
Think of it this way: you’re floundering neck-deep in a dark, cold sea. Ship sinking, life jacket deflating, strength waning. Through the darkness comes the voice of a lifeboat pilot. But you cannot see him. What do you want the pilot to do? Be quiet? Say nothing? You need volume. Amp it up, buddy! In biblical language, you want him to show his glory. You need to hear him say, “I’m here, I’m strong, I have room for you!”
Don’t we want God to do the same? We’re going down fast, and only one message matters – his! We need to see God’s glory.
Thursday, June 1, 2023
The Staggering Question / Oswald Chambers
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Feasting on the Word / Charles Stanley
Feasting on the Word
Did you ever watch an infant take a feeding? Hungry little ones clutch the bottle, smack their lips, and make soft contented noises. They thoroughly enjoy their nourishment. But there comes a time when milk isn’t enough to satiate baby’s appetite anymore. That’s when a whole world of culinary possibilities opens up.
Comparing new believers to babies, Peter said that they “long for the pure milk of the word” (v. 2). You wouldn’t feed a newborn steak and spinach, would you? Well, baby Christians must sip scriptural truths that they understand. Then, like a growing child, they shoot up as they feast on Bible passages, gradually taking in more and meatier principles and topics.
Believers are not left alone to make sense of Scripture any more than babies and young children are expected to get their own meals. The Holy Spirit, who indwells God’s followers, illuminates the Word. That is, He makes the meaning clear to those who seek to understand. Moreover, according to Ephesians 4:11-16, God has given gifted Christians to the church to act as pastors and teachers. They are charged with equipping the saints for service (v. 12). These leaders instruct, clarify, and motivate people to grow in their personal faith and to fulfill the church’s purpose of reaching the lost.
God’s Word is a feast for our heart, mind, and spirit. This is one banquet table where there is no such thing as taking too much. In fact, the advice many parents give their children at the dinner table applies to the Christian life as well: “Eat up! Scriptural food makes you grow strong."
Trusting God’s Word Beyond Reason and Feeling / Adrian Rogers
Trusting God’s Word Beyond Reason and Feeling
Sermon: 2166 The Gospel of Grace, Part 1
Pray Over This
“But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Ponder This
What is the origin of the Gospel? It came from Almighty God. The Gospel is not man’s invention; it comes by divine revelation. Therefore, when it comes to the Gospel, you must put your intellect and your emotions to the side and pick up your Bible. So many times, we take the Word of God and parade it past the bar of human reasoning and judgment. Some say, “Well, it doesn’t seem right that there’s only one way to be saved, and all other ways are wrong.” We try to bring human wit and wisdom against the Gospel.
Sometimes we measure the Gospel by our emotions. We say, “Well, that doesn’t feel right to me. I just have a bad feeling about that.” Again, I want to say respectfully, it doesn’t matter what you think or what you feel. It’s what God says that counts. I have heard from pilots that if a man doesn’t know how to read the instruments on an airplane, he can’t tell if he is absolutely flying level or if he’s going down. If he says, “I think I’m alright, and I feel I’m alright,” that does not change the altitude or the direction of the airplane. So many people are doing the same thing, making a tragic mistake in the realm of religion. They operate based on their feelings rather than on the instrument panel of God’s Word.
- What are some things in the Bible that have been confusing to you?
- When have you trusted God even when it didn’t make sense or “feel good” at the time?
Practice This
Talk to a pastor or leader in your church about some of the confusing parts of the Bible with which you have wrestled.
In God’s Hands / ODB
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In Spite of Us / David Jeremiah
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Wired to Know God / Greg Laurie
Wired to Know God
“Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!” (Ecclesiastes 1:2 NLT)
Solomon had tried it all. He was the hedonist extraordinaire, seeking pleasure at all costs. He went on unbelievable drinking binges and chased after women like there was no tomorrow.
At the same time, he was highly educated. An architectural genius, he masterminded the building of incredible structures. And by today’s standards, he was worth billions of dollars. Yet Solomon asked the same questions that many people are asking today.
Solomon wrote the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes, and the first few verses introduce its theme: “These are the words of the Teacher, King David’s son, who ruled in Jerusalem. ‘Everything is meaningless,’ says the Teacher, ‘completely meaningless!’ What do people get for all their hard work under the sun?” (1:1–3 NLT).
Right away we know the writer is Solomon because he identified himself as “King David’s son.” Solomon was raised in a godly home. And though David’s sins were infamous, the Bible also describes him as a man after God’s own heart (see 1 Samuel 13:14).
Despite his failures, David indeed was a man of God, and he wanted his son to walk with the Lord. Yet Solomon, like many young people, went on a search for himself. He went on a quest for the meaning of life.
However, we don’t have to wait for the last chapter of Solomon’s book to find out what his answer was. He brought it front and center in the beginning and went on to explain why and how he came to his conclusion.
In Ecclesiastes 1:2 he basically summed up what he discovered on his great search: “Everything is meaningless, . . . completely meaningless!”
The searcher is telling us there is nothing on this earth that will satisfy us completely. That is because God has designed us, has wired us, to know Him.
Heirs Together / Ann Graham Lotz
Heirs Together
Husbands, . . . dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life.
1 Peter 3:7, nkjv
The Bible clearly teaches there is to be an equality between man and woman, husband and wife. “In the image of God, . . . male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it’” (Gen. 1:27–28, niv).
Dominion over everything was given to the woman as well as to the man. The woman was not inferior to the man; nor was the man greater than the woman. Men and women, husbands and wives, were and are equal. The New Testament reaffirms the principle of equality when it says men and women are “heirs together of the grace of life.”
God in His wisdom created man and woman equal in His sight, and this equality is to be reflected in the marriage relationship. Husbands and wives are to give each other respect, appreciation, and understanding as equal partners.
You’re Not Alone / Max Lucado
You’re Not Alone
Click below to listen to today's devotional
Have you ever gone to the grocery on an empty stomach? You’re a sitting duck when you do. You buy everything you don’t need. Doesn’t matter if it’s good for you—you just want to fill your tummy!
When you’re lonely, you do the same in life. Pulling stuff off the shelf, not because you need it, but because you’re hungry for love. Why do we do it? Because we fear facing life alone. For fear of not fitting in, we take the drugs. For fear of standing out, we wear the clothes. For fear of appearing small, we go into debt and buy the house. For fear of sleeping alone, we sleep with anyone. For fear of not being loved, we search for love in all the wrong places.
But all that changes when we discover God’s perfect love. 1 John 4:18 says, “Perfect love casts out fear.” You are not alone!
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