Fight On! Trust God!

Isaiah 40:29-31 NKJV

29He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, 31 But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

Tonight commences my favorite time of year: Football Season!  I am so fired up that I get to once again enjoy the greatest game on earth.  I will root for my hometown team, the Monticello Hurricanes, as well as my favorite team the Georgia Bulldogs.

 I am not only a fan of football but I also played football, back in the day.  I enjoyed every aspect of the game: offense, defense, special teams, game planning.  I also learned many life lessons on the football field: team work, sportsmanship, hard work, etc.

Probably the greatest lesson I learned was to never give up.  When you play the game of football you will eventually get knocked down.  You will eventually run into someone who is bigger, faster and stronger than you who has the sole purpose of defeating you.

Many of the lessons I learned on the football field translate to life.  We all face obstacles that are bigger than we are.  We all face situations that are stronger than we are.  The question is, what are you going to do when life knocks you down?  You only have two options: you can stay down and be defeated or you can get up and keep on fighting.

This past week I watched a video of Derrick Moore who is the chaplain of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (I can’t believe I am using this as an illustration seeing as I am a huge UGA fan).  Derrick shared with the team that he had a middle school coach who used to tell him, “Fight, till you can’t fight no more.  Lie down and bleed awhile.  Get Up, and fight some more.”

I want to challenge you today: if life has knocked you down, don’t give up – trust God to see you through.  If your job situation doesn’t look good, don’t give up – trust God to see you through.  If your marriage is suffering, don’t give up – trust God to see you through.  If your future seems bleak, don’t give up – trust God to see you through.

We can mount up on eagle’s wings and soar if we put our trust in the Lord.  After all, He is bigger, faster and stronger than any obstacle we will ever face.

DBA

Philippians 4:10-13 ESV

10 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. 11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

The Bottom of the Ocean

Micah 7:18-19

Who is a God like You,

Pardoning iniquity

And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?

He does not retain His anger forever,

Because He delights in mercy.

He will again have compassion on us,

And will subdue our iniquities.

You will cast all our sins

Into the depths of the sea.

(NKJV)

          Somewhere on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean is a pair of glasses.  How do I know that?  Because when I was about 13 years old, my brother and I were jumping the waves as they crashed onto Daytona Beach.  All of a sudden what seemed to me as a tsunami came crashing over my head.  As I turned my back to the wave, it took my glasses right off my head.  I grasped for them, but they were gone.  I’m sure you are wondering why I was wearing them in the ocean!  I started wearing glasses when I was in the 3^rd grade.  I am extremely near sighted.  I can’t even read the big E at the top of the chart.  So in order to really enjoy my time in the water, I decided to wear them.

We spent over an hour looking on the beach for my glasses before giving up.  My dad took me that afternoon to the mall and spent a lot of money to buy me another pair of glasses.  He did this because he knew that my old pair was gone.  He knew that they were on the bottom of the ocean floor.

The Bible says that there is something else that is gone.  There is something else that is on the bottom of the ocean floor!  What is it?  It is the sin of the man or woman who accepts the blood of Jesus Christ as the propitiation for his or her sin.  I’m not happy that my glasses are gone to the bottom of the ocean floor, but I praise the Lord that my sin is!  Pray and repent of anything that is impure in your life.  Thank God that He completely removes our sin through the blood of Jesus Christ.

-BP

Psalm 103:12

As far as the east is from the west,

So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

(NKJV)

When Troubles Surround Us

Paul’s life contained enormous success for the cause of Christ, as well as stress and suffering on Christ’s behalf. His circumstances changed time and again. At times he was esteemed and well-taken care of, then would come roadblocks, misunderstandings, legal trials, physical suffering, and personal rejection. God’s sustaining grace carried him through difficulties and further equipped him for ministering to others. Trust God to do the same for you.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.—2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Prayer: God, thank You for responding to our needs and carrying us through difficult times. I am grateful for the very real presence of Your Spirit, and the encouragement of Your Word. Give me opportunities to pass on Your compassion and comfort to those around me. In Jesus’ name, amen.

-Lead Like Jesus Devotion

A Crowd Divided

John 7:3-5 

Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do.  No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.”  For even his own brothers did not believe in him. 

This past Sunday, we studied John Chapter 7 in REACH Bible Study.  The teenage girls got into two groups.  One group was told to draw a superhero, in which they drew wonder woman, and the other group was told to draw a villain, in which they drew a cool cartoon guy that was snarling.  We then talked about the reason that we did this activity was because the people in Jerusalem in chapter 7 were undecided on who Jesus was.  They didn’t know if he was a good guy or a bad guy.  After-all, even his own family (his four half-brothers) did not believe in him.

John 7:12–Some said, “He is a good man.” Others replied, “No, he deceives the people.”

During the Festival of Tabernacles, Jesus laid low for about three days during half of the festival, but then he began to speak out.  The Jews were amazed at his teaching because he spoke with so much knowledge.  Jesus replied, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me.  Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.” (vs 16-17)

It’s important to know who Jesus in the flesh was!  Was he a good man who spoke truths of God, or was he a deceiver who was trying to trick people into thinking that he was the Messiah?

Colossians 1:19-20– For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Jesus is the real deal.  The deceivers were actually the Pharisees of whom Jesus said, “Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law.” (vs 19).

The Pharisees believed that they were too knowledgeable and learned to be deceived by Jesus.  They thought that they were better than others because of what they knew of the law.  Vs 47-49–“You mean he has deceived you also?” the Pharisees retorted.  “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him?  No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them.”

I get frustrated a lot of times because there are so many things in the Bible that I don’t understand, but I know that the Bible can be trusted and that Jesus can be trusted.  I don’t need to rely on my own wisdom, but I can trust the One who knows all things.

From the example of Jesus’ brothers, let’s learn to not let worldly people talk us into doing things that are against the will of God.  “The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil.  You go to the festival. I am not going up to this festival, because my time has not yet fully come.” (vs 7-8).

Let’s learn from the example of the Pharisees to not miss out on accepting what God is doing.  “Now if a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing a man’s whole body on the Sabbath?  Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.” (vs23-24)

Finally, let’s learn from Jesus to know who is good and who is a deceiver (of Satan).  Let’s watch out for people who seek their own glory instead of the glory of God.

-RB

John 7:18 

Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.

 

Dead Man Come to Life

Ephesians 2:1-10 

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

 Have you ever thought about how utterly useless and hopeless a dead person is?  A dead person does not participate in life.  A dead person is never involved in a conversation.  A dead person is never the life of the party. (pun definitely intended)  A dead person is not involved in anything that concerns life.  Well, in this very well-known passage from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians you only have to get four words in to realize that we are in a bit of a predicament. The Bible says, “And you were DEAD…”  This does not mean that you were just not really involved in doing things God wanted to do, or that you were more interested in something else, or even that you were simply apathetic to the whole situation.  It means that you, and I, were dead.  As in you were not functioning as a living member of society.  I am stressing this point to remind us all of the dire situation we are in when we are living in sin apart from Christ. There is no hope of working your way out of that situation.  There is no possibility of smooth talking your way into a better position.  There is no reasoning your way into a more desirable standing.  After all, you have to remember that dead people don’t do ANYTHING.

However, you then move down to verse four and see possibly the two greatest words in the Bible, “BUT GOD…”  We were completely dead in our trespasses and sins, BUT GOD saw fit in His immeasurable mercy to show us grace and bring us back to life.  One of my favorite sayings is, “In Christ, we are not bad people that God made good. We are dead people that God made alive.”  How incredibly true, and how incredibly wonderful!  God came down to us and rescued us when we were totally unaware that we were even in need of being rescued.  God, through the sacrifice of Jesus, made a way for a dead man to come to life!  We can be raised from death in sin to life in Christ as God the Father calls us to Himself through the Holy Spirit.

The Gospel is wonderful!  As followers of Christ, please remember to never get over the gospel.  The Gospel is not the diving board from which we jump into the pool of Christianity.  IT IS THE ENTIRE POOL ITSELF!  You don’t ever move past the gospel.  It just continually draws you deeper into relationship with God.  It reminds us daily of our inability and Christ’s unlimited ability.  We can’t , God can. Find rest in that today.

-Bro JA

Abundant Life

“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”  (John 10:10)

Jesus warns us to be on guard for thieves who will try to rob us of what God has for us. Jesus wants us to enjoy abundant life (John 10:10). Since the time of Adam and Eve, people have had to choose whom to believe. Satan convinced Adam and Eve that forfeiting their obedience to God would gain them everything. Instead, their disobedience robbed them of all they had. For the rest of their lives they experienced only a fraction of the blessings God had intended. Scripture is replete with accounts of those who forfeited their inheritance as children of God in order to gain that which was transitory and empty.

The world seeks to convince you that you will find fulfillment if you adopt its standard of morality for your marriage, raising your children, advancing your career, or pursuing pleasure. If you believe this, you will never experience the blessings God intended for you. Sin brings death (Rom. 6:23). It is tragic to listen to the voices of the world instead of to the One who created life and who wants you to experience life to its fullest.

Jesus wants you to live your life with security, knowing that you are a beloved child of God. If you are not experiencing love, joy, and peace, you have settled for less than what God intends for you. If you have been making excuses for why you are not experiencing an abundant and joyful life, determine today to settle for nothing less than God’s best for your life. Stop following the world’s way of finding satisfaction. Instead, listen to the Savior’s voice, and you will find true fulfillment.

-BMI devotion

Tried With Fire

And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots full of wine, and cups, and I said unto them, Drink ye wine. But they said, We will drink no wine: for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons for ever (Jer. 35:5-6).

It would be easy to take these verses and speak on the evils and dangers of consumption of alcohol, and there are many who have done just that utilizing this verse. It is true that alcohol can cause a person to lose their inhibitions, and can be a dangerous thing. The Word of God speaks several times in the Old and New Testament alike about the sin there is in drunkenness. However, in looking at these particular Scriptures, we see it can point to a different concept. The broader thought on these verses can go well beyond the walls of just speaking on alcohol alone. These verses paint a picture of these individuals holding true to a fundamental principle of which they felt strongly. This Scripture speaks of being obedient to their father’s command. Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise (Eph. 6:2). 

The heart’s desire of every believer should be to be a person who follows God’s Word. The prayer of our hearts should be that we stand on these godly principles during all of life’s challenges. The Lord gave us His Word not just for reading pleasure, but as a set of guidelines on how to conduct our lives as Christians. 

One of the problems we have in life is that so many of Christ’s followers compromise their principles. In the good and easy times it is no problem being true to the Word of God, but what happens to those same rules for living when the tough times come? Do we hold true to our beliefs, or do we succumb to the pressures of life?  

The fires of life are what try us. How do we respond to them? Do we allow them to surface? Can we say with Job, when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold (Job 23:10)? 

That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ (I Pet. 1:7).

-sbc.net devotion

Thought for Today:

It is always right to stand for the truth.

Making the Grade

Romans 4:2-3

 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God.  What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 

This week, my daughter finally received her final report card for her first year of doing home-school through Grace Christian Academy (probably because she had to work all summer to finish the year).  Her reaction upon receiving the report card was intense disappointment.

Her grades weren’t too bad.  All of the grades were either in the eighties or nineties.  However, the top of the report card said that her overall GPA was a 2.74.  Also, next to each grade average, it showed the letter grade.  The scores that showed 87 and 86 both had a “C” grade next to it.

I called the school and found out that their grading scale is different than most schools and GA standards.  According to the headmaster, this school goes by “a higher standard.”  My daughter thought that she had all A’s and B’s; however, she was disappointed with the final results when she found out that their standards considered her grades as B’s and C’s.

This made me think about God’s standard of judgment.  I believe that there will be many people who thought that they did good enough to earn heaven.  People who think that their good deeds and lifestyle are enough for a passing grade who will only find that the standard is different than they had thought.  Imagine the huge disappoint!

Let’s learn from David who didn’t live the perfect life, but yet wrote:

“Blessed are those

whose transgressions are forgiven,

whose sins are covered.

Blessed is the one

whose sin the Lord will never count against them.”

(Romans 4:7-8, Psalm 32:1-2)

I used to believe that I was a Christian because I was a good person.  I went to church and tried to not do things that were wrong, believing that this was enough to get the grade.  Therefore, I understand how Satan can trick people into relying on their own works.  Thank you, God, for opening my eyes to the truth and showing my need to trust in you only.  I pray for more people to realize that good deeds are not enough.  Thank you for saving, justifying faith; please increase my faith!

-RB

Romans 4:23-25 

The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.  He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

Don’t Worry; Be Happy!

Psalm 127

3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.

4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth.

5 Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;
They shall not be ashamed,
But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.

Today is a special day for me.  I get to celebrate the birth of my daughter Ella.  Ella’s birthday isn’t until tomorrow but tonight we will spend the evening with family eating pizza, cake and ice cream and enjoying the life that God has blessed us with.

As a young man I couldn’t wait to get married to my lovely wife and have children.  But I would be remiss if I didn’t say I never knew the impact a child can have on a person.  Children truly are “a heritage from the Lord.”  My life has been filled with more happiness, laughter and joy than ever before.  But my life has also been filled with more diapers, tears, booboos, tantrums, frustrations, aggravations; the list could go on and on.

We need to be careful though.  Whether we are referring to our children or our everyday lives, we have a tendency to focus our attention on the bad.  The aggravations and the frustrations seem to blur from our mind the joys and triumphs of our lives.  And if we allow this cycle to continue, our aggravations and frustrations will make us aggravated and frustrated people.  This isn’t God’s plan.

God’s intention is for His children to be agents of joy and happiness.  That is our job and what an amazing job it is.  We have the distinct privilege of spreading the GOOD and HAPPY news that Jesus saves.  That alone should at least cause you to smile.

So what do you do if the negative has gotten you down?  Well, I want to encourage you today, maybe this evening as a family, to sit down and do as the old song says to do, “Count your blessings name them one by one.  Count your blessing see what God has done.”  If you do that, the negative will give way to the positive and happiness will once again fill your life.  And when happiness floods your life I want to encourage you to spread that happiness to others and allow them to feel and understand the joy that comes from a loving God.    

-DBA

Nehemiah 8:9-11

9 And Nehemiah, who was the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn nor weep.” For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the Law.

10 Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

11 So the Levites quieted all the people, saying, “Be still, for the day is holy; do not be grieved.”

Put Your New Shirt On

3 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. ³ For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. ⁵ Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. ⁶ On account of these the wrath of God is coming. ⁷ In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. ⁸ But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. ⁹ Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.¹¹ Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. ¹² Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, ¹³ bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.¹⁴ And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

I love the book of Colossians!  It has always been such an encouragement for me and it is rich in theological content.  I was thinking through these verses from Col. 3:1-14 this morning.  The thought came into my mind of getting a new shirt.  What is the first thing you do when you get a new shirt?  You put it on of course!  This is how it is when we come to Christ.  When we become a new creation of God through salvation, we “put on” the attributes of Christ i.e. “compassion, kindness, patience, humility, etc.”

But the important thing to remember is that there was a very important step that occurred just before you put on the new shirt.  You took your old shirt off!  When we come into a relationship with Christ, we must “put to death what is earthly” in us.  We must not be impure, have evil desires, or be covetous.  We must be ever striving towards purity in Christ.

So be challenged today to live with your “new shirt” on.  Wear it in a way that exhibits the characteristics of Christ to those around you, believers and non-believers alike.  God will receive glory and you will build bridges of relationship with those you interact with.

-Bro JA