Daily Devotional 9-25-20

The Source Of Wisdom

Man’s intellect seeks for peace and by nature seeks it apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. Men of education are apt, even when converted, to look upon the simplicities of the cross of Christ with too little reverence and love. They are trapped in the old net in which the Greeks were taken and have a hankering to mix philosophy with revelation.

The temptation with a man of refined thought and high education is to depart from the simple truth of Christ crucified and to invent, as the term is, a more intellectual doctrine. This led the early Christian churches into Gnosticism and bewitched them with all sorts of heresies. This is the root of unorthodoxy and the other high-sounding notions that in the past were so fashionable in Germany and are now so enthralling to certain classes of divines. Whoever you are, good reader, and whatever your education may be, if you are the Lord’s, rest assured that you will find no peace in philosophizing divinity.

You may receive the dogma of one great thinker or the dream of another profound reasoner, but what the chaff is to the wheat is what these notions are to the pure Word of God. Reason at its best can only discover the ABCs of truth, and even that lacks certainty, while in Christ Jesus there is treasured up all the fullness of wisdom and knowledge. All attempts on the part of Christians to be content with the systems that Unitarian and liberal-church thinkers approve of must fail; true heirs of heaven must come back to the grandly simple reality that makes the plowboy’s eye flash with joy and rejoices the pious pauper’s heart—“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”1 Jesus satisfies the most elevated intellect when He is believingly received, but apart from Him the mind of the regenerate discovers no rest. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.”2 “All those who practice it have a good understanding.”

From: https://www.truthforlife.org/resources/daily-devotionals/latest/?gclid=CjwKCAjwnK36BRBVEiwAsMT8WCR8UteIwaWlAyP4o9ZIuAWio8l7qmAM1nDcB3pFiYr-jOUNkgMsShoC68IQAvD_BwE

Tim Ferguson is preaching at the Atlanta Falcons game Sunday: 9/27

Pray about evangelizing with Tim at Sunday’s Atlanta Falcons game in Atlanta. 

Details: https://www.facebook.com/events/1630294693797392?acontext=%7B%22action_history%22%3A[%7B%22surface%22%3A%22page%22%2C%22mechanism%22%3A%22page_admin_bar%22%2C%22extra_data%22%3A%22%7B%5C%22page_id%5C%22%3A420094794719164%7D%22%7D%2C%7B%22surface%22%3A%22events_admin_tool%22%2C%22mechanism%22%3A%22events_admin_tool%22%2C%22extra_data%22%3A%22[]%22%7D]%2C%22has_source%22%3Atrue%7D

Daily Devotional 9-24-20

My Faith is Sufficient

In faith, the soul is filled with grace and blessedness. It also unites the soul with Christ like a bride to her husband. This marriage, St. Paul says, unites Christ and the soul in one body (Eph 5:30). All things, then, are shared. Everything that belongs to Christ becomes the believers. What belongs to the believer becomes Christ’s. This begins the joyful exchange.

Because Christ is human and divine and his righteousness is invincible and eternal through the wedding ring of the bride—that is, faith—he takes the sins of the believer and makes them his own. He acts like he did them himself. The believer’s sins are swallowed up and drowned in Christ. No sin is too great for his righteousness. Through this, the believer is freed from all their sins and given the gift of Christ’s eternal righteousness. Is this not worthy of a joyful wedding celebration, when the righteous bridegroom (Christ) receives the poor, despised, and evil whore in marriage, unburdening her of all evil and adorning her with everything that is good! Paul speaks about this in 1 Corinthians 15:57: “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Let us now see what else we have in Christ and what a great blessing true faith is. First of all, you should know that in the Old Testament, God set apart all firstborn males of both humans and animals. Being the firstborn male was special and gave two great advantages to him. In particular, he received sovereignty and priestly authority. So the firstborn son was master over all his brothers and a priest before God. This prefigures Jesus Christ, who is God’s firstborn son by the Virgin Mary. He is therefore a king and a priest, spiritually speaking, for his kingdom is not of this world. Neither does it consist in earthly things but, instead, spiritual ones like truth, wisdom, peace, and joy. Earthly things are not excluded, though, for all things in heaven and on earth and in hell are subject to him.

Thus his priesthood does not consist in outward trappings. It stands invisibly in the spirit in that he continuously pleads for his own before the eyes of God and offers himself and does everything a righteous priest should do. He is “interceding for us,” St. Paul explains in Romans 8:34.

Now, just as Christ has the right of the firstborn with its honor and dignity, he shares it with all Christians so that by faith they too become rulers and priests with Christ. As 1 Peter 2:9 says, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood.” What happens then is that through faith, a Christian is lifted up so as to become sovereign over all things spiritual. Nothing can harm their salvation. In fact, all things are now subject to and assist in their salvation. St. Paul says in Romans 8:28, “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose,” whether it is life, death, sin, righteousness, good and evil, or anything else. Similarly, in 1 Corinthians 3:21–22, he writes, “So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether . . . life or death or the present or the future.” This does not mean that we are physically empowered to possess or use everything the way people on earth do, for we certainly have to die. No one can escape death. We must suffer many other things, as did Christ and his saints. This is instead a spiritual authority, ruling by putting the body under subjection. That is, with respect to the soul, I can improve myself without any physical or temporal thing so that even death and suffering serve me and become useful for my salvation. Indeed, this is an exalted and honorable thing, a spiritual kingdom in which, if I believe, nothing is too good or too evil that it cannot serve me for good, for I do not need anything anyway. My faith is sufficient for me. Look at how precious the authority and freedom of a Christian is!

From: https://www.1517.org/articles/my-faith-is-sufficient

Ryan Denton is preaching at the Texas A & M game Saturday: 9/26

Pray about evangelizing with Ryan at Saturday’s Texas A & M game in College Station.  Details:  https://www.facebook.com/events/276981463554806/?acontext=%7B%22action_history%22%3A[%7B%22surface%22%3A%22page%22%2C%22mechanism%22%3A%22page_admin_bar%22%2C%22extra_data%22%3A%22%7B%5C%22page_id%5C%22%3A420094794719164%7D%22%7D%2C%7B%22surface%22%3A%22events_admin_tool%22%2C%22mechanism%22%3A%22events_admin_tool%22%2C%22extra_data%22%3A%22[]%22%7D]%2C%22has_source%22%3Atrue%7D

Jamie Clark is preaching at the USC game Saturday: 9/26

Pray about evangelizing with Jamie and his Team at Saturday’s South Carolina game.      Details:  https://www.facebook.com/events/793151607893329?acontext=%7B%22action_history%22%3A[%7B%22surface%22%3A%22page%22%2C%22mechanism%22%3A%22page_admin_bar%22%2C%22extra_data%22%3A%22%7B%5C%22page_id%5C%22%3A420094794719164%7D%22%7D%2C%7B%22surface%22%3A%22events_admin_tool%22%2C%22mechanism%22%3A%22events_admin_tool%22%2C%22extra_data%22%3A%22[]%22%7D]%2C%22has_source%22%3Atrue%7D

Pray about evangelizing with Brian and his Team at Sunday’s Colts game.  

Details: https://www.facebook.com/events/3587737581256783/?post_id=3591979830832558&view=permalink&event_action_context=29&event_action_context[ref_notif_type]=page_event_wall_post&event_action_context[action_history]=null&notif_id=1600866453855924&notif_t=page_event_wall_post&ref=notif

Daily Devotional 9-23-20

Tears for a Troubled World

The world loves to laugh. Comedians will always have an audience. People don’t like kill-joys who ruin the party. Yet Jesus says, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Mt 5:4). He doesn’t mean that God’s people are always to be gloomy or morose.

Still less is he saying they are to wallow in self-pity.

He has in mind the grief we experience when we become aware of the purity of God, and the reality of the dark side of our nature. Isaiah the prophet was keenly aware of this when he saw a vision of the glory of God in the temple. ‘Holy, holy, holy,’ the angels sang. He despaired: ‘Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips’ (6:5).

It is the cry of someone who, thinking they are good enough for God, discovers they are not. None of us is. Malcolm Muggeridge, a former editor of the British Punch magazine, wrote: ‘The depravity of men and women is at once the most unpopular of all dogmas, but the most empirically verifiable.’ Paul the Apostle writes: Who will rescue me from this body of death? (Romans 7:24)

The crie de couer of one of the criminals crucified with Jesus echoes the grief Jesus is talking about in his Beatitude. “Don’t you fear God?” the dying criminal said to his colleague. “We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve….” Turning to Jesus he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42).

This man was no saint, yet something about Jesus stirred hope within him. Perhaps it was the contrast between Jesus’ prayer of forgiveness for his tormentors, and the anger of his friend. He knew Jesus was innocent: “This man has done nothing wrong,” he said. “Today you will be with me in paradise,” Jesus promised (Luke 23:43).

There is another aspect of grief: Grief for the world’s sin. Are there not times when we are grieve over the injustices, the human trafficking, the looting and destruction that has accompanied the current protests? The influence of marxism with its anti-God philosophy in schools, universities and the media? Increasingly we see around us a world that has lost sight of the reality of God, and we weep.

Down through the ages God’s people have wept at the plight of men and women trapped in the darkness of their own ego. Calvin did. So too did George Whitfield and John Wesley, John Newton, William Wilberforce, and the Earl of Shaftesbury.

God’s people are realists. We understand that death is a reality to be faced. We know that sin is unspeakably ugly in the light of God’s purity. We also know that eternity exists and that we are all rushing towards it. We understand that God not only exists but has spoken, revealing the alternatives that will come to pass — life or death, pardon or condemnation, heaven or hell.

‘My followers,’ Jesus says, ‘mourn because of the sins and blasphemies of the nation; mourn because of the erosion of the very concept of truth. They mourn over the greed, the cynicism, the lack of compassion evident everywhere. They even mourn that there are so few who mourn’.

Where then is there comfort in this troubled world? “Blessed are those who mourn,” Jesus says, “for they shall be comforted.”

In grieving over our own sin, we are comforted with the knowledge of Jesus’ pardon and absolution when we turn to him with an honest and repentant heart. Paul the Apostle tells us in his Letter to the Colossians (2:13f), that the charges which stand against us have been nailed to the cross of Christ. The future tense, …shall be comforted that Jesus promises, stands behind Paul’s words. The comfort we long for from God could only happen once his perfect sacrifice had been made. The cross of Christ holds out to us a true comfort and joy, because through Christ we now have peace with God.

John Newton, who wrote the hymn, Amazing Grace, said: I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I hope to be – but by the grace of God I am not what I was.

And there is more. Insofar that we mourn the lost-ness of people around us, there is the comfort that comes when they respond to God’s gospel. In Colossians 1:5-6 Paul writes that the gospel, the word of the truth, has come to you,… In the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing. Too often we don’t experience this aspect of God’s comfort today because, silenced by or fearful of the voices around us, we have ceased to promote God’s good news.

Which brings us to another layer of comfort: the comfort that history is moving to an end point. A day will come when Christ will be revealed in all his might, majesty, dominion and power. Our own relationship with God, now hidden in Christ, will be revealed in all its glory.

Before you go to bed this evening why not read Jesus’ words afresh: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted”. You may want to kneel beside your bed and open your heart to God. As you pour out your heart to him, ask him for his full and free forgiveness. Pray also for your family, friends, colleagues and the nation.

When we put our lives in the hands of the Lord Jesus his promise of comfort rings true. His plan is to turn this troubled world, this vale of tears, into a dawn of lasting comfort and joy. His death has made it possible. His resurrection assures us of it.

From: https://anglicanconnection.com/tears-for-a-troubled-world/

Daily Devotional 9-22-20

Looking up to Heroes

When I was a boy I thought like a boy. I behaved like a boy. I understood like a boy. I was deeply impressed by heroes. Mostly, they were figures from the sports world. There was Doak Walker, Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice, Sammy Baugh, Bob Waterfield, Felix “Doc” Blanchard, Johnny Lujack. I hoarded and traded baseball cards.

As we grow older, our heroes change, but we don’t stop having them. Enter into my home today and it will not take long for you to see who my heroes are now. You can’t miss the portraits of Martin Luther, Stonewall Jackson, and Robert E. Lee. You’ll see the fading photographs of my father and my grandfather. You’ll see the works of Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and Jonathan Edwards. You’ll hear me speak of John Gerstner. These names are readily apparent in my office—though perhaps a bit incongruous next to the framed portrait of Arnold Palmer.

Strange, isn’t it? We need models. We need leaders who inspire us, real people of flesh and blood who embody character traits we admire, for in that admiration and inspiration comes emulation. I know that I shall never be Martin Luther. God and all my golf teachers know I’ll never be Arnold Palmer. I cannot be these men. But I can try to be like them. I can imitate their courage as I face life’s challenges. I can be strengthened by their examples.

Though the “cloud of witnesses” cited in Hebrews 11 is a list of heroes and heroines, they are, nevertheless, people of real flesh and blood whose lives are set forth for us in sacred Scripture. Their portraits are painted there for us, warts and all. We even find something praiseworthy, something worth emulating, in the life of the harlot, Rahab.

Let us never grow up so far that we can no longer look up.

Coram Deo

Who are your heroes? What positive examples do they provide for your spiritual life?

Passages for Further Study

Hebrews 12:1–2

Psalm 123:1–2

From: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/looking-heroes/

Daily Devotional 9-21-20

God’s Grace Again

What would life be like if we only had one opportunity to prove ourselves on the job, at school or on the athletic field? Fewer jobs would be held. Fewer young men and women would compete in athletics. We believe in a second chance. We believe in the second chance because God made us this way. God always gives people room to turn back to Him and to accomplish the tasks He has given them.

The classic example in the Bible is Jonah. When Jonah turned his back on God and ran away, God didn’t say, “Sorry Jonah, you blew it. I’ll get someone else to do your job.” Not at all. The Bible is very clear. Listen, “The word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time” (Jonah 3:1). God did not give up on Jonah. After He got Jonah’s attention, He came back to Jonah a second time. Jonah was given a second opportunity to fulfill God’s calling. This is an example of grace. It is God’s grace again coming to Jonah.

God deals with each of us in the same way. The Bible says, “The Lord is… patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). This is why God came to Jonah the second time. This is why God comes back to you again and again with the good news of the gospel. Even now Jesus says, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

Listen to today’s podcast, “Prepared by God’s Grace.”

From: http://dennyprutow.com/daily-devotions/

Daily Devotional 9-18-20

A Right to Lead

We should follow our Lord as unhesitatingly as sheep follow their shepherd, for He has a right to lead us wherever He pleases. We are not our own, we are bought with a price—let us recognize the rights of the redeeming blood. The soldier follows his captain, the servant obeys his master, and so we must follow our Redeemer, to whom we are a purchased possession. We are not true to our profession of being Christians if we question the summons of our Leader and Commander.

Submission is our duty; quibbling is our folly. Our Lord may say to us what he said to Peter, “What is that to you? You follow Me!”1 Wherever Jesus may lead us, He goes before us. If we do not know where we go, we know with whom we go. With such a companion, who will dread the dangers of the journey? The road may be long, but His everlasting arms will carry us to the end. The presence of Jesus is the assurance of eternal salvation; because He lives, we will live also. We should follow Christ in simplicity and faith, because the paths in which He leads us all end in glory and immortality. It is true that they may not be smooth paths—they may be covered with sharp, flinty trials; but they lead to “the city that has foundations, whose designer and maker is God.”2 All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth to those who keep His covenant.

Let us put our complete trust in our Leader, since we know that in prosperity or adversity, sickness or health, popularity or contempt, His purpose will be worked out, and that purpose will be pure, unmingled good to every heir of mercy. We will find it sweet to go up the bleak side of the hill with Christ; and when rain and snow blow into our faces, His dear love will make us far more blessed than those who sit at home and warm their hands at the world’s fire. When Jesus draws us, we will run after Him. No matter where He leads us, we follow the Shepherd.

1) John 21:22

2) Hebrews 11:10

From: https://www.truthforlife.org/resources/daily-devotionals/latest/?gclid=CjwKCAjwnK36BRBVEiwAsMT8WCR8UteIwaWlAyP4o9ZIuAWio8l7qmAM1nDcB3pFiYr-jOUNkgMsShoC68IQAvD_BwE