Tue, Oct 31st - 9:28AM
All For God’s Glory I Corinthians 10:31 October 31
Whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Life is what we make it. The decisions that we make determine the direction that our lives take. Paul has learned a truth that we all need to learn; “Whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God.” There are several facets to this wise word of instruction.
As we take God’s Word to heart, there are a couple of things of things that this instruction does for us. First of all, God delights in our obedience. Our obedience gives glory to God. When we look to God’s Word and His direction in our daily decisions, God delights in our obedience because our obedience is an expression of our faith in Him; our obedience is an expression of our dependence and our confidence hat He will do for us what He promises that He will do.
This leads us to the second benefit, which is giving God glory as He is able to keep His promises to us! God delights in our obedience because of our obedience but He also delights in our obedience because of what our obedience allows God to do for us. This is why Paul admonishes us to “do ALL to the glory of God.”
God does not want us doing some things to His glory… He does no want us doing most things to His glory; God delights in our doing all to His glory. When you and I do all to His glory, it allows Him to do all for us. God’s provisions for your life and mine are far better than what we can do for ourselves and they are infinitely better than what the world can do for us.
You and I cannot begin to fathom the extent of God’s love and His provisions for our lives until we are willing to walk in the light of His love and His commandments and we begin to experience for ourselves the benefits that are ours as we do all for His glory.
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
><> Bob <><
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Mon, Oct 30th - 7:22AM
Right In My Sight II Kings 10:30 October 30
30And the LORD said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in doing what is right in My sight, and have done to the house of Ahab all that was in My heart, your sons shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.”
God told Elisha to go to Jehu and to anoint him to be king of Israel. There was one problem; Joram who was Ahab and Jezebel’s son was king. Jehu and Joram met on the battlefield and Jehu killed Joram. He then went to Jezreel where Jezebel was and as she looked out the window knowing what had happened to her son and Jehu told the eunuchs serving her to throw her out of the window. They did as he commanded and Jezebel died as well.
Jehu then commanded that all of the sons of Ahab to be killed. There were 70 sons and their heads were brought to Jehu. In addition to the sons of Ahab, anyone that had any relation to Ahab and claimed any connection to him were killed as well. So, Ahab’s connection to the throne of Israel was permanently eliminated as God had said it would be.
Jehu did something else. Ahab served the god Baal. Jehu called the prophets of Baal to have a great offering for his victory. He sent out word that Ahab worshipped Baal a little but that Jehu would worship him greatly! So everyone came to be part of the celebration. When the prophets and servants of Baal were all gathered together, Jehu had them all killed and the temple to Baal torn down. Jehu single handedly removed the wicked reign of Ahab and any claim to his throne as well as the worship of Baal.
30And the LORD said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in doing what is right in My sight, and have done to the house of Ahab all that was in My heart, your sons shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.”
God rewarded Jehu for he did. If this is where we stopped, we would think that Jehu was a man who pleased God. However, that is not really the case. Listen to the next verse, 31But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD God of Israel with all his heart; for he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, who had made Israel sin.
God established Jehu’s family’s line to the throne but there is no mention of any reward for Jehu himself. This line remained for 120 years. Jehu removed Baal but he did not worship God! Jesu is a perfect example of an individual who did great things for God but failed to walk with God himself. It is possible to teach Sunday School or singing the choir or serve as a deacon or even preach the gospel and do great things that God would be pleased with. Our families might benefit and benefit well from those things.
However, God still expects us to have a personal relationship with Him and to walk with Him. It is not enough to do good things; good things do have their reward but walking with God in obedience is still God’s ultimate goal for each of our lives. This needs to be our goal first. God has put us first and we need to do the same with Him!
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
><> Bob <><
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Sun, Oct 29th - 7:07AM
Real Life Today! Proverbs 10:29 October 29
29 The way of the LORD is strength for the upright, but destruction will come to the workers of iniquity.
Solomon lived a very unique life. He grew up in the palace, the son of David. He succeeded his father’s throne and God gave him uncommon wisdom. However, Solomon went through several stages in his life trying to find the answers to the questions of life. He became the consummate “party animal”. He quickly realized that this kind of lifestyle would not give him the peace and joy that he was looking for.
He looked to education and sat under the best teachers in the world and became one of the most learned men in the world. However, he found out that education as valuable as it is, was not in and of itself the answer that he was looking for. He decided that wealth was the answer and he set out to become the wealthiest man in the world and he succeeded in his quest. However, he found out that money was not the answer that he looked for.
Listen to Solomon’s conclusion in the final verse in the book of Ecclesiastes, 13 Here is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is the duty of every person. 14 God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad.
29 The way of the LORD is strength for the upright, but destruction will come to the workers of iniquity. Solomon understood this verse probably as well as any man who has ever lived. The way of the Lord is strength to those who live upright lives. How do we do that? We live upright lives as we follow the instruction found in God’s Word. When we live our lives for God, He is able to assume responsibility for the lives we live! He becomes the source and sustenance for our lives.
Solomon goes on to say, destruction will come to the workers of iniquity. Does God punish us when we do not do His will? I know from personal experience that there are times when He does, yes. However, Solomon’s words here have more to do with the quality of life that we experience. When we make decisions that are contrary to the instruction found in the Word of God, we head in the wrong direction and do the wrong things and the results that we really want are not going to be found. When we look to sin, we are not going to reap the benefits that we really need and want.
There are consequences to our decisions and the Word of God here is telling you and me that sin is always the wrong choice; the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life, both in this life and in the life to come!
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
><> Bob <><
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Sat, Oct 28th - 6:53AM
Share Jesus Matthew 10:28 October 28
28“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Here Jesus has called the 12 disciples and they have been with Him for a short time and He has given them power over unclean spirits and the ability to heal the sick. He tells them that they are to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and tell them that the Kingdom of God is at hand.
In His instructions to them, He warns them that this task will not be an easy one. People will not receive them nor their message with open arms. People will ridicule them and even persecute them. 16“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. 17“But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. 18“You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. 19“But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; 20“for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.
28“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Jesus wanted His disciples to know that God would be with them everywhere they went. He would give them the strength to be witnesses for Him. He would give them the words to speak. It would be difficult at times and the temptation would come to quit and to fear the threats of the people. No one wants to be beaten and taken before the courts for telling people about Jesus. However, Jesus told His disciples not to fear men who could take their life but could not touch their souls; but trust God who holds in His hand both physical and eternal life!
We live in a world that is becoming more and more hostile to Christianity by the day. I am convinced more and more that this word of encouragement that Jesus gave to His disciples almost 2000 years ago is going to be put to test for many of us if the Lord tarries His coming. The question for us today is this; “What kind of witness are you for the Lord?” Many of us do not take the time nor the opportunity to tell anyone about Jesus because we fear being ridiculed or made fun of or we don’t want people to think we are some kind of oddball or something. Forget persecution that threatens our lives! We don’t want to be embarrassed by telling someone about Jesus!
Remember Jesus said, 32“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33“But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. Lets share Jesus with someone this week!
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
><> Bob <><
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Fri, Oct 27th - 10:52AM
All Things Possible Mark 10:27 October 27
“With God all things are possible.”
When it comes to God’s promises, one thing is absolutely clear in the Bible; “With God all things are possible.” Nothing is impossible with God. There is no problem that He cannot solve and there is no task that He cannot handle. Has it ever occurred to you that nothing has ever occurred to God? He is all knowing and He is all-powerful. He can do anything that He wants to do at any instant that He wants to do it. At the sound of His voice, the mountains would crumble and the oceans would dry up. God could cause the rain to stand suspended in the air if He wanted it to.
God has done great things already! He causes the birds to sing some of the sweetest melodies. He has clothed the fields with some of the most colorful flowers and He has trees that reach up to the heavens. He causes the summer rain to cool the air and to give life to the vegetation that gives life to the animals, which gives life to us.
Have you ever stopped to think about life and the fact that all life is interdependent on other life? God designed life to be shared. As life is shared, life continues. When life ceases to be shared, it soon dies. This is true because the life that God created is life that is shared. Life itself comes from God and in Him life exists and it consists. He is the source of life and He is the substance of life as well.
Our lives find meaning and purpose when we allow God to be God in our lives and He is able to lead us and guide us and make our lives all that He wants them to be. This gives Him His purpose for creating the world in the first place. God created the world so He would have an outlet for His love, which is the source of life in the first place. As God is able to reach out to us in His love for us, He finds joy and purpose, which gives Him glory. As He gives His love to us, our lives begin to flourish! As our lives flourish, we are blessed and we become a blessing to others and their lives become better.
Isn’t it amazing just how wonderfully simple life really is! As complex as it is, life is reduced to one very simple principle. “With God all things are possible” and when we make His ways our ways, He is able to give us life and give it to us more abundantly. As we receive His life, we reach out to share that life with those around us and life moves from one life to another and another and another and we are able to go to bed with joy in our hearts and wake in the morning with a song on our lips!
“With God all things are indeed possible.”
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
><> Bob <><
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Thu, Oct 26th - 11:12AM
Touched Hearts I Samuel 10:26 October 26
26And Saul also went home to Gibeah; and valiant men went with him, whose hearts God had touched.
Here we have the story of Samuel announcing Saul as the soon to be king of Israel. God has been taking care of the nation of Israel but they decided for themselves that they wanted a king. They rejected God and wanted Samuel to anoint them a king so that they could be like every other nation.
Samuel reminded the people one more time that it was God who had brought them to the Promised Land and that it was God who had defeated all of these other nations that had kings! However, instead of repenting and coming to their senses, they said, is our new king here? So Samuel introduces Saul to the people and the Bible tells us that he stood a full head taller than anyone there.
24And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom the LORD has chosen, that there is no one like him among all the people?” So all the people shouted and said, “Long live the king!”
26And Saul also went home to Gibeah; and valiant men went with him, whose hearts God had touched.
God chose Saul to be King. He also selected men of valor to go with him and to stand beside him as he served God as King. The devotional thought for today is this; even though it displeased God that the people wanted a king, He still guided them and He chose a king for them. He also chose men to stand with him.
God will give you and me people to stand with us if we will just allow Him to do so. God will give us people to stand with us and beside us if we will just walk with Him in obedience and even in times of disobedience, He will give these people to us!
Perhaps God has people whose hearts have been set to stand beside you even right now. Maybe these people are yet to be discovered. Maybe God has called you to be one of those people to stand beside someone that He has chosen for a very special purpose. Perhaps it might be your pastor. Maybe there is some ministry that God has put on your heart in a very special way and you need to let them know that you are there to support them in any way that you possibly can.
God is still in the business of touching men’s hearts and calling people to stand beside His choice servants and it is our place to make sure that we are hearing that call and heeding His instruction. These men did and you and I can as well!
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
><> Bob <><
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Wed, Oct 25th - 10:01AM
What Shall I Do? Luke 10:25 October 25
25And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
There are several occasions when someone comes up to Jesus and asks Him, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life.” This lawyer is one; the rich young ruler was another who when Jesus told him to go and sell all that he had and give it to the poor, the Bible tells us that he went away sorrowful. Another ruler came to Jesus by night whose name was Nicodemus and Jesus told him that he needed to be born again.
This lawyer came to Jesus and asked Him what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. Notice what Luke tells us, “he asked this question testing the Lord.” He wanted to catch Jesus in a situation where what He said could be used against Him. However, look at what Jesus did. He answered the lawyer’s question with a question! What does the law say? The lawyer answered Jesus. Then he asked another question, “Who is my neighbor?”
Jesus tells the story of the good Samaritan and He then asks the lawyer another question, “Who of the three was a neighbor to the Samaritan?” The lawyer answered, “The one who showed mercy.” Jesus look at him and said, “Go and do likewise.” Why didn’t Jesus answer the lawyer’s question? Why did He not tell him like He did Nicodemus, “Sir, you must be born again.”
Jesus did actually give him an answer. The lawyer was just like the rich young ruler who came to Jesus. They were not interested in being saved; they thought that they were already righteous enough and they had other motives. Jesus simply pointed out the motives! You see, before an individual can be saved, he has to be first convicted of his sin!
When Jesus told the lawyer to go and show mercy to those around him, He was pointing out the lawyers own fault in what he was doing right then! His questions were not aimed at Jesus’ salvation. The lawyer was trying to trap Jesus; he didn’t care about being saved because he did not know that he was lost! When Jesus pointed out the need to be righteous by showing mercy to those around him, the lawyer could have said, “Lord I am sorry; You have shown me the error of my way. I am a sinner; Lord be merciful to me!”
There is no indication that the lawyer realized his error so there was no need for Jesus to go any farther. You and I need to make sure that we have asked the question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” We need to make sure that we have heard the voice of the Lord as He too convicts us of our sin and the error of our ways and that conviction leads us to repentance and conversion by God’s Amazing Grace.
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
><> Bob <><
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Tue, Oct 24th - 8:19AM
They Did As They Were Told Joshua 10:24 October 24
24 Joshua told the captains of his army, “Come and put your feet on the kings’ necks.” And they did as they were told.
Joshua had defeated Jericho and then destroyed the army of Ai. The Gibeonites came to Joshua and made a pact with them and this infuriated several kings and they banded together to come against the people of Gibeon because of their pact with Israel. The king of Gibeon sent word to Joshua that the armies from the south were coming against him and he asked for Joshua’s help. Joshua and his army came to the aid of the Gibeonites and they utterly destroyed them.
The kings of the five southern kingdoms were captured and laced in a cave until the battle was finished and then Joshua sent and had the 5 kings brought to him. Joshua told the captains of his army, “Come and put your feet on the kings’ necks.” And they did as they were told. “Don’t ever be afraid or discouraged,” Joshua told his men. “Be strong and courageous, for the LORD is going to do this to all of your enemies.” Joshua killed the 5 kings and had them hung on 5 trees until sundown.
Joshua wanted the captains to know and understand who it was that had given them their victory. He wanted them to stand strong and courageous because it was God who would give them their victory. They were not to be afraid or even discouraged. They were to be strong and courageous.
When you and I stand with God, we can know that He will stand with us. When we place our faith and our trust in Him even when the task seems difficult, we can know that God will bring us victory. These captains no doubt wondered what they were going up against with 5 armies! However, when God is on our side, it does not matter who is on the other side! This was Joshua’s message to these captains.
He also wanted them to remember that they were not the ones who won the battle either! I like the statement, “They did as they were told.” You and I would do well to follow their example and do as we are told when it comes to the Lord’s direction for our lives.
Someone has said, “it does not take much of a man to be a Christian, it just takes all that there is of him.” That is all God expects from you and me and when we give Him our all, He is able to give us His all and that is always more than we can ask or hope for!
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
><> Bob <><
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Mon, Oct 23rd - 7:34AM
Direct My Steps Lord Jeremiah 10:23 October 23
23 O LORD, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.
Israel has been taken again into captivity. Their disobedience has brought about their demise. There are two aspects to Jeremiah’s statement, “I know the way of man is not in himself.” It was not Nebuchadnezzar who came against Israel but God who brought him into the land and it was God who gave him the ability to take the nation into captivity. By the same token, the Israelites will not of their own doing be able to bring themselves out of this captivity that God had put them in.
God is supreme and He is in complete control of life in all of its intricate details. God has as a goal our redemption and everything He does He does to bring that end to fruition in as many lives as He possibly can. When we begin to look to our own devises and our own abilities and our own desires and we refuse to look to the Lord and His direction in our lives, God is obligated to do whatever it takes to get our attention so that He can do in us and for us as He so much wants to do.
While our lives are not planned out by God and determined in advance by Him, He does know what direction we are headed and He knows what decisions we will make before we make them and He will allow things to happen in our lives that will cause us to look to Him and allow Him to be God in our lives.
“It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.” Our ways are not God’s ways and God’s ways are not our ways. It is not in us to walk our own steps and get where we need to be! We must look to God for the direction that we need and we have to be willing to follow that direction!
God has given us the freedom to choose our own way but in reality, He has given us the freedom to choose His way! When we choose our way, we run the risk of going in the wrong direction because the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life get in our way. There are so many options and choices that we can make when we try to walk in our own way.
When we walk in the way that the Lord gives to us, that way is narrow and deliberate and the way that it leads is life! God knows what He has planned to do for us and with us and when we fail to follow His direction, those plans are thwarted and God has to let the decisions that we make take their due course until He can draw us back unto Him and we start to follow His leadership and guidance. This is the story of the children of Israel and it is the same story in your life and in mine.
It is not in each of us to direct our own lives; it is time for us all to recognize that fact and let go and let God have His way in our hearts and in our lives so that He can assume complete responsibility for our success! I am ready to experience what God has for me; what about you?
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
><> Bob <><
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Sun, Oct 22nd - 8:03AM
God’s Promises Hebrews 10:22 October 22
Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering (for He is faithful that promised.)
What does Paul mean when he writes, “Let us draw near with a true heart in ‘full assurance of faith’”? What is “a full assurance of faith”? The answer has to do with our hearts being sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies being washed with pure water which is a direct reference to a change of heart brought about by the redeeming work of the Holy spirit in a lost person’s heart and followed by the public profession of faith in the Lord Jesus through the waters of baptism. This process should give us a true heart in full assurance of faith; in other words, you and I can “know” that we belong to God as His children through faith.
Paul goes on to say that we ought to hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. There is no reason for us to doubt our salvation if we have given the Lord Jesus our hearts. We do need to make sure that we have indeed come to the foot of the cross and in repentance have asked for God’s forgiveness and have turned from the provisions of the world and turned to the provisions brought about on Calvary on our behalf. When we come to the cross, we can know that we know that we have been saved and there is no reason not to hold fast to our profession of our faith in what Jesus has done for us.
The reason that we are to hold onto the profession of our faith is in the last part of this verse, “for He is faithful that promised.” This phrase is in parenthesis, which is an example of a phrase that is not found in some of the texts used to translate the Bible. This is not a problem and if it is a commentary remark added some time later, it is none the less true. The one truth that rings clear from Genesis to Revelation is simply that God is everything that He says He is and He will do everything that He says He will do. god is faithful to do all that He has promised.
You and I are to trust God and His promises and to know that He is more than able to keep that which has been committed unto Him until the end. God is more interested in us going to heaven that you and I are in going ourselves. God knows what He has planned for us, we have no real idea of what heaven is going to be like. We can place our hope and our trust in God that what He has begun in us, He will finish for us because He is faithful to His promises to us no matter what.
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
><> Bob <><
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Sat, Oct 21st - 8:19AM
He Is My God Deuteronomy 10:21 October 21
He [is] thy praise, and he [is] thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.
Moses reminds the children of Israel that God expects them to “Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.” He is to be their praise; He is to be their God.
God has not changed! He is still the same God today. He expects you and me to fear Him. He expects us to serve Him and to be obedient to His Word. God expects us to live for Him. Listen to what Moses says to the children of Israel; listen to the reason that Moses tells them that they need to be more determined than ever before to walk with God; “He has done these great and mighty things that you have witnessed with your own eyes.”
It is one thing to read the Bible and read of the things that God has done for the people in the New and Old Testament. It is great to go to church and heart testimonies of how God has done things for people, even people that we know.
If we have been saved, God has done great and mighty things for us. This is something that we have experienced and witnessed on our own and that is reason enough to live the rest of our lives for Him. God has proven His love for us and to us in a lot of cases, over and over again. There is no excuse for us to walk away from God and His perfect will for our lives.
Moses was reminding the children of Israel that it was time for them to take a stand with the God who had stood for them so many times. It is time for us to be reminded of the same thing. Moses reminded the Israelites that 70 men went into Egypt and they left Egypt over a million strong.
Where would you be today without Jesus? Think about it? Even if you are reading this and you are lost and are not saved, understand that Jesus has done great things for you and even right now as you are reading these words, He has made a way for you to come to Him in repentance and ask for His forgiveness and the Bible promises you that if you will just call on the name of the Lord, you shall be saved! There is no greater thing that can be done for you!
If you are saved today, then you have so much to be thankful for and no doubt so much more and you and I need to be more determined today to walk with Jesus than we ever have and believe this, there are even greater things ahead for those of us who will make that commitment and walk with Him with no excuses and no compromise!
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
><> Bob <><
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Fri, Oct 20th - 3:53PM
Go Doubting Nothing Acts 10:20 October 20
Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them.
This is a remarkable story in the events that led to the spread of the gospel to the gentiles. Peter was on the rooftop praying and the Bible tells us that he got very hungry and since food was being prepared he had to wait to get something to eat. He fell into a trance and he saw a sheet coming from heaven with all kinds of unclean animals on it and he heard a voice saying, “eat.”
Peter refused to do so saying, “I have never eaten anything that was common or unclean” and God said, “What God has cleansed do not call common.” This happened 3 times! Peter woke up and was confused as to the meaning of this vision and the Holy Spirit spoke to him and told him that 3 men were at the gate asking to see him. He was to go with the gentiles.
Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them. Peter did go with them to Cornelius’ house and he and his whole family were saved!
I will never forget this passage. Several years ago, I was sitting at my kitchen table reading my Bible and I read this passage and as I read this passage, the Spirit of the Lord spoke to me and asked me if I would consider leading the singing at a church. I remember thinking, “where did that thought come from!” I am a preacher and I did not want to be obligated leading the singing somewhere and not be able to go preach. I dismissed the thought and went on about my business. That was on a Thursday evening.
That Saturday I was sitting at a restaurant and a pastor and his wife that I knew got up and spoke to me and left the restaurant. I saw him get into his truck and then get out and come into where I was sitting and he asked me, “Will you lead our church choir through its Christmas Program?”
There was only one thing I could say and that was “yes.” Even though that was not at all what I thought I wanted to be doing, God knew exactly what He was doing and today this pastor is like a dad to me and the relationship that we have is absolutely priceless!
When God tells us to get up and go we need to go, doubting nothing for He does indeed know what is best for us!
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
><> Bob <><
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Thu, Oct 19th - 10:32AM
Present Yourself to God I Samuel 10:19 October 19
And ye have this day rejected your God, who himself saved you out of all your adversities and your tribulations; and ye have said unto him, [Nay], but set a king over us. Now therefore present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes, and by your thousands.
Israel enjoyed a special relationship with God. He was their God and they were His people. He led them and He protected them and He met their needs and fought their battles. He even stood beside them when they sinned against Him.
And Samuel said unto the children of Israel, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all kingdoms, [and] of them that oppressed you: Samuel wanted the people to remember just who it was that had brought them to the Promised Land and had delivered them over and over again.
However, the people had decided that they wanted to be like every other nation and have a king over them. Samuel went to the Lord and God told Samuel that the people were not rejecting him; the people were rejecting God.
When you and I decide that what we want is more important than what God wants us to do, we are guilty of doing the same thing the children of Israel were doing. When we decide that we know what we need we are saying in effect, God we do not need You in our lives. We do not want You protecting us and providing for us. We want to be like the rest of the world and have what they have and do what they do.
Samuel told the people to present themselves to the Lord by tribes; He hoped that they would realize that God was better able to take care of them than any king. He hoped that they would talk among themselves as they gathered together as families. We need to present ourselves before the Lord as we come together to worship the Lord in our churches.
When we gather together, we are reminded of God’s goodness and His grace and His ability to take care of our every need and His desire to bless us exceedingly abundantly more than we can ask or hope for. You and I have that kind of God. We need to be reminded that He is and always has been and always will be there for us.
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
><> Bob <><
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Wed, Oct 18th - 3:25PM
This Commandment John 10:18 October 18
No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
The power of the gospel is found in this one verse. Here Jesus is speaking about His death that is to come and the fact that no one will be able to take His life from Him. He speaks this prophetic word in the context of His being the great shepherd. He says that He will lay down His life for His sheep. He will pay the ultimate sacrifice for His sheep.
Jesus died on the cross so that you and I might be able to live with Him forever. He willingly gave His life for you and for me. The Roman authorities did not take Jesus’ life. The religious leaders did not take Jesus’ life. He bowed His head on the cross and cried out “It is finished” and He gave up the ghost. Jesus willingly took the sins of the world on His shoulders and He died because the wages of sin is death.
Jesus willingly laid down His life. If you look back at this verse, Jesus did not stop there. He said, “No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down.” He went on to say, “and I have power to take it again.” Here Jesus tells the disciples about the resurrection. They would not understand what He was saying at this point but the day would come when they would remember this statement and it would change their lives forever.
The good news of the gospel is more than Jesus dying on the cross. The great news of the gospel is the good news that came from the graveyard on that first Easter morning when an angel of the Lord told the women who came to the tomb where Jesus was laid, “He is not here; He is risen.” Jesus had the power to lay His life down but He also had the power to take it back up again!
This same Jesus who died in your place and in mine is the same Jesus who has power over death and the grave and holds the keys to the kingdom and He will come again and receive us to Himself that where He is there we shall be with Him forever.
This commandment Jesus said, He had received from His Father. He had not died yet but He knew that He was going to die. He knew that His Father had promised Him that He would be able to take up His life even after His death. Here is a nugget of truth that you and I need to take with us and stand upon.
We need to take God at His Word and live our lives on it. We can trust Him in all things even when it comes to the end of our lives and His ability to meet our every need. If we can trust God in our death, we ought to be able to trust Him to live for Him!
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
><> Bob
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Mon, Oct 16th - 8:03AM
Childhood Conversions Mark 10:15 October 15
Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.
Jesus is teaching the crowds of people who have begun to follow Him everywhere He went. As He was speaking to a crowd of people who had gathered on this particular day, the scribes and Pharisees came to Him and asked Him a question, “Is it lawful for a man to put away [his] wife? tempting him.”
Jesus knew that these men did not care about the answer that He would give to them personally; they gave Him this question thinking they had trapped Him. Jesus took the opportunity to speak to this very difficult issue. As Jesus was about to wrap up His discourse, He noticed the disciples keeping the children from coming to Him. Parents had brought their children “so that Jesus could teach them” and the disciples scolded them for doing that. “Jesus is busy with the religious leaders and He does not have time for the children” might have been something that the disciples might have said.
Jesus stood up and told the disciples to let the children come to Him. Listen to what He said, “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.”
I have heard a lot of criticism with respect to “leading children to Christ” as if this ought not be done. In my opinion, it is wrong “not to lead a child to Christ.” The best way for a child to begin his or her life is with the Lord Jesus in his or her heart and the Holy Spirit at work in their tender lives to teach them the principles and precepts of the Word of God and to lead them in the paths of righteousness and away from the pitfalls that this world will throw at them.
It is wrong to lead a child down the isle of a church and into the baptistery for the sake of statistics; but that is also true of adults as well. It is never a bad thing to introduce the saving work of God’s grace to anyone, whether they be 6 or 106! We need to bring all to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and we need to do it responsibly and in the power of the Holy Spirit that convicts and saves! If childlike faith is what saves us, then bring the children to the Lord and do not keep them from Him!
The truth is, Jesus was more interested in them that He was the religious leaders! Perhaps He still is today! Childhood conversions are a gift from the Lord.
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
><> Bob <><
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Sat, Oct 14th - 9:12AM
Sun Stand Still Joshua 10:14 October 14
And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the LORD fought for Israel.
Joshua has gone out to fight a coalition of kings that have come up against the Gibeonites in the Promised Land. God told Joshua that He would give him victory in this conquest. The Israelite army marched all night and fought all day against the armies that had come against the Gibeonites. As the battle raged on, Joshua prays that the sun and the moon would be still and that the day would remain to allow the armies of Israel to totally defeat the enemies on that day. God granted Joshua’s prayer and this is the setting for our scripture verse for today.
This is a spectacular event. It is of coarse, scientifically highly improbable that the sun could stand still in the sky for any length of time, much less for a number of hours. However, God can do anything that He wants to do it, any way He wants to do it. Nothing is impossible for God!
Why would Joshua pray for the sun and moon to stand still anyway? Elijah called down fire from heaven; Moses called down hail from the sky. Joshua prayed for the sun and moon to stand still for several hours; why would he even ask God such a request?
The answer is simple; the Holy Spirit gave him this request. God gave Joshua this request and Joshua listened to the voice of God and he stood before the army of Israel and he prayed this very unusual prayer and the Bible tells us “immediately the sun and moon stood still. And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the LORD fought for Israel.”
The same God that spoke to Joshua and told him to pray that the sun and moon would be still is the same God who speaks to you and me today. He is the same God who held the sun and moon still in their orbit without creating utter chaos in the world. He is the same God who fought for Israel and won the battle for them. How can we experience a day like Joshua did, one that there has never been like it before or after it in our lives?
God looks to our faith and our trust in Him and our obedience to walk in the light of our faith in Him. The sun gives us light. It allows us to see clearly so that we can walk in the places that we need to walk. When you and I make decisions in our lives on a daily basis, we do one of two things: we listen to the direction that the Holy Spirit gives to us or we listen to our own thoughts and we walk according to the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life. We listen to the lies of the devil or we listen to the voice of the Lord, who has come that we might have life and have it more abundantly.
As you and I hear the voice of the Lord and we heed His instruction, we will find a quality of life that the world cannot begin to compete with and just like Joshua, we will begin to hear the voice of the Lord speak to us in ways that we will know that it is Him and that He is leading and directing us to do things in His strength that will be nothing short of miraculous and the Lord will fight our battles and give us His victory, which will be total and complete, just as He did for Joshua and the children of Israel.
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
><> Bob <><
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Fri, Oct 13th - 7:38AM
Limits to Temptation I Corinthians 10:13 October 13
“God is faithful, who will not let you to be tempted above that which you are able.”
God knows what is going on in our lives. He knows our thoughts and He knows the temptations that we will be faced with. In Genesis 20, Abraham is going through a foreign nation and he tells Sarah, his wife, to tell the people there that she is his sister and not his wife, fearing that they will kill him to have her. This is an amazing story in and of itself, seeing that she is in her late 90’s!
Abimelech, who is king sends for her to take her as his wife and God appears to him in a dream warning him of the consequences of those actions. Abimelech tells God that he was told that she was his sister and that he had no intention of taking a married woman. God acknowledged the situation and Abimelech returned her to Abraham. Listen to what God told Abimelech in verse 6, “I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her.”
Two things took place here. First of all, God protected His anointed, Sarah, even though she and Abraham were deceptive and did not trust God as they should have done. This is the second time that Abraham had pulled this stunt and in both cases, God had just promised Abraham that He would deliver Abraham and make him the father of many nations. Sarah was simply doing as her husband had instructed her to do. God protected her.
God also limited Abimelech’s reach to sin against God. God protected this pagan king from death. Because God is in complete control of all that takes place and because God is not only creator but in Him all life finds its sustenance, He is uniquely aware of everything that goes on and He is in complete control of everything that takes place in this life. God knows everything that is taking place and in His omnipotence He is able to set limits as to the extent of our decisions by controlling our circumstances without controlling our wills.
God will not allow us to be tempted above that which we are able to withstand. His presence in our hearts and His Word in our minds are there to lead us and guide us to make the right decisions in every matter that we will ever face. However, there may be times when our intention is to set God’s Word aside and do things our way in spite of God’s Word, that He limits our circumstances to keep us from sinning against Him and His greater purpose for lives. God is a great, loving God Who will do whatever it takes to make our lives all that He would like for them to be! What a great God we serve!
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
><> Bob <><
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Thu, Oct 12th - 11:13AM
God is Our Strength Zechariah 10:12 October 12
I will strengthen them in the Lord: and they shall walk up and down in His Name saith the Lord.
Make no mistake about it God is our strength. As a child of His, we have a power that is within us that cannot be matched. It was true in the Old Testament; it was true in the days of our Lord and it is true in our lives today as well.
As God’s people, we have His presence in our hearts in the person of the Holy Spirit and where His presence is so is His power and His provisions. We can walk up and down, to and fro and everywhere that we go we can know that His power is there with us. The Bible is full of examples of the Power of God at work in the lives of God’s people.
This promise is ours as individuals. As you and I walk with God and make His Word the standard for our lives, God will strengthen us and He will go with us and He will protect us and provide for us. This promise is found all through the Bible. God is faithful to keep His promises and He is faithful to make His presence known in our hearts and in our lives. He wants our hearts to be filled with joy and peace and He wants others to see the joy in our step as we walk with Him and He is able to bless us. When God’s strength is in us, our outlook on life is different. When God’s strength is in us, we see a mighty God instead of the Goliaths that we face and others see our resolve and our response to the obstacles that face us.
This promise is not only true for us as individuals, it is true for us as a church as well. We need churches that will take God by the hand and walk in His presence and in His power and begin to let Him move us up and down the land so that lost people will begin to see the power of God at work in our midst instead of what we can do on our own with entertaining programs and extravagant productions. These things are wonderful as long as they are centered around the gospel and lifting up Christ is the purpose and priority.
However, we are sometimes guilty of trying to do what we can do as opposed to letting God do what He can do. Sometimes in our budgets and in our outreach, we make decisions based on our projected ability and a proposal’s financial responsibility and we fail to take God’s plan and His power and His strength into account in our decisions process. At the same time, churches are guilty of stepping out because of pride and build or undertake a program for the sake of the attention of the world and God is not obligated to bless that either.
We need to learn to walk with God and let His strength be our strength and when we do we will be able to walk up and down and find victory in Jesus because He is our strength!
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
><> Bob <><
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Wed, Oct 11th - 12:42PM
Possess the Land Deuteronomy 10:11 October 11
And the LORD said unto me, Arise, take [thy] journey before the people, that they may go in and possess the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give unto them.
God told Moses to go before the people that they may go in and possess the land that He had promised to their fathers. God made Moses to be an advocate or intercessor for the people. In chapter 9, Moses reminded the people of their sin and rebellion in the wilderness. He reminded them of the time they built the golden calf and worshipped it and how that event angered God and he himself interceded on their behalf and God spared the nation.
Because God’s grace is so great and His mercy so marvelous, He allowed Moses to become the intercessor for them. He appointed Moses as their advocate. He would present God’s word to the people and he would at the same time represent the people before God. Moses was an Old Testament type of Christ who was to come who would “forever make intercession for us all.”
God’s plan all a long was that the children of Israel who He had brought out of Egypt would go in and possess the Promised Land. This was God’s plan as mentioned in this very passage. This generation of people did not get to go in and possess the land; their children would do so. The people decided that they would need some conformation before going in and taking the Promised Land. They decided that they needed to have an eye account of what they would face.
The Israelites sent spies into the land to check it out. The report of the spies was, the land is indeed rich and was “flowing with milk and honey.” However, there were giants in the land and the cities that they saw were fortified and strong and they decided on their own that they could not go in and take what God told them He would give them.
You and I need to be very careful when it comes to allowing God to give us the promises that He has given to us. It is so easy to look at our own resources and think, “I don’t see how on earth I am going to be able to make this work. It sounds great but we are not in a position to do this.”
Listen. You and I cannot do very much but God can do any thing that He wants to do at anytime He wants to do it. Our challenge is to listen to God’s spirit and to His Word and then live our lives on a daily basis walking with Him and allowing His Spirit to pass in front of us and then following His lead in our lives. When we are able to do that, we too will be able to go in and possess the land that God has in store for each of us and that land will be flowing with milk and honey and it will be the most wonderful place in all the world for us to be!
><> Bob
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Tue, Oct 10th - 9:14AM
Life Abundantly John 10:10 October 10
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly.
This afternoon I was driving and I began to ask myself, “Why are we so set on sinning against God? Why are temptations to do things that we do not really want to do so inviting? Why do we consider doing things that we know will not give us the satisfaction that we really want? How can temptation and sin be so difficult to shake?”
Then I saw today’s devotional passage and the Lord answered my questions! The thief, who is the devil, has nothing to offer; he has come to steal and to kill and to destroy. He does not care one bit about the quality of your life or mine. In fact, his goal is to destroy the life that you and I have. He paints pretty pictures and he lays lavish lies upon us. We face temptation to do things that we do not really want to do and yet we contemplate them anyway. Why? We flirt with temptation hoping that the lie will somehow become the truth!
Jesus on the other hand says, “I have come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.” Jesus paid the penalty for your sin and mine with His own life. He died in our place so that we could live for Him. He gave His life for the lies that the devil has sold to you and me. Jesus gave His life so that you and I might have life and that we might have it more abundantly.
Let me encourage you to do what I am committing myself to do. When temptation comes and your mind begins to contemplate options that you know are not of God, then know that they are designed to steal life from you and to kill you and to destroy you. Let’s face it that is all sin is! It is time to start facing the facts and quit lying to ourselves thinking, “It might just work this time.”
Understand temptation is a cheap imitation of God’s best that may well be just around the corner! The devil is at his best when Jesus is at His best. The closer you and I get to God, the more the devil is going to kick at us. When temptation comes, we need to remember the Words that Jesus gives us here, “I am come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly.”
Jesus is the giver and sustainer of life. The life that He came to give to us is not ordinary but rather extraordinary! He said, “I am come that you might have life and you might have it more abundantly!” His abundantly is exceedingly abundantly more than you and I can ask for or even hope for and the devil cannot begin to compete with God’s goodness that is ours in Christ Jesus! I want what Jesus has planned for me and I do not want the devil keeping me from receiving His abundance!
PS...
I finished writing this at 10:10. God is in control of even the smallest of details!
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
><> Bob <><
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Mon, Oct 9th - 9:13AM
You Shall Be Saved! Romans 10:9 October 9
If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.
Here is one of the most important verses in all the Bible. Here Paul tells us just how easy it is to become a child of God. I have had a number of people ask me what it takes to become a Christian. Jesus told Nicodemus, who was a religious leader and a man who lived his life according to the Law of Moses, that he needed to be born again in order to enter into heaven. What is involved in this process?
First of all, salvation is a work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. “No one comes to the Father but by Me” Jesus said. The Holy Spirit begins to convict us of our sin and our lost condition. The most empty feeling that I have ever experienced in my whole life was when I came to the realization that I was lost without Christ. I did not understand all the ramifications that it meant to be lost nor did I understand everything about being saved but this much I did know; I was lost and undone and Jesus died for me on the cross and He rose from the dead and because He lives, I knew that I could live forever with Him!
I asked Jesus to forgive me of my sin and I invited Him into my heart and on a Thursday night in my bed at home, it was as if Jesus reached down and picked me up and took me in His arms and I went to sleep in His arms and I have never gone to sleep again without knowing that I am His and He is mine!
I confessed Jesus as my Lord and Savior and was baptized some time later and I knew that night that Jesus had saved me and my friend there is nothing that has any more satisfying than knowing that I have been born again.
Folks listen. There are a lot of folks that would like for you to believe that salvation is difficult and that it is not for everyone. Listen, you take God at His Word believing that He is everything that He says He is and that He will do everything that He says He will do and you will be ok! The Bible says, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.”
My friend that is black ink on white paper; it is what God has said and we need to believe it! He knows what He has done for us and we need to accept His truth and not try to complicate salvation by making it fit our own personal prejudices. If God’s Word says it, that ought to settle it and we ought to believe it! Now keep one more thing mind, if God’s Word does say it, that settles it whether we believe it or not!
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
><> Bob <><
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Sun, Oct 8th - 9:10AM
Forsaking Counsel II Chronicles 10:8 October 8
He forsook the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with the younger men that were brought up with him, that stood before him.
King Solomon had died and his son Rehoboam was set to become king. At his coronation, a group of men came to him and asked him to ease up on some of the restrictions that his father had imposed on the children of Israel. They promised Rehoboam to ease up and the people would follow him as king.
Rehoboam told the group to come back in 3 days to give him a chance to give the request some thought. He sought advice from his father’s advisors and they advised him to give them a break and loosen the reign that his father had held. The Bible tells us that he rejected the advice of the older men and sought the advice of the young men who had grown up with him. They told him what he wanted to hear; Do not ease up; make it even harder!
Rehoboam forsook the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with the younger men that were brought up with him, that stood before him. He told the people, “My father gave you heavy burdens; I will give you even heavier burdens that he did!” As result of Rehoboam’s decision, the tribes of Israel rejected Rehoboam as king and so the lineage of David was broken until Jesus was born.
You and I have decisions to make. We have the Word of God as a guide. We have people who will advise us to stick to the Word of God. There are times when we are too much like Rehoboam and we don’t want to heed the advice that we know is the best advice. It is so easy to look to people who will tell us what we want to hear! That is what Rehoboam did! He went to the elder statesmen who advised his father and he did not like what they had to say so he went to the guys that he had grown up with and they told him what he wanted to hear.
We need to make sure that we stand on the side of the Lord and look to Him for direction in our lives in every single situation that we find ourselves in, with no exceptions.
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
><> Bob <><
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Sat, Oct 7th - 9:04AM
The Half Has Not Been Told I Kings 10:7 October 7
Howbeit I did not believe the words until I came and my eyes had seen it and the half was not told to me; your wisdom and prosperity exceeds the fame which I heard.
The Queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame and how that the Lord had blessed him, both in wisdom and in great wealth. She came to question him and to see for herself all that he had.
She told Solomon about all of the problems that she was facing and the Bible tells us that God gave him answers to all of her questions. She realized that everything that she had heard about the wisdom of Solomon was indeed true. She saw the magnificence of his palace and the extravagance that surrounded him and she marveled at it all.
She came and told Solomon that “the half had not been told” concerning his wisdom and prosperity. When Solomon became king of Israel after his father David, God asked him what he wanted from God to be king. Solomon did not ask for popularity or power; he did not ask to be wealthy; he asked God for wisdom.
God told Solomon that he would indeed gain wisdom and with that wisdom he would become the wealthiest of men. God kept His promise to Solomon and as the Queen of Sheba testifies, the half had not been told of his wisdom and his great wealth.
When you and I give our lives to the Lord, He is able to impart wisdom to us as well. This wisdom allows us to do things and accomplish things that we cannot begin to accomplish on our own. Wisdom that comes from walking with God is a special wisdom. This wisdom allows us to live our lives with all the fullness that only God can give to us.
When you and I begin to try to gain for ourselves prestige and popularity and prosperity that the world tries to offer, it does not take long to realize that it is so easy to come up empty. However, when we walk with the Lord and we make every decision count for the Lord and His leadership and direction in our lives, then something wonderful begins to happen.
Our lives begin to take shape as the Lord would have them be and the truth is, “the half has not been told” of the benefits that the Lord has in store for you and me as we make Him Lord and Master of our lives. God is ready to bless our socks off and all we have to do is slow down and make His way our way and His will our will. God will assume full responsibility for anyone who will surrender himself or herself to Him completely and my friend, that will be a wonderful position to be in!
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
><> Bob <><
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Fri, Oct 6th - 11:49PM
BIG FAVOR
A very good friend of mine is in a contest to go to the
Country Music Awards Show in Nashville this fall.
She has recorded a video of her "sangin" and is
a top 5 finalist in the competition. If you have time,
please go to http://www.wbbjtv.com/cma/index2.htm
and vote for her! Her name is Dana Poteete
She is a super friend and deserves to
win the trip!
Thanks!!!
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Fri, Oct 6th - 10:04AM
I Will Serve Him Judges 10:6 October 6
Then the people of Israel turned away from the sight of the Lord and served Baalim and Ashtaroth and the gods of Syria and the gods of Zidon and the gods of Moab and the gods of the children of Moab and the gods of Ammon and the gods of the Philistines and they forsook the Lord and did not serve Him.
Have you ever noticed how easy it is to worship everything BUT God? Look at the children of Israel in our text for today. It appears that the ONLY God they DID NOT worship and serve was the God who had brought them out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. These other gods had not done one single thing in their lives but look at where they placed their trust anyway.
We are not much better today. When I was growing up people listened to Dr. Spock and Dr. Ruth and Dear Abbey and Aunt Susie. Today we have Dr. Phil and we are still listening to Aunt Susie. We look to psychologists, philosophers, and philanthropists to tell us how we ought to get along with one another but that is not working. We can communicate with people around the world but we cannot get along with the person who lives next door. We can send men to the moon but we cannot protect our children in our schools.
Something is terribly wrong in our world today; something is terribly wrong with America today. Just by the process of elimination, we ought to realize that we have tried everything under the sun and it is not working! We have headed away from God as fast as we possibly can and look at where we are. We have served just about every god imaginable and we have certainly forsaken the God of the Bible and the newspaper and the daily news on the television detail for us the ramifications of those decisions.
It is ok to belong to the Church of Scientology because Tom Cruise does. It is ok to be a Muslim or a Hindu and to be an atheist is right up there with being a politician. To be a Christian today is worse then being illiterate, backward, and just plain ignorant. Christianity is more damaging than terrorism.
One day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Until that day comes, I will serve the Lord and worship Him and Him alone and seek to make Him Lord and Master of my life in every decision that I make because He is the One who has done so much for me and He continues to fight my battles and meet my need and bless me exceedingly abundantly more than I can ask or hope for. There is no reason for me to look anywhere else for help in my life; my help comes from the Lord and I will serve Him!
"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
><> Bob <><
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Thu, Oct 5th - 8:17AM
Lord I Surrender All Ezra 10:5 October 5
Ezra arose and He made the chief priests and the Levites and all of Israel sware that they would do what Shechaniah said and they all swore.
Ezra is praying and asking the Lord to forgive the people of Israel for their sin. He acknowledges in the 9th chapter that God had warned the people not to let their daughters marry foreign sons and not to allow Israelite sons to marry foreign daughters because they would corrupt the children of Israel. The people did not listen to the warning from God and they married who they wanted to marry and their families suffered as the foreign customs rubbed off on them and they moved away from God to worship the gods of their foreign spouses.
As Ezra was praying and weeping face down on the ground, a group of people gathered around him on one of the men spoke up and said, “We will put away our foreign wives and the children by them and we will look to the Lord for His guidance and His direction and for His forgiveness.” He went on to say that they would then follow the commandments that God had given to them.
So, Ezra calls all of the people together and let them hear Shechaniah’s proposal and he asked the people if they would agree to do as he had suggested. So the people made a solemn promise to the Lord to turn from their sin and to turn to God and His will and way for their lives.
I wonder what there is in our lives that is keeping God from doing a mighty work in us and through us as His children? Unconfessed sin has to be dealt with in order for us to experience victory in our lives. We need to be wiling to come to God in honesty and sincerity and be willing to give to Him our sin and to then turn from that sin and turn to God.
Look at your life today. Are there things that you have done that you know God could not be pleased with? Is it possible that this sin is the very reason that God is not able to do for you as He so much wants to do? Is it possible that if you would do as Ezra did and get down on your knees or fall on your face before the Lord and confess your weaknesses and your sin to the Lord and make the decision to get up and walk with God no matter what, that He might then be able to turn your life around and bless you exceedingly abundantly more than you could ask or hope for?
God did that for the people of Ezra’s day and my friend He can do the same thing in our day if we will just turn away from our sinful ways and turn to Him and His will and way for our lives. Lord Jesus, today I surrender my all to You.
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
><> Bob <><
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Wed, Oct 4th - 8:38AM
My Personal Shepherd John 10:4 October 4
And He puts forth His own sheep and He goes before them and the sheep follow Him for they know His voice.
Some of the illustrations that Jesus uses with reference to sheep are lost to many in today’s world. We are not shepherds and we do not for the most part raise sheep so the illustrations do not carry some of the weight that they would have carried in Jesus’ day.
I have read that it is not uncommon for shepherds to put their sheep into a fenced area for the night with maybe 8 to 10 other groups of sheep. The sheep mix and mingle and when the shepherd comes to get his sheep, he may have 20 among two or three hundred. When the shepherd speaks up and calls out to his sheep, his 20 will come to his voice while the other sheep will retreat.
The sheep learn the voice of the shepherd. The shepherd speaks to them as he leads them and as he protects them. The shepherd guards his sheep and he comforts them when they get spooked. The shepherd goes before his sheep and they follow him.
Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd. My sheep hear My voice and they follow Me.” How can we come to know the voice of God? How can you and I hear the voice of the Lord?
We have to learn to listen and we have to learn to follow Jesus. It really does not matter what we do or what Jesus tries to do for us; if we are not willing to follow after the Lord, and hear His voice and heed His direction, then we are never going to be able to learn to recognize His voice. Just like the sheep, we have to learn that we can trust God.
We have to learn that God is everything that He says He is and that He will do exactly what He says He will do for us. When I learn that I can trust God, then I will begin to hear His voice even more because I will begin to listening for His voice. As I become more obedient to His leadership, I will come to know that what He has for me is better than what I can do for myself.
This is really what life is all about. Life is allowing God to do for me what I cannot do for myself. Real life is listening for and listening to the Word of God for me and then being obedient to that Word. Life in the flesh is saying, “I can do all things; I don’t need God in my life.”
The choice that is mine to make is simple; when Jesus speaks, what is going to be my response? Am I going to hear His voice and then come as He calls me and follow His lead or am I going to be as the other hundred sheep and go in the other direction because I am not hearing the voice of MY PERSONAL SHEPHERD.
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
><> Bob <><
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Tue, Oct 3rd - 9:31AM
Glorified Always! Leviticus 10:3 October 3
Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord meant when He said, I will show Myself Holy among all those who approach Me and I will be glorified before all the people.” And Aaron was speechless.
Two of Aaron’s sons took part in one of the ceremonies in the Temple. However, the Bible tells us that they “placed unholy fire in their censers and laid the incense on the altar before the Lord, which was contrary to what the Lord had just commanded them to do. So a flame of fire blazed forth from the presence of the Lord and it destroyed them both.”
Now just before this awful event took place, Aaron had killed the ox and the ram and had prepared it and offered it on the altar and fire came down and consumed the sacrifice. God showed Himself to be Holy before all those who had come near Him and He was glorified before everyone that was there and before all those who would come after this event and be taught its lesson.
You and I would do well to read this lesson and take heed of its message so that we do not repeat the mistake that these two young men made. They lost their lives because of their poor decision. The Bible teaches that the wages of sin is death. The devil told Eve that God was not going to kill her if she ate of the fruit that God had told them not to eat. He is still telling us the same lie today.
Sin is not going to kill you! Look around you, everyone is a sinner and God has not struck any of them dead. You can sin and God will forgive you; He will understand. These are true statements taken in their proper context. However, to impose on God’s Amazing Grace and His Marvelous Mercy is presumptuous on our part! God can at any time reach out and do whatever He needs to do to let people know that He is God, that He is on His throne and that He is in complete control even when things seem to be completely out of control!
God is going to be glorified before all of His people. You and I can glorify Him in our obedience or we will glorify Him as He brings judgment against us in some form or fashion. I would rather glorify Him in my obedience as opposed to glorifying Him as He brings judgment against me because of my disobedience. AS for me and my house, we will praise the Lord!
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
><> Bob <><
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Mon, Oct 2nd - 8:23AM
Laborers for the Harvest Luke 10:2 October 2
Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly [is] great, but the labourers [are] few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.
In verse 1 we read, “After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come.” Jesus then says, “The harvest truly [is] great, but the labourers [are] few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.”
We have here the sending forth of seventy disciples, two and two, into divers parts of the country, to preach the gospel, and to work miracles in those places which Christ Himself instructed them to go. These disciples were to look at the harvest that was out there that needed to be harvested.
One of the great principles of harvesting is it needs to be gathered when it is ripe. The harvest has to be taken at the right time. If it is too early, the fruit is not ready to be taken and if it is too late, the fruit can be ruined. The disciples were admonished to look out for the harvest and they were to pray that the Lord of the harvest would send forth laborers into the harvest.
As ministers of this glorious gospel, we are to busy seeking to reach out to a lost and dying world that is hungering to hear about Jesus. The world wants to know about Jesus. They may not know that this is what they are desperately looking for but it is and people will listen when we are willing to be sensitive to the Lord’s call and go as He bids us go.
As we go as ministers and lay people alike ( the 70 disciples here were ordinary people who had been given an extraordinary task ) we need to see the fields that are white unto harvest. In Tennessee in the fall of the year, the cotton fields are white unto harvest. You can see the fields from the road. You can see that the cotton is ready to be harvested.
Our communities are the same way. You and I need to look out into the fields that are white unto harvest and we need to be willing to pray and ask the Lord to send harvesters into the fields before it is too late. The real thrust of this verse is simple; Lord Jesus, I pray that You will send forth laborers into the field and let that begin in me. Are you willing to pray that prayer today?
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
><> Bob <><
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Sun, Oct 1st - 5:54AM
That They May Be Saved Romans 10:1 October 1
1Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved.
Paul had compassion on the people of Israel. They had the blessings of God for so long and yet they failed to accept the most important blessing of all in Jesus. Listen to Jesus parable in Matthew 21: “33“Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. 34“Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. 35“And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. 36“Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. 37“Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38“But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ 39“So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40“Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?” 41They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.”
The Jews had questioned Jesus’ authority. In His parable they knew who each of the characters were. They knew that the landowner was God. They knew that the vineyard was Israel and that the winedressers were the children of Israel. They also knew that the servants sent were the Old Testament prophets and they even knew that the son was Jesus.
Listen to the Jew’s own answer to Jesus’ parable in verse 41: “41They said to Jesus, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.”
God would lease His vineyard to other wine dressers who would see to the work that needed to be done. That is the purpose of the church. We need to be concerned about the people around us who need Jesus just as Paul was about the people around him. We need to be concerned about members of our family and our neighbors and the people that we work with and go to school with. Our prayer ought to be “that they too might be saved.”
Jesus died for us all. We need to seek to be all that He would have us be so that those around us might see Jesus in us. We may well be the only Bible that someone may ever see. The world today desperately needs Jesus!
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
><> Bob <><
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Name: Bob Hadley of Saved By Grace Ministries
