Scripture for Monday, April 10 (4/10)

The scripture for today, April 10, is Zechariah 4:10 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

00-Heroes-Alone-COVER-KINDLE“Who despises the day of small things?”

We tend to admire big things ~ big buildings, big empires, big trees, big causes.  Sometimes it is difficult to remember that those things started out small.

Have you been wanting to accomplish something big? All buildings started out with one board or one stone. All empires started out with one person. All big trees started out as one seed. All big causes started out with one dream.

Perhaps your desire in life started out small, but stayed small. That doesn’t mean it will always be small. It may become big years from now, or even in someone else’s lifetime. Don’t despise what you have now.

Or, if you have been putting off trying to do something big for a long time, make today the day of your beginning. Let no one despise your day of small things.

 

 

 

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Scripture for Sunday, March 9 (3/9

The scripture for today, April 9, is 1st John 4:9f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-Medium“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: Not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

We human do not have the will to live perfect lives. We give in to sins of attitude, action, and inaction. We can never get it right. Romans 6:23 says the wages we earn by sinning is death. In the Old Testament era, God let people kill an animal in their place whenever they sinned, but it had to be done over and over. Then God put a stop to that by sending his Son to us for awhile with a body, so his Son’s body could be killed (collecting our wages) in our place.

Finally, God invited mankind to “live through him” ~ that is, become Christ-ians. How do we become alive through Jesus? Of course, we know about believing Jesus was the Son of God and repenting of our sins. Also, Romans 6:4 says when we are baptized, we begin to live a new life, we are born again.

But it does not stop there. We must try the best we can to live as Jesus lived, speak as Jesus spoke, love as Jesus loved. We are not saved by good works because we are still sinners, but we do demonstrate our love of God by good works (James 2). With Jesus living in us, we are his mouth, his hands, his feet. It is then that we offer our own bodies as daily sacrifices (Romans 12:1).

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#love, #SonOfGod, #Sin, #WagesOfSin, #death, #sacrifice, #BornAgain, #Baptism, #Romans6, #EternalLife, #hell, #heaven, #GoodWorks, #Bodies

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Scripture for Saturday, April 8 (4/8)

The scripture for today, April 8, is 2nd Timothy 4:8 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-PAUL COVER-Medium-“Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day ~ and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

The Apostle Paul was about in his late sixties at this writing. He’d been converted probably in his thirties. He’d spent the past nearly forty years telling people how to escape hell, tolerating persecution, sometimes hunger, seldom staying in a city longer than a year, always on the go, never satisfied with the number of people he had reached with the News. Now he was in a dungeon.

“For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

Oh, that we all could say this at the end of our life.

 

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Scripture for Friday, April 7 (4/7)

The scripture for today, April 7, is Proverbs 4:7 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

Acts of the Apostles-Cover-Kindle

“Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost you all you have, get understanding.”

The verse just before this says, “Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you.” And the verse just after today’s says, “Esteem her and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you.”

How do we get wisdom? The Bible is full of it. Proverbs was written by Solomon, the wisest man in the world. Just reading and applying Proverbs would give a person wisdom. And the entire Old Testament gives examples of numerous people through the centuries who did or did not do right, and the result of their decisions.  

Many religious people neglect the Old Testament. It is not always pleasant reading. But by reading it, we can avoid the mistakes made by many, and perhaps gain the courage to imitate the courageous ones who made the right choices.

How about reading the Bible through every year? To read both the Old and New Testament through in a year would take about 20 minutes a day. Some people have read the entire Bible front to back forty or fifty times. Make this a priority in your life. It will give you wisdom.

 

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#wisdom, #knowledge, #OldTestament, #NewTestament, #Scriptures, #Solomon, #Proverbs, #understanding, #truth

Scripture for Thursday, April 6 (4/6)

UPDATE ON OUR BROTHER WHO DARED TEACH WHERE IT IS ILLEGAL. I heard from him last night. He said they are moving in on him. Made two more threatening phone calls. He has gone into hiding far from his wife and children to keep them protected. (It is common among extremists to kidnap the children if a bribe is not paid and threaten to either kill them or make them slaves.) He may lose his job that he just started a week ago. Keep praying mightily for him and his family until you hear back from me. He may be in hiding a month or two.



Cover-Kindle-smallThe scripture for today, April 6, is 1st Corinthians 4:6 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“…learn from us the meaning of the saying, ‘Do not go beyond what is written.’ Then you will not take pride in one man over against another.”

Periodically through the Bible, there appears this same warning for us to not “go beyond what is written.” 1st Corinthians 13:8 says prophecy and other spiritual gifts were going to end. 2nd Peter 1:20 says prophecy is scripture. Prophecy was needed before the New Testament was written, but no more after that, for now the prophecy of the apostles had been written down.

It is important to find out if what we are being taught is “beyond what is written.” It can be done. How? Simple. Use a concordance. A concordance is the size of a large dictionary and includes every word in the Bible and every scripture that contains each word. Many libraries have one. Or you can order one from your local bookstore. There are some concordances on the internet too. Here is one: http://bibletab.com

You are an intelligent person. Don’t take for granted what others tell you. Check things for yourself. Read the Bible for yourself. Decide for yourself whether any of your church leaders have gone “beyond what is written.” You can do it. And you will be liberated by what you learn.

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Scripture for Wednesday, April 5 (4/5)

The scripture for today, April 5, is Micah 4:5 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-Stephen-Cover-Kindle-Medium“All the nations may walk in the name of their gods; we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.”

Nations rise and fall. Nations come and go. Nations are founded upon terror and aggression, or peace and democracy. Some nations follow religions which declare that peasants are peasants as punishment for previous lives, so must remain peasants. Some nations follow religions chosen by their national governments and must be followed upon pain of death.

But as strong as various nations seem to be, as much power as they use on their citizens, they do not last forever.

Instead, there is a forever nation ~ the nation of God, the kingdom of God. No matter what nation someone lives in, they can have “dual citizenship”. And by being a citizen of God’s forever kingdom, they will walk in it forever and ever.

 

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Scripture for Tuesday, April 4 (4/4)

Update on our brother being threatened for his faith.  He received a phone call from the one who has been threatening him, this time demanding $50,000.  This happened to him four years ago when he was cornered in an alley and threatened with imprisonment for becoming a Christian if he did not pay $50,000.

He sent his family into hiding where they changed locations every night. (Kidnapping children and demanding $50,000 is common there among the Taliban, Al Quida, ISIS, etc. If you do not pay, they either kill the child or make them slaves the rest of their life.) He went to yet another province to hide and draw attention away from his family. He sold his house and they escaped to India. He could not find a job, so their only choice was to finish raising their children in a UN immigration camp or return home.  They returned to a different city and I think he paid them a periodic bribe after that.

He had only been a Christian a year at that time. This time he has been a Christian five years. When they called and demanded $50,000 yesterday, he refused to talk to them and hung up the phone.

Keep praying for this mighty warrior for the Lord.

BTW, his son has had to drop out of university and go into hiding with the rest of the family, so he has asked me for many Bible materials to study.  About a year ago when he was 19, he told his father, “I want to be a preacher some day. I know they will kill me, but that’s what I want to do.”


 

HS-COVER-KINDLE-GOLDThe scripture for today, April 4, is Psalm 4:4 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“In your anger do not sin.”

This seems like an impossibility. After all, when people get angry, don’t they lash out at other people? And yell and call them names? And show their temper? Maybe even throw a few things? After all, that’s the only way to get across to the other person that you are really angry.

Not so. If a child, for instance, does what s/he was just told not to do, we become angry. Angry at the dangerous consequence of their action. Angry at not doing something to make that child a better person.

We can choose to lash out at the child wildly so that our emotions mask our words. Or we can choose to talk calmly and explain the dangers that child was put in because of that action, or the missed opportunities. We can even punish a child without losing our temper. We can calmly but firmly tell them what their punishment is.

It is the same way with adults. If we lose our temper and shoot daggers with our eyes and rant and rave, all these things distract people from our words. Are we wanting to punish them or reconcile? Aren’t our words of explanation more important than the emotionalism and yelling? If we were hurt, just say so. If they hurt themselves, just say so.

While we’re at it, not all words help. Name calling does not help. Name calling is done when we choose not to explain how we feel.

Name calling locks the other person in and sets them up for future failures between us and them. Losing our temper during anger gets us off the issue and into sin.

Let us try to remain calm and then explain the problem in tones that the person who has angered us can truly listen to and learn from. If you have trouble doing this, practice when you’re alone. It will teach us to remain calm when we’re angry so we can explain how we feel, not how bad the other person is. When we are angry, we must not sin.

 

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#anger, #ire, #irrationality, #yelling, #shouting, #beating, #accusing, #scorning, #hating, #selfishsness, #ego, #patience, #feelings, #calm, #punishment, #hurt, #pain, #NameCalling, #failure, #temper, #sin, #consequences, #solution, #reconciliation

Scripture for Saturday, April 1 (4/1) & Update on Threatened Brother

Update on our brother in the Middle East whose life has been threatened:  He is in hiding, but decided not to flee to the mountains. If/when caught, he will stand and defend his faith.  In the meantime, he has sent his wife and children away and notified his oldest son to contact me if he is imprisoned or killed. Keep praying mightily for your brother. 

Note what the scripture is for today.  I wrote it ten years ago.


0-Stephen-Cover-Kindle-MediumThe scripture for today, April 1, is Ephesians 4:1 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”

Jesus sometimes offended people. His apostles sometimes offended people. Specifically, the Apostle Paul sometimes offended people, and as he wrote he told people how to get to heaven God’s way instead of man’s way (which is impossible anyway).

But did it stop the Christians from telling people about the way to escape hell and go to heaven? Never. They loved people so much, they were willing to take insults and persecution and imprisonment and even death in the hopes that their persistent love would eventually lead to people becoming Christians and being saved from eternal hell. They knew their calling as Christians.

How about us today? Do we live a life worthy of our calling as Christians by standing up for Jesus and reaching out to the lost, regardless of the cost? Or do we cower and use the excuse, “Once people see my godly life, they will ask me how to be saved”?  How many times do the lost really do that?

Let us stand tall as brave soldiers of the Lord. Let us march into enemy territory and do everything we can to snatch the lost out of the jaws of Satan.

No matter what they do to us.

 

#martyrdom, #faith, #preaching, #teaching, #SavingSouls, #SpreadingTheWord, #PowerOfGospel, #cost, #CountingCost, #persecution, #prisoner, #DefendingChrist, #JawsOfSatan, #heaven, #hell

Scripture for Wednesday, March 29 (3/29)

The scripture for today, March 29, is Luke 3:29 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-Heroes-Alone-COVER-KINDLE“…the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi….”

Who in the world were these five men: Joshua, Eliezer, Jorim, Matthat and Levi? Some were named after famous Jews, but no one in this list was famous himself. In fact, nothing else is said in the Bible about any of these men. They’re just a single name in a single but long list.
Who were they that they earned even one brief mention in the Bible?

They were ancestors of Jesus on his human side. What else? They were born and survived long enough to have sons. Not important at the time? No, but eventually it was.

We read obituaries and sometimes wonder about our own. Our whole life reduced to born, married, had a job, had children, died. That’s it. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just another one of billions in the world having come and gone.

Hold on! Maybe not!

Maybe your life, as ordinary as it seems now, will someday serve a greater purpose through a descendant or someone you become friends with. In a later generation ~ maybe ten or twenty generations from now ~ someone may do something extremely important for souls of the world. And it was made possible because of your “unordinary life” way back in the early twenty-first century when you survived one day at a time. So, keep on keeping on!

 

 

#survival, #alone, #lonely, #ordinary, #obituary, #list, #generations, #life, #value, #name, #unimportant

Scripture for Tuesday, March 28 (3/28)

The scripture for today, March 28, is Mark 3:28f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

Life-Changing-Scriptures-Cover-medium“I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.”

This is confusing to many because we aren’t sure what it means to speak against the Holy Spirit. Jesus clarifies it in John 14:17 where he said he was going to send to us another Comforter, the Spirit of Truth. And in John 17:17 he said God’s Word is Truth ~ the Bible.

If we refuse to believe what is in the Bible, then we are going to refuse to believe in a Savior and refuse to repent of sins. These things are unforgivable because we have no belief in Jesus or the existence of sin, and no remorse.

Have you ever tried reading the Bible through in a year? It will fill you with an amazing amount of knowledge and understanding, all from the Holy Spirit.

 

 

#blaspheme, #HolySpirit, #Bible, #Scripture, #Counselor, #WordOfTruth, #SpiritOfTruth, #Truth, #Sin, #Savior, #Heaven, #Hell