VIDEO Plague Protection

And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory. Revelation 16:9

 

COVID-19 stands for “coronavirus disease 2019”—the virus that sparked a worldwide pandemic beginning in early 2020. Pandemics are not new; from biblical times to the present day, outbreaks have occurred and taken an untold number of lives.

This earth has not seen the last of the pandemics. In the book of Revelation, plagues are mentioned twelve times in connection with the coming Tribulation. Pandemics, and diseases in general, can strike fear into the heart of any person. They fall into the general class of disruptions that Jesus said would lead up to the end of this age (Matthew 24:6-8). So how should we live in a world subject to pestilence, plague, and disease? As with all other challenges: by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). We live wisely and with precaution. But most of all, we keep our trust in God. This is the message of Psalm 91: God is our Shield and Stronghold against peril, pestilence, and plagues (verses 3-11).

Nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ (Romans 8:35-39). Walk by faith in Him today.

A sovereign Protector I have, unseen, yet for ever at hand. Augustus M. Toplady

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A Good Lesson from a Bad Example (Luke 16:1–13)

Grace and Change

Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.” Exodus 2:14

The crime was shocking, and the man who committed it was sentenced to life in prison. In the years that followed, the man—in solitary confinement—began a process of mental and spiritual healing. It led to repentance and a restored relationship with Jesus. These days he’s been allowed limited interactions with other inmates. And, by God’s grace, through his witness some fellow prisoners have received Christ as Savior—finding forgiveness in Him.

Moses, though now recognized as a great man of faith, also committed a shocking crime. After he witnessed “an Egyptian beating a Hebrew,” he looked “this way and that” and “killed the Egyptian” (Exodus 2:11–12). Despite this sin, God in His grace wasn’t done with His imperfect servant. Later, He chose Moses to free His people from their oppression (3:10). In Romans 5:14, we read, “Death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command.” But in the following verses Paul states that “God’s grace” makes it possible for us, regardless of our past sins, to be changed and made right with Him (vv. 15–16).

We might think that what we’ve done disqualifies us from knowing God’s forgiveness and being used for His honor. But because of His grace, in Jesus we can be changed and set free to help others be changed for eternity.

By:  Tom Felten

Reflect & Pray

How has God and His grace changed you? What are the changes He’s calling you to make these days?

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your life-changing grace.

Relying on God’s Resources

Our generous God loves to respond when we call on Him for help Ephesians 1:1-14

Do you ever feel defeated in your spiritual life? The problem may be that you’re depending on your own assets and abilities instead of God’s inexhaustible riches, which He has deposited into your account. 

With God, we don’t have to worry about running out of time, energy, money, or resources. He has promised to equip us with everything needed for the purpose to which we’ve been called. In fact, we are heirs of great and glorious riches. Consider a few of God’s generous blessings:

• You are His workmanship (Ephesians 2:10). God saved you by His grace and He’s sanctifying you the same way. The work of transforming and empowering you is the Lord’s; your role is simply to cooperate and depend on Him. 

• You have immediate access to God (Hebrews 4:16). Divine help is only a prayer away. 

• You have the Holy Spirit indwelling you (Eph. 1:13-14). He not only brings guidance and understanding of God’s Word; He also enables you to obey Jesus.

As human beings, we’re used to having finite resources, but there’s no such thing with God. When we remember His unlimited provisions and depend on them, we’ll discover rest, peace, and confidence in Christ.  

Results of Religious Compromise

“And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD.” (2 Chronicles 19:2)

Jehoshaphat was a godly king of Judah who faithfully served the Lord, but he made the tragic mistake of forming an alliance with ungodly king Ahab of Israel in fighting against their common enemy Syria. After all, he reasoned, they were “brothers,” both descended from Abraham, so they could join together in battling the Syrians.

As a result, although God continued to bless Jehoshaphat during his lifetime, this compromise eventually resulted in great tragedy in his family when his son and successor, Jehoram, married Ahab’s wicked daughter Athaliah and then slew all his own brothers, and soon he himself died of a loathsome disease (2 Chronicles 21:4, 6, 19).

The road of compromise eventually ends in a precipice, especially in matters regarding the integrity of God’s Word and His saving gospel. The timeless principle for Christians today is given in 2 Corinthians 6:14-15: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?…or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?”

This warning and command is at least as greatly needed today as it was in Paul’s day. Spiritual, moral, and religious compromise seem to be endemic in the Christian realm today, in both doctrine and practice, and God would warn us that tragedy is imminent in the generation of our children, if not before.

“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing” (2 Corinthians 6:17). HMM

Five Principles In Winning Your Lost Friends

Here are five helpful principles in winning your lost friends:

1. Strategically plan to bring lost people into the Kingdom:

Any effective business person today thinks and plans strategically in winning contracts, building a strong customer base, and in marketing products. Should we think any less strategically in winning our lost acquaintances and friends to Christ?

So: PRAY. PLAN. ACT!

2. Contextualize your lifestyle:

In attempting to win the lost ask yourself:

• “Am I choosing to get into their world in order to establish common ground?
• “Am I being perceived by them as friendly, warm and genuinely accepting?
• “Is my lifestyle congruent with the message I proclaim?“(Or do I tend to co-mingle the horns, the halo and the pitch fork?)

3. Recognize the importance of effective prayer:

• Do I understand that it is through intercessory prayer that one binds Satan and advances into his territory ?

“No one can enter a strong man‘s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house.“(Mark 3:27)

4. Position yourself to reach the lost:

Ask yourself if your life is positioned in such a way that you have:

• “Time for the lost?
• “Energy for the lost?
• “A heart for the lost?“

Or are you so busy and distracted by other pursuits that you miss the opportunities that are daily staring you in the face?

5. Look at life through the eyes of the lost and ask yourself:

• “Do I see their bondage to sin… and respond with compassion?
• “Do I recognize their despair and offer them hope?“

“I the Lord thy God am a jealous God.”

Numbers 20:1-13

Numbers 20:1

Here was a great sorrow for Moses. Excepting her one fault in once being jealous of her brother, she was a noble woman—a true princess and prophetess. Moses, no doubt, sorrowed greatly under the bereavement.

Numbers 20:2, 3

They evidently laid the destruction of Korah and his company to heart, and resented it upon Moses, instead of being held in awe by it. While the two holy brothers were yet sorrowing over their departed sister, the unfeeling crowd raised a clamour against them, and laid the deficiency of water at their door; as if they could be expected to dig rivers in the desert.

Numbers 20:5

They taunted Moses with the old, wornout cry that he brought them out to die in the wilderness, and added the new sting—that he had not brought them into the goodly land of promise; though, indeed, it was only their own sin which kept them out of it. Those who want to murmur are never very long without a peg to hang their complaints upon.

Numbers 20:6

These holy men knew where their great strength was, they fell down in prayer and adoration, leaving the matter with the Lord, who was not slow in appearing for them.

Numbers 20:7, 8

To show that the Lord is not tied to any one mode of action, the rock is not to be smitten this time, but only spoken to.

Numbers 20:9-11

Were they not wrong in calling the people rebels, and in saying “must we fetch you water?” Certainly Moses erred in smiting the rock, for he was bidden to speak to it. The best of men are men at the best.

Numbers 20:12

See how jealous the Lord is of those whom he most loves. He will have them obey him in every particular, or else he will chasten them. A whole life of service shall not excuse us for one glaring offence. What manner of persons ought we to be? How careful should we be in thought, and word, and deed; and how doubly anxious lest we transgress by unbelief!

Numbers 20:13

This was one of the most memorable of Israel’s sins, because it was a repetition of an old crime; in the face of former mercies and judgments. May the Lord save us from repeating our sins, lest we be made bitterly to smart for them! Keep us, dear Saviour, that we rebel not against thee.

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in Thee!

Let the water and the blood,

From thy riven side which flow’d,

Be of sin the double cure,

Cleanse me from its guilt and power.

Man Though Guilty, Is Offered God’s Mercy

For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5:6

It is vital to any understanding of ourselves and our fellowmen that we believe what is written in the Scriptures about human society—that it is fallen, alienated from God and in rebellion against His laws!

There is plenty of good news in the Bible, but there is never any flattery or back scratching, and what God has spoken is never complimentary to men.

Seen one way, the Bible is a book of doom. It condemns all men as sinners and declares that the soul that sinneth shall die. Always it pronounces sentence against society before it offers mercy; and if we will not own the validity of the sentence we cannot admit the need for mercy!

The coming of Jesus Christ to the world has been so sentimentalized that it means now something utterly alien to the Bible teaching concerning it. Soft human pity has been substituted for God’s mercy in the minds of millions, a pity that has long ago degenerated into self-pity. The blame for man’s condition has somehow been shifted to God, and Christ’s dying for the world has been twisted into an act of penance on God’s part. In the drama of redemption, man is viewed as Miss Cinderella who has long been oppressed and mistreated, but now through the heroic deeds of earth’s noblest Son is about to don her radiant apparel and step forth a queen. This is humanism—romantically tinted with Christianity!
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