VIDEO Tell God Everything

I cry out to the Lord with my voice; with my voice to the Lord I make my supplication. Psalm 142:1

 

When reading the New Testament, we sometimes wonder: “Was the apostle Paul thinking of such-and-such Old Testament event when he wrote those words?” That could be the case when we see an example (Old Testament) and exhortation (New Testament) to pour out our concerns to God.

When David was anointed king, King Saul tried to kill David to block his ascension to the throne. On one occasion, David hid in “the cave of Adullam” (1 Samuel 22:1) to escape the murderous Saul. In Psalm 142, we have a record of David’s prayer to God while he was hiding from Saul. And what a prayer! Surely it is an example of what Paul wrote about in Philippians 4:6-7—don’t be anxious, but through prayers and supplications let your concerns be made known to God. And just as David was guarded in a “stronghold” while he prayed (1 Samuel 22:4), so the believer is guarded by the peace of God as we commit our concerns to Him (Philippians 4:7).

Don’t be afraid to tell God your deepest needs and concerns. By example and exhortation, the Bible encourages that very thing.

Anxiety and prayer are more opposed to each other than fire and water. J. A. Bengel

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Abide: My Only Refuge – Psalm 142:1-7

For the Sake of the Gospel

In every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive. Titus 2:10

The year was 1916 and Nelson had just graduated from medical school in his native Virginia. Later that year, he and his bride of six months arrived in China. At the age of twenty-two, he became a surgeon at Love and Mercy Hospital, the only hospital in an area of at least two million Chinese residents. Nelson, together with his family, lived in the area for twenty-four more years, running the hospital, performing surgeries, and sharing the gospel with thousands of people. From once being called “foreign devil” by those who distrusted foreigners, Nelson Bell later became known as “The Bell Who Is Lover of the Chinese People.” His daughter Ruth was to later marry the evangelist Billy Graham.

Although Nelson was a brilliant surgeon and Bible teacher, it wasn’t his skills that drew many to Jesus; it was his character and the way he lived out the gospel. In Paul’s letter to Titus, the young gentile leader who was taking care of the church in Crete, the apostle said that living like Christ is crucial because it can make the gospel “attractive” (Titus 2:10). Yet we don’t do this on our own strength. God’s grace helps us live “self-controlled, upright and godly lives” (v. 12), reflecting the truths of our faith (v. 1).

Many people around us still don’t know the good news of Christ, but they know us. May He help us reflect and reveal His message in attractive ways.

By:  Karen Huang

Reflect & Pray

What can you learn from people whose life seems to draw others to the gospel? What things can you do (or stop doing) to make the gospel attractive to others?

Loving God, help me to be a good representative of the gospel. Help me to draw others to You.

Making Changes to Fulfill God’s Plan

In exchanging our will for God’s, we discover what is truly good and satisfying in life Matthew 16:24-27

As God’s adopted children, we have been given the purpose of glorifying Him through righteous living. Yesterday we saw this means making certain modifications in our life. Let’s consider two more changes that may be necessary for followers of Jesus.

1. One adjustment has to do with our belief system—a Christian’s thinking ought to match Jesus’. For example, students of Scripture will learn the following: The Lord is the One who deserves our praise (Psalm 96:4); the last shall be first (Mark 9:35); and Christians are to be generous people (1 Timothy 6:18). Our actions need to match what the Bible teaches.

2. We may also have to redefine our commitments. God is to be our highest priority, and His desires for us should take precedence over personal preferences and what others ask us to do. We must evaluate our choices in light of His plan for us. This may mean letting go of a favorite activity, taking on a new responsibility, or staying where we are despite longing to leave. Our Father wants and deserves His children’s full devotion (Matthew 22:37).

These changes do not all happen instantly at salvation; they take place over a lifetime. And we should be encouraged, because such adjustments are accompanied by the confidence of knowing that God will use us to fulfill His plan.               

Running to Christ

“The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.” (Proverbs 18:10)

When one realizes that he is lost and that only Christ can save him, he should not delay a moment but come immediately to Christ. There are, in fact, several men in the New Testament who actually ran to Him.

There was the man possessed with a whole legion of demons. “But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him” (Mark 5:6), and Jesus set him free.

Then there was a young man who wanted to learn of Christ. When he found that Jesus was going away, he came “running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10:17). Unfortunately, his sincerity failed when he realized the cost. Zeal without sacrifice is dead, as is faith without works.

There was another wealthy man who was willing to pay the price. “And [Zacchaeus] ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way” (Luke 19:4). The conversion of Zacchaeus was genuine, and he demonstrated it by a changed and sacrificial life.

In Christ’s suffering on the cross, He spoke of His awful thirst, and an unknown observer “ran and filled a spunge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink” (Mark 15:36). Christ will not forget this expression of concern and sympathy.

After His burial, Mary Magdalene came back to tell Peter and John that the tomb was open. “So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre….and he saw, and believed” (John 20:4-8).

All who hasten wholeheartedly to Christ, sincerely seeking to know and serve Him, will find salvation in His name, for “the name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.” HMM

Understanding The People We Are Seeking To Influence

How do we communicate the Gospel in a society where God is increasingly perceived as irrelevant and Jesus Christ is little more than a vacation school character or a swear word? A good place to start is to try to understand current cultural shifts and respond accordingly. Consider the fact that:

1. THE PEOPLE AROUND US ARE BUSIER TODAY THAN THEY WERE IN THE 1980’s ; working harder and longer for less.

Therefore: We need to declare the truth in short sound/time bytes. Like it or not, longwinded, complicated, or arduous approaches to communicating the Gospel no longer work.

“Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible… I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.“(1 Corinthians 9:19, 22)

2. THEY ARE MORE BROKEN AND “DYSFUNCTIONAL” – individually, socially, and in the family.

Therefore: The process of winning and healing will generally take more patience and a longer period of time then it did previously.

“We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.“(Romans 15:1, 2)

3. THERE IS A NEW INTEREST IN UNSEEN AND SPIRITUAL THINGS, and willingness to talk about them. However, this interest does not necessarily extend to the Bible or Jesus.

Therefore: They need to see in us the authentic love of Christ in such a way that validates true Christianity over New Age and other ideologies — particularly those in the metaphysical realm.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.“(John 13:34, 35)

4. MANY HAVE A MARGINALIZED VIEW OF CHURCH AND RELIGION.

Therefore: We must model and proclaim Christ to them in their world, rather than expecting them to enter ours.

“Therefore we are Christ‘s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ‘s behalf: Be reconciled to God.“(2 Corinthians 5:20)

“His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.”

Matthew 17:1-9

Our blessed Lord for the most part led a life of humiliation; but occasionally, lest men should altogether forget his divine nature, he drew aside the curtain, and revealed a measure of his majesty. This he did in a special manner upon the holy mount.

Matthew 17:1

A quaint writer says our Lord took Peter because he loved Christ most, John because Christ loved him most, and James because, next to these, he loved and was loved most. The Lord knew the men whom he had chosen, and judged these three to be the fittest eye-witnesses of his glory.

Matthew 17:2

As a foretaste of the glory in which he will shine hereafter, he put on the robes of his excellency for a moment, and dazzled his disciples eyes. How great was the condescension which kept him closely veiled while here below. Brighter than the sun is he, and yet he deigned to be despised and rejected of men.

Matthew 17:3

The law and the prophets are in harmony with Christ, and when we see the glory of Jesus we behold their light sweetly blending with his own.

Matthew 17:4

Not knowing what he said, but feeling as we have often done, that we would gladly remain in sweet meditation and hallowed fellowship, and go no more down into the rude world.

Matthew 17:5, 6

Astonished and overcome, they fell down as in the stupor of deep sleep.

“When, in ecstasy sublime, Tabor’s glorious sleep I climb, At the too transporting light Darkness rushes o’er my sight.”

We are not able as yet to bear too clear a view of the glory of our Lord. Before we enter heaven we shall be strengthened to bear the strain of the beatific vision.

Matthew 17:7, 8

And that sight was enough. To see Jesus only is all that saint or sinner need desire.

Matthew 17:9

The mind of Jesus rushed forward to his death and resurrection. Tabor could not make him forget Calvary. Christ crucified should ever be most dear to us, since for our sakes he despised the shame of death, and counted dishonour as glory, that he might redeem us to himself.

2 Peter 1:16-18

Of this transfiguration of our Lord and the attesting voice of the Father, Peter speaks in his epistle.

2 Peter 1:16-18

The apostles, by seeing the transfiguration, were confirmed in faith and enabled to bear witness concerning their Lord to all generations.

O thou, who once on Tabor’s hill

Didst shine before the favoured three,

The souls which love thee favour still

Thy nearer glory, Lord, to see.

E’en now let faith’s far-gazing eye

The brightness of thy Godhead scan,

And view thee, throned in heaven on high,

The Almighty Lord, the Son of Man.

Honor God’s Spirit

Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30)

I think there are great numbers of Christian believers who ought to go home and go into their places of prayer and apologize to God for their demeaning attitudes toward the Holy Spirit of God.

Included in their numbers are Bible teachers who are guilty of leading us astray. They have dared to teach Christians that the Holy Spirit will never speak of His own person or position, as though the third Person of the Godhead may be ignored and His ministry downgraded!

Jesus said, “[When He comes] He shall not speak of himself, but whatever He shall hear, that shall He speak” (John 16:13b).

Jesus was actually telling His disciples: The Comforter will not come to stand on His own, to speak on His own authority. He will guide you into all truth—He will speak and act on the authority of the divine Godhead: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

If you do not yield and honor the Holy Spirit, your lives will not show forth the blessed fruits of the Spirit!