Monday 9/16 ~ I cannot hold it in

The scripture for today, September 16 (9/16), is 1st Corinthians 9:16 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-PAUL COVER-Thumbnail-“Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!”

The Apostle Paul said this. An Old Testament prophet, Jeremiah, said almost the same thing in 20:9: “If I say, ‘I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,’ his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in! Indeed, I cannot!”

Are you so full of the Word of God that you have to share it? Do you work it into your daily conversations? Do you write to people about it? Do you call people about it? Do you journal about it?

I knew a lady once who took several church bulletins home with her every Sunday. Then during the week, if she heard a conversation at a bus stop, she’d interrupt them and say, “I couldn’t help but hear what you were saying. Perhaps God in your life would help.” Then she’d hand them a bulletin. She’d do the same thing at fast-food places or in the waiting room of a doctor. She could not hold it in. She had to share, even if it was with strangers.

There is a man in Afghanistan who is a partially secret Christian. When he thinks he can trust someone, he tells them the gospel. He knows he could be arrested and imprisoned or killed, but I cannot hold it in. He has run for his life three times in the last eight years. He tells me, “I will not stop until they kill me.”

What about you? Is the Word of God overflowing in you so much you cannot keep it in? Tell someone today that God loves them. Watch them smile with a gleam in their eye that says, “I’d like to know more”.

 

00-PAUL COVER-Thumbnail-PAUL: THE UNSTOPPABLE was just that. He’d go into a town, tell people how to go to heaven instead of hell, be beaten by the local priests, get up and do it again. He could not hold it in.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or PASTE THIS:  https://amzn.to/30iM9rH

 

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Sunday 9/15 ~ Can you spare a few more minutes?

The scripture for today, September 15 (9/15), is 2nd Corinthians 9:15 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

Supper-Front Cover-Thumbnail“Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”

Can you imagine dying in the place of someone else?  We occasionally hear stories from the battlefield of a man falling on a grenade so he is the only one killed, thus saving his buddies.

But closer to home, if you saw a child in the path of a car, would you run out and throw the child out of the way knowing there will be no time for you to escape death?

What if you were hiking or sailing with a friend and got lost? Would you split the food and water evenly, or would you give it all to your weaker friend? What would you do if you were lost with someone who hated everyone? Would you give them all the food and water knowing you would die and the hateful person live on?

What if you were with a friend and were arrested for a crime the friend did? Would you take the blame and the punishment of twenty years in prison so your friend could go free?  What if that person was a habitual criminal, you happened to cross paths at the wrong time, and you were both arrested for his heinous crime? Would you take the blame and his punishment (execution) for him?

Now try to imagine making your child die in the place of your enemy ~ your sinless, innocent child.

It is indescribable.

It is unimaginable.

It is unthinkable.

But God did exactly that.

How can we thank Him for his indescribable gift of Jesus redeeming us from Satan? We fall silently at His feet and worship.

Today is Sunday, the day the apostles and those they taught kept the Lord’s Supper remembering Jesus’ body that was tortured and died in our place and his blood that was drained from his body in our place. When you worship today, will you have time to remember his death with all the singing and praying and speechifying going on? Will you squeeze out the reason for Sunday, the day he came back to life and the day he returned home to heaven? Can you take a little more time?

This is the day he ransomed you from Satan and hell! So, I ask again, do you have time?

 

Supper-Front Cover-ThumbnailTHE LORD’S SUPPER: 52 READINGS WITH PRAYERS provides scriptures about Jesus and his ultimate sacrifice, the love of God for us, and sacrifice in general. Never run out of things to say and think about in this most precious time every Sunday.  The prayers will help you say what is on your heart during those intimate moments with Jesus.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this:  https://amzn.to/2I7yfm4

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Amazing 2-minute video

The voice in this video is that of Dr. Clifton Ganus, past president of Harding University, my alma mater, who passed away at age 97 a few days ago.  I’m not even a sports person (don’t hit me!), but this is one of the most amazing 2-minute videos about life in general ~ everyone’s life ~ I have ever seen. Share it, my friends. Share it!

Saturday 9/14 ~ Have a day of gratitude

The scripture for today, September 14 (9/14), is Hebrews 9:14f as found in the New Testament of the Bible.

0-BK 6-PromiseKeeper-Cover-thumbnail-new-kindleHow much more then will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts [sins] that lead to death so that we may serve the living God! For this reason, Christ is the mediator of a new covenant [testament] that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance ~ now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant [testament].”

This is a very interesting passage. Just previous to this, the author was talking about the blood of bulls and goats being sacrificed for sins under the old Law of Moses [Testament]. But now that the Son of God, the Lamb of God, had been sacrificed for our sins, we no longer need any more blood sacrifices.

Further, Jesus’ sacrifice was retroactive! It reached back to the faithful who lived under the first/old covenant [Testament] and set them free from punishment for their sins too.

Aren’t you glad God did away with the old Law of Moses with all its 600+ rules and regulations, and its requirement for animal blood sacrifices? Aren’t you overjoyed that he brought us a law of grace? What a God! What a Savior! Jesus did all this to save us from hell.

Have a day of deep gratitude.

 

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Friday 9/13 – Rise up! Experience the Victory!

The scripture for today, September 13 (9/13), is Psalm 9:13f as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-Thumbnail“O Lord, see how my enemies persecute me! Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death, that I may declare your praises…and there rejoice in your salvation.”

Life is a mixture of highs and lows. You sometimes experience difficult things ~ some minor, some major. Do you let them define your entire life? Do you cling to them, never getting over them, never letting them go, and reliving them over and over in your mind?

 You cannot be “more than a conqueror” (Romans 8:37) unless you have something to conquer. You cannot have “victory in Jesus” unless you have something to be victorious over.

God said he can make “all things work together for good” to those who love him (Romans 8:28). He did not say bad decisions will end up with the best result. He said even the worst situation he will turn in to some kind of good for you.

Today, with the courage of God in your heart, the love of God in your soul, and the might of God in your very being, rise up! Rejoice! Thank God for your problems.  It is only when you have problems that you can experience victories.

 

0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-ThumbnailIn SHADOW OF DEATH, you live through the last night and day of Jesus life and death. Why did he do it? He went through a hideous death to pay the ransom to set us free from Satan who kidnapped our souls the day Adam and Eve sinned. It freed all good people (everyone sins) in the past and still does today. Of course, after giving Satan what he wanted as the ransom ~ the death of God ~ Jesus tricked him and came back to life. The ransom had been paid and now Jesus had overcome death for us.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this:  https://amzn.to/2I7VgFk

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Thursday 9/12 ~ Out of disaster came beauty

The scripture for today, September 12 (9/12), is found in Genesis 9:12f in the Old Testament of the Bible:

02-Noah-KindleThumbnail“And God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come. I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.”

 On the technical side, how can it be that there was never a rainbow before Noah’s time? Genesis 2:5b-6 explains, “The Lord God had not sent rain on the earth, and there was no man to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.”

Up until the time of Noah, people lived to be several hundred years old. Christian scientists have said that, before the flood, the earth had a constant cloud covering with a thick ozone layer that created the greenhouse effect of vapors and protected man from the aging process. It was much like Venus.

So rainbows were not possible when the sun could never break through the ever-present clouds. It was because of a terrible worldwide cataclysm that the beauty of the rainbow was made possible.

On the faith side of this story, we see a man who had such faith in God that, although he probably had never seen rain, believed it would happen. Such amazing faith! Later, through the pain of losing his stubborn father and probably other extended family in the flood, he was blessed with the lives of his direct family members. Then God gave him one more reward ~ the rainbow ~ that he could not only enjoy in his generation but for generations even today.

Out of disaster came beauty.

 

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Wednesday 9/11 ~ You will be delighted; they will be fascinated

The scripture for today, September 11 (9/11), is Matthew 9:11 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

Applied Christianity“When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and “sinners”? ‘ “

Jesus did not make friends with people who could lift him up. He made friends with people who he could lift up. You are not divine, so we need both. It is true that your closest friends should be Christians. However, many brag those are their only friends. That isolates and insulates them.

You must make some friends among the lost in order to show them God’s love, and try to lift them up. They can be people at work, in a club, in your neighborhood, someone you sit next to waiting for a bus, or even someone you meet by accident while waiting in line at a store.

You must always be on the watch. Always prepared to become more than just casual acquaintances. Always be prepared to get “up close and personal” with some of your friends. Most people have questions about the Bible. So, ask them if they do. If you don’t know the answer, look it up in a Bible Concordance and pass it on to them. You will be delighted and they will be fascinated.

Jesus did it. He was our example.

 

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Tuesday 9/10 ~ Friends of the Great I AM

The scripture for today, September 10 (9/10), is Psalm 9:10 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

00-1st Century Worship KINDLE-COVER-Thumbnail“Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.”

The Lord has a name?  Let’s check this out.

What does “Lord” mean in the original Hebrew language of the Old Testament? It is Yahweh. Translated into the Greek of the New Testament it is Adonai.

In Exodus 3:15b God told Moses what his name was: ” ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers…This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.’ “

And what does Yahweh mean? Exodus 3:14 explained, “God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites; ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ “

God is the great I AM.

What is our relationship with I AM? Today’s verse does not say the Great I Am will keep you from all harm. What it says is that he will go with you into that harm and stay with you the whole way, giving you strength and courage.

And so, in peace or war, in comfort or pain, in well-being or devastation, he will be right there with you. He will never forsake you. Therefore, never forsake him.  Keep on worshipping ~ the Lord our God, the Great I AM.

 

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Monday 9/9 ~ Glory in the “new”

The scripture for today, September 9 (9/9), is Zechariah 9:9 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

Matthew's Life of Christ-Cover-thumbnail“Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

Most people think Jesus riding on a donkey made him humble. Not at all. Donkeys and mules were rides of kings.

Judges 5:9-10 says, “My heart is with Israel’s princes….you who ride on white donkeys.” Supreme Judge Jair led Israel 22 years and had 30 sons who rode 30 donkeys (Judges 10:3-4). Supreme Judge Abdon, who ruled Israel 8 years, had 70 sons and grandsons who rode on 70 donkeys (Judges 12:14).

II Samuel 18:9 says Absalom, King David’s son, rode on a mule. In I Kings 1:33,38,44, David ordained that his son, Solomon, ride on his own mule through the street as one proof that he chose Solomon to be the next king.

The people of Jerusalem knew Jesus was not only riding the ride of kings when he entered their capital city, but he was also, at last, fulfilling the centuries-old prophecy they all knew so well (today’s scripture).

This is the humility that Jesus did exhibit: He rode on the colt of a donkey.

Do you blindly follow whatever our religious leaders tell you? Do you know the scriptures as well as you think you do?

Glory in learning new things about your King of Glory.

 

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Sunday 9/8 ~ Nero and your government

The scripture for today, September 8 (9/9), is Daniel 9:8 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-Thumbnail“O Lord, we and our kings, our princes, and our fathers are covered with shame because we have sinned against you.”

Have you prayed for your government lately?  I Timothy 2:1 & 2 says “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for everyone ~ for kings and all those in authority.”

At the time of this writing, Nero was Caesar. First-century historian Tacitus said this about Nero in his Annals 15:44:

“But all human efforts, all the lavish gifts of the emperor, and the propitiations of the gods, did not banish the sinister belief that the conflagration was the result of an order. Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called “Christians” by the populace.

“Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilate, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their center and become popular.

“Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.”

If the Apostle Paul could pray for such a government leader, can you not follow his instructions? Why don’t you stop and pray for your own government right now?

 

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