“But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing; and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee.” Luke 24:1-6
He has risen!
Blessed be the name of the LORD! Rejoice - because He has risen, you are forgiven, free, full of life, and have a future. Thank You, Jesus!
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Friday, April 6, 2012
Undistracted Devotion
“But this I say, brethren, the time has been shortened, so that from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none; and those who weep, as though they did not weep; and those who rejoice, as though they did not rejoice; and those who buy, as though they did not possess; and those who use the world, as though they did not make full use of it; for the form of this world is passing away.
But I want you to be free from concern. One who is unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord; but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and his interests are divided. The woman who is unmarried, and the virgin, is concerned about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit; but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. This I say for your own benefit; not to put a restraint upon you, but to promote what is appropriate and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 7:29-35
What is the greatest competition to your devotion to Jesus Christ? Is it a job, a hobby, another person, or a personal desire? Paul writes that we are to “secure undistracted devotion to the Lord” (1 Cor. 7:35). This means Jesus Christ is to be at the heart of all we do and say. He is our very reason for life.
King David longed to build the first temple; but the Lord chose Solomon, David’s son, for the task. Disappointment did not distract David. Neither did David allow personal desires to damage his relationship with God. His entire life was caught up in undistracted devotion.
The Bible says: “Then David the king went in and sat before the Lord.” In awe and wonder David prayed: “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far?” (2 Sam. 7:18). Undistracted devotion means literally to “sit beside God.”
When we talk of devotion to Jesus, we are not talking about a habit or something that makes us feel good on Sundays. We are talking about a growing, intimate love relationship that has one purpose - fellowship with a holy God. It is a way of life, and it is the only way for us to live.
“He is no fool who is willing to lose what he cannot hold in order to gain what he cannot lose.” -Jim Elliot
But I want you to be free from concern. One who is unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord; but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and his interests are divided. The woman who is unmarried, and the virgin, is concerned about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit; but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. This I say for your own benefit; not to put a restraint upon you, but to promote what is appropriate and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 7:29-35
What is the greatest competition to your devotion to Jesus Christ? Is it a job, a hobby, another person, or a personal desire? Paul writes that we are to “secure undistracted devotion to the Lord” (1 Cor. 7:35). This means Jesus Christ is to be at the heart of all we do and say. He is our very reason for life.
King David longed to build the first temple; but the Lord chose Solomon, David’s son, for the task. Disappointment did not distract David. Neither did David allow personal desires to damage his relationship with God. His entire life was caught up in undistracted devotion.
The Bible says: “Then David the king went in and sat before the Lord.” In awe and wonder David prayed: “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far?” (2 Sam. 7:18). Undistracted devotion means literally to “sit beside God.”
When we talk of devotion to Jesus, we are not talking about a habit or something that makes us feel good on Sundays. We are talking about a growing, intimate love relationship that has one purpose - fellowship with a holy God. It is a way of life, and it is the only way for us to live.
“He is no fool who is willing to lose what he cannot hold in order to gain what he cannot lose.” -Jim Elliot
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Marriage vs. Singleness
“But I want you to be free from concern. One who is unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord; but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and his interests are divided. The woman who is unmarried, and the virgin, is concerned about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit; but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. This I say for your own benefit; not to put a restraint upon you, but to promote what is appropriate and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 7:32-35
Some believe the most valued state is that of marriage. Others say the apostle Paul would have declared singleness to be superior. Both views are wrong. These viewpoints are primarily derived from cultural persuasion.
The most valued position in life is that which God has called you to fill. This may include marriage or it may include a life of singleness. In God’s eyes both are equal, highly valued, and have advantages.
For the married person, intimacy with one’s mate is of utmost importance. Together a couple’s devotion is first toward God and then to one another. On the other hand, singleness provides an opportunity to experience undistracted intimacy with Jesus Christ.
Sadly many people become obsessed with what looks right in the eyes of others and often abandon God’s best for their lives. Singles find themselves thinking their needs would be better met by a mate, while many married people view their mates and children as spiritual drains.
If you are married, rejoice in the intimacy God has provided - there is little to equal it. If you are single, ask God to give you a reassurance of His intimate love toward you. The time you spend as a single before God is a calling of endearment and deep abiding trust.
“Dare to trust Him; dare to follow Him!” -F.B. Meyer
Some believe the most valued state is that of marriage. Others say the apostle Paul would have declared singleness to be superior. Both views are wrong. These viewpoints are primarily derived from cultural persuasion.
The most valued position in life is that which God has called you to fill. This may include marriage or it may include a life of singleness. In God’s eyes both are equal, highly valued, and have advantages.
For the married person, intimacy with one’s mate is of utmost importance. Together a couple’s devotion is first toward God and then to one another. On the other hand, singleness provides an opportunity to experience undistracted intimacy with Jesus Christ.
Sadly many people become obsessed with what looks right in the eyes of others and often abandon God’s best for their lives. Singles find themselves thinking their needs would be better met by a mate, while many married people view their mates and children as spiritual drains.
If you are married, rejoice in the intimacy God has provided - there is little to equal it. If you are single, ask God to give you a reassurance of His intimate love toward you. The time you spend as a single before God is a calling of endearment and deep abiding trust.
“Dare to trust Him; dare to follow Him!” -F.B. Meyer
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
The Importance of Sexual Purity
“Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. But because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband. The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. But this I say by way of concession, not of command. Yet I wish that all men were even as I myself am. However, each man has his own gift from God, one in this manner, and another in that. But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I. But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.” 1 Corinthians 7:1-9
The writing of First Corinthians was a painful process for the apostle Paul. Never before had he been called by God to pen such a heavy handed letter. But then the problems in Corinth were nothing to wink at.
A question had been raised concerning marriage and singleness. The real issue, however, was sexual purity. The Corinthians complained they had needs - needs that were once met by temple prostitutes and homosexual encounters. Now that they were Christians, they were burned with desires they found hard to control.
Somehow this story line has a familiar twenty-first century feel to it. There is never a time when impurity is acceptable before God. If you are married, your passion must be turned toward your mate. If you are single, God calls you to live a life of celibacy.
When we allow Satan to darken our view, purity is no longer the norm. Yet in God’s eyes it remains the most honored of all states. Before you yield to sexual temptation, consider the costs - broken marriages, shattered hopes, damaged lives, and greater still, altered fellowship with God.
If temptation is begging for your attention, turn away and run to Jesus. He understands your deepest needs and promises to provide for your every care.
“For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:20
The writing of First Corinthians was a painful process for the apostle Paul. Never before had he been called by God to pen such a heavy handed letter. But then the problems in Corinth were nothing to wink at.
A question had been raised concerning marriage and singleness. The real issue, however, was sexual purity. The Corinthians complained they had needs - needs that were once met by temple prostitutes and homosexual encounters. Now that they were Christians, they were burned with desires they found hard to control.
Somehow this story line has a familiar twenty-first century feel to it. There is never a time when impurity is acceptable before God. If you are married, your passion must be turned toward your mate. If you are single, God calls you to live a life of celibacy.
When we allow Satan to darken our view, purity is no longer the norm. Yet in God’s eyes it remains the most honored of all states. Before you yield to sexual temptation, consider the costs - broken marriages, shattered hopes, damaged lives, and greater still, altered fellowship with God.
If temptation is begging for your attention, turn away and run to Jesus. He understands your deepest needs and promises to provide for your every care.
“For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:20
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Sex and the Saint
“All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, ‘The two shall become one flesh.’ But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:12-20
Rationalization is a deadly deception. The Corinthians, like many of us, tried to justify their sin by claiming to belong to a cosmopolitan society brimming with opportunity and social growth. The problem in Corinth was two fold - ignorance and immorality. Their ignorance of Christ’s teaching led to a deep seated lasciviousness that was viewed as routine and expected. But God called the Corinthian believers to live a new life of holy devotion to Him.
Yet many rationalized their sin by claiming to have physical needs they could not control. They treated sexual desire as being an appetite to be satisfied instead of a gift from God. Paul admonished them to “not be mastered by anything” (1 Cor. 6:12). He knew the most entrapping of all sin was that of sexual temptation.
Because their lives were now seated in Christ, Paul called them God’s living temples. Most understood the need to keep the temple undefiled. However, they had never considered themselves as God’s personal dwelling place.
The testimony of our lives can either mock or glorify Christ. Once the Corinthians realized the depth of their sin, they repented and began living a life of true freedom in Jesus Christ. What is the condition of God’s temple in your life?
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit...?” 1 Corinthians 6:19
Rationalization is a deadly deception. The Corinthians, like many of us, tried to justify their sin by claiming to belong to a cosmopolitan society brimming with opportunity and social growth. The problem in Corinth was two fold - ignorance and immorality. Their ignorance of Christ’s teaching led to a deep seated lasciviousness that was viewed as routine and expected. But God called the Corinthian believers to live a new life of holy devotion to Him.
Yet many rationalized their sin by claiming to have physical needs they could not control. They treated sexual desire as being an appetite to be satisfied instead of a gift from God. Paul admonished them to “not be mastered by anything” (1 Cor. 6:12). He knew the most entrapping of all sin was that of sexual temptation.
Because their lives were now seated in Christ, Paul called them God’s living temples. Most understood the need to keep the temple undefiled. However, they had never considered themselves as God’s personal dwelling place.
The testimony of our lives can either mock or glorify Christ. Once the Corinthians realized the depth of their sin, they repented and began living a life of true freedom in Jesus Christ. What is the condition of God’s temple in your life?
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit...?” 1 Corinthians 6:19
Monday, April 2, 2012
Partnership in Ministry
“Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me.” Philippians 1:1-7
We have just finished March Madness. Anyone who follows basketball knows all about March Madness. You cannot turn to any sports page or watch any sports station without hearing of the heroics of the boys. Yet basketball, like any other athletic game, is a team sport; and every play and player counts. Each member contributes to the success of the team.
The body of Christ is similar. We are composed of various members, each responsible for the well-being of the whole. When we give of our money, time, or talents, we are building up the body of Christ. No one else can duplicate our efforts, and no one else can take our place.
The apostles could not have traveled far and wide without support of unsung local church members. Neither can any ministry today spread God’s truth apart from participation of the body of Christ. You are important to the advancement of Christ’s gospel. When you pray and give of your resources to those who handle God’s truth with integrity, you share in the marvelous results that occur.
“For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor...” Romans 15:26
We have just finished March Madness. Anyone who follows basketball knows all about March Madness. You cannot turn to any sports page or watch any sports station without hearing of the heroics of the boys. Yet basketball, like any other athletic game, is a team sport; and every play and player counts. Each member contributes to the success of the team.
The body of Christ is similar. We are composed of various members, each responsible for the well-being of the whole. When we give of our money, time, or talents, we are building up the body of Christ. No one else can duplicate our efforts, and no one else can take our place.
The apostles could not have traveled far and wide without support of unsung local church members. Neither can any ministry today spread God’s truth apart from participation of the body of Christ. You are important to the advancement of Christ’s gospel. When you pray and give of your resources to those who handle God’s truth with integrity, you share in the marvelous results that occur.
“For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor...” Romans 15:26
Sunday, April 1, 2012
The Centrality of the Cross
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach — if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.” Colossians 1:15-23
The focal point on the greatness of God and the truth of His Word is the Cross of Jesus Christ. It is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Wherever the apostles went, they preached Christ and Him crucified. The preaching of the Cross is the wisdom and power of God, and there can be no spirit-anointed ministry apart from the centrality of the Cross.
The preaching of the Cross involves the clear teaching of the Person of Jesus Christ, His perfect humanity and deity, and His incarnation and sinless life. It plainly tells us that Jesus loves us and that He demonstrated that love by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
At the Cross was the victory won over sin, death, the law, the flesh, the devil, and the world. At the Cross Jesus died our death, paid our penalty, and satisfied the just demands of Holy God. There is no Christianity without the Cross.
Do you boast in the Cross? Do you understand that it is the core of the Christian faith and that every jot and tittle of Scripture would be null and void without the shed blood of Calvary? The Cross is the basis for ever benefit of the Christian faith. Any preaching that ignores the Cross is a flawed and fraudulent gospel that cannot possibly reconcile Holy God and sinful man.
“But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ...” Galatians 6:14
And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach — if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.” Colossians 1:15-23
The focal point on the greatness of God and the truth of His Word is the Cross of Jesus Christ. It is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Wherever the apostles went, they preached Christ and Him crucified. The preaching of the Cross is the wisdom and power of God, and there can be no spirit-anointed ministry apart from the centrality of the Cross.
The preaching of the Cross involves the clear teaching of the Person of Jesus Christ, His perfect humanity and deity, and His incarnation and sinless life. It plainly tells us that Jesus loves us and that He demonstrated that love by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
At the Cross was the victory won over sin, death, the law, the flesh, the devil, and the world. At the Cross Jesus died our death, paid our penalty, and satisfied the just demands of Holy God. There is no Christianity without the Cross.
Do you boast in the Cross? Do you understand that it is the core of the Christian faith and that every jot and tittle of Scripture would be null and void without the shed blood of Calvary? The Cross is the basis for ever benefit of the Christian faith. Any preaching that ignores the Cross is a flawed and fraudulent gospel that cannot possibly reconcile Holy God and sinful man.
“But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ...” Galatians 6:14
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