VIDEO Luther’s Quest For God

 “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’” — Romans 1:17

While our culture sets this day aside as Halloween, I think a much more fitting event to celebrate happened on this day in 1517—the Reformation of the Church, when Martin Luther, a humble monk, made public ninety-five reasons the Church needed to reform. Luther knew how desperately the world and the Church needed to know we could gain grace only through faith. He dedicated his life to discovering and preaching this truth.

Luther was born November 10, 1483, into a poor family of German woodcutters. Realizing that their son was gifted, Luther’s parents scrimped and saved to send him to the university, where he studied law. Returning home from school on foot, he and a friend were caught in a thunderstorm and his friend was struck by lightning and killed. This terrified Luther and he vowed to enter a monastery so he could search for God. One question plagued him without ceasing: How could he, a sinful man, ever become pure enough to stand in the awesome presence of a holy God who was an all-consuming fire? Luther spent years trying every way he knew to purify his soul. He spent hours each day confessing his sins. He beat himself with a whip until he became bloody and unconscious. He prayed for six weeks, fasted, and slept very little. He stayed out all night long, naked, in the deep snows of Germany.

But one day the Lord spoke to him through the Scriptures, specifically Romans 1:17: “The just shall live by faith.” Suddenly Luther saw the Gospel. He discovered God’s grace. He realized that only those justified by faith in Christ’s blood will live and those who seek to justify themselves in any other way shall not live. Luther spent the rest of his life promoting and defending this truth. Even when he was on trial, faced with being burned at the stake, he clung fiercely to it. Justification by faith is still our great hope and joy.

““Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me! Amen!”” —Martin Luther

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Dr David Jeremiah | Single Messages | Fully Engaged with the Gospel | Romans 1:16-17 | Sunday Service

Under God’s Wings

I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings. Psalm 61:4

There are several Canada goose families with baby geese at the pond near our apartment complex. The little goslings are so fluffy and cute; it’s hard not to watch them when I go for a walk or run around the pond. But I’ve learned to avoid eye contact and give the geese a wide berth—otherwise, I risk a protective goose parent suspecting a threat and hissing and chasing me!

The image of a bird protecting her young is one that Scripture uses to describe God’s tender, protective love for His children (Psalm 91:4). In Psalm 61, David seems to be struggling to experience God’s care in this way. He’d experienced God as his “refuge, a strong tower” (v. 3), but now he called desperately “from the ends of the earth,” pleading, “lead me to the rock that is higher than I” (v. 2). He longed to once more “take refuge in the shelter of [God’s] wings” (v. 4).

And in bringing his pain and longing for healing to God, David took comfort in knowing that He’d heard him (v. 5). Because of God’s faithfulness, he knew he would “ever sing in praise of [His] name” (v. 8).

Like the psalmist, when we feel distant from God’s love, we can run back to His arms to be assured that even in our pain, He’s with us, protecting and caring for us as fiercely as a mother bird guards her young.

By:  Monica La Rose

Reflect & Pray

How does it encourage you to remember God’s protective care for you? How have you experienced His care?

Dear God, thank You for Your fierce, protective love for me. Help me to rest securely in Your tender care.

Godly Choices

We are wise if we take the time to pray and consider the consequences Hebrews 12:15-17

Yesterday we read about Esau forfeiting his future for present gratification. If we’re not careful, we might do the same thing. Even the unremarkable choices we make each day are able to impact our life. Let’s look at three attitudes that can lead to sacrificing what is worthwhile for something that isn’t:

1. Allowing appetites to rule us. We all have need of things like food, companionship, and sleep. While our desires for them are natural and God-given, they can become the driving force in our life if we aren’t careful.

2. Being blind to what’s truly valuable. The Lord’s priorities are contrary to what the world considers important. Unless we guard our heart (Proverbs 4:23), we can easily be lured by pursuits with no lasting worth.

3. Failing to Consider Consequences. Eve didn’t contemplate what might happen if she ate the forbidden fruit; she focused on the short-term benefit (Genesis 3:1-19). Nor did Samson think about repercussions from interactions with Delilah (Judges 16:16-23). How easy it is to make a rash decision because the immediate return seems good. The Lord wants us to pause and pray about the possible outcomes of our actions.

What decisions are you facing? Prayerfully consider what is driving you, and before making choices, think about potential effects of your actions.

Your Deliverer

But deliver us from the evil one. Matthew 6:13b

The defining act in the history of the Jews is the Exodus. God delivered the descendants of Jacob from the oppression of the Egyptian Pharaoh: “Our fathers trusted in You; they trusted, and You delivered them” (Psalm 22:4). The word deliverance became a defining biblical idea for God’s saving acts of His people in both the Old and the New Testament.

Just as God delivered the Jews from Pharaoh’s kingdom, so God delivers those who trust in Jesus from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of God (Colossians 1:13-14). When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “But deliver us from the evil one,” He was likely speaking against the backdrop of God being the deliverer of His people. In the New Testament, that idea is affirmed by the apostles in terms of eternal security: Satan will do what he can to prevent us from reaching God’s eternal kingdom but God “will deliver [us] from every evil work and preserve [us] for His heavenly kingdom” (2 Timothy 4:18).

In Christ you are protected from every temporal and eternal desire of “the evil one” to harm you: “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer” (2 Samuel 22:2).

There is no devil in the first two chapters of the Bible and no devil in the last two chapters. Thank God for a Book that disposes of the devil!  Vance Havner

Four Areas Where We As God’s People May Need To Repent

1. Our Pride: “The desire to impress (others) is not of the Father, but is of the world… “(1 John 2:16)

Prayer: “Lord, I confess to you that I have focused too much on what others think, rather than on what You think. I confess the sin of trying to impress others rather than seeking to please You. I ask your forgiveness, and for the strength to make the necessary changes. In Jesus‘ Name, amen.“

2. Our Misplaced Priorities:

With God: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.“(Matthew 6:33)

With our family: “If anyone does not provide (maintain; have regard) for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.“(1 Timothy 5:8)

With our job: “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man‘s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.‘”(Luke 12:15b)

Prayer: “Lord, I confess that I have often not put You first. I have often neglected my time with You. I have often put my family needs aside for my career. I have allowed the seduction of work, the fear of failure and the love of money to take priority over seeking to know You and over serving my family. By your grace I will reorder my priorities. I ask your forgiveness in Jesus‘ Name, amen.“

3. Our Questionable Ethics: “Simply let your ‘Yes‘ be ‘Yes,‘ and your ‘No,”No‘; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.“(Matthew 5:37)

Prayer: “Lord, with the pressure of surviving in business in an environment where honesty and integrity are often absent, I confess that I have not always been totally honest. I have not conducted business according to Your standards. I confess that I have allowed myself to believe that I, rather than You are my provider of our needs. Therefore, I have not always had the courage to say ‘no‘ when my integrity and personal ethics were on the line. I ask Your forgiveness, and for the determination to make the changes. In Jesus‘ Name, amen.“

4. Our Flirtation with Impurity: “Let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.“(2 Corinthians 7:1)

Prayer: “Lord, I confess that I have been taken by the glamour of the ‘world‘, at the expense of knowing You. I confess that I have often been double-minded in my walk: seeking to follow You on the one hand and allowing my sensual nature to take control on the other. I repent and ask Your forgiveness, and for help to live a life of single-mindedness, focused on You and Kingdom values. In Jesus‘ Name, amen.“

“He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it.”

Philippians 1:1-26

We have now reached the Epistle to the Philippians, which has been well called the epistle of love and joy. In it we see most of the inner character of the apostle; there was the utmost mutual love between him and the brethren at Philippi.

Philippians 1:1-5

They were the most generous and faithful of the churches, and gave the apostle much joy. Should we not all aim to cheer the heart of our ministers by our zeal and liberality?

Philippians 1:6

This delightful confidence is the crowning joy of the Christian life. If he who began the good work did not also carry it on we should be in a wretched plight, but, blessed be God, the work of grace is in the hands of one who never leaves his work unfinished.

Philippians 1:7-11

The one point in which the Philippians failed was love and unity among themselves; for this Paul prayed, for it is of the first importance.

Philippians 1:15-18

Sweet forgetfulness of self! So long as Christ is glorified, Paul minds not how he himself fares, nor what unkind motives towards himself may actuate other preachers. This is real Christianity.

Philippians 1:19-20

He hoped that the spread of the gospel would call Nero’s attention to his case, and end his imprisonment one way or another, and little did he care whether he was set free by death, or by being allowed to resume his labours.

Philippians 1:25, 26

He would even stay out of heaven a while for their sakes. Oh, to live only to do good! This is to live indeed.

Were the whole realm of nature mine

That were a present far too small:

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.

A Prayer at Communion

Ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come. (1 Corinthians 11:26)

Dear Lord and Savior, we come to your table in faith, for you have told us, “As often as you do this, do it in memory of Me.” Help us to celebrate this remembrance of death and resurrection in the very best way we know how.

Do then, we pray Thee, overshadow us with Thy very breathing Presence. Breathe on us, O Breath of God; quicken and heal and purify and cleanse. Strengthen and perfect that which is wanting in us.

Bless the strangers and the friends who happen to be within our gates today. Dear Lord, make them sense that they have found a home among us as we worship, and to realize that they are just as much “owners” here as we are; for it is the Lord’s house and the Lord’s table—it is not ours.

We are all guests and children in the household—all of us! And we pray that we may love Thee acceptably, for we would not wound Thee again! Thou didst love us with such poured-out love that not even the blood in Thy veins was dear enough to Thee—we were dearer than that blood!

All of this we ask in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

VIDEO Exaggeration

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Revelation 21:1

 

In 1897, the obituary of Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) was published in a New York newspaper. The only problem was that Mark Twain was very much alive! He cleared up the confusion in a note written in May of that year: “James Ross Clemens, a cousin of mine, was seriously ill two or three weeks ago in London, but is well now. The report of my illness grew out of his illness. The report of my death was an exaggeration.”

Sometimes an exaggeration doesn’t tell the whole story. That happened when the queen of Sheba heard what she considered to be outlandish reports of King Solomon’s glory in Jerusalem. When she visited the king, however, she found that Solomon’s kingdom exceeded what she had been told (1 Kings 10). Some people think what the Bible says about the new heavens and new earth is an exaggeration (for example, the lavish ornamentation described in Revelation 21:18-21). You may think God is exaggerating at times (Ephesians 3:20), but He’s not. Heaven will be like nothing you’ve ever seen.

There are no exaggerations in heaven, only truth beyond our earthly ability to comprehend.

Scripture repeatedly makes clear that heaven is a realm of unsurpassed joy, unfading glory, undiminished bliss, unlimited delights, and unending pleasures. John MacArthur

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Revelation 21:1-8a – In Depth – Pastor Chuck Smith – Bible Studies

Smartphone Compassion

The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. Exodus 34:6

Was the driver late with your food? You can use your phone to give him a one-star rating. Did the shopkeeper treat you curtly? You can write her a critical review. While smartphones enable us to shop, keep up with friends, and more, they have also given us the power to publicly rate each other. And this can be a problem.

Rating each other this way is problematic because judgments can be made without context. The driver gets rated poorly for a late delivery due to circumstances out of his control. The shopkeeper gets a negative review when she’d been up all night with a sick child. How can we avoid rating others unfairly like this?

By imitating God’s character. In Exodus 34:6–7, God describes Himself as “compassionate and gracious”—meaning He wouldn’t judge our failures without context; “slow to anger”—meaning He wouldn’t post a negative review after one bad experience; “abounding in love”—meaning His correctives are for our good, not to get revenge; and “forgiving [of] sin”—meaning our lives don’t have to be defined by our one-star days. Since God’s character is to be the basis of ours (Matthew 6:33), we can avoid the harshness smartphones enable by using ours as He would.

In the online age, we can all rate others harshly. May the Holy Spirit empower us to bring a little compassion today.

By:  Sheridan Voysey

Reflect & Pray

How can you show more compassion to others? What characteristic of God do you most need to imitate when online?

Holy Spirit, please grow the fruit of godly character in me today, especially when I’m online.

Good Decisions

To be able to see our best option, we sometimes need to wait Genesis 25:29-34

We all know the phrase “You reap what you sow,” but did you know it’s actually a biblical principle? (See Job 4:8 and Proverbs 11:18.) In today’s passage, Esau learned this truth the hard way. Famished, he returned from hunting and requested some of the stew his brother made. Seizing upon the opportunity, Jacob agreed in exchange for his twin’s birthright.

In Old Testament times, the firstborn enjoyed special privileges, which included authority over younger siblings, a double share of the inheritance, and being the spiritual leader of the family. Yet Esau, deciding that food was more of a necessity, traded his birthright for dinner. He later grieved when he realized what was lost, but at that point, it was too late.

Like Esau, we all face critical choices. And though God forgives, the consequences remain. So we must learn how to choose wisely. We should take to heart two warnings from this story. First, to be able to determine our best options, we should wait until we’re physically, emotionally, and spiritually stable.

Second, it’s often important to delay gratification. Though our human desires feel overwhelming at times, we should prayerfully wait for God’s timing.

Think about the longings that you have. Pray for wisdom and patience so that you can make godly decisions during critical moments.