SHARING GOD'S LOVE :
Luke 10:2 - "Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest."
It is commonly thought that an evangelist is someone who has a passion to lead people to the Lord. But every believer should have a passion for souls. When presenting the Gospel, we are not just presenting a theory about God but the factual account of God's dealings with man as revealed through His Word, with the ultimate witness being the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Our personal witness of the reality of Jesus being alive in our lives brings Christ from theory to reality.
The early Christians had experienced the love of Christ in an intimate and life-transforming way. This motivated them to reach their known world with the Gospel of Christ more than any generation of Christians has done since. They didn't have the benefits of our modern technology, but they did have the benefit of being full of the love of Christ. Experiencing the love of Christ causes us to be filled with the fullness of God (Eph. 3:19) and makes us a witness that the world cannot resist (John 13:35).
Today, much of the emphasis of the church is placed on techniques of evangelism or spiritual warfare. We motivate people to witness through feelings of guilt or punishment if they don't. Much of our evangelism has become as dead and non-productive as that of the cults who knock on doors and argue people into their way of thinking. The early Christians had a much greater impact on their world because they were full of, and motivated by, the love of God. The church today needs a revival of our personal relationship with the Lord. When we can say with Paul that the love of Christ constrains us, then we will impact our world for the Lord too. You can't give away what you don't possess. We need to personally know the love of Christ in an experiential way before we try to share it with others
BE UNREASONABLY COMMITTED :
Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her. She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: crown of glory shall she deliver to thee. – Proverbs 4:7-9
If you really want to get the wisdom of God, you'll have to do more than casually read the Scriptures a few minutes a day. You'll have to feed on them night and day. You'll have to get rid of the rubbish you've been feeding into your consciousness by reprogramming your mind with the Word of God.
"Oh, Brother," you may say, "that's unreasonable!"
Yes it is. But consider this: A music major in college practices for hours every day. Olympic skaters spend six to eight hours a day training for their routines. They do it because they're unreasonably committed to their goals.
The same is true for you. If you're going to achieve the kind of spiritual excellence you're hungry for, you're going to have to be unreasonably committed to the Word of God.
That may well mean that you'll have to carry a tape player around with you everywhere you go. It may mean that you'll have your razor in one hand and your tape player in the other or a tape player in one hand and a fork in the other.
Do whatever it takes to totally saturate yourself with the Word of God. I would speak to you no differently if I were your commanding officer about to send you into combat against the best trained elite troops of a savage enemy.
You are God's frontline assault force. You have an enemy who is doing his dead level best to destroy you. In this crucial, all-out, no-holds-barred offensive, Satan will dispatch hell's choicest personnel to bring you down. If you're going to make it through in victory, you're going to have to put yourself in training.
Be unreasonably committed. Get wisdom.
A LESSON IN WORRY
LORD, how they have increased who trouble me! —Psalm 3:1
My friend handed me a tall glass of water and told me to hold it. The longer I held it, the heavier it felt. Finally my hand grew tired, and I had to put the glass down. “I’ve learned that worry can be like holding that glass,” she said. “The longer I worry about something, the more my fears weigh me down.”
King David knew about fear. His whole life had been turned upside down. His son Absalom had stolen the allegiance of the nation of Israel from him and was attempting to take the throne for himself. David didn’t know who was loyal to him and who was against him. His only option seemed to be to run. He said to his servants, “Make haste to depart, lest [Absalom] overtake us suddenly and bring disaster upon us” (2 Sam. 15:14).
In a psalm that David may have written while he was fleeing for his life, he wrote: “I cried to the LORD with my voice, and He heard me from His holy hill” (Ps. 3:4). In the midst of his fear, David looked to the Lord. God showed him grace and restored him to the throne.
There are plenty of worries that can weigh us down. But as we release them into God’s strong hands, He will help us through our trials.
Thank You, Lord, that we do not have to be weighed down by worry. Help us to place our concerns in Your care so that we do not fear tomorrow.
IS THERE ANYTHING TOO HARD FOR GOD?
Genesis 18:14 Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son."
Jeremiah 32
17 'Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.
27 "Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?
Matthew 19:26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
Mark 9:23 Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes."
Mark 10:27 But Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible."
Luke 18:27 But He said, "The things which are impossible with men are possible with God."
When Joseph was thrown into the pit by his brothers, he believed that God was with him. When Joseph was sold as a slave and ended up in Potiphar’s house, he believed that God was with him. When Joseph was accused of a crime that he didn’t commit and thrown into prison, he still believed that God was with him!
Beloved, if you are going through a tough situation or a trial today, don’t get bitter and don’t give up. Believe that God is with you and be conscious of His loving presence with you!
As God came through for Joseph and promoted him from the pit to the palace, His unmerited favor is also at work in your situation causing all things to work out for your good!
Freedom From Disease and Poverty
Galatians 3:13 says, "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law." But what does it mean to be redeemed from the curse of the law?
By the death and resurrection of Jesus, He paid the price for you and for me. He became the sacrifice for our sins. He died so that we could live. He bore our sicknesses so we could have health. He redeemed us from the curse of the law of sin and death.
The law as described in the New Testament is usually considered to be the Pentateuch, or more clearly the first five books of the Bible. In these first five books -- Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy -- the curse or punishment for breaking God's law is broken down into three basic categories.
1) The curse of spiritual death
2) The curse of sickness and disease
3) The curse of poverty
In Deuteronomy 28:15, the Bible tells us about these curses, saying, "It shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you."
Then it lists curses all the way to verse 60 -- forty-five verses of sicknesses and financial disasters that would happen if the law was not kept. In verse 61, the list concludes by saying that not only would these things that were listed happen, but any sickness, disease, or catastrophe that was not listed would happen also.
In other words, not keeping the law was disastrous. But even worse, it was nearly impossible to keep the law. So, poverty, sickness, and spiritual death were virtually assured.
But today, I have good news. When it seemed like there was no hope, God made a way. And that's just like God. He always makes a way of escape for those who seek Him.
Jesus became our Redeemer. He made a way of escape from poverty, sickness, and spiritual death. However, some Christians do not understand that we have been redeemed from the curse of the law. They accept sickness and poverty as part of the Christian lifestyle. This should not be. We have been set free from the curse of the law. We need to start acting like it.
When you take a coupon to the grocery store, you use it instead of using money. In other words, you redeem the coupon. It takes the place of your money. Your money becomes redeemed because the coupon was the redeemer. Well, that's what Jesus did.
We had a debt. That debt was the curse of the law. But the problem was that we could not pay the debt. It required a perfect sacrifice. It required a sacrifice that was pure before God. We were not pure. Our debt was impossible to pay.
But then Jesus came to earth as a man and died in our place. He took stripes on His body for our sicknesses. He redeemed us. He paid the debt we could not pay.
When we become a Christian, we have health and prosperity available. We don't have to be diseased and in poverty. Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the law.
GOD STILL PERFORMS MIRACLES :
Mark 16:20 "And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen."
The Lord confirmed the preaching of His Word with miracles. If Jesus and the first century Christians needed the Word confirmed with the miraculous (Heb. 2:4), then we do too. There is no scripture that says these miraculous signs have passed away.
Some people have interpreted "that which is perfect" in 1 Corinthians 13:10, as being the complete Bible. This has led them to believe that the gifts of the Spirit have ceased. Although God's Word is perfect (Ps. 19:7), it is not the "perfect thing" that is referred to here. 1 Corinthians 13:8 does say that tongues shall cease, but it will not happen until "that which is perfect is come."
In 1 Corinthians 13:12, Paul says, "when that which is perfect is come, we shall see face to face." This speaks of seeing the Lord face to face, instead of vaguely, as through a dark glass, as it is now. Some might argue that this is speaking in a symbolic sense, instead of literally face to face. But the next comparison in this verse says that then, "when that which is perfect is come," we shall know all things even as we are also known. There is no other way to interpret this, except as a description of when we will stand before the Lord, after this life. Then we will be face to face, and know all things even as also we are known.
Verse eight says that at the time prophecies fail and tongues cease, knowledge will vanish away. This is talking about the next life, or the new heavens and earth, because one of the signs of the end times is that knowledge shall increase (Dan. 12:4).
So the "that which is perfect" that Paul speaks of, cannot be the Bible. It has to be either our glorified body, or Jesus at His second coming. Either way, these verses establish that until "that which is perfect is come," tongues and prophecy will remain. They are still valid gifts, and even today, it is God's will to accompany the preaching of His Word with miracles.
Luke 10:2 - "Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest."
It is commonly thought that an evangelist is someone who has a passion to lead people to the Lord. But every believer should have a passion for souls. When presenting the Gospel, we are not just presenting a theory about God but the factual account of God's dealings with man as revealed through His Word, with the ultimate witness being the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Our personal witness of the reality of Jesus being alive in our lives brings Christ from theory to reality.
The early Christians had experienced the love of Christ in an intimate and life-transforming way. This motivated them to reach their known world with the Gospel of Christ more than any generation of Christians has done since. They didn't have the benefits of our modern technology, but they did have the benefit of being full of the love of Christ. Experiencing the love of Christ causes us to be filled with the fullness of God (Eph. 3:19) and makes us a witness that the world cannot resist (John 13:35).
Today, much of the emphasis of the church is placed on techniques of evangelism or spiritual warfare. We motivate people to witness through feelings of guilt or punishment if they don't. Much of our evangelism has become as dead and non-productive as that of the cults who knock on doors and argue people into their way of thinking. The early Christians had a much greater impact on their world because they were full of, and motivated by, the love of God. The church today needs a revival of our personal relationship with the Lord. When we can say with Paul that the love of Christ constrains us, then we will impact our world for the Lord too. You can't give away what you don't possess. We need to personally know the love of Christ in an experiential way before we try to share it with others
BE UNREASONABLY COMMITTED :
Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her. She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: crown of glory shall she deliver to thee. – Proverbs 4:7-9
If you really want to get the wisdom of God, you'll have to do more than casually read the Scriptures a few minutes a day. You'll have to feed on them night and day. You'll have to get rid of the rubbish you've been feeding into your consciousness by reprogramming your mind with the Word of God.
"Oh, Brother," you may say, "that's unreasonable!"
Yes it is. But consider this: A music major in college practices for hours every day. Olympic skaters spend six to eight hours a day training for their routines. They do it because they're unreasonably committed to their goals.
The same is true for you. If you're going to achieve the kind of spiritual excellence you're hungry for, you're going to have to be unreasonably committed to the Word of God.
That may well mean that you'll have to carry a tape player around with you everywhere you go. It may mean that you'll have your razor in one hand and your tape player in the other or a tape player in one hand and a fork in the other.
Do whatever it takes to totally saturate yourself with the Word of God. I would speak to you no differently if I were your commanding officer about to send you into combat against the best trained elite troops of a savage enemy.
You are God's frontline assault force. You have an enemy who is doing his dead level best to destroy you. In this crucial, all-out, no-holds-barred offensive, Satan will dispatch hell's choicest personnel to bring you down. If you're going to make it through in victory, you're going to have to put yourself in training.
Be unreasonably committed. Get wisdom.
A LESSON IN WORRY
LORD, how they have increased who trouble me! —Psalm 3:1
My friend handed me a tall glass of water and told me to hold it. The longer I held it, the heavier it felt. Finally my hand grew tired, and I had to put the glass down. “I’ve learned that worry can be like holding that glass,” she said. “The longer I worry about something, the more my fears weigh me down.”
King David knew about fear. His whole life had been turned upside down. His son Absalom had stolen the allegiance of the nation of Israel from him and was attempting to take the throne for himself. David didn’t know who was loyal to him and who was against him. His only option seemed to be to run. He said to his servants, “Make haste to depart, lest [Absalom] overtake us suddenly and bring disaster upon us” (2 Sam. 15:14).
In a psalm that David may have written while he was fleeing for his life, he wrote: “I cried to the LORD with my voice, and He heard me from His holy hill” (Ps. 3:4). In the midst of his fear, David looked to the Lord. God showed him grace and restored him to the throne.
There are plenty of worries that can weigh us down. But as we release them into God’s strong hands, He will help us through our trials.
Thank You, Lord, that we do not have to be weighed down by worry. Help us to place our concerns in Your care so that we do not fear tomorrow.
IS THERE ANYTHING TOO HARD FOR GOD?
Genesis 18:14 Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son."
Jeremiah 32
17 'Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.
27 "Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?
Matthew 19:26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
Mark 9:23 Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes."
Mark 10:27 But Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible."
Luke 18:27 But He said, "The things which are impossible with men are possible with God."
When Joseph was thrown into the pit by his brothers, he believed that God was with him. When Joseph was sold as a slave and ended up in Potiphar’s house, he believed that God was with him. When Joseph was accused of a crime that he didn’t commit and thrown into prison, he still believed that God was with him!
Beloved, if you are going through a tough situation or a trial today, don’t get bitter and don’t give up. Believe that God is with you and be conscious of His loving presence with you!
As God came through for Joseph and promoted him from the pit to the palace, His unmerited favor is also at work in your situation causing all things to work out for your good!
Freedom From Disease and Poverty
Galatians 3:13 says, "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law." But what does it mean to be redeemed from the curse of the law?
By the death and resurrection of Jesus, He paid the price for you and for me. He became the sacrifice for our sins. He died so that we could live. He bore our sicknesses so we could have health. He redeemed us from the curse of the law of sin and death.
The law as described in the New Testament is usually considered to be the Pentateuch, or more clearly the first five books of the Bible. In these first five books -- Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy -- the curse or punishment for breaking God's law is broken down into three basic categories.
1) The curse of spiritual death
2) The curse of sickness and disease
3) The curse of poverty
In Deuteronomy 28:15, the Bible tells us about these curses, saying, "It shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you."
Then it lists curses all the way to verse 60 -- forty-five verses of sicknesses and financial disasters that would happen if the law was not kept. In verse 61, the list concludes by saying that not only would these things that were listed happen, but any sickness, disease, or catastrophe that was not listed would happen also.
In other words, not keeping the law was disastrous. But even worse, it was nearly impossible to keep the law. So, poverty, sickness, and spiritual death were virtually assured.
But today, I have good news. When it seemed like there was no hope, God made a way. And that's just like God. He always makes a way of escape for those who seek Him.
Jesus became our Redeemer. He made a way of escape from poverty, sickness, and spiritual death. However, some Christians do not understand that we have been redeemed from the curse of the law. They accept sickness and poverty as part of the Christian lifestyle. This should not be. We have been set free from the curse of the law. We need to start acting like it.
When you take a coupon to the grocery store, you use it instead of using money. In other words, you redeem the coupon. It takes the place of your money. Your money becomes redeemed because the coupon was the redeemer. Well, that's what Jesus did.
We had a debt. That debt was the curse of the law. But the problem was that we could not pay the debt. It required a perfect sacrifice. It required a sacrifice that was pure before God. We were not pure. Our debt was impossible to pay.
But then Jesus came to earth as a man and died in our place. He took stripes on His body for our sicknesses. He redeemed us. He paid the debt we could not pay.
When we become a Christian, we have health and prosperity available. We don't have to be diseased and in poverty. Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the law.
GOD STILL PERFORMS MIRACLES :
Mark 16:20 "And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen."
The Lord confirmed the preaching of His Word with miracles. If Jesus and the first century Christians needed the Word confirmed with the miraculous (Heb. 2:4), then we do too. There is no scripture that says these miraculous signs have passed away.
Some people have interpreted "that which is perfect" in 1 Corinthians 13:10, as being the complete Bible. This has led them to believe that the gifts of the Spirit have ceased. Although God's Word is perfect (Ps. 19:7), it is not the "perfect thing" that is referred to here. 1 Corinthians 13:8 does say that tongues shall cease, but it will not happen until "that which is perfect is come."
In 1 Corinthians 13:12, Paul says, "when that which is perfect is come, we shall see face to face." This speaks of seeing the Lord face to face, instead of vaguely, as through a dark glass, as it is now. Some might argue that this is speaking in a symbolic sense, instead of literally face to face. But the next comparison in this verse says that then, "when that which is perfect is come," we shall know all things even as we are also known. There is no other way to interpret this, except as a description of when we will stand before the Lord, after this life. Then we will be face to face, and know all things even as also we are known.
Verse eight says that at the time prophecies fail and tongues cease, knowledge will vanish away. This is talking about the next life, or the new heavens and earth, because one of the signs of the end times is that knowledge shall increase (Dan. 12:4).
So the "that which is perfect" that Paul speaks of, cannot be the Bible. It has to be either our glorified body, or Jesus at His second coming. Either way, these verses establish that until "that which is perfect is come," tongues and prophecy will remain. They are still valid gifts, and even today, it is God's will to accompany the preaching of His Word with miracles.
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