DAILY DEVOTIONALS: 10.12.24 -PT 2

 FirstThings First “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew6:33) There are innumerable things to do and things to buy and things to read. How does one choose between them? An important guideline is the use of the word “first” in the New Testament. For example, consider the following priority items. Priority in awareness: “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers...saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for...all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation” (2Peter 3:3-4). The primary intellectual heresy of these latter times is the anti-God philosophy of naturalistic evolutionism, as succinctly outlined in this passage. Priority in behavior: “Cleanse first that which is within the cup and the platter, that the outside of them may be clean also” (Matthew23:26). The thoughts of our hearts will inevitably control the words on our lips and the works of our hands. Priority in giving: “[They] first gave their own selves to the Lord” (2Corinthians 8:5). One’s possessions, talents, time, and all other resources belong to the Lord, but such gifts are acceptable to God only when offered by one whose heart first has been given fully to Him. Priority in witness: “For I delivered unto you first of all...how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day” (1Corinthians 15:3-4). Priority in concern: “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men” (1Timothy 2:1). Finally, as the Lord Jesus Himself has commanded, our first priority in every decision should be to do that which honors the kingdom of Christ and His righteousness. HMM ------------------------ BlessingsWe Have in Christ “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” (2Corinthians 5:1) The blessings we have in Christ are far too many to number, but it is a blessing even to note just a few of those indicated by the words we have or ye have. First of all, in Christ “we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Ephesians1:7). As a result, “being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans5:1). Thus, through such promises His Word assures us of salvation. “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life” (1John 5:13). Further assurance is given by the witness of the Spirit who indwells our bodies when we believe on Christ. “Ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father” (Romans8:15). There are many other blessings that are ours in Christ. In Him, for example, “we have obtained an inheritance” (Ephesians1:11), for we are joint-heirs with Him. God has even confirmed His promises, the writer of Hebrews says, by taking an oath in His own name that “we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set beforeus: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast” (Hebrews6:18-19). Indeed, “we have a great high priest” (Hebrews4:14) ever living to intercede for us at the throne of God. Finally, in the words of our text, when God calls us home, “we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens,” and then we are “to be present with the Lord” throughout the ages to come (2Corinthians 5:8). These are a few of the blessings we have in Christ. HMM ------------------------ TheSign of Science and Travel “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run toand fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” (Daniel12:4) The book of Daniel contains the most detailed description of the end times of any book in the Bible except the book of Revelation. In Daniel’s last chapter, after all the prophecies had been recorded, the condition in our text was given as a sign of their imminentfulfillment at “the time of the end.” A more striking summary of our own times could hardly be imagined. The Hebrew word for “run to and fro” is used first in 2 Chronicles 16:9. “The eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth,” and its sense is “race back and forth.” What a description of our present society, with speeding automobiles all over the land and airplanes filling our skies! In littlemore than one lifetime, the world “progressed” from horse and buggy to spacecraft, and almost everyone is racing to and fro. Furthermore, “knowledge” has been “increased” far beyond the wildest imaginations of people in the days of our founding fathers. The Hebrew word could well be understood as what we mean today by “science.” It is significant that the foundations of our modern scientific age were laid mostly by great scientists who were creationists (Newton, Boyle, Pascal, Pasteur, Faraday, Maxwell, etc.). In our present generation, however, science has been largely taken overby non-Christian evolutionists, and science has also generated deadly instruments of destruction and pollution that are threatening life’s existence. This rise in “science falsely so called” is also given as a sign of the last days (1Timothy 6:20; 2 Peter 3:3-4; etc.). In any case, the explosive increase in science (both true and false) and rapid travel in our day is one of the many God-given signs that the return of Christ is near! HMM --------------------------- TheLaw for Today “And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, whichI set before you this day?” (Deuteronomy4:8) God has never dealt with any nation as closely and fully as He has with Israel, but He nevertheless is directly concerned with every nation as a national entity. He has actually established each nation Himself (Deuteronomy32:8), even determining the geographical boundaries of each and the time when each rises and falls (Acts17:26). Every nation has a purpose in history, but Israel had the highest calling of all. God personally gave them (through Moses) the finest governmental and legal system any nation ever had (Deuteronomy4:5-8), and modern governments would therefore do well to emulate these as much as possible. In fact, it is amazing that this Mosaic legal code has since served effectively as the basic legal code for all the greatest nations in modern history. This initself is clear testimony to its divine origin and is therefore justification for retaining and implementing it wherever possible, even today. Sadly, however, modern political and judicial practices are departing further and further from this divine standard. The philosophies of evolution and relativism dominate our schools of law today, and the concept of absolute principles of righteousness andjustice, rooted in the nature of God as Creator and in His revelation, are largely being replaced by legislation based on evolving social policies and preferences. Even the Ten Commandments are banned from our schools, despite the fact that they are engravedin the Supreme Court building itself. It is sobering to consider that God did not even spare His beloved nation Israel when His people departed from His law. Nor will He spare America if our growing rebellion against His Word goes on much longer. HMM ------------------------- Accustomedto the Dark - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org And the judgment is based on this fact: God�s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. �John 3:19 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/accustomed-to-the-dark-2/- Listen English cleric William Farrar wrote, �I am only one, but I am one; I cannot do everything, but I can do something. What I can do, I ought to do. And what I ought to do, by the grace of God,I will do.� What can one person do? A lot. The Bible tells the story of one woman who saved a nation. Esther may not have been the first woman people would have imagined for this assignment. After she won a beauty contest, she becamequeen in the Medo-Persian Empire. And in that position of influence, Esther, who was Jewish, discovered that her people faced a serious threat. A wicked man named Haman had devised a plot to exterminate every Jewish personin the empire. Esther considered appealing to King Xerxes on behalf of her people. But by doing so, she would be risking her own life. The king could have her executed for approaching him without his invitation. But her cousin Mordecai sent her a message, which said, �Don�t think for a moment that because you�re in the palace you will escape when all other Jews are killed. If you keep quiet at a timelike this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?� (Esther 4:13�14 NLT). In other words, �Esther, God doesn�t depend solely on you. But He can use you in a powerful way. Will you step up?� Esther did, and as a result, the Jewish people survived. One person madea difference. You, too, can make a difference. So, make the decision to be the godly representative that Jesus called you to be. He said, �You are the light of the world�like a city on a hilltop that cannotbe hidden� (Matthew 5:14 NLT). We live in a dark world where people are comfortable in darkness. They have become accustomed to the dark. But a little light can go a long way. After the capture of the Bastille in 1789, a story emerged about a prisoner who had been confined to a dark, dingy dungeon for years. When he was released and led outside into the Paris sunlight,he begged to return to the prison. His eyes could not endure the sun�s brightness. His only desire was to die in the very darkness where he had been a captive. That is how a lot of people are today. They live in darkness, and they are comfortable there. But the Bible says that when we come to Christ, we �turn from darkness to light and from the powerof Satan to God� (Acts 26:18 NLT). We need to shine the light of Jesus Christ into our dark world. We must take it seriously and seek to make a difference in our culture wherever we go, whenever we can. You make a difference. You have a strategic and important part to play. ---------------------------- The Gift That Keeps Giving - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. �Ephesians 4:32 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/the-gift-that-keeps-giving/- Listen The flow chart of forgiveness in Scripture is simple. God says to us, �I have given you way more forgiveness than you have any right to expect. Do the same to one another.� Why do we try to complicate it? Why do we add conditions (�if you do this, then I will forgive you�)? God didn�t appoint us gatekeepers of forgiveness. He doesn�t let us decide who�s worthyof it. And He certainly doesn�t authorize us to weaponize forgiveness, to withhold it out of spite or revenge. Of course, that doesn�t stop us from trying. Once, I tried to withhold forgiveness from my abusive stepfather. Years after he and my mother divorced, I was preaching in Honolulu, near where he lived. Someone told me he was very sickand asked if I�d like to talk to him. I said, �No, thank you.� The memory of his physical abuse of my mother was still too fresh. The Holy Spirit had other ideas. �Talk to him,� He said. So I did. I don�t know what impact our conversation had on my stepfather, but I�m glad I listened to the Holy Spirit. He helped mesee that conditional forgiveness isn�t God�s forgiveness. Peter learned the same lesson. In Matthew 18:21, he asks, �Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?� (NLT). He probably thought he was being extra-generous.After all, Jewish tradition required a person to forgive a wrongdoer no more than three times for an offense. Jesus� reply, �No, not seven times . . . but seventy times seven!� (Matthew 18:22 NLT), showed Peter just how far off the mark he was. Peter wanted to maintain some authority over his forgiving. He was willing to do it Jesus� way up to seven times. But after that, he wanted to dispense forgiveness and justice as he saw fit. We do the same thing when we say, �I can forgive anything but lying� or �You can�t expect me to forgive someone who ruined my life.� We convince ourselves that we�re being generous with ourforgiveness if we withhold just a little from the worst people. Jesus� reply makes it clear that those options aren�t on the table. Jesus says, in essence, �You should forgive every chance you get.� Peter might as well have asked, �How many times should God forgive us?� Because in Ephesians 4:32, God connects our forgiveness of others with His forgiveness of us. He wants us to rememberhow His forgiveness changed our lives. How it lifted an enormous weight from our shoulders. How it rescued us from the emotional effects of guilt and shame. How it gave us hope for the future. How it made a loving relationship possible with the One we hurt. God wants other people to experience those things through our forgiveness. In His amazing generosity, He gives us a chance to be instruments of change in other people�s lives. Forgivenessisn�t a challenge or a test of our patience and understanding. It�s an opportunity to show others on a small scale what God offers on an eternal scale. -------------------------- No Such Thing as a Secret Sin - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org But if you fail to keep your word, then you will have sinned against the LORD, and you may be sure that your sin will find you out. �Numbers 32:23 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/no-such-thing-as-a-secret-sin/- Listen When I was a kid, I got caught stealing. I thought I was being sneaky, but my sin was discovered. My stepfather Oscar took me to a local jail to �scare me straight.� The problem was, throughthe eyes of a child, jail seemed pretty cool to me. So that didn�t go as planned. Thankfully, I didn�t pursue a life of crime. But I realized that secret sins don�t always stay secret. �Your sin will find you out� may be the oldest lesson in human history. Adam and Eve learned it when God asked them, �Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?� (Genesis 3:11 NLT). The warnings are clear in God�s Word. So why is it tempting to try to hide certain sins instead of confessing them? Fear is one factor. We�re afraid to face the truth of our �dark side.� Weworry that our reputation�or self-image�would suffer if our secret sins were revealed. Or we convince ourselves that our secret sins aren�t serious enough to do any harm. As long as no one else knows about them, no one gets hurt, right? The reality is that secret sins do tremendous damage. Maybe no one else knows about them�but we do. We know they�re wrong. And if we know they�re wrong, that means we�re experiencing guiltat some level. The Holy Spirit, who lives in us, works through our conscience to help us understand the seriousness of what we�re doing. We ignore His work at our own peril. Guilt doesn�t go away on its own. And it can�t continue to build indefinitely. Ifwe don�t address it, it will find an outlet�often one that undoes all our careful work to keep our sins secret. Secret sins create distance between us and God because they�re committed in darkness, figuratively speaking. We go to great lengths to make sure that no one can connect us to them. In contrast, �God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all� (1 John 1:5 NLT). We can�t embrace sin and God at the same time. If we become too comfortable in darkness, we start to avoid God�s light. Secret sins are illusions. Hebrews 4:13 says, �Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable� (NLT).We may hide the truth from others, and maybe even ourselves, but God sees everything. And His opinion is the only one that truly matters. Secret sins keep us from reaching our true potential as disciples. Hebrews 12:1 says, �Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. Andlet us run with endurance the race God has set before us� (NLT). Secret sins are the weights we refuse to strip off. No matter how hard we try to navigate the course that God has laid out for us, our secret sins cause us to stumble. We can�t achieve our personalbest until we remove those hidden sins by confessing them to God. ---------------------------------- Seek Shelter - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. �Psalm 46:1 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/seek-shelter/- Listen Meteorologically speaking, �times of trouble� in the summer months usually involve thunderstorms or tornadoes. When the conditions are right, the National Weather Service issues a severe thunderstormor tornado warning that encourages people to seek shelter. Spiritually speaking, �times of trouble� may include anything from a scary medical diagnosis to a financial setback. For me, as a boy, it was �Charlene�s Wild Ride,� as I called it. Charleneis my mother, an alcoholic who married and divorced seven times and kept numerous boyfriends in between. Some treated me like a son; others abused both my mother and me. But chaos reigned. My times of trouble lasted years. Whatever the situation, the recommendation is the same: seek shelter. And that shelter is God. The more intense the hardship, the closer we must draw to Him. One of the best ways to draw close to God is through prayer. But how should we pray? There�s nothing wrong with asking God to remove a hardship. Jesus did. Just before He was arrested, Jesusprayed, �My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine� (Matthew 26:39 NLT). The apostle Paul did. According to 2 Corinthians 12:5�10, Paul suffered from what he called �a thorn in [his] flesh� (NLT). Three times Paul prayed, begging the Lord to take away the thorn. God didn�t deliver Jesus from His hardship. Nor did He deliver Paul. Instead, God reminded them that He was accomplishing something important through their hardship. He reassured them thatHis will was being done. He made His presence felt in a profound way during their hardship, but He didn�t deliver them. If we pray for deliverance from our hardship, God may grant our request. He may show His power by removing the hardship in a dramatic and unmistakable way. But what if He doesn�t? What ifHe allows us to experience hardship for a season as part of His bigger plan, as He did with Jesus and Paul? What should we pray for then? We can pray for perseverance, the ability to endure our hardship with a trusting and faithful spirit. Paul explained it this way: �We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials,for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation� (Romans 5:3�4 NLT). What�s more, the ability to survive and thrive in the face of difficult circumstancesleaves a powerful impression on others, whether we realize it or not. People who see a spiritual strength and resilience in us that�s missing in their lives may be moved to ask us about the hope that�s in us. We can also pray for perspective�the wisdom to recognize what God is accomplishing through our hardship. For example, hardship can turn sympathy into empathy. Instead of feeling sorry forothers who are struggling, we can come alongside them as fellow strugglers. We can commiserate. We can ask the questions and say the things we wish people had asked and said to us. We can make a difference in the lives of others. ------------------------- I Confess - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. �1 John 1:9 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/i-confess/- Listen Believers quote these words to celebrate God�s loving and forgiving nature. This verse conjures up images of God standing ready to erase our sinful past and let us start anew with a cleanslate, only waiting for us to admit what we�ve done wrong. But what this verse doesn�t mention is how the cleansing takes place�or, more specifically, what�s necessary for the cleansing to take place. God doesn�t simply dismiss the charges againstus like a lenient judge. His perfect justice demands that our sins be punished. And the punishment is death. We are helpless to save ourselves from that punishment. Only a perfect sacrifice, offered in our place, can satisfy God�s justice. The only perfect sacrifice is Jesus, God�s Son. God cleansesus from all wickedness. But the only cleansing agent that can remove sin is the blood of Jesus. The author of Hebrews wrote, �Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God.For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins� (9:14 NLT). God�s plan of salvation and forgiveness of sins required an unimaginable sacrifice. The best way to prepare to confess our sins is to meditate on Jesus� sacrifice, to fully absorb what wasnecessary for our sins to be forgiven. The more we appreciate the gravity of our sins, the less likely we�ll be to downplay our confession. Remember, confession isn�t a plea bargain with God where we cop to our wrongdoing and get our record expunged. Confessionisn�t a begrudging �Sorry� or �My bad.� Confession is agreeing with God. Let�s say you and I went out to eat together, and we both ordered burgers. If I said, �I think this burger is amazing,� and you said, �I do too,� we agree.If God says, �That�s sin, and I hate it,� and you say, �I agree with You, God; that�s sin, and I hate it too,� that�s confession. Genuine confession is a soul-deep awareness that our sin is so serious, and so destructive to our relationship with God, that repairing it required the death of His only Son. Genuine confessionis a longing to restore that relationship, even if it means revealing our ugliest truths�admitting that a sudden temptation was more attractive to us than God�s perfect will or that we tried to grab the controls of our life from God so that we could steerin a direction that seemed exciting. A genuine confession comes from a humble heart. It doesn�t try to justify our behavior, offer excuses, shift the blame, or downplay the impact of our wrongdoing. Genuine confession sincerelyregrets taking a path away from God and announces a 180-degree turn back to Him. First John 1:9 gives us a glimpse at how God responds to genuine confession and a humble heart. He doesn�t offer a half-hearted show of forgiveness. He doesn�t berate us for our faithlessness.He doesn�t restrict our access to Him. God is �faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness� (NLT). ---------------------------------------------- Discerning False End-Times Teaching - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. These people arehypocrites and liars, and their consciences are dead. �1 Timothy 4:1�2 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/discerning-false-end-times-teaching/- Listen False teachers have been a problem for Christians since the earliest days of Christianity. In fact, false teachers appeared on the scene almost at the same time as the first Christian evangelists.The false teachers took advantage of the early believers� limited understanding of God�s Word. Paul was often left to clean up the mess left by false teachers. In his first letter to Timothy, Paul identifies some of the teachings that were leading people astray. Apparently, some falseteachers were telling people that it was wrong to get married or to eat certain types of foods. False teachers continue to cause problems for believers and seekers today. And they�ll keep going until Jesus returns. The Bible says so. You may be tempted to duck the problem by saying, �I don�t pay attention to theology. I just love Jesus.� Be careful. You may end up loving the wrong Jesus. Jesus warned that �false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God�s chosenones� (Matthew 24:24 NLT). The people who are most vulnerable to deception are those who don�t know what the Bible actually says about the end times. Christian history is littered with stories of people who gave upeverything to follow some persuasive leader to some specially chosen location to await Jesus� return. Unfortunately, the stories end with the people awkwardly returning to society, embarrassed, humiliated, and discouraged. The book 88 Reasons Why the RaptureWill Be in 1988 was very popular�until 1989. The most obvious way to discern between truth and fiction is to study the only trustworthy source of information. You can�t swing a stick in Scripture without hitting a passage that refersto Jesus� return. You�ll find prophecies written thousands of years before Jesus was born. You�ll find descriptions of signs and events that will precede Jesus� return. You�ll find words of comfort and encouragement. And you�ll find warnings like this one: �However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows� (Matthew 24:36 NLT). Study these truths. Understand the big picture of what will happen and when. Help others understand it as well. Talk to your pastor about things that aren�t clear to you. Get comfortable withthe truth of the end times so that you can spot counterfeit teaching. And when you do spot counterfeit teaching, call it out. Counter it the way Jesus countered the devil�s temptations in the wilderness: by using the Word of God. ------------------------------  How Long, O Lord? - by Greg Laurie – www.harvest.org O LORD, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way? —Psalm 13:1 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/how-long-o-lord/- Listen Christians have been asking variations of David’s question for two thousand years: How long, O Lord, will You delay Your return? How much worse does the world have to get? How many more propheciesmust be fulfilled? How long will You make us wait? As the apostles watched Jesus ascend to Heaven, two angels joined them. “‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven,but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!’” (Acts 1:11 NLT). And the waiting began. There’s no question about what’s going to happen. The Second Coming of Jesus is mentioned more than 1,800 times in the Old Testament and 300 times in the New Testament. One out of every 25verses in the Bible mentions the Lord’s return. Jesus said, “When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am” (John 14:3 NLT). The question is, how do you feel about it? Charles Spurgeon said, “The sound of His approach should be as music to our ears.” When you think about Christ’s coming, your heart should jump with excitement. If, instead, you feel dreador indifference, I would wonder where you are spiritually. The teaching of the imminent return of Jesus is a great barometer of your walk with God. When you’re right with God, you look forward to Christ’s return. In fact, anticipating His return has a purifying effect on you spiritually. First John 3:3 says, “All who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure” (NLT). Jesus is coming again. It’s our blessed hope. We live in a world filled with bad news. And you can find it 24/7 on the newsfeed of your choice. War is imminent. Our nation is unraveling. AIis making us rethink what’s real. It’s enough to stress out anyone. But what did Jesus say? “So when all these things begin to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near!” (Luke 21:28 NLT). Don’t panic. Look up. The scary stories we see on the news are reminders that God keeps His promises and Jesus is coming back again. I’ve read the last page of the Bible. We win in the end. Are you ready? Are you living in anticipation of Jesus’ return by honoring and trusting God and putting Him first? Are you sharing the gospel whenever you have the chance? Are you living thelife God has called you to live? We may have many years left before Jesus returns. Or we may have a few. The timing is in God’s hands. Our job is to make every day count for the glory of God until then. ------------------------------------------ TheReal and the Unreal World �He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them amongprinces, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD�s, and he hath set the world upon them.� (1 Samuel 2:8) The above text contains the first reference in the Bible to God�s world. The �pillars� upon which it is set are, literally, �firm summits� (not �columns�), speaking of its permanence, �established that it shall not be moved� through the eternal ages when �theLORD reigneth� (Psalm 96:10). That is the real world, where all who have been �raised up� by the Lord through faith in His Word will �inherit the throne of glory� and reign with Him forever. But that real world has, for a time, become �this present evil world� (Galatians1:4), often mistakenly represented by its worldly inhabitants as their �real� world. In reality, this present world is very ephemeral, for �the world passeth away� (1John 2:17). This present unreal world has become the domain of Satan, �the god of this world� (2 Corinthians 4:4), for �the whole world lieth in wickedness [or �thewicked one�]� (1 John 5:19). Consequently, it is essential for believers now living in the world to heed the Lord�s warning: �I have chosen you out of theworld, therefore the world hateth you� (John 15:19). The �world� includes its inhabitants and the world system they have developed. This present world, because of sin, has become so unreal that it no longer even knows its Creator. �He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not� (John 1:10). Nevertheless, �God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved� (John3:17). We can defeat this present evil world and prepare for our eternal service in the real world to come. �This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith� (1John 5:4). HMM ----------------------- InEverything Give Thanks �Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shallfail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herds in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.� (Habakkuk3:17-18) It is easy to be happy and cheerful in times of prosperity, when one has all the comforts of an affluent lifestyle and everything seems to be going well. The testing times come, however, when these material comforts are somehow taken away, and one feels defeatedand all alone. Except for God! Whatever else may fail, God �will never leave thee, nor forsake thee� (Hebrews 13:5). Since we still have the Lord (assuming we have trustedHim for forgiveness and salvation through Christ), we can always �rejoice in the LORD,...in the God of my salvation.� Job, for example, lost all his possessions, then his children, and finally his health. Even his wife turned against him. Yet he could say: �The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD� (Job1:21). God has commanded the Christian: �In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you� (1 Thessalonians 5:18)�not foreverything, but in everything! This has always been one of the greatest testimonies a Christian can give to an unbeliever�the testimony of a life rejoicing in God�s salvation even in the midst of trouble. This was the example of Christ Himself, �who for the joy that was set before him enduredthe cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God� (Hebrews 12:2). �For our light affliction, which is but for a moment,worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory� (2 Corinthians 4:17). HMM ---------------------- TheBrightness of His Rising �And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.� (Isaiah60:3) This beautiful Messianic prophecy in the Old Testament book of Isaiah compares the coming of Christ to the rising of the sun. The rest of this chapter in Isaiah seems to stress His coming in glory at the future end of the age (e.g., �the LORD shall be thine everlasting light,� Isaiah 60:20), but our text verse had at least a precursive fulfillment when the Gentile wise men from the east came to Bethlehem to honor Jesus soon after His birth. Other Messianic prophecies used a similar metaphor. For example, there is Malachi 4:2: �Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.� Christ Himself made the same comparison. �I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life� (John8:12). He would not serve as the light for only the Jews; He is also the light of the whole world! The theme of global light through Christ is often found in the Old Testament. �I the LORD...will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles....It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribesof Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth� (Isaiah42:6; 49:6). It will all be perfectly and eternally fulfilled in the New Jerusalem, �for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it:...for there shall be no night there� (Revelation21:23-25). HMM --------------------- Prayerfor Peter and James �Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killedJames the brother of John with the sword.� (Acts 12:1-2) Verse 2 of our text rather casually records what may have been one of the lowest points of apostolic time. James was killed with the sword�James, one of the only three disciples in Christ�s inner circle. He was one of only three to witness the resurrectionof the synagogue ruler�s daughter (Luke 8:51-55); one of three to catch a glimpse of Christ�s glory at the transfiguration (Matthew17:1-2); and one of only four to sit with Christ on the Mount of Olives and learn of the future (Mark 13:3-4). In Gethsemane after their last suppertogether, Christ allowed him, along with Peter and John, to witness His agony in a special way (Mark 14:32-34). He was highly trained by Christ Himself, and the fledgling church could ill afford to lose his leadership. But suddenly he was arrested and slain! A tragedy it would seem to lose such a leader. Think what James might have accomplished had he lived longer, muchas Peter and John did. Could it be, however, that his martyrdom was a blessing in disguise? Certainly God allowed this to happen, but for what purpose? The answer may be found in the verses following our text. Peter had been taken prisoner and was to be executed the next morning (Acts 12:6). However, thechurch had learned a lesson. No prayer for James is recorded, but for Peter, �prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him� (Acts 12:5),and Peter was miraculously freed by an angel and joined the prayer meeting. What would have happened had the believers prayed for James as they did for Peter? Of course, that question has no definite answer, but prayer such as was offered for Peter followed the apostles and early church leaders in their work from that time on. JDM ------------------------ EverythingBeautiful in His Time “He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no mancan find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11) In verses 2-8 of Ecclesiastes 3 appears a remarkable listing of 28 “times,” arranged in 14 pairs of opposites (e.g., “a time to be born, and a time to die,” v. 2). The entire section is introduced by God’s definitive statement: “To every thing there is a season,and a time to every purpose under the heaven” (v. 1). It is then climaxed by His remarkable assurance in the words of our text for the day. Everything that God has made is beautiful in its appropriate time—even death and war, killing and hating, and all the other “negatives” in the list, as well as the 14 “positives”—healing and loving, building and planting, and many others. The pronoun (implied) could be either “its” or “His,” and since all our “times” are “in thy hand” (Psalm 31:15), it is fitting to recognize that the appropriatetime for “every purpose under heaven” is His time—God’s time. Thus, everything that God has made is, in fact, beautiful when accomplished in His own time, in His way, as set forth in His Word. We may not understand many things in our time, for “no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.” Nevertheless, when God made us, He “set the world in [our hearts],” so that the very deepest roots of our nature assure us that God exists and cares. The Hebrewword for “world” means, literally, that “world without end” (compare Ephesians 3:21). Thus, all that happens to us, if accepted and applied according to God’s Word, becomes beautiful, and “we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans8:28). HMM ---------------------- How Long, O Lord? - by Greg Laurie – www.harvest.org O LORD, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way? —Psalm 13:1 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/how-long-o-lord/- Listen Christians have been asking variations of David’s question for two thousand years: How long, O Lord, will You delay Your return? How much worse does the world have to get? How many more propheciesmust be fulfilled? How long will You make us wait? As the apostles watched Jesus ascend to Heaven, two angels joined them. “‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven,but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!’” (Acts 1:11 NLT). And the waiting began. There’s no question about what’s going to happen. The Second Coming of Jesus is mentioned more than 1,800 times in the Old Testament and 300 times in the New Testament. One out of every 25verses in the Bible mentions the Lord’s return. Jesus said, “When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am” (John 14:3 NLT). The question is, how do you feel about it? Charles Spurgeon said, “The sound of His approach should be as music to our ears.” When you think about Christ’s coming, your heart should jump with excitement. If, instead, you feel dreador indifference, I would wonder where you are spiritually. The teaching of the imminent return of Jesus is a great barometer of your walk with God. When you’re right with God, you look forward to Christ’s return. In fact, anticipating His return has a purifying effect on you spiritually. First John 3:3 says, “All who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure” (NLT). Jesus is coming again. It’s our blessed hope. We live in a world filled with bad news. And you can find it 24/7 on the newsfeed of your choice. War is imminent. Our nation is unraveling. AIis making us rethink what’s real. It’s enough to stress out anyone. But what did Jesus say? “So when all these things begin to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near!” (Luke 21:28 NLT). Don’t panic. Look up. The scary stories we see on the news are reminders that God keeps His promises and Jesus is coming back again. I’ve read the last page of the Bible. We win in the end. Are you ready? Are you living in anticipation of Jesus’ return by honoring and trusting God and putting Him first? Are you sharing the gospel whenever you have the chance? Are you living thelife God has called you to live? We may have many years left before Jesus returns. Or we may have a few. The timing is in God’s hands. Our job is to make every day count for the glory of God until then. ------------------------------------------ TheReal and the Unreal World �He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them amongprinces, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD�s, and he hath set the world upon them.� (1Samuel 2:8) The above text contains the first reference in the Bible to God�s world. The �pillars� upon which it is set are, literally, �firm summits� (not �columns�), speaking of its permanence, �established that it shall not be moved� through the eternal ages when �theLORD reigneth� (Psalm96:10). That is the real world, where all who have been �raised up� by the Lord through faith in His Word will �inherit the throne of glory� and reign with Him forever. But that real world has, for a time, become �this present evil world� (Galatians1:4), often mistakenly represented by its worldly inhabitants as their �real� world. In reality, this present world is very ephemeral, for �the world passeth away� (1John 2:17). This present unreal world has become the domain of Satan, �the god of this world� (2Corinthians 4:4), for �the whole world lieth in wickedness [or �the wicked one�]� (1John 5:19). Consequently, it is essential for believers now living in the world to heed the Lord�s warning: �I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you� (John15:19). The �world� includes its inhabitants and the world system they have developed. This present world, because of sin, has become so unreal that it no longer even knows its Creator. �He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not� (John1:10). Nevertheless, �God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved� (John3:17). We can defeat this present evil world and prepare for our eternal service in the real world to come. �This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith� (1John 5:4). HMM ----------------------- InEverything Give Thanks �Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shallfail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herds in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.� (Habakkuk3:17-18) It is easy to be happy and cheerful in times of prosperity, when one has all the comforts of an affluent lifestyle and everything seems to be going well. The testing times come, however, when these material comforts are somehow taken away, and one feels defeatedand all alone. Except for God! Whatever else may fail, God �will never leave thee, nor forsake thee� (Hebrews13:5). Since we still have the Lord (assuming we have trusted Him for forgiveness and salvation through Christ), we can always �rejoice in the LORD,...in the God of my salvation.� Job, for example, lost all his possessions, then his children, and finally his health. Even his wife turned against him. Yet he could say: �The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD� (Job1:21). God has commanded the Christian: �In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you� (1Thessalonians 5:18)�not for everything, but in everything! This has always been one of the greatest testimonies a Christian can give to an unbeliever�the testimony of a life rejoicing in God�s salvation even in the midst of trouble. This was the example of Christ Himself, �who for the joy that was set before him enduredthe cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God� (Hebrews12:2). �For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory� (2Corinthians 4:17). HMM ---------------------- TheBrightness of His Rising �And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.� (Isaiah60:3) This beautiful Messianic prophecy in the Old Testament book of Isaiah compares the coming of Christ to the rising of the sun. The rest of this chapter in Isaiah seems to stress His coming in glory at the future end of the age (e.g., �the LORD shall be thine everlasting light,� Isaiah 60:20), but our text verse had at least a precursive fulfillment when the Gentile wise men from the east came to Bethlehem to honor Jesus soon after His birth. Other Messianic prophecies used a similar metaphor. For example, there is Malachi 4:2: �Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.� Christ Himself made the same comparison. �I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life� (John8:12). He would not serve as the light for only the Jews; He is also the light of the whole world! The theme of global light through Christ is often found in the Old Testament. �I the LORD...will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles....It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribesof Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth� (Isaiah42:6; 49:6). It will all be perfectly and eternally fulfilled in the New Jerusalem, �for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it:...for there shall be no night there� (Revelation21:23-25). HMM --------------------- Prayerfor Peter and James �Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killedJames the brother of John with the sword.� (Acts12:1-2) Verse 2 of our text rather casually records what may have been one of the lowest points of apostolic time. James was killed with the sword�James, one of the only three disciples in Christ�s inner circle. He was one of only three to witness the resurrectionof the synagogue ruler�s daughter (Luke8:51-55); one of three to catch a glimpse of Christ�s glory at the transfiguration (Matthew17:1-2); and one of only four to sit with Christ on the Mount of Olives and learn of the future (Mark13:3-4). In Gethsemane after their last supper together, Christ allowed him, along with Peter and John, to witness His agony in a special way (Mark14:32-34). He was highly trained by Christ Himself, and the fledgling church could ill afford to lose his leadership. But suddenly he was arrested and slain! A tragedy it would seem to lose such a leader. Think what James might have accomplished had he lived longer, muchas Peter and John did. Could it be, however, that his martyrdom was a blessing in disguise? Certainly God allowed this to happen, but for what purpose? The answer may be found in the verses following our text. Peter had been taken prisoner and was to be executed the next morning (Acts12:6). However, the church had learned a lesson. No prayer for James is recorded, but for Peter, �prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him� (Acts12:5), and Peter was miraculously freed by an angel and joined the prayer meeting. What would have happened had the believers prayed for James as they did for Peter? Of course, that question has no definite answer, but prayer such as was offered for Peter followed the apostles and early church leaders in their work from that time on. JDM ------------------------ EverythingBeautiful in His Time “He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no mancan find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.” (Ecclesiastes3:11) In verses 2-8 of Ecclesiastes 3 appears a remarkable listing of 28 “times,” arranged in 14 pairs of opposites (e.g., “a time to be born, and a time to die,” v. 2). The entire section is introduced by God’s definitive statement: “To every thing there is a season,and a time to every purpose under the heaven” (v. 1). It is then climaxed by His remarkable assurance in the words of our text for the day. Everything that God has made is beautiful in its appropriate time—even death and war, killing and hating, and all the other “negatives” in the list, as well as the 14 “positives”—healing and loving, building and planting, and many others. The pronoun (implied) could be either “its” or “His,” and since all our “times” are “in thy hand” (Psalm31:15), it is fitting to recognize that the appropriate time for “every purpose under heaven” is His time—God’s time. Thus, everything that God has made is, in fact, beautiful when accomplished in His own time, in His way, as set forth in His Word. We may not understand many things in our time, for “no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.” Nevertheless, when God made us, He “set the world in [our hearts],” so that the very deepest roots of our nature assure us that God exists and cares. The Hebrewword for “world” means, literally, that “world without end” (compare Ephesians 3:21). Thus, all that happens to us, if accepted and applied according to God’s Word, becomes beautiful, and “we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans8:28). HMM ---------------------- TheMan Child �And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caughtup unto God, and to his throne.� (Revelation12:5) This remarkable scene was part of a great vision given to the apostle John as the Lord was revealing to him �the things which shall be hereafter� (Revelation1:19). He had seen an amazing �sign� in heaven�a woman �clothed with the sun...travailing in birth,� with �a great red dragon� awaiting the delivery and ready �to devour her child as soon as it was born� (Revelation12:1-4). Although the whole vision is richly symbolic, the figure of the man child clearly refers to Jesus Christ, because it is He alone who must eventually rule all nations �with a rod of iron� (Revelation19:15). Thus, the symbolic �woman� suggests His human mother, Mary, but also Eve, the �mother of all living� (Genesis3:20), for in His human birth the Son of God became also �the Son of man� (Acts7:56; Revelation 1:13). The vision dramatizes the long warfare between the great dragon (i.e., Satan�Revelation12:9) and the seed of the woman (Genesis3:15). In the vision, the �man child� will have been �caught up� (i.e., �raptured�) to heaven, and the dragon and his angels �cast out� to earth (Revelation12:5-9). But when Christ returns from heaven, all believers, living and dead, will also be �caught up� to meet Him in the air and thus may well be included in the man child of the great �sign.� There has been continuous warfare between the seed of the serpent and the spiritual seed of the woman. The dragon is forever �wroth with the woman� and with �the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ� (Revelation12:17). But Christ will finally prevail and cast Satan into the eternal lake of fire (Revelation20:10). HMM ------------------------------ Why Believers Need a Biblical Worldview - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org Don�t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. �Colossians2:8 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/why-believers-need-a-biblical-worldview/- Listen Everybody has a worldview�a way of looking at, reacting to, and navigating this life. The question is, do you have a biblical worldview? The way to develop a biblical worldview is to read,memorize, and internalize God�s Word. To fill your mind with the truths of Scripture. As those truths become second nature to you, your thinking starts to change. Your priorities start to change. Your perspective starts to change. Your attitude starts to change.And your actions start to change. As Christians, our worldview should align with Jesus� worldview as much as possible. And if you want to know what Jesus� worldview is, read the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5�7. Do you wantto know what Jesus thinks? Read the sermon. (And by the way, you can read the entire sermon in one sitting.) Do you want to know how His heart really beats? Study the sermon. Do you want to know how He feels about living life in general? Read the sermon. Notonly is the Sermon on the Mount the longest recorded message that Jesus ever gave, but it�s also one of the most beautiful and best-known portions of Scripture. In it, you�ll discover that a biblical worldview influences every aspect of the way you live your life. How you express your anger. How you express generosity. How you pray and fast. How youestablish healthy priorities and pursue what�s truly important. How you deal with anxiety and uncertainty about the future. How you take full advantage of God�s generosity with a truly grateful heart. How you build your life on a solid foundation. You�ll also find that a biblical worldview influences the way you interact with others. How you repair damaged relationships. How you respond to people who have wronged you. How you treatyour enemies. How you judge others. How you avoid being a hypocrite. How you live the Golden Rule. How you ensure that other people see Christ in you. And you�ll discover that a biblical worldview influences the way you react to events. If you have a biblical worldview, you won�t panic when evil seems to be winning. You won�t see a worldspinning out of control. Instead, you�ll draw on your knowledge of biblical prophecy. You�ll see that events are unfolding as God determines. You�ll see His hand in the things happening around you. Instead of panicking, you�ll rejoice and prepare as you anticipatethe return of Christ and eternity with God. -------------------- TheMan Born Blind �And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.� (John9:2-3) Mankind has always found it easy to fall into the trap of thinking that suffering of any sort is due to sin. To be sure, much suffering is due to sin, and even after repentance and forgiveness, scars may remain. Furthermore, evil and its attendant grief surroundus. Our civilization is plagued by sin and its evil fruits�some of which reach even the most godly Christian. Indeed, �the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain� (Romans8:22) as a result of the Curse brought about by sin. If there had been no sin, there would have been no suffering. But this does not imply that all personal suffering stems from personal sin. The blind man was the way he was to bring glory to God. Although many at the time failed to recognize �the works of God� when this man was healed, countless millions have glorifiedGod throughout the centuries for this miracle. Now some may ask, How could God have been glorified in this grown man�s life of blindness up until his healing? Actually, all life is a miracle, even the single-cell amoeba. Nothing living could possibly have arisen by accident, and so life testifies to themarvelous �works of God.� In this case, the item of interest was a human being, complete with fully functioning organs and systems. Even though he could not see, he could smell, taste, hear, speak, touch, move, walk, eat, breathe, digest, think, etc. Thiscould not be the result of time and chance acting on �primeval slime,� as the evolutionist would claim. Any living system points to a loving Designer. Those who �willingly are ignorant� (2Peter 3:5) of such facts are more blind than the Pharisees. JDM -----------------------------