THE POWER TO BE HOLY!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2020.

SUBJECT: THE POWER TO BE HOLY!

Memory verse:  "For I am the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.” (Leviticus 11 vs 45.) 

READ:  First Peter 1 vs 14 - 16:

1:14: As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:
1:15: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;

1:16: Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

INTIMATION:

Holiness means being totally devoted or dedicated to God, set aside for His special use and set apart from sin and its influence. All parts of our lives and character should be in the process of becoming conformed, both inwardly and outwardly, to God’s standards. We cannot become holy on our own, but God gives us His Holy Spirit to help us obey and to give us power to overcome sin. Don’t use the excuse that you can’t help slipping into sin. Rely on God’s power to free you from sin’s grip.  

I am convinced that most Christians are not looking for an excuse to sin, but for the power to live holy lives. They are very eager to receive the power to meet their needs and solve their problems, as well as live for God. They want to receive the power needed to overcome temptations. If they can be shown how to do that, then they will cooperate wholeheartedly. And without the knowledge of God's grace by believers, they will never be able to receive the power they need to rise above their sins and overcome their problems. God's grace is given to us to do more than give us the power to live, it is also given to us to lift us out of sin.

The sons of God must lead a life that is separate from the behavior that is typical of the world (See Hebrews 12 vs 14). Emphasis is on the obedience of the Christian to the will of God. Through faith one obediently responds in order to come into contact with the cleansing blood of Jesus. It’s the blood of Jesus that justifies one before God (Romans 3 vs 25). However, our response to the cross is necessary in order that we come into contact with the justifying grace of God through the blood of Jesus. 

The ultimate goal to be accomplished in us by grace is to empower us to live a holy life. But while we are not to worry about holiness, we are also not to have a light attitude toward sin. Believers are not to be anxious about holiness or the process of sanctification ('be anxious for nothing' (Philippians 4 vs 6)), but we are to be serious about it. We are to recognize that it is God's Will for us. We are to desire and thirst for it with all our hearts, and sincerely ask God for it in our fellowship with Him. We are to make every effort to cooperate with the Holy Spirit Who is working to bring it to pass in us day by day.

Yet again, grace is not an excuse to stay the way we are, claiming that we don't have to do anything about ourselves and our lives because we are not under the law but under grace. That is a mistake the early believers were making. The believers’ problem is not just a misunderstanding of sin and its power, it is a misunderstanding of grace. When the Holy Spirit shows us what to do to keep from sinning and walk in holiness, we immediately try to do it our own without His help. We struggle and strive and strain, eventually end up miserable and frustrated and confused because we don't understand why we keep failing.

It is obvious that God's grace will keep us from condemnation even though we sin. Yes, God's grace does keep our names written in the Lamb's Book of Life even though we aren't perfect. God's grace does save us, declare us righteous in His sight, assure us His blessings and a home in Heaven, carry us through this life and give us peace of mind and heart and many, many other wonderful things. But God's grace does more than all of that, it also teaches us to live as God intends for us to live—to be holy.

Prayer: Abba Father, Great is Your faithfulness. Your grace is sufficient for me: for Your strength is made perfect in my weakness. Most gracious Father, I pray that the power of Holy Spirit may enable me, in all intents and purposes, to live for You, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

IMAGE OF GOD

 IMAGE OF GOD

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Genesis 1:27" 

Devotion : Male and female are the complement image of God. This means both males and females were created to think, speak, act, and be like God. It also means that mankind was created as a spirit being to live in a human body. When mankind fell through sin in the Garden of Eden, the image of God in man became polluted. Mankind could no longer think, speak, act, and be like God. The Father sent Jesus Christ to die for mankind to redeem them from their fallen nature so that they can think, speak, act, and be like God. Mankind is the crown of God's creation, intended to have dominion over all God's creation. Dearly beloved, do you know you are the image of God? Do you know your role as the image of God? Share your thoughts here!

 

What Did Jesus Teach about Politics?

September 05, 2020by: Hunter Baker

This article is part of the What Did Jesus Teach? series.

Think about Your Brothers and Sisters

When I consider the question of where the teaching of Jesus fits into our current politics, I realize that readers are likely to begin thinking right away about questions such as abortion, immigration, racism, social justice, and any number of other current issues. That is a good impulse. If we take the lordship of Christ in our lives seriously, then we should seek to apply that lordship to our participation in politics.

Most readers of this article will be citizens in democratic republics who have the right to speak, to organize, to petition, and to vote. They should absolutely be thinking carefully about how they can act in a responsible and loving way in the light of both their vertical relationship to God and their horizontal relationships with fellow image bearers. I think it is useful to think in terms of the brotherhood and sisterhood of men and women under the fatherhood of God. Just to state it that way helps us to begin thinking well.

Rather than work my way through a list of current issues and to suggest which choices would have the approval of Jesus Christ (which in some cases could be presumptuous based on my own sin nature, biases, and limitations), I would like to take note of two major points that I see shining through from Scripture.

How We View Government

The first point has to do with how we view government. One event from the life of Christ leads us to consider the matter directly. In Mark 12:13-17 Jesus faced a hostile audience eager to trip him up with a question that would expose him to scorn. As a teacher of all that is “true,” would he pay taxes to Caesar? He asked for a coin and contemplated what was engraved upon it. He saw the image of Caesar and answered, “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” The immediate impact of the statement is that money comes from the system the government has set up and so we should pay the tribute that government then demands. But Jesus could accomplish that teaching by simply instructing followers to “render unto Caesar.” He goes further. “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”

It seems to me that what Jesus says in the passage is that there is a place for the government. It has a rightful task and a duty it should fulfill. But even bringing God into consideration introduces a new dimension. The idea and reality of a Caesar is a grand and mighty thing, but as soon as we place God next to this earthly ruler, Caesar’s stature is immediately and radically put into perspective. Caesar will be like all the others. Earthly kingdoms will crumble and statues will erode. Their real significance is that they reflect (often badly) God’s greater rule. “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”

Political Thought

Hunter Baker

Award-winning professor Hunter Baker has written this guide to the essential issues inherent in politics, helping students find a solid footing in understanding basic political thought.

There is a rightful zone of activity that belongs to the government, but it is not coextensive with the whole that is ruled by God. The government should never be confused with the authority behind all authorities. When governments go beyond merely tolerating sin and instead celebrate it, they hack away at legs of their own thrones. And when governments seek to force Christians to betray their understanding of the lordship issue—namely that Jesus is Lord and Caesar is not—the Christian must say with the apostles (and martyrs throughout history) that we must obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29).

Jesus’s Kingship

My second point about what Jesus teaches flows directly from the first. In Matthew chapters 24 and 25, Jesus definitively declares his kingship. He will sit on a glorious throne, not as some local chieftain presiding over a tribe, or even as a great emperor of many lands, but rather as the King over all the nations with their people gathered before him. We cherish our democracies and our rights to have governments whose authority depends upon our consent. That is all very good as image-bearers relate to one another and we prevent any one sinful human being or small group from wielding too much power. But we must also remember not to think merely of Jesus as a friend or a brother. Make no mistake. He is a king. Not only is a he a king, he is the one true King.

All real authority derives from God.

I think one of the great lessons of the miserable experience of Israel’s monarchy (one that God warned the people against) is that there is only one man truly worthy to rule. That man is Jesus Christ. All real authority derives from God.

The political impact of that reality is that as much as we become excited over the presidencies of people like Donald Trump, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Ronald Reagan, we should be far more attentive to the reality of the kingship of Jesus Christ. Christ’s rule may seem remote to us as cable news and social media obsess moment to moment and day to day over the rush of decisions, activities, and controversies that surround politicians, but we would be wiser to realize that his reign is like the heaven C. S. Lewis depicted in The Great Divorce. It is real. It is joyously, dangerously, thrillingly, devastatingly real. We are mere shadows before its light if we are separated from our true Lord.

I have studied politics most of my life. And like so many, I have lived and died over the many victories and defeats that come with modern campaigns and legislative battles. But the older I get, the more clear it is to me that the most significant thing I have to say about politics is that Jesus Christ is King. Those are the words that should be burning within us.

Hunter Baker is the author of Political Thought: A Student’s Guide.

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Hunter Baker (PhD, Baylor University; JD, University of Houston) serves as a university fellow and associate professor of political science at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. Baker also serves as an associate editor for the Journal of Markets and Morality and as a contributing editor for Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity. He is also a research fellow of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

CERTAIN SINS CARRY THE PENALTY OF POVERTY!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 5, 2020.

SUBJECT: CERTAIN SINS CARRY THE PENALTY OF POVERTY!

Memory verse: "They sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind. The stalk has no bud; it shall never produce meal. If it should produce, aliens would swallow it up.” (Hosea 8 vs 7.)

READ: Proverbs 20 vs 17 & 21; 23 vs 21; 24 vs 33 - 34: 

20:17: Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel.

20:21: An inheritance gained hastily at the beginning will not be blessed at the end.

23:21: For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.

24:33: A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest; 

24:34: So shall your poverty come like a prowler, and your need like an armed man.

INTIMATION:

There are sins, according to Scriptures, that carry the penalty of poverty, among other consequences. Laziness, drunkenness, gluttony, dishonesty among others, are the sins that carry the penalty of poverty. God recognizes our good works and rewards us exceedingly abundantly more than what we can imagine. He also rewards our when we do evil God, and takes from us more than we profited by one sin. 

According to our memory verse, people who do evil, "have sown the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind." The yield of a crop has direct relationship with the type of seed sowed. A good seed planted in good soil and given the proper proportion of sunlight, moisture, and fertilizer will yield bountifully. For such seeds, a single seed can produce multiple fruit in good conditions.

The Scripture, in Proverbs 13 vs 11, says, “Wealth gained by dishonesty will be diminished, but he who gathers by labor will increase.” There is every dignity in labor. Ill-gotten gains or wealth  usually grow wings and fly away. Therefore, it’s like sowing in the wind, that is, investing in activities without substance. Like the wind that comes and goes, ill-gotten wealth offers no real prosperity, but will always leads to sad end. 

Evil can prevail for a while, but justice prevails forever. 

In our society today, numerous instances of the end of those involved in evil practices to get rich abound. Some the law has caught up with them, and they are in ruin, some have died untimely, and their families left behind scattered the wealth. This is because such riches are not from the Lord, consequently, it brings sorrow along with it. While “the blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it” (Proverbs 10 vs 22).

Drunks and gluttons will always end up in lavishing their resources on drinks and food. Their appetite for food and drink becomes their bane, eventually their resources are filtered away on their insatiable appetite on these things. At a time, their health will start experiencing unfavorable changes resulting from drunkenness and overfeeding. The devourer will come with sicknesses of all manner to filter away their resources. 

The lazy person is unwilling to work hard and do His or her best on any given assignments to him or her. The easy way to life is such people’s attraction. Consequently, they are not zealous, hardworking, and eventually end up with little or nothing.

Quick, sudden, and ungodly riches are ‘come easy, go easy.’ Their effects are short-lived, and their end usually destructive. Because they are ungodly, they separate you from God. And life outside of your Creator is useless, purposeless, meaningless, and leads to eternal damnation.

Prayer: Abba Father, whatever You cannot give me let me never have it. May I never have the provision that will lead me to excessive eating and drinking. Endue me with the spirit of best practices in every endeavor I engage in, in Jesus’ Name  I prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

THE CAN DO SPIRIT

 THE CAN DO SPIRIT

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Philippians 4:13" 

Devotion : I cannot do this or that is definitely a language used by those in the world. It is not a language of the children of God: Jesus Christ has given the children of God the power to succeed in all things. The "can-do spirit" is the doctrine every Christian must be taught; the utterance of every Christian is transformed upon coming into contact with the doctrine of the "can-do spirit". When you declare to yourself that you can do it, the Holy Spirit takes your words and gives you the inner strength to accomplish whatever you have purposed to accomplish. Dearly beloved, what do you seek to achieve? The grace of God is available to you in Christ Jesus to accomplish that task. Hallelujah! Share your comments here!

PRAY FOR YOUR DAILY NEED!

EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 4, 2020.

SUBJECT: PRAY FOR YOUR DAILY NEED!

Memory verse: "Give us this day our daily bread." (Matthew 6 vs 11.)

READ: Exodus 16 vs 2 - 5: 

16:2: Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.
16:3: And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
16:4: Then said the LORD to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law, or not.
16:5: And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.”

INTIMATION:

God relates with us on a "daily" bases, hence our request for our daily needs. All through the Scriptures one would discover that God is concerned about 'our days,' not 'our years.' The Bible used "days" in reference to man over 85 times. However, "years" for man is referred to about 5 times, but used In reference to God often. For instance, the Psalmist in Psalm 102 vs 24 says, "I said, "O my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days; Your years are throughout all generations."

When we ask in prayer for our daily need, we are acknowledging that God is our sustainer and provider. It is a misconception to think that we provide for our needs ourselves. We must trust God daily to provide what He knows we need. Jesus said, "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ...For your Heavenly Father knows you need all these things." (Matthew 6 vs 31 - 32.) Our daily needs are already known to God, and He promises to meet our needs. God is our ‘Source’ and we must remain connected to the source. If you are running low on strength, ask yourself, “How long have I been away from the ‘Source’?” 

God's provision is daily, not all at once. He is always testing us daily. This testing is out of His love and care for us that we don't fall away from faith, and ensure we trust in Him. God wants us to ask for our daily needs because of our tendency to relegate God to the background if He allows to have all our needs in one go. By daily provisioning God is only helping us to remain focused on Him, not that He is miserly or that His hands are shortened that He cannot bless us exceedingly. The likelihood is that if we are allowed to store up His blessings, we might cut off communication with Him because we will believe we don’t need Him anymore. He never allows us to be self-satisfied. 

God wants us to completely depend on Him in everything. If He allows us to have we need in one go, we would turn to depend on our possessions, instead of the Provider. And depending on the provisions God has given us is idolatry which He forbids amongst His children. Job said, "If I have made gold my hope. Or said to fine gold, 'You are my confidence'; If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gained much; If I have observed the sun when it shines, or the moon moving in brightness, so that my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand; This also would be an iniquity deserving of judgement, For I would have denied God who is above." (Job 31 vs 24 - 28.) Job affirmed that depending on the things God has given us is idolatry and denies our Father in heaven. 

The story of the children of Israel in the wilderness clearly showcases the way God relates with us on a daily bases. In the wilderness they had no meet or food to eat, and they were greatly disturbed. They cried to Moses, complaining that they will eventually die of hunger in the wilderness, and preferred they stayed back in Egypt where they had bread and meet to eat to their satisfaction. The Lord heard their complaints and rained bread from heaven in the morning, and quails in the evening for them to eat. But God warned that they will only take for their daily needs, except for the sixth day when they are allowed to take two days ration to make up for the sabbath (the seventh day) when they are not expected to work.

God, in His supreme wisdom, knows that our life is more likely to be effective if we have neither poverty nor riches, hence He deals with us day-to-day basis, so that we can do all things relying on Him. The Scripture in Proverbs 30 vs 8 - 9 says, ".....Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food allotted to me; lest I be full and deny You. And say, "Who is the Lord?" Or lest I be poor and steal, and profane the name of my God." Solomon recognizes the attributes of man; in plenty man is likely to deny God; He is not in need of anything hence will remember less of God. And in lack man will do anything to survive, including stealing which will eventually profane God's name. Hence the reason God wants to daily provide for us. 

Prayer: Abba Father, daily will I seek You, for You have daily loaded us with benefits. I am fully persuaded You will supply all my daily needs to live for You. Give me the grace never to look away from You in all circumstances, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

A CHILD OR A MAN

 A CHILD OR A MAN

"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. Corinthians 13:11" 

Devotion : The Bible has clearly told us the difference between a child and an adult or mature person. Children speak first of all, before trying to understand what they have said, then think through what they have uttered. Adults/mature people, on the other hand, will think through what they are about to say, understand it, and then finally speak their thoughts. This explains why children make a lot of mistakes and like making unnecessary noise. The scripture says that sin is not absent in a multitude of words but that he who restrains his lips is wise, Proverbs 10:19. Maturity lies in the ability to control one's thoughts and choose carefully before acting on them. A man or woman who has not put away childish things cannot go far in life, cannot achieve much, and will most likely be treated like a child. It is easy for a child of God to grow into maturity by meditating on the Word and obeying the Word. Dearly beloved, are you a child or a man? Share your thoughts here!