The scripture for today, November 23, is 1st Corinthians 11:23ff as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
“For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me.'”
How the hearts of Jesus and his closest friends must have been breaking that night. How the apostles must have struggled to hold back the tears. They all knew the religious leaders in Jerusalem were plotting to execute Jesus. They knew he was taking his life in his hands to be in the city ~ their lives too. How could they part with the one they now knew was the Son of God but also the Son of Mankind ~ their dearest friend?
When we take the communion every Sunday, where are our thoughts? What we’re going to do after church? What someone sitting near us is wearing? How the person in front of us is blocking our view?
How many of us during the communion weep as Jesus’ apostles must have wept ~ and perhaps even as Jesus himself wept?
Oh, Jesus, it was my sins that caused you to go through that horrible death! My punishment! I fall at your feet. I am so sorry.
#Lord’sSupper, #HolyCommunion, #Eucharist, #Crucifixion, #Sacrifice, #Jesus, #Salvation, #SavedFromHell
The scripture for today, November 21, is Acts 11:21 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
“The Lord’s hand was with them, in and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.”
What had just happened? Some Christians in Phoenicia (today’s Lebanon), Cyprus (the Mediterranean Island) and Cyrene (in today’s Lybia), went to Antioch in Northern Syria near the southern border of today’s Turkey. There they established a congregation.
This little congregation ended up being the home congregation of Paul and Barnabas for many years. It started small; we don’t know the size it grew to. Regardless of the size, it had foresight and eventually did great things.
Perhaps you live in a town full of churches, but you’ve compared them with the New Testament, and none of them follows that pattern. Perhaps you have even given up going to church because of this problem. What is stopping you from beginning a little congregation after the New Testament pattern in your home?
New Testament churches were simple ~ not elaborate like those mega-churches out there. And those simple churches have always been dynamic in their simplicity. Who knows but that your new little congregation will some day produce a Paul or a Barnabas….
#discouragement, #church, #congregation, #scriptural, #pattern, #hope, #simplicity
The scripture for today, November 17, is 1st Chronicles 11:17f as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:
“David longed for water and said, ‘Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem.’ So the Three broke through the Philistine lines, drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem and carried it back to David.”
The people who followed David admired him because he knew how to be a good leader. So many were willing to do anything to make “Captain David” happy. David had been born and raised in Bethlehem. Now he was grown and had a following of those evading power hungry King Saul, many of whom were brave soldiers. They had traveled throughout the country either evading or defending themselves against this and other enemies.
Their travels took them back to David’s hometown which was being held by enemy Philistines. For old-times sake, he wanted a drink from the well he had drunk from many times in his youth. Three of his men risked their lives to bring their captain, David, that drink of water.
How much do we admire the Captain of our Salvation, Jesus? How much are we willing to sacrifice for him? Do we say, “I’m too busy to do anything for Jesus and his kingdom today”? Do we say, “I’m afraid if I say something about Jesus to so-and-so, s/he will insult me”? Do we say, “Someone at church offended me, so I’m not going to worship anymore?” Do we admire Jesus enough to put ourselves in the slightest danger just to do the smallest thing for him?
#captain, #salvation, #KingDavid, #soldiers, #service, #loyalty, #sacrifice
The scripture for today, November 12, is Leviticus 11:12 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:
“Anything living in the water that does not have fins and scales is to be detestable to you.”
This is just one of the over 600 laws in the Law of Moses. They were intricate laws governing both their worship and their everyday life. This one chapter in Leviticus says in part they could not eat camels or coneys or rabbits or pigs. They could not eat eagles, vultures, kites, ravens, owls, gulls, hawks, osprey, storks, herons, hoopoes or bats. But they could eat locusts, katydids, crickets, and grasshoppers. And this is just part of chapter 11!
Why did God give so many intricate laws to the Jews? To give them a chance to keep them all perfectly so they could be perfect. In the meantime, God did not give any laws to the Gentiles; He let them try whatever means they could on their own to become perfect. But during the same time period, both the Jews and Gentiles proved to themselves that it was impossible to keep their religions perfectly and thus be perfect themselves.
Now Jesus was ready to come. He lived the Jewish law perfectly, then nailed it to the cross (Colossians 2:14). Now we live under a law of grace, and his commandments revolve around loving God and loving each other.
Aren’t we fortunate to live in the Christian era?
#LawOfMoses, #OldTestament, #Tithing, #Perfection, #Crucifixion, #Perfection, #Salvation
The scripture for today, November 4, is Psalm 11:4a as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:
“The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord is on his heavenly throne.”
No matter what happens in our life, in our town, in our nation, God is still on his throne.
No matter how confusing things become, God is still on his throne.
No matter how discouraging, God is still on his throne.
Therefore, no matter what, we will worship him.
#worship, #GodsThrone, #Silence, #nation, #world, #elections, #wars
The scripture for today, November 2, is Proverbs 11:2 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:
“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.”
The word “ disgrace” comes from Hebrew qalon meaning confusion. It is also translated dishonor and reproach.
Pride is so hard to control. With the church or clubs or other organizations, we think our ideas, our points of view, our ways of doing things are the right ideas views and ways. We accuse others of not cooperating if it is our ideas, views, and ways they don’t go along with. It is so hard to give up our ideas views and ways for the sake of peace.
Even in doing daily business, our pride shows up. We become impatient with clerks in stores who do not help us, with other drivers on the road who are too slow for us, with people delivering things to our homes who do not deliver them right to our door, with kids throwing rocks at things that belong to us, people who try to cut in line ahead of us, fellow workers who take credit for our work, and on and on.
It is hard to sit by and let others be praised when we do better work than they do, or we work harder than they do, or they get the promotion we deserve.
How do we control our pride? Perhaps by comparing ourselves, not with others around us, but with Jesus. In the same circumstance, what did he do?
#pride, #arrogance, #selfishness, #ideas, #WhatWouldJesusDo
The scripture for today, October 25, is Hebrews 10:25 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another ~ and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Some people declare, “I can walk through nature ~ the temple of God ~ and feel God is closer there than in a church building.” Well, do they really do it? How often? The purpose of the church meeting is not so much to encourage ourselves as to encourage others along with worshiping God.
Look at the context. Verse 23 says “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess” and verse 24 says, “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” How do we do these things? A lot of it is done during our congregation’s worship and encouragement service.
And what comes after our verse for today? Verse 26 says, “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left.” Meeting together with other congregational members is one of the major things that keeps us from falling.
Should we meet once a week? This scripture says to meet “all the more as you see the Day [of Judgment] approaching. Many say, “But that’s too inconvenient.”
It was inconvenient for Jesus to leave a perfect heaven for an imperfect earth. It was inconvenient for him to leave the company of angels for the company of sinners. It was inconvenient for him to do this for 33 long years. Inconvenient taking the blame for our sins, and then taking our punishment. Inconvenient experiencing agonizing spiritual death when God left him on the cross, and then that agonizing physical death.
Do we really know inconvenience?
#sacrifice, #worship, #inconvenience
