VIDEO Heroes Wanted

 “Now therefore, give me this mountain … It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said.” — Joshua 14:12

Suppose, as you looked for a job, you came across this ad in the classifieds: “Heroes wanted. No cowards need apply.” Would you apply for that job? Are you a hero?

Most of us have never even considered this matter, but we should, because we desperately need heroes in the army of God. Over and over in Scripture, we read of valiant, mighty men and women, and we’re encouraged to follow their examples. The Bible exhorts us to endure hardship as good soldiers of Christ. It admonishes, “Fear not,” “Be not afraid,” “Be of good courage,” “Fear not the face of men.” Such courage is the mark of a hero.

Why do we need so much courage? Because Jesus has commissioned us as His soldiers to witness for Him. We have the privilege of serving as Christ’s ambassadors to this dying world, sharing the Good News of what Jesus can do for people.

Yet tragically, many people who profess to be Christians have gone AWOL (Absent Without Leave) in this regard. The battle for lost souls rages on, but many of us hide in our own secure corners of the world, leaving the lost vulnerable to the enemy.

This should not be true of the soldiers in Christ’s army. After all, our leader, Christ, is the greatest hero Who ever lived. Not only did He single-handedly take on all the hosts of mankind, an apostate Jewry, a hostile heathenism, and His own friends who forsook Him, but He also took on the forces of death, Hell, Satan, and the demons, overcoming them one and all. And as God’s soldiers, we have Christ’s death-defeating power on our side. We need not fear as we share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As we face the fray, Jesus Christ heats the heart and fuses the shifting sands into rock, making heroes out of cowards. Christ stands ready to do that for each of us.

Will you allow Christ to grant you His courage today? If you do, be a faithful soldier, using that courage to share Christ’s good news with someone who desperately needs to hear it.

““… Brethren, we are treading where our Captain trod …””

—Onward Christian Soldiers (Hymn)

---

Never Too Old, Joshua 14:6-12 – Pastor Chuck Smith – Topical Bible Study

For Love’s Sake

Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Romans 12:10

Running a marathon is about pushing yourself, physically and mentally. For one high school runner, however, competing in a cross-country race is all about pushing someone else. In every practice and meet, fourteen-year-old Susan Bergeman pushes older brother, Jeffrey, in his wheelchair. When Jeffrey was twenty-two months old, he went into cardiac arrest—leaving him with severe brain damage and cerebral palsy. Today, Susan sacrifices personal running goals so Jeffrey might compete with her. What love and sacrifice!

The apostle Paul had love and sacrifice in mind when he encouraged his readers to be “devoted to one another” (Romans 12:10). He knew that the believers in Rome were struggling with jealousy, anger, and sharp disagreements (v. 18). So, he encouraged them to let divine love rule their hearts. This kind of love, rooted in Christ’s love, would fight for the highest possible good of others. It would be sincere, and it would lead to generous sharing (v. 13). Those who love this way are eager to consider others more worthy of honor than themselves (v. 16).

As believers in Jesus, we’re running a race of love while helping others finish the race too. Though it can be difficult, it brings honor to Jesus. So, for love’s sake, let’s rely on Him to empower us to love and serve others.

By:  Marvin Williams

Reflect & Pray

What does it mean for you to love others as God loves them? How does Jesus reveal that love is more than emotion?

God of love, for love’s sake and Your glory, help me to consider others before I consider myself.

Welcome Home

Let’s make our churches loving places that lead the lost to Christ Matthew 5:14-16

Church should be a place where we find strength and companions for our journey of faith. But we can’t forget those outside of the congregation. They need to know about Jesus and experience His remarkable love, too. 

1 Peter 2:4-10 is a marvelous passage that explains who we are in Christ. We are the “living stones” of His church, “a holy nation” brought together by the One who “called [us] out of darkness into His marvelous light.” Sometimes, we might be tempted to close ranks against the world, to think of life as an “us versus them” situation. Yet Peter plainly tells us that’s not true. “For you once were not a people,” he says, “but now you are the people of God” (v. 10).

Our heavenly Father didn’t shut the church door the minute we walked through it. He didn’t proclaim the club full and forbid any new members. Far from it. New “living stones” are being added every day all around this big, beautiful world of ours, and it’s our privilege to welcome them home. So let’s make our churches warm and welcoming—places where people feel safe and respected and where God’s affection abounds.

Take Heed

“And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest any man deceive you.” (Mark 13:5)

In the account of Christ’s great prophetic discourse on the Mount of Olives, as recorded in Mark 13, the Lord Jesus warns us no less than four times to “take heed!” This fourfold admonition (Mark 13:5, 9, 23, 33) must be important and demands our attention!

First of all, our text warns us not to be deceived by human claims of spiritual authority and prophetic insights, for there would come many deceptive teachers claiming to be the returning Christ. When Christ does return, all His saints will know beyond question, for they shall all “meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

His second warning tells us to be prepared for persecutions (Mark 13:9), for “in the world ye shall have tribulation,” and “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (John 16:33; 2 Timothy 3:12).

His third admonition warns of false Christs and false prophets who will even “shew signs and wonders” (Mark 13:22-23). Many will be deceived unless they remember that neither prophecies nor exorcisms nor other wonderful works suffice for acceptance by Christ if those who perform them are “work[ers of] iniquity” (Matthew 7:22-23).

The fourth “take heed” is a sober warning against trying to predict the time of His return. “Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is” (Mark 13:33). Such a warning is pointless if certain prophesied events must take place first, for then there would be no need to watch for Him. In the same discourse, as reported by Luke, Jesus gave a final such warning, speaking of this very danger. “Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with…cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares” (Luke 21:34). HMM

Success… But At What Price?

During World War II, a friend’s father held office in London, returning occasionally to the United States to visit his family

During one of his brief stays, his father noticed that he was playing sandlot baseball without a mitt. So he promptly went out and purchased one. The only problem was that the mitt was right handed and his son was a lefty.

You guessed it: A close bond did not exactly exist between this father and his eight year old son. Imagine: A father not knowing whether his son was right or left handed!

In the business world, this dad was respected and recognized as a “success.” At home however, he was an abysmal failure, having sacrificed his family for his career.

Last night my wife and I dined with a couple whose twenty-three year old daughter is being held by the authorities on felony charges.

During the course of the meal, the father (also a “successful” businessman) related how he had sacrificed his children during their formative years for his career. To compensate for his failings, he and his wife routinely indulged their offspring by catering to their slightest whimsical desires, while continually rescuing them from the consequences of any deviant behavior.

The results? Agonized parents whose daughter views them with great disdain, while facing the strong probability of spending several years in jail.

SUCCESS… BUT AT WHAT PRICE?

May I ask you some questions?

• Does your spouse feel you are spending adequate time with the children?
• Are you aware that “quality” time with your offspring rarely occurs without the requisite “quantity” time?
• Judging by the quality of your present emotional bond with your children, are you developing in them a healthy sense of self-worth, or do they feel by your emotional or physical absence that they are not worthy of your time?
• If you are blowing it with your kids, what is the core issue you are choosing to not deal with: Pride? Fear of failure? Greed? Or what?

“Discipline (Literally: Instruct, correct, reform and reprove) your son, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to his death… A foolish son brings grief to his father and bitterness to the one who bore him.“(Proverbs 19:18; 17:25)

“Keep thy soul diligently.”

Deuteronomy 4:9-20, 23, 24

Let us attentively read a part of Moses’ last discourse to the people whom he had so lovingly ruled.

Deuteronomy 4:9

If the Lord condescend to teach, let us not be forgetful hearers, neither let us neglect to transmit his teachings to our children.

Deuteronomy 4:12

He dwells much upon this because there was, and is, great need for reminding all men of it. Symbol worship is the crying sin of the present age. It were well if all godly persons gave up wearing crosses, for this reason.

Deuteronomy 4:16

Men not only dishonour God by worshipping similitudes, but they also corrupt themselves.

Deuteronomy 4:17-19

The list is very comprehensive, and is intended to embrace every possible similitude, whether it be the clumsy device of the savage, the artistic gem of the Papist, or the sublimities of the worshipper of nature. God alone is to be worshipped, and as he is pure spirit we ought sacredly to guard the spirituality of his worship. Away with all material signs, however venerable, the Lord abhors them.

Deuteronomy 4:20

Peculiar privileges involve special responsibilities. He who has done so much for us must be reverently adored.

Deuteronomy 4:23

Again and again is the command repeated, and a ban put for ever upon any attempt to worship God through any image or likeness.

Deuteronomy 4:24

He cannot endure sin. He does not treat it as a trifle, but his holy anger rises when he sees hearts going aside from him. He will have all our love or none. Has he cause to be jealous of us?

Unto the Lord, unto the Lord,

Oh, sing a new and joyful song!

Declare His glory, tell abroad

The wonders that to Him belong.

For He is great, for He is great;

Above all gods His throne is raised;

He reigns in majesty and state,

In strength and beauty He. is praised,

The Erotic Is Rapidly Displacing the Spiritual

Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world. Titus 2:12

The period in which we now live may well go down in history as the Erotic Age. Sex love has been elevated into a cult. Eros has more worshipers among civilized men today than any other god. For millions, the erotic has completely displaced the spiritual!

Contributing factors are the phonograph and radio, which can spread a love song from coast to coast within a matter of days; the motion picture and television, which enable a whole population to feast their eyes on sensuous women and amorous young men locked in passionate embrace (and this in the living rooms of “Christian” homes and before the eyes of innocent children!). Add to these the myriad of shrewdly contrived advertising campaigns which make sex the not too slyly concealed bait to attract buyers for almost every imaginable product; and degraded columnists who have consecrated their lives to the task of the publicizing of soft, slinky nobodies with the faces of angels and the morals of alley cats.

Now if this god Eros would let us Christians alone I for one would let his cult alone for the whole spongy, fetid mess will sink some day under its own weight and become excellent fuel for the fires of hell. But the cult of Eros is seriously affecting the Christian church.

When God’s sheep are in danger the shepherd is morally obliged to grab his weapon and run to their defense. For much of this century timidity disguised as humility has crouched in her corner while the spiritual quality of evangelical Christianity has become progressively worse year by year. How long, O Lord, how long?