THE MASTERS LIST Dean W. Masters

Your Redeemer Lives!
Thursday, March 13, 2014
“As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His 
stand on the earth.” – Job 19:25 NASB
Born on this day in 1681, Georg Philipp Telemann was considered the greatest 
composer of his era. (Johann Sebastian Bach received an important position
in Leipzig only after “the best man”—Telemann—wasn’t available.) Telemann 
also was the most prolific composer of all time, completing more than 800 
works.
Telemann grew up in an environment surrounded by the church. His father was 
a minister in Magdeburg, in north central Germany, and his mother was the 
daughter
of a minister. As a child, Telemann displayed unusual musical abilities, 
mastering several instruments. After studying law in college, he decided to 
concentrate
on music and was largely self-taught. His big break came in 1721, when he 
was appointed director of church music in Hamburg, where he remained until 
his
death in 1767.
Telemann penned huge volumes of church music. One Easter, he turned to the 
book of Job as inspiration for a cantata called, in English, “I Know That My
Redeemer Lives.” His cantata sought to help listeners realize what the 
Resurrection meant for their lives. He knew it wasn’t merely a myth or 
cultural
event: “On this rests my faith that as a rock bears the firm belief to hope 
of happiness.”
Telemann brings us through the pain of Jesus’ death “as He was struck with 
so many wounds from sharp scourges.” He endured “so many jeers with pain” 
and
“his head was crowned with thorns and wretchedly torn.” He “bore the shame 
and disgrace of the Cross.” But everything changed with the Resurrection. 
Telemann
even expressed the hope of seeing Jesus and spending eternity with Him!
Today, remember that Jesus truly has risen from the dead! No matter what you’re 
going through, you can celebrate. Your Redeemer lives!
Today's Inspiration Prayer

Today's Inspiration Prayer

Father, thank You for sending Jesus to die for me! Thank You that He rose 
from the dead! Help me to live in Your Resurrection power! I praise and 
worship
You! In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Further Reading: Job 19

Inspiration Ministries
www.inspiration.org


Born Blind
by Ryan Duncan, Crosswalk.com Entertainment Editor

"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so 
that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” – John 9:3

One of my favorite Bible stories appears in John 9, where Jesus heals
a man born blind.
Take a moment to read the following:

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, 
"Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 
"Neither
this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the 
work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must
do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While 
I am in the world, I am the light of the world." Having said this, he spit 
on
the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. 
"Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam"(this word means Sent). So 
the
man went and washed, and came home seeing. –
John 9:1-8

Every time I read this, I can’t help but wonder what went through the mind 
of the blind man when he heard Jesus. All his life people have been telling
him he’s cursed, that his blindness is punishment for some sin his
family
committed. Then, in a single moment, Christ turns his world around. Not only 
does he absolve him of guilt in front of the disciples, he announces that
God is going to display his glory through a blind man’s life. Many people 
read this story and think it’s all about how Jesus healed his sight, but I 
believe
it’s more about how Christ restored his soul.

Too often we Christians are like the Pharisees of old. We look at people, 
find something in their life that isn’t quite perfect, and make a note of 
how
much they "need God." What we’re really saying is, "Look at how messed up 
this person is, you know it’s because they’ve turned away from God." Just 
like
the disciples did. If you ever find yourself tempted to think that, beware. 
While the story of John 9 ends with one man receiving sight, it also ends 
with
some who are still blind.

“Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, 
"Do you believe in the Son of Man?" "Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell 
me
so that I may believe in him." Jesus said, "You have now seen him; in fact, 
he is the one speaking with you." Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and
he worshiped him. Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so 
that the blind will see and those who see will become blind." –
John 9:35-39

Intersecting
Faith
and Life: “The gospel declares that no matter how dutiful or prayerful we 
are, we can't save ourselves. What Jesus did was sufficient.” ~Brennan 
Manning

Further Reading

John 13:34-35

Seeking After God

How many times have you heard Christians say (or heard the words from your 
own mouth), “So-and-so is not a Christian but he’s searching”? It is a 
common
statement among Christians. The idea is that there are people all over the 
place who are searching for God. Their problem is that they just haven’t 
been
able to find Him. He is playing hide-and-seek. He is elusive.

In the Garden of Eden, when sin came into the world, who hid? Jesus came 
into the world to seek and to save the lost. Jesus wasn’t the one who was 
hiding.
God is not a fugitive. We are the ones on the run. Scripture declares that 
the wicked flee when no man pursues. As Martin Luther remarked: “The pagan 
trembles
at the rustling of a leaf. The uniform teaching of Scripture is that fallen 
men are fleeing from God.”

People do not seek God. They seek after the benefits that only God can give 
them. The sin of fallen man is this: Man seeks the benefits of God while 
fleeing
from God Himself. We are, by nature, fugitives.

The Bible tells us repeatedly to seek after God. The conclusion we draw from 
these texts is that since we are called to seek after God it must mean that
we, even in our fallen state, have the moral capacity to do that seeking. 
But who is being addressed in these texts? In the case of the Old Testament,
it is the people of Israel who are called to seek the Lord. In the New 
Testament, it is believers who are called to seek the kingdom.

Coram Deo: Living in the Presence of God

Are you seeking the benefits God can give you or seeking after God alone?

For Further Study

Isaiah 55:6: “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is 
near.”

Matthew 7:7: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; 
knock, and it will be opened to you.”

Revelation 3:20: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My 
voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he 
with
Me.”

The mission, passion and purpose of Ligonier Ministries and Dr. R.C. Sproul 
is to help people grow in their knowledge of God and His holiness. For more
information, please visit
www.ligonier.org

Miriam

Her name means: "Bitterness"

Her character: Even as a young girl, she showed fortitude and wisdom. A 
leader of God's people at a crucial moment in history, she led the 
celebration
after crossing the Red Sea and spoke God's word to his people, sharing their 
forty-year journey through the wilderness.
Her sorrow: That she was struck with leprosy for her pride and 
insubordination and was denied entry into the Promised Land.
Her joy: To have played an instrumental role in the deliverance of God's 
people, a nation she loved.
Key Scriptures:
Exodus 2:1-10
;
15:20-21
;
Numbers 12:1-15

Her Story

Seven days, I must stay outside the camp of my people, an old woman, fenced 
in by memories of what has been.

How could I forget our years in Egypt, the cries of the mothers whose 
children were murdered or the moans of our brothers as they worked 
themselves to
death? I have only to shut my eyes and see—the wall of water, the soldiers 
chasing us through the sea, the sounds of their noisy drowning, and, 
finally,
the silence and the peace. How I miss the singing of the women I led that 
day, dancing at the sea's edge, praising God for hurling our enemies into 
the
deep waters, certain we would never see them again.

But we did see them again—our enemies, though not the Egyptians. We let 
ingratitude stalk and rob us of our blessings. We preferred the garlic and 
leeks
of Egypt, the food of our slavery, to the manna the good God gave us. 
Enslaved to fear, we refused to enter the land of promise.

Time and again Moses and Aaron and I exhorted the people to stand firm, to 
have faith, to obey God. But there came a day when Aaron and I could stand 
with
our brother no longer. Instead we spoke against him and his Cushite wife. 
What part did she, a foreigner to our suffering, have in the promise? So we 
challenged
Moses. Had the Lord spoken only through him? All Israel knew better. We 
deserved an equal share in his authority, an equal say in how to lead the 
people.

But the Lord who speaks also heard our complaint and summoned the three of 
us to stand before him at the Tent of Meeting. He addressed Aaron and me 
with
terrible words.

When the cloud of his presence finally lifted, I was a leper. I could see 
the horror on every face turned toward me. Aaron begged Moses to forgive us 
both.
And Moses cried out to the Lord to heal me.

The Lord replied, "If her father had spit in her face, would she not have 
been in disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp for seven 
days;
after that she can be brought back." Then at least I knew my banishment was 
temporary; my disease would be healed.

Now I see that my enemies were not merely buried in the sea but in my own 
heart as well. Still, God has let me live, and I believe he will heal me. 
Though
he brings grief, he will yet show compassion. One thing I know, he has 
hurled my pride into the sea and for that I will also sing his praises.

...Though Scripture doesn't reveal Miriam's thoughts or the attitude of her 
heart after she was chastened for complaining about Moses, it is not 
unreasonable
to think she repented during the seven days of her banishment.

After all, it's not easy for a person of faith, however flawed, to hear God 
speaking as though he were spitting on her and still to hold fast to her 
error.

Perhaps Miriam, and the nation itself, needed a shocking rebuke in order to 
recognize the seriousness of a sin that threatened the unity of God's 
people.

Why, you might ask, wasn't Aaron similarly afflicted for his sin? Perhaps 
because Miriam seemed to be the ringleader. Perhaps, also, because God 
didn't
want the worship of the tabernacle to be disrupted by Aaron's absence as 
high priest.

The last we hear of Miriam is that she died and was buried in Kadesh Barnea, 
not all that far from where Hagar, another slave woman, had encountered an
angel in the wilderness so many years earlier. Like her brothers Moses and 
Aaron, Miriam died shortly before the Israelites ended their forty-year 
sojourn
in the desert. She, too, was prevented from entering the Promised Land.

Still, like them, Miriam is one of the great heroes of our faith. As a young 
girl, she helped save the infant Moses, Israel's future deliverer. Herself
a prophetess, she exhorted and encouraged God's people and led the singing 
of the first psalm ever recorded in Scripture. Yet, strong though she was, 
she,
like all of us, sinned against God and suffered a punishment designed to 
bring her to repentance.

Her Promise

Miriam's story offers an extraordinary example of God's willingness to 
forgive those who sin. Though she had to pay the consequences for her 
actions—seven
days of exclusion from the camp and from all those who loved her—she 
reentered the camp a forgiven woman. Hundreds of years later, she is 
remembered by
the prophet Micah as a leader of Israel with Moses and Aaron (
Micah 6:4).

Such liberating forgiveness is available to us as well as to Miriam. God 
looks with judgment at our sin, waits patiently for our repentance, and then 
eagerly
offers his forgiveness and acceptance. We reenter fellowship with him 
renewed and clean and forgiven. Our repentance turns a legacy of judgment 
and punishment
into a legacy of forgiveness and worthiness before God.

Today's devotional is drawn from
Women of the Bible: A One-Year Devotional Study of Women in Scripture
by Ann Spangler and Jean Syswerda. Visit
AnnSpangler.com
to learn more about Ann's writing and ministry.

ADVERTISEMENT

Today's reading is drawn from Ann Spangler and Jean Syswerda's devotional
Women of the Bible: A One-Year Devotional Study of Women in Scripture.

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Dean Masters, owner of the Masters List

Title: A Few Minutes Alone

Date: For the Week of March 10, 2014

God is present everywhere and participates in all the circumstances of our 
lives. It is not necessary to shut down the rest of your life or retreat to
a distant mountain top to be with him. Driving down the highway, in hospital 
waiting rooms, at dinner, greeting clients - God's presence fills every 
moment
of the day.

The experience we call spiritual formation is essentially nothing more nor 
less than learning to be sensitive to the divine presence. We can't fix 
ourselves.
We can't find our own way. We certainly can't control life's twists and 
turns. But we can gradually learn to sense God's presence with us in all 
things.
His love. And his peace. But I confess to having a problem doing it.

As I've tried to figure out why I have the problem, at least this much is 
clear: I am more comfortable with noise than silence, activity than 
stillness,
struggling than surrender, trying to be strong than admitting my weakness.

The French philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal wrote this: "All 
human miseries come from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone." Could 
he
possibly be right? Do we humans need more reflection than we permit 
ourselves? Time to take our thoughts and feelings seriously? The courage to 
bring them
honestly before God to see what he may want us to learn? To be?

Recently I was traveling and wound up having to sit in an airport far longer 
than I had anticipated. For Type-A personalities, that is nerve-jangling,
finger-drumming time! I had a schedule. There were things to do. So . . . 
something told me to pray and journal instead of churn. And I did - about a
host of things. The time passed quickly. When I was able to get going on the 
road again, there was no haste or panic. Just gratitude for an unanticipated
time with God. And a sense of peace about what lay ahead.

Maybe Pascal was right. And perhaps it would be wise to book a half day each 
month for silence before God. To use dead time in airports to be alone with
God. To turn off the noise of a radio for the chance to hear God while 
driving to work. It would likely do wonders to focus our lives on being over 
doing.
The meaning of life above its routines. The positives more than the 
negatives.

Perhaps you live at such a pace that a half day or even a half hour of 
silence with God seems impractical. For today, put just five minutes of 
silence
between appointments or work two five-minute periods of quiet into your 
morning.

At the end of the day, you may have discovered the meaning of this text from 
Scripture: "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10).

For back issues and other resources please visit
www.RubelShelly.com

Abide in Me

John 15:4

Communion with Christ is a certain cure for every ill. Whether it be the 
woodworm of sadness or the smothering impact of earthly treasure, close 
fellowship with the Lord Jesus will take bitterness from the one and excess 
from the other. Live near to Jesus, Christian, and it is a matter of 
secondary importance whether you live on the mountain of honor or in the 
valley of humiliation. Living near to Jesus, you are covered with the wings 
of God, and underneath you are the everlasting arms.

Let nothing keep you from that hallowed communion that is the unique 
privilege of a life hidden in Christ. Do not be content with the occasional 
meeting, but always seek to retain His company, for only in His presence 
will you find either comfort or safety. Jesus should not be for us a friend 
who calls us now and then, but one with whom we are in constant touch.

You have a difficult road before you: Make sure, pilgrim, that you do not go 
without your guide. You have to pass through the fiery furnace; do not enter 
unless, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you have the Son of God to be 
your companion. You have to storm the walls of your corrupt heart: Do not 
attempt it until, like Joshua, you have seen the Captain of the Lord's host, 
with His sword drawn in His hand. When you meet with many temptations, do 
not rest upon the arm of flesh. In every case,
in every condition, you will need Jesus, but most of all when the iron gates 
of death shall open to you.

Keep close to the Captain of your salvation, lean upon His strength, ask Him 
to refresh you by His Spirit, and you will stand before Him at the end, 
without spot or blemish and at peace. Seeing you have lived with Him, and 
lived in Him here, you will abide with Him forever.

Family Bible reading plan

verse 1 Job 38

verse 2 2 Corinthians 8

Click here to learn more about
Truth For Life

From Morning & Evening revised and edited by Alistair Begg copyright © 2003. 
Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News 
Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187,
www.crossway.org.

JESUS THE OVERCOMER

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our 
iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his 
wounds we are
healed.
Isaiah 53:5

Dr. Felix Ruh, a Jewish doctor in Paris, had a granddaughter who died of 
black diphtheria. Vowing to find out what had killed her, he locked himself 
in
his laboratory for days and emerged with a fierce determination to prove, 
with his colleague, Louis Pasteur, the germ theory. The medical association 
had
disapproved of Pasteur and had succeeded in getting him exiled, but he hid 
in the forest near Paris and erected a laboratory for his forbidden 
research.

Twenty beautiful horses were led out into the forest to the improvised 
laboratory. Scientists, doctors, and nurses came to watch the experiment. 
Ruh opened
a steel vault and took out a large pail filled with black diphtheria germs, 
which he had cultured carefully for months. There were enough germs in that
pail to kill everyone in France.

The scientist went to each horse and swabbed its nostrils, tongue, throat, 
and eyes with the deadly germs. Every horse except one developed a terrific
fever and died. Most of the doctors and scientists wearied of the experiment 
and did not remain for what they thought would be the death of the remaining
horse.

For several more days this final horse lingered, lying pathetically on the 
ground. While Ruh, Pasteur, and several others were sleeping on cots in the
stables, the orderly on duty had been instructed to awaken the scientists 
should there be any change in the animal’s temperature during the night. 
About
two a.m., the temperature showed a half degree decrease, and the orderly 
wakened Dr. Ruh. By morning the thermometer had dropped two more degrees. By 
night
the fever was entirely gone, and the horse was able to stand, eat, and 
drink.

Then Dr. Ruh took a sledgehammer and struck that beautiful horse a deathblow 
between the eyes. The scientists drew blood from the veins of this animal
that had developed the black diphtheria but had overcome it. They drove as 
fast as they could to the Paris municipal hospital and forced their way past
the superintendent and the guards. They went into the ward where three 
hundred babies lay, segregated to die from black diphtheria. With the blood 
of the
horse, they inoculated every one of the babies. All but three lived and 
recovered completely.

The blood of an overcomer saved them. The blood of an Overcomer has also 
spiritually saved many people. He too had to die to bring life to others.

RESPONSE: Today I will repeatedly praise Jesus for the blood He shed as an 
Overcomer for my sin.

PRAYER: Thank you, Lord, for sacrificing Yourself, an Overcomer, so that I 
might have abundant and eternal life.

Standing Strong Through The Storm (SSTS)
A daily devotional message by SSTS author Paul Estabrooks

© 2011 Open Doors International. Used by permission

Your Deeds Follow

Revelation 14:13 (ESV)
13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead 
who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that 
they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”

The last phrase in this verse reminds me of the account of Jacob and Esau. 
Jacob stole Esau’s birthright then his blessing. He then left and went out 
on his own. After a while he wrestled with God. He then wanted to make up 
with Esau but knew Esau would be mad. He split his flocks into a number of 
smaller flocks and sent them ahead of him as the following Scripture tells 
us:

Genesis 32:19-20 (ESV)
19 He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the 
droves, “You shall say the same thing to Esau when you find him, 20 and you 
shall say, ‘Moreover, your servant Jacob is behind us.’ ” For he thought, “I 
may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterward I 
shall see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.”

Jacob had the idea of bribing Esau but that wasn’t necessary. There are 
people who try to bribe God and get into heaven by their good deeds. AS the 
verse above says, our deeds follow us, they do not go ahead of us like Jacob’s 
flocks. No amount of deeds can get us into heaven. When we meet Jesus Christ 
we will meet face to face. There will be nothing between us and Him. He then 
will either say, “Get away from me. I never knew you no matter how many good 
deeds you did.” Or “Welcome my child.”

This does not mean we are not to do good deeds. WE are to follow all of the 
commands of Jesus including loving one another and making disciples. The 
deeds that follow us will be tested:

1 Corinthians 3:13-15 (ESV)
13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, 
because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of 
work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the 
foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned 
up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as 
through fire.

Your deeds will follow you in another way. They will have some effect here 
on earth while you are here and after you are gone. You may not know what 
effect you have had.

I once read of a missionary in the 1800’s that went from England to Africa 
to work with a tribe that had never had a missionary to visit. He was on 
fire and worked very hard with the tribe. After a year he had only led one 
boy to Jesus Christ. He was so despondent and depressed that when he went 
home on furlough he did not go back to Africa. He thought, “What is the 
use?” Many years later he had a chance to go back to that tribe. When he 
got there he saw a hut with a steeple on top. He met that boy who was now a 
young man and found out that that guy had led most of the tribe to Jesus 
Christ.

BE sure, your deeds will follow you.

by Dean W. Masters

Owner of the Master's List

Our Holy, Stubborn Song
By Gloria Furman | Mar 05, 2014 04:20 am

Our Holy, Stubborn Song

There’s something stubborn about singing praise to God.

We live in a fallen world. Things are not as they ought to be. How can our 
mouths be filled with praise in the midst of so much darkness?

Yet we sing.

We sing because we once followed the prince of the power of the air 
(Ephesians 2:2), but now the King has died for us and delivered us from the 
present
evil age (Galatians 1:4).

We sing because “we know that we are from God,” even though “the whole world 
lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19).

We sing because our King chose us out of the world (John 15:19), and his 
grace is “training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, to live 
self-controlled,
upright, and godly lives in the present age” (Titus 2:12).

Paul and Silas were beaten for their faith and thrown in jail. And there, in 
the darkness, they sang (Acts 16:25). Then a great earthquake shook the jail
like a great bass drum reverberates through sound waves and shakes your 
heart.

The foundations of the church building may not shake when you sing, but the 
battle cry of love ripples through eternity and is heard by an unseen 
audience.

Overflowing Hearts

As someone who can hardly carry a tune in a bucket, it helps me to remember 
what our associate pastor often says about our congregational singing. In 
his
Sydney accent he says, “We’re singing to God, yes, but we are also singing 
truth to each other.”

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one 
another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with 
thankfulness
in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16)

We are a people stubbornly fixed on the things that are unseen. The world 
sees affliction as evidence that our God is silent or absent. The prince of 
the
power of the air imagines that he is gaining ground that belongs to Christ. 
But we hold fast to what God’s word says,

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of 
glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but
to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, 
but the things that are unseen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:17–18)

C. S. Lewis once described the Church as “through all time and space and 
rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners” (Screwtape Letters).

Keith Getty and Stuart Townend called the church, “An army bold whose battle 
cry is ‘Love!’ / Reaching out to those in darkness” (O Church Arise).

Singing Loud

Maybe Buddy the Elf was on to something when he said, “The best way to 
spread Christmas cheer, is singing loud for all to hear.”

We are spreading the news that death will be swallowed up forever; and the 
Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people
he will take away from the earth, for the Lᴏʀᴅ has spoken (Isaiah 25:8). The 
mouth of the Lᴏʀᴅ has spoken it, and we sing it loud for all to hear.

Terrible as an army with banners, we’re a singing people on our way to the 
city that is to come (Hebrews 13:14).

May others hear our holy, stubborn song and join along.


Enjoy the Gift of Having God’s Ear
By David Mathis | Mar 04, 2014 10:30 pm

Enjoy the Gift of Having God’s Ear

He is “the God of all grace” (1 Peter 5:10). Not only did he choose us 
before the world began, and give his Son to save us, and cause us to be born 
again,
but he also sustains the whole of our Christian lives, from day one to that 
Day, in his matchless grace. He covers our lives with his unexpected 
kindness
through people and circumstances, in good times and bad, and showers us with 
unforeseen favor in sickness and health, in life and in death.

But he doesn’t always catch us off guard. He has his regular channels —
the means of grace
— the well-worn pathways along which he is so often pleased to pass and pour 
out his goodness on those waiting expectantly. The chief thoroughfares are
his word, his church, and prayer. Or his voice, his body, and his ear.

The Speaking God Who Listens

First sounds his voice. By his word, he reveals himself and expresses his 
heart, and unveils his Son as the culmination of his speaking. By his word, 
he
creates (Genesis 1:3) and recreates (2 Corinthians 4:4), not just individual 
members, but a body called the church.

And wonder of wonders, not only does he express himself and bid us hear his 
voice, but he wants to hear ours. The speaking God not only has spoken, but
he also listens — he stops, he stoops, he wants to hear from you. He stands 
ready to hear your voice.

Christian, you have the ear of God. We call it prayer.

A Conversation We Didn’t Start

Prayer, very simply, is talking to God. It is irreducibly relational. It’s 
personal — he is the Absolute Person, and we are the derivative persons, 
fashioned
in his image. In a sense, prayer is as basic as persons relating to each 
other, conversing, interacting, but with this significant caveat: In this 
relationship,
he is Creator, and we are creatures. He is Lord, and we are servants, but 
because of his amazing love and extravagant grace, he invites us to 
interact.
He has opened his mouth. Now he opens his ear.

Prayer, for the Christian, is not merely talking to God, but responding to 
the one who has initiated toward us. He has spoken first. It is not a 
conversation
we start, but a relationship into which we’ve been drawn. His voice breaks 
the silence. Then, in prayer, we speak to the God who has spoken. Our asking
and pleading and requesting spring not from our emptiness, but his fullness. 
Prayer doesn’t begin with our needs, but with his bounty. Prayer is a reflex
to the grace he gives to the sinners he saves. It is soliciting his 
provision in view of the power he has shown.

Prayer is the glad response from the Bride, in a happily submissive 
relationship with her Groom, to his sacrificial and life-giving initiatives.

The Great Purpose of Prayer

It shouldn’t surprise us, then, to find that prayer is not finally about 
getting things from God, but getting God. Born in response to his voice, 
prayer
makes its requests of God, but is not content to only receive from God. 
Prayer must have him.

It is not wrong to want God’s gifts and ask for them. Most prayers in the 
Bible are for the gifts of God. But ultimately every gift should be desired 
because
it shows us and brings us more of him. . . . When this world totally fails, 
the ground for joy remains. God. Therefore, surely every prayer for life and
health and home and family and job and ministry in this world is secondary. 
And the great purpose of prayer is to ask that — in and through all his 
gifts
— God would be our joy. (John Piper,
When I Don’t Desire God,
142–143)

Or, as C.S. Lewis says so memorably, “Prayer in the sense of petition, 
asking for things, is a small part of it; confession and penitence are its 
threshold,
adoration its sanctuary, the presence and vision and enjoyment of God its 
bread and wine” (
The World’s Last Night and Other Essays,
8).

Prayer’s Practices in Perspective

So, prayer — having God’s ear — is ultimately about having more of God. And 
having God’s ear (like hearing his voice) is not first and foremost about 
our
particular practices and postures, but the principle of continually relating 
to him, privately and with others. He is holy, and so we worship 
(adoration).
He is merciful, and so we repent (confession). He is gracious, and so we 
express appreciation (thanksgiving). He is loving, and so we petition him 
for
ourselves, our family, our friends (supplication).

Because prayer is part and parcel of on ongoing relationship with God, Luke 
doesn’t highlight the particular times or places of early-church prayer, but
tells us, “All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer” 
(Acts 1:14). And Paul charges the church not to specific prescribed habits, 
but
to “be constant in prayer” (Romans 12:12), to “continue steadfastly in 
prayer” (Colossians 4:2), to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), 
to be
“praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication” 
(Ephesians 6:18).

Such a pervasive call to prayer is not the stuff of impersonal achievement 
and raw discipline and boxes to check, but intimate relationship. It has 
underneath
it not an iron human will, but an extraordinarily attentive divine Father 
who is eager to “give good things to those who ask him” (Matthew 7:11).

Not only is he a Father who reveals his bounty in words, and “knows what you 
need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:8), but he wants you to ask. He wants
to hear. He wants to interact. He means to have us not in a hypothetical 
relationship, but in reality.

In Jesus’s Name We Pray

All this is possible only through the person and work of his Son. Not only 
did Jesus die for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3), and to show God’s love for
us (Romans 5:8), but he rose from the grave and ascended to heaven as “a 
forerunner on our behalf” (Hebrews 6:20), appearing in the very presence of 
God
on our behalf (Hebrews 9:24). Jesus is “at the right hand of God, who indeed 
is interceding for us” (Romans 8:34). Having conquered death, the God-man,
stationed in his glorified body, “is able to save to the uttermost those who 
draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for
them” (Hebrews 7:25). Our having God’s ear is as sure as our having God’s 
Son.

And so in this light, we make general intentions into specific plans. We 
find a regular time and place. We pray by ourselves and with others. 
Scheduled
and spontaneous. In the car, at the table, in bed. We pray through 
Scripture, in response to God’s word. We adore, confess, give thanks, and 
petition.
We learn to pray by praying, and by praying with others, and discover that 
“praying regularly with others can be one of the most enriching adventures 
of
your Christian life” (Don Whitney,77).

Christian, you have the ear of God. Let’s make the most of this.
© 2014 Desiring God, All rights reserved.

Welcome to the Illustrator
Today's Bible Verse:
"Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above 
yourselves." (Romans 12:10)
By Answers2Prayer

The Very Least You Can Do
It sounds terrible.

It seems inadequate, maybe inappropriate...To do the very least.

"I heard about their divorce. I felt bad, but I didn't know what to say. So, 
I haven't called."

"He's dying from cancer. I was his best man at their wedding. I just can't 
see him like that. So, I'm not stopping by. I want to remember him in better
times."

I don't know how you feel about reading those two statements. They are true. 
I heard people say it.

So, what's the very least they could have done?

Called.

Sent a note.

We clearly are not called to do nothing at all.

This is when "The very least you can do" is better than doing nothing at 
all.

I have heard it called, "burden sharing." Biblical examples abound.

"Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above 
yourselves." (Romans 12:10)

"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all 
who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor
and needy." (Proverbs 31:8-9)

I'm not preaching here. I'm not a preacher. I am a man, a human being who 
believes there is always something one can do even if it is the very least.

Like the smile given freely.

The kind word spoken.

Being there and not saying anything. Your presence says it all.

The next time you see someone in need ask yourself, "What's the very least I 
can do?"

Then do it.

Sometimes the least you can do for someone is the most anyone has 
done...ever.

Bob Perks

Announcement:

Are you frustrated with an ineffective prayer life? God does answer prayers, 
my friend. Why don't you come to Answers2Prayer
and discover the power of prayer for yourself?

©Copyright 2011 Answers2Prayer | Matt 10:8 "Freely you have received, freely 
give."

PresbyCan Daily Devotional

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Today's Devotional

Total Commitment

John 10:10 – The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come 
that they may have life, and have it to the full. (NIV)

My dear friend, Shirl, was close to the end of her agonizing struggle with 
multiple sclerosis, family breakdown, and abandonment, when she asked me to
write her life story. It was her hope that women, who were suffering in any 
manner, would read about her fight and her ultimate victory, and would find
the comfort and strength that she had found in knowing that the Lord was 
with her every step of the way.

I had a hard time watching the agony she endured, but I was blessed over and 
over again as I saw God tenderly work out His plan for her life. Because of
her total commitment to her God and her tenacious trust in Him, many came to 
know Jesus Christ as a personal Saviour.

I completed my first draft while she was still alive, but before I could get 
it published, she quietly passed away.

I shall never forget the expression of love on her face that evening, as she 
took my hand and whispered what was to be her final farewell to me: 
"Goodnight,
my dearest friend. I'll see you in the morning." Then she quietly closed her 
eyes.

As I finished giving the eulogy at Shirl's celebration of life, I vividly 
recall looking up through my tears and declaring with certainty, "I'll see 
you
in the morning, Shirl." Thus her book received its name.

But there was someone who did not want this book to be published, namely the 
one who comes only to steal and kill and destroy: the enemy of every 
believer.
We call him Satan.

I thought that it would only be a few months before the manuscript would be 
ready for publication, since all I had to do was change the ending. However,
I badly underestimated the devious plans that Satan would work out to trip 
me up. He knew that this book was for the sole purpose of glorifying God, 
and
he began to pull out his big guns in a series of events.

The two computer programs that I had used to write the story were 
incompatible. The publishing company finally managed to merge them.

As I worked with an editor to revise the manuscript, my computer began to 
substitute blank pages for completed pages. I became so tired of having to 
re-type
the pages that had mysteriously disappeared, I was ready to quit.

A replacement computer crashed within two days, and I was given another 
computer. But several of my photos, documents, and chapters of my manuscript 
were
lost in the transfer of data from one computer to another. Within a few 
days, I found that my second computer was worse than my old one. It 
continually
challenged my patience as it mixed up sentences and page alignment, deleted 
paragraphs overnight, and kept inserting words in all of the wrong places.

On a trip to Florida, I tore all of the ligaments in my right knee and was 
chained to a walker. As if that weren't enough, I was severely bitten by 
sand
fleas, and the anti-itch medication made me sleep a lot.

Finally, I woke up and took the whole frustrating situation to the Lord in 
prayer. Within a short time, the manuscript was ready for its final 
submission.
The enemy was defeated when the name of Jesus came against him, and the 
final draft was printed.

I believe that total commitment to God's will was both the foundation and 
the force that kept Shirl faithful, and brought her through physical and 
emotional
suffering to a glorious victory in Jesus, her Lord and Saviour. As it was 
for me in the two-year project of finishing her story, her way of life given
over totally to the will of God is the challenge for every reader. What does 
total commitment mean to you?

Prayer: Father, in these days of increasing evil and its challenge to stand 
boldly and completely for Jesus, give us the courage to say, as Shirl so 
often
did, "Not my will, Father, but Yours be done in my life." Amen.

Sharon Greer Ontario, Canada

Thought for Today: At your wit's end, you'll find that God lives there.

Dean Masters, owner of the Masters List

When Christianity Becomes Uncomfortable

Daniel Darling

On Sunday, our small group began a study on discipleship, aided by the very 
good material from Multiply written by Francis Chan and David Platt. The 
first part of this study challenges us to count the cost of discipleship. I 
was struck afresh by Jesus' words in Luke:

Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone 
comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and 
children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be 
my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be 
my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit 
down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, 
when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish,
all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was 
not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in 
war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten 
thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, 
while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for 
terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that 
he has cannot be my disciple.(Luke 14:25-33, ESV)

As an American Christian, I guess I've never had to fully weigh the impact 
of Jesus' words here. We've lived in a bubble of acceptance, especially 
those, like me, who've mostly worked for Christian organizations. Sure, 
there is the occasional derogatory remark by a unbelieving family member or 
neighbor. Yet even among those who don't profess faith, Christianity has 
been something considered worth commending. For much of the church's 
history, this was not the norm. Christianity has been uncomfortable.
It has involved cross-bearing.

Jesus wanted his followers to know this. I notice he said these very hard 
things when the crowds followed him. It's as if he's saying to them, "If you 
are following me for the benefits, for the goodies, for the anticipated 
health and wellness, well, you've got the wrong Messiah." It's not that 
Jesus was sadistic. But the spiritual battle between light and darkness 
involves hardship, suffering, and a willingness to be considered on the 
"wrong side of history."

I think this is where we often get Jesus wrong. I think this is where we 
often get Christianity wrong. The New Testament knows nothing, really, of 
the Jesus-as-mascot paradigm. To claim to follow Jesus, but reject the 
radical new way of life He calls to us to is to reject Jesus altogether. The 
way of Jesus is better. But many don't see that. Many of us don't see that.

For American Christians, I think the coming years will force us to make 
difficult choices. We will have to choose between cultural acceptance and 
the way of Jesus. In other words, Christianity, truly bearing the name of 
Christ, will involve a cross. It will be rough and uncomfortable. Sometimes 
this discomfort is in the form of cultural rejection. Sometimes it's the 
discomfort of forgiving someone we want desperately to despise. Sometimes 
it's the self-sacrifice to give ourselves for those we are
called to love and nurture: our spouses, our children, our neighbors. 
Sometimes it's the discipline to speak the truth in type of love others 
don't exhibit. Sometimes it involves making reasoned, winsome arguments in 
favor of truth that are unfairly dismissed as bigotry.

Are we ready for this? I think of the words of Peter to the first-century 
church in 1 Peter. He reminded the Church that while they were to assimilate 
into their contexts, they were to remember their status as strangers and 
foreigners. Christians follow another King and live out the values of 
another Kingdom. There would be cultural pressure to abandon Jesus or to 
synch Jesus with whatever is popular. As if Jesus is the clay and we are the 
potters. Peter urged the first century church to stand strong,
to have courage, but also to do this with a kind of joyful anticipation of 
the world to come. I'm particularly arrested by Peter's words in 1 Peter 
3:15:

But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be 
blessed.Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor 
Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone 
who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with 
gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are 
slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to 
shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's
will, than for doing evil. (1 Peter 3:14-17, ESV)

Having warmed himself by the fires of cultural acceptance and having also 
been the doomsday zealot, Peter argued for a third way. Followers of Jesus 
must be should not be gripped by fear ("nor be troubled"), but give a calm, 
rational, joyful defense of Christian faith, shaped by gentleness and 
respect. Being misunderstood, slandered, and disparaged by the culture and 
even fellow evangelicals is no fun. But our response should not only be 
courageously truthful, it should be otherworldly in terms of
kindness. We not only communicate the values of another world. We speak with 
rhetorical tools from another world. We shouldn't add to our suffering with 
fleshly responses.

As we anticipate life in a post-Christian world, we need to not only 
reacquaint ourselves with Christian identity (cross-bearing, suffering), but 
by faith live out this gospel fully before a watching world.


Strength through Worship

“But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will 
worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those 
who will worship him that way.” - (
John 4:23)

When we worship on earth, we are in tune with what is happening in heaven. 
The Book of Revelation gives us this description of worship in heaven: “And 
they sang in a mighty chorus: ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered—to 
receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and 
blessing’ ” (5:12).

When we worship, it helps us to get things into perspective. The psalmist 
Asaph asked the age-old question, “Why do the wicked prosper?”

And then it dawned on him:

Then I went into your sanctuary, O God,
and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked.
Truly, you put them on a slippery path
and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction. (Psalm 73:17–18)

Sometimes we don’t understand why things are the way they are. But when we 
come and worship, when we hear the Word of God, it helps us gain 
perspective.

When our son died on a Thursday, my wife and I were in church the following 
Sunday. People told me my faith was so strong. But actually my faith was 
weak. I needed help. I needed God’s people. I needed to worship God. I 
needed to hear a Bible study.

And the moment I walked in, I was surrounded by God’s people. I knew they 
were praying for me. It helped me gain perspective and see God for who He is 
and see my problems for what they are. Sometimes we have big problems 
because we have a small God. But if we have a big God, then we will see, 
comparatively speaking, that we have small problems.

When we are praising the Lord on earth, we are joining the chorus of heaven. 
And God is looking for people to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

Copyright © 2012 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, 
copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 
Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

For more relevant and biblical teaching from Pastor Greg Laurie, go to
www.harvest.org

Faith in Times of Sorrow

Genesis 35:18

To every matter there is a bright as well as a dark side. Rachel was 
overwhelmed with the sorrow of her own travail and death; Jacob, while 
mourning the loss of his wife, could see the mercy of the child's birth. It 
is good for us if, while the flesh mourns over trials, our faith triumphs in 
divine faithfulness. Samson's lion yielded honey, and so will our 
adversities, if rightly considered. The stormy sea feeds multitudes with its 
fish; the wild wood blooms with beautiful flowers; the stormy wind
sweeps away disease, and the biting frost loosens the soil. Dark clouds 
distill bright drops, and black earth grows lovely flowers. A vein of good 
is to be found in every mine of evil. Sad hearts have peculiar skill in 
discovering the most disadvantageous point of view from which to gaze upon a 
trial; if there were only one swamp in the world, they would soon be up to 
their necks in it, and if there were only one lion in the desert they would 
hear it roar.

About us all there is a tinge of this wretched folly, and we are apt, at 
times, like Jacob, to cry, "All these things are against me." Faith's way of 
walking is to cast all care upon the Lord, and then to anticipate good 
results from the worst calamities. Like Gideon's men, she does not fret over 
the broken pitcher but rejoices that the lamp shines with even more 
brilliance. Out of the rough oyster-shell of difficulty she extracts the 
rare pearl of honor, and from the deep ocean-caves of distress
she discovers the priceless coral of experience. When her flood of 
prosperity ebbs, she finds treasures hidden in the sands; and when her sun 
of delight goes down, she turns her telescope of hope to the starry promises 
of heaven. When death itself appears, faith points to the light of 
resurrection beyond the grave, thus making our dying Ben-oni to be our 
living Benjamin.

Family Bible reading plan

verse 1 Job 37

verse 2 2 Corinthians 7


From Morning & Evening revised and edited by Alistair Begg copyright © 2003. 
Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News 
Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187,
www.crossway.org.

3 Ways to Rejoice in the Midst of Suffering

Cortni Marrazzo

The Bible is full of wisdom and truth, but do you ever come across a verse 
that is frankly, a bit hard to embrace? Like
Romans 5:3,
“More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering 
produces endurance…” When we are suffering, typically the last thing we want 
to do is rejoice and we often wonder if it’s even possible to do! Even 
though there are some things in the Bible that seem impossible, we are 
reminded in the very same book that with God, ALL things are possible (
Matthew 19:26).

I personally love the fact that all things are possible with God, but 
sometimes am not too fond of the fact that nowhere in the Bible does it say 
things will be easy. Let’s face it, when you are suffering, not much seems 
to come easy. I’ve recently been struggling with a bit of suffering in my 
life and I took some time to seek God about what I can learn from this 
season and how I can grow through it. Whether you are going through physical 
or emotional suffering, these can apply to you too.

When You Are Suffering, You Become More Aware of God’s Strength in Your Life

At the time of writing this, I’m currently dealing with all day sickness, 
every day for weeks. Thankfully I haven’t been diagnosed with a life 
threatening disease - I’m pregnant and have a severe case of morning 
sickness. I’ve been nauseous, often unable to hold food down for more than a 
month now and this will likely be the case for another few weeks. When I 
feel sick and run down every day, it really has a tendency to zap my 
strength, especially when I’m trying to fulfill other responsibilities
in my life at the same time.

I noticed that during this time, I’ve felt my weakest. There is honestly no 
way I could get out of bed every day without the power of God’s strength 
working in me. I’m typically a person who is strong for others and who can 
push my way past whatever is going on in my life, but often that is done in 
my own strength. This season of suffering has left me without my own 
strength to act in, and I am much more aware of the strength of God in my 
life. It is very humbling.

Paul knew this feeling too. “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with 
weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am 
weak, then I am strong” (
2 Corinthians 12:10).
Paul realized that when he was so physically weak that he could barely stand 
to be alive, that is when God’s strength rose up the most in him. He knew 
that God’s strength in us is so much more powerful than our own human 
strength, therefore he learned to be content in his weakness of suffering! I’m 
still working on the contentment here, but I can feel that God is bringing 
me closer.

When You Are Suffering, Your Trust in God and Your Faith Increases

When you are at the end of yourself, you learn to trust God more because 
frankly, what else are you going to do? You’re at the end of you, and that’s 
where you find that God is so faithful in your life and with his promises. 
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own 
understanding” (
Proverbs 3:5).
I love the second part of this verse about not depending on our own 
understanding because the majority of the time, we don’t understand why we 
are suffering. We can ask God “why?” all day long, but he’s not obligated to 
answer us because he is building our trust in him. So instead of leaning on 
our own understanding and demanding to know why, we are simply to trust him 
to teach us and help us grow through whatever situation we may be facing.

I personally have also learned to stop depending on my own achievements, 
because I haven’t been achieving much lately! I’m normally great at doing 
lots of things, checking off my to-do list and then finding value in 
everything I’ve accomplished that day/week/month. Lately however, my to-do 
list has consisted more of making it through the day and not much else. I’ve 
learned to remember my worth is in God, not in what I do or what people 
think of me. When you are zapped of energy from suffering, you
stop putting on a mask to pretend to be someone you are not because you 
simply can't anymore. As a result, you are the real you, and that is what 
God can work best with!

When You Are Suffering, God Can Give You a New and Refreshed Perspective

If you take the time to listen and seek God while you are going through your 
trial, he can show you a lot! I know this is hard to do because often the 
last thing you want to do is go to God when you feel so low. I’ll admit, it 
was hard for me to do, but once I started praying about what I was going 
through and how I could grow through it, God showed me everything I’m 
writing right here!

He reminded me what is really important in life and that is him, my family 
and the people in my life. Money and things can seem so important sometimes, 
but in the midst of suffering, they just don’t seem as important anymore, 
because they aren’t. Your family and those around you, and most importantly 
your relationship with God are what is really most important in your life. 
“’Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?’ 
Jesus replied, ‘You must love the LORD your God with
all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and 
greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as 
yourself’” (
Matthew 22:36-39).
In the end, it is all about God and people.

During your most difficult trying times, you will also often learn just how 
amazing the people in your life truly are. If you are often a person who 
tries to help and support others (like I am) it can be especially difficult 
to ask for and accept help when you need it. Just as you are blessed when 
you help others, there comes a time for others to be blessed by helping you! 
When I was feeling especially sick and stressed for a few weeks, I had 
multiple friends step in and bring us meals for dinners
so I didn’t have to worry about cooking for my family and so my husband 
could come home from work and spend quality time with our son. Even though 
it was hard to ask for and accept help, it was a huge blessing for my family 
and it really reminded me of the wonderful people God has brought into my 
life!

A season of suffering isn’t the most fun or the easiest to go through, but I 
believe we truly can rejoice if we keep focused on the right things. It can 
be difficult to do, but perhaps writing them down and posting them somewhere 
where you will see them daily will help. Or putting a note in your phone or 
even just praying every day that God reminds you of the things you can 
really rejoice about in this season. Most importantly, remember that it is a 
season. You won’t be suffering forever. It will
be over eventually and you will look back and think about how much you’ve 
grown closer to God, what a more stable and mature person you are and you 
will see how it really was possible to rejoice through it.

Cortni Marrazzo currently resides in Spokane, Washington with her husband 
Jason and 3 year old son. She has a Degree in Biblical Discipleship and has 
a passion for ministry and encouraging the body of Christ. She and her 
husband currently serve as small group directors at their local church. You 
can contact her at
Cortni.Marrazzo@gmail.com

Eight Reasons Why I Believe That Jesus Rose from the Dead
by John Piper

1. Jesus himself testified to his coming resurrection from the dead.

Jesus spoke openly about what would happen to him: crucifixion and then 
resurrection from the dead. "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be 
rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, 
and after three days rise again" (Mark 8:31; see also
Matthew 17:22
;
Luke 9:22).
Those who consider the resurrection of Christ unbelievable will probably say 
that Jesus was deluded or (more likely) that the early church put these 
statements in his mouth to make him teach the falsehood that they themselves 
conceived. But those who read the Gospels and come to the considered 
conviction that the one who speaks so compellingly through these witnesses 
is not the figment of foolish imagination will be unsatisfied with this 
effort to explain away Jesus' own testimony to his resurrection
from the dead.

This is especially true in view of the fact that the words which predict the 
resurrection are not only the simple straightforward words quoted above, but 
also the very oblique and indirect words which are far less likely to be the 
simple invention of deluded disciples. For example, two separate witnesses 
testify in two very different ways to Jesus' statement during his lifetime 
that if his enemies destroyed the temple (of his body), he would build it 
again in three days (
John 2:19
;
Mark 14:58
; cf.
Matthew 26:61).
He also spoke illusively of the "sign of Jonah" — three days in the heart of 
the earth (
Matthew 12:39
;
Matthew 16:4).
And he hinted at it again in Matthew 21:42 — "The very stone which the 
builders rejected has become the head of the corner." On top of his own 
witness to the coming resurrection, his accusers said that this was part of 
Jesus' claim: "Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still 
alive, ‘After three days I will rise'" (Matthew 27:63).

Our first evidence of the resurrection, therefore, is that Jesus himself 
spoke of it. The breadth and nature of the sayings make it unlikely that a 
deluded church made these up. And the character of Jesus himself, revealed 
in these witnesses, has not been judged by most people to be a lunatic or a 
deceiver.

2. The tomb was empty on Easter.

The earliest documents claim this: "When they went in they did not find the 
body of the Lord Jesus" (Luke 24:3). And the enemies of Jesus confirmed it 
by claiming that the disciples had stolen the body (
Matthew 28:13).
The dead body of Jesus could not be found. There are four possible ways to 
account for this.

2.1 His foes stole the body. If they did (and they never claimed to have 
done so), they surely would have produced the body to stop the successful 
spread of the Christian faith in the very city where the crucifixion 
occurred. But they could not produce it.

2.2 His friends stole the body. This was an early rumor (
Matthew 28:11-15).
Is it probable? Could they have overcome the guards at the tomb? More 
important, would they have begun to preach with such authority that Jesus 
was raised, knowing that he was not? Would they have risked their lives and 
accepted beatings for something they knew was a fraud?

2.3 Jesus was not dead, but only unconscious when they laid him in the tomb. 
He awoke, removed the stone, overcame the soldiers, and vanished from 
history after a few meetings with his disciples in which he convinced them 
he was risen from the dead. Even the foes of Jesus did not try this line. He 
was obviously dead. The Romans saw to that. The stone could not be moved by 
one man from within who had just been stabbed in the side by a spear and 
spent six hours nailed to a cross.

2.4 God raised Jesus from the dead. This is what he said would happen. It is 
what the disciples said did happen. But as long as there is a remote 
possibility of explaining the resurrection naturalistically, modern people 
say we should not jump to a supernatural explanation. Is this reasonable? I 
don't think so. Of course, we don't want to be gullible. But neither do we 
want to reject the truth just because it's strange. We need to be aware that 
our commitments at this point are much affected by our
preferences — either for the state of affairs that would arise from the 
truth of the resurrection, or for the state of affairs that would arise from 
the falsehood of the resurrection. If the message of Jesus has opened you to 
the reality of God and the need of forgiveness, for example, then 
anti-supernatural dogma might lose its power over your mind. Could it be 
that this openness is not prejudice for the resurrection, but freedom from 
prejudice against it?

3. The disciples were almost immediately transformed from men who were 
hopeless and fearful after the crucifixion (
Luke 24:21,
John 20:19)
into men who were confident and bold witnesses of the resurrection (
Acts 2:24,
Acts 3:15,
Acts 4:2)
.

Their explanation of this change was that they had seen the risen Christ and 
had been authorized to be his witnesses (
Acts 2:32).
The most popular competing explanation is that their confidence was owing to 
hallucinations. There are numerous problems with such a notion. The 
disciples were not gullible, but level-headed skeptics both before and after 
the resurrection (
Mark 9:32,
Luke 24:11,
John 20:8-9).
Moreover, is the deep and noble teaching of those who witnessed the risen 
Christ the stuff of which hallucinations are made? What about Paul's great 
letter to the Romans? I personally find it hard to think of this giant 
intellect and deeply transparent soul as deluded or deceptive, and he 
claimed to have seen the risen Christ.

4. Paul claimed that, not only had he seen the risen Christ, but that 500 
others had seen him also, and many were still alive when he made this public 
claim.

"Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of 
whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep" (1 Corinthians 15:6). 
What makes this so relevant is that this was written to Greeks who were 
skeptical of such claims when many of these witnesses were still alive. So 
it was a risky claim if it could be disproved by a little firsthand 
research.

5. The sheer existence of a thriving, empire-conquering early Christian 
church supports the truth of the resurrection claim.

The church spread on the power of the testimony that Jesus was raised from 
the dead and that God had thus made him both Lord and Christ (
Acts 2:36).
The Lordship of Christ over all nations is based on his victory over death. 
This is the message that spread all over the world. Its power to cross 
cultures and create one new people of God was a strong testimony of its 
truth.

6. The Apostle Paul's conversion supports the truth of the resurrection.

He argues to a partially unsympathetic audience in Galatians 1:11-17 that 
his gospel comes from the risen Jesus Christ, not from men. His argument is 
that before his Damascus Road experience when he saw the risen Jesus, he was 
violently opposed to the Christian faith (Acts 9:1). But now, to everyone's 
astonishment, he is risking his life for the gospel (Acts 9:24-25). His 
explanation: The risen Jesus appeared to him and authorized him to spearhead 
the Gentile mission (Acts 26:15-18). Can we credit
such a testimony? This leads to the next argument.

7. The New Testament witnesses do not bear the stamp of dupes or deceivers.

How do you credit a witness? How do you decide whether to believe a person's 
testimony? The decision to give credence to a person's testimony is not the 
same as completing a mathematical equation. The certainty is of a different 
kind, yet can be just as firm (I trust my wife's testimony that she is 
faithful). When a witness is dead, we can base our judgment of him only on 
the content of his writings and the testimonies of others about him. How do 
Peter and John and Matthew and Paul stack up?

In my judgment (and at this point we can live authentically only by our own 
judgment—Luke 12:57), these men's writings do not read like the works of 
gullible, easily deceived or deceiving men. Their insights into human nature 
are profound. Their personal commitment is sober and carefully stated. Their 
teachings are coherent and do not look like the invention of unstable men. 
The moral and spiritual standard is high. And the lives of these men are 
totally devoted to the truth and to the honor of God.

8. There is a self-authenticating glory in the gospel of Christ's death and 
resurrection as narrated by the biblical witnesses.

The New Testament teaches that God sent the Holy Spirit to glorify Jesus as 
the Son of God. Jesus said, "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide 
you into all the truth.... He will glorify me" (John 16:13). The Holy Spirit 
does not do this by telling us that Jesus rose from the dead. He does it by 
opening our eyes to see the self-authenticating glory of Christ in the 
narrative of his life and death and resurrection. He enables us to see Jesus 
as he really was, so that he is irresistibly true
and beautiful. The apostle stated the problem of our blindness and the 
solution like this: "The god of this world has blinded the minds of the 
unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory 
of Christ, who is the image of God.... For God, who said, ‘Let light shine 
out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge 
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:4, 6).

A saving knowledge of Christ crucified and risen is not the mere result of 
right reasoning about historical facts. It is the result of spiritual 
illumination to see those facts for what they really are: a revelation of 
the truth and glory of God in the face of Christ — who is the same yesterday 
today and forever.

Pastor John
By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website:

When You Miss God
Nicki Koziarz

Its 3:38 a.m.

I stare at the clock and Something inside me whispers, “You should get up.” 
I toss, turn, and wrestle with my sleep deprived thoughts for another few 
minutes before I finally climb out of bed.

I walk downstairs, turn on the coffee pot and sit down in my white chair. 
Opening my journal I write these words… “God, I miss You.”

The reality is life has been moving at a warping speed lately. Work has been 
busy for both my husband and I, our 3 girls lives are full, and someone 
always needs something.

Truth is I would pay a lot of money for 28 hours in a day.

But mostly I’m seeing how “it” happens…

How people move far from God.

And I’ve seen how it’s not always intentional:

-The kids are sick so church is missed.

-Carpool has to start earlier the next morning.

-Bodies need to be exercised.

-Meals must be prepared.

-Reports and projects have to be finished.

The list goes on and on of what can keep us from the closeness of God.

I understand these struggles all to well. And I’m finding there is a great 
danger in these stretched seasons of life.

We can miss being with God but through that, we also can also miss the 
movement God is doing in our lives. Missing God {either way} is tragic and 
threatening to our souls that long to thrive with God.

Recognizing how much I’ve missed God, I’m taking some time for reflection of 
this struggle. I’m burdened but also hopeful in the words God is breathing 
on my soul during these soul-stretching moments.

I share these things because maybe there’s just one other person as fearful 
as I am of unintentionally moving…too far from God.

3 things we can do to move closer to the heart of God

1. Find our God-space.

Even if it means at 3:38 a.m.

I’ve discovered in this stretching season of life I have to be intentional 
with scheduling time with God. Finding the moments of white space where we 
can fully be with God is important. But, we must also find the God-space in 
the clouded, busy, stretching moments.

May we find our God-space…everywhere.

“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you…” –James 48

2. Experience the awe of God.

The sunrise on the way home from the early morning workout or drive into the 
office…experience it. How the warm sun feels on our skin on a chilly 
day…experience it. Giggles from children, the way someone we love smiles, 
the praise of Gods people…experience it.

May these moments remind us what it’s like to be fully alive and connected 
to Something much bigger than ourselves.

“…stand in awe of God.” –Ecclesiastes 5:7

3. Have ears that listen {always}.

The prompting in your heart to slow down, to breathe in the moment…listen to 
it. A nudge on your soul to say no when you really want to say yes…listen to 
it [or vice-versa.]

May we not want to just dream about the promises God has for our life, but 
want to live them by listening, always.

“So then faith comes by hearing…” –Romans 10:17

Above all, may today be the day each of us chooses steps closer to…Him.

Amen.
March 6, 2014

Don't Say You'll Pray for Me
Lysa TerKeurst

"A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver."
Proverbs 25:11
(NIV 1984)

I've been convicted about empty statements. These are words I say to make a 
conversation a little more comfortable in the moment. But do I really mean
what I say?

Empty statements can also be little promises that give a needed lift to 
someone. Yet without a plan to actually keep that promise, do I really 
intend to
keep it?

It's not that these statements are wrong, bad or ill-intentioned. But they 
are empty at best and potentially hurtful at worst. People in my life 
deserve
better than that.

I want to be a woman who exemplifies God's Word by keeping my word.

The Bible is clear that our words matter; our words carry weight.
Proverbs 25:11
says, "A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver." 
Our words can be gifts.

But if we speak words with no follow-through, they can be hurtful. It's like 
holding out a gift but refusing to give it.

Here are three empty statements I want to stop saying if I don't have a plan 
for follow-through:

1. I'm praying for you.

Obviously, I do want to pray for people. And sometimes when I say this, I 
have great follow-through. But other times I forget.

A great intention doesn't make for a great prayer.

So, I need to pray for that person right then and there, or I need to keep a 
journal in my purse to write down prayer requests.

2. Let's get together sometime.

Either I need to pull out my calendar and schedule time with someone or be 
honest about my current time constraints. The people-pleaser in me struggles
with this.

When people say this to me without any follow-through, it hurts. While I 
can't change what others say to me, I can make a heart policy to not do this 
to
others.

3. I'm good, how are you?

Understandably, sometimes this is the right, polite statement to say when 
I'm quickly greeting someone. But I will also say this to others with whom I
really should be more open and honest.

I'm reluctant sometimes to let even close friends know needs bubbling below 
my "I'm good" statements.

If I will be braver to open up, it will give my friends permission to do the 
same.

So, there they are. My three empty statements and my convictions to do a 
better job of saying what I mean and meaning what I say.

Let's commit to being women who keep our word. Right now. Today. Not only 
will it strengthen our friendships but it will make our relationship with 
the
Lord more authentic as we live out His Word.

Dear Lord, thank You for convicting me about using empty statements. My 
words can be powerful tools and I want to use them for Your purposes. In 
Jesus'
Name, Amen.

Related Resources:
Don't miss Lysa TerKeurst's blog post, "The 5 Best Things to Say to a Friend 
Today."
Click here
for this must-read article.

Receive encouragement from Lysa right in your e-mail inbox throughout the 
week! Subscribe to her blog by
clicking here.

Reflect and Respond:
Which one of the three empty statements resonates with you the most? (Keep a 
prayer journal in your purse, schedule a specific time to get together with
someone or open up with how you're honestly feeling.)

This week, make it a point to put action into place when using that 
statement.

Power Verses:
1 John 3:18a,
"My dear children, let's not just talk about love; let's practice real 
love." (MSG)

James 1:23-25,
"Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone 
who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away
and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into 
the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it — not forgetting 
what
they have heard, but doing it — they will be blessed in what they do." (NIV)

© 2014 by Lysa TerKeurst. All rights reserved.

Enjoying His Presence
Posted: 04 Mar 2014 09:55 PM PST

It was a Thursday evening, with most of a long week behind me. My wife was 
out for the evening, and I felt the urge to take a long drive, just to relax
with a change of scenery. I had planned to drive north or west, toward a 
store of somewhere with people, but instead I felt led to drive south, into 
more
open country.

On a back road I was stopped by a train, and while waiting, I looked up at 
the sky. It was so clear. The moon, just past half full, was sparkling and 
bright.
It was one of those beautiful scenes that just makes you smile all over.

And in those moments, I realized God had brought me out there just to sense 
and enjoy His presence. He just wanted me to know He was there.

I am discovering that God makes a wonderful companion. When I was dating, I 
had to save up topics to talk about—plan them ahead of time—in order to keep
a conversation going. But in God’s presence, you don’t have to talk all the 
time, and you don’t have to strain to listen for His voice. Listening for 
God
to speak doesn’t necessitate sitting in a dark room, emptying your mind of 
all thoughts, and contemplating your navel. When you know that He will speak
when He’s ready, you can relax.

I don’t imagine God wants us to feel ill-at-ease in His presence. I don’t 
like it when people feel uncomfortable around me. It usually indicates they 
don’t
know me, don’t like me, or don’t trust me. Like any good Friend, God wants 
us to feel relaxed in His presence, sharing our words or our silence, 
whichever
our need may be.

The writer of Psalm 73 must have had a similar experience with God. Through 
most of the Psalm, he complains because the wicked prosper and seem to “get
away with murder,” while the righteous scrimp to survive. He was beginning 
to wonder if living a righteous life was worth it, when he entered the 
sanctuary.
There, after experiencing God’s presence, he understood how swift and 
certain the destruction of the wicked would be, as they would be cut off 
completely
and forever from the goodness of the Creator. (I suspect that some of our 
concerns are more effectively answered by realizing the presence of the True
and Living God, rather than by mere information or logic.)

The Psalmist then ends his Psalm. Note the warm, personal tone of one who 
knows he is with God at that very moment:

I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
But as for me, it is good to be near God.
(Psalm 73:23-28, NIV)

Perhaps what God most wants you to know is that He is right there with you, 
as a real, living being. Knowing that, and treating Him accordingly, can 
transform
your entire life.

O Lord…you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar…
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O Lord…
you have laid your hand on me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.
(Psalm 139:1-6, NIV)
KenBible.com
Dean Masters, owner of the Masters List

Devotions by Christine Caine - Undaunted

Read
Ephesians 2:19–21

The church is the Body of Christ and each believer is a member in 
particular, adding his or her own gifts from God to transform the whole.

Where Is the Church?

We were standing in a crowd of tourists learning about one of the most 
majestic European churches ever constructed.

“Where is the Church?” I asked Nick.

He gave me a look of surprise.

“Chris, we’re standing in it,” he replied.

“No, what we’re standing in right now isn’t the church; it’s just a 
building. And I realize that we are in a crowd of hundreds, but where are 
all of the
people who once made this building a church?”

Nick finally got it, and his expression changed.

“It must have taken decades to build this structure, let alone create all 
the amazing murals and carvings. Many of the men who were part of this 
building
project probably didn’t live long enough to attend one of the worship 
services. And look at all the intricate detail given to every single square 
inch
of this place, all to give glory to God. Not to mention the cost! It must 
have taken some passion to make this all come to pass. What would these 
people
think if they could see that their house of God was now nothing more than a 
tourist attraction?”

Nick and I looked around again, suddenly seeing this amazing building with 
very different eyes. As the builders labored to finish this magnificent 
house
of God, I imagine the thing that kept them going was a vision of the lives 
that would be transformed as a result of their tireless efforts. They would
have thought about the countless souls who would encounter God in this 
building, the bodies that would be healed, the marriages restored, the 
life-giving
sermons preached, the prayers prayed, the ministries birthed, the 
friendships formed, and the incredible worship to God that would take place.

The architecture was not the goal in and of itself—it was only a means to an 
end. The purpose of the ornate building was to attract people to God. Yet
today, Nick and I were standing with a group of tourists waiting patiently 
to take photos of the building—the bricks and mortar. We could no longer see
evidence of the power and life of God’s Spirit working in his people. All we 
saw was a building that once housed the Church.

This is the exact opposite of what God designed the Church to be. In the 
second commandment, Jesus said that we are to love our neighbors as we love 
ourselves.
As the Church, we are called to love our neighborhood and the diverse people 
represented in it.

Point to Ponder

When you hear the word “church,” is your first image of a building or the 
people who work and worship and minister there?
Undaunted by Christine Caine
Today's reading is adapted from
Undaunted: Daring to Do What God Calls You to Do
by Christine Caine. Available in softcover, audio, ebook, and Spanish 
editions.

Like a Dove

Matthew 3:16

As the Spirit of God descended upon the Lord Jesus, the head, so He also, in 
measure, descends upon the members of the mystical body. His descent is to 
us after the same fashion as that in which it fell upon our Lord. There is 
often a sudden swiftness about it; before we are even aware of it, we are 
impelled onward and heavenward beyond all expectation. Yet there is none of 
the hurry of earthly haste, for the wings of the dove are as soft as they 
are swift.

Quietness seems essential to many spiritual operations; the Lord is in the 
still small voice, and like the dew, His grace is distilled in silence.

The dove has always been the chosen type of purity, and the Holy Spirit is 
holiness itself. Where He comes, everything that is pure and lovely and of 
good report is made to abound, and sin and uncleanness depart. Peace reigns 
also where the Holy Dove comes with power; He bears the olive branch, which 
shows that the waters of divine wrath are assuaged. Gentleness is a sure 
result of the Sacred Dove's transforming power: Hearts touched by His benign 
influence are meek and lowly from that point and
forever.

Harmlessness follows as a matter of course; eagles and ravens may hunt their 
prey--the turtledove can endure wrong but cannot inflict it. We must be 
harmless as doves. The dove is an apt picture of love; the voice of the 
turtle is full of affection. And so the soul visited by the blessed Spirit 
abounds in love to God, in love to the brethren, and in love to sinners, and 
above all, in love to Jesus. The brooding of the Spirit of God upon the face 
of the deep first produced order and life, and in our
hearts He causes and fosters new life and light. Blessed Spirit, as You did 
rest upon our dear Redeemer, even so rest upon us from this time forward and 
forever.

Family Bible reading plan

verse 1 Job 32

verse 2 2 Corinthians 2

Click here to learn more about
Truth For Life

From Morning & Evening revised and edited by Alistair Begg copyright © 2003. 
Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News 
Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187,
www.crossway.org.

Forget judging others— just love them

“This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one 
another” —1 John 3:11 (NLT).
Pulling into the vet clinic early one morning, I spied a yellow sports car 
and a large SUV taking up two of the three parking spaces. Since I was only
dropping my dog off for some pre-surgery tests, I stopped near the clinic’s 
front door, planning to run in and be out quickly before someone else came
in.

I’m a curious type, so I wondered who was driving the sporty vehicle—not 
that I want one—but I was surprised when I discovered the owner. At first, I 
pegged
a young woman, dressed in knee high boots and tight jeans as the driver. 
Wrong. She climbed behind the wheel of the SUV.

Entering the clinic with my dog, I noticed a client waiting at the counter. 
Because she was the only other person in the waiting area, I assumed she was
the owner of the yellow car. She was and I had to laugh at my preconceived 
notion of who I thought would be driving that sporty automobile. Let’s just
say, I pictured this woman driving a four-door sedan or a mini-van, not a 
two-seater with barely enough room for one, let alone two bodies. Her 
license
plate revealed she must be a Beach Boys fan. Emblazoned on the specialized 
plate was “Kokomo.” I had to laugh—at myself.

Before I left the clinic, a tall, stocky man dressed in black motorcycle 
leather and sporting a braid down his back walked in with his pet. Cradled 
in
his large arms was a tiny female Yorkie. How did I know the dog was female? 
She had a tiny pink bow clipped to the top of her head. I wanted to giggle
at the sight of this large man who obviously loved his dainty dog. In my 
mind, I pictured him with a Rottweiler or a Pit Bull.

I was certainly not expecting the surprises God had in store for me that 
morning at the vet clinic. First, I think people who take care of their 
animals
have good hearts. Proverbs 12:10 says, “Good people are kind to their 
animals, but a mean person is cruel.”

While I laughed at myself for prejudging who was driving the sports car and 
wanted to giggle at what I thought was a mismatched picture of a huge man 
and
his tiny Yorkie, God was reminding me not to judge others. Just love them.

In 2 Corinthians 10:7, Paul says, “You are judging by appearances. If anyone 
is confident that they belong to Christ, they should consider again that we
belong to Christ just as much as they do.”

How prone we all are—in our humanness—to pigeonhole people because of their 
looks, their skin color or their attire. How many times do we judge others
based on where they live, how much money they earn or what their money can 
or cannot buy? I think we are all guilty of stereotyping instead of just 
accepting
and loving our neighbors.

The author is available to speak at women’s events or to lead prayer 
journaling workshops. Email
carolaround@yahoo.com

An F for Effort

Just about everybody thinks they're good enough to at least squeak by into 
heaven. Put it all on balance, consider how hard they've tried, and God 
should be able to see they've done the best they could with what they had. 
They've been worse than some, sure, but better than most. When it's all said 
and done, if God's being fair, the scales ought to tip their way.

Well, there's the problem. The scales don't tip on the basis of being better 
than others. God's judgment has nothing at all to do with a person making 
good choices a certain percentage of the time. "When they measure themselves 
by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise" (2 
Corinthians 10:12). In fact, they're sadly deceived and mistaken.

If you're pinning your hopes on the outside chance that God operates on a 
sliding scale, hear what the Bible says: "It is not the one who commends 
himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends" (2 Corinthians 
10:18). And the only ones the Lord commends are those who are perfect—or 
those who've put all their trust in Jesus' ability to stand in for their 
imperfections.

"Whoever lives and believes in me will never die," Jesus said (John 11:25). 
Whoever lives and believes in himself will just die trying.

Pray this prayer: Dear God, I know I've been wrong to think I'm good enough 
to satisfy your high standards. Help me to see that I can never be what you 
want me to be until Jesus is living in me.

Please visit Joe Gibbs' Website at
www.GamePlanForLife.com

Children of God

Who are the children of God? Is everyone a child of God? Everyone was
created by God as David wrote:

Psalm 139:13 (NCV)
13 You made my whole being; you formed me in my mother’s body.

Yes, God made each of us but does that mean that each of us is a child of
God? Some will bring up the following Scripture:

Genesis 6:1-2 (KJV)
1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth,
and daughters were born unto them, 2 That the sons of God saw the daughters
of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they
chose.

Does this mean that the men were from God but the women were from men? Didn’t
God create both man and woman? All the lexicons I checked said that this
phrase “sons of God†used here means angels. Today’s English Version of the
Bible uses the phrase “heavenly beings†instead of “sons of Godâ€. Wouldn’t
the women have known these were angels? Probably not. WE read in Genesis 18
where Abraham was sitting in front of his tent when he saw three men walking
down the road toward him. These were angels. They were sent from God to save
Lot and his family from Sodom and Gomorrah. They looked and acted like real
men.

Below we see what John wrote about children of God:

1 John 3:1 (NIV)
1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be
called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does
not know us is that it did not know him.

John 1:9-13 (NASB95)
9 There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens
every man.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and
the world did not know Him.
11 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive
Him.
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to
become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,
13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the
will of man, but of God.

There is a difference between those who live in this world and those who are
children of God. So how do you become a child of God? How did you become a
human child? You were born. So…

John 3:3 (GNB)
3 Jesus answered, “I am telling you the truth: no one can see the Kingdom of
God without being born again.â€

Are you a child of God? You can be sure you are by the way in the following
verse:

Romans 8:16 (NASB95)
16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,

If you are not a child of God or are not sure you are, surrender your life
to Jesus Christ. Repent of your sins and ask Him to live inside you and be
your Savior and Lord.

by Dean W. Masters

The evangelistic methods of our present golden-calf Christianity!

(A.W. Tozer)

Any objection to the evangelistic methods of our present golden-calf 
Christianity, is met with the triumphant reply, "But we are winning the 
lost!"

And what are you winning them to?
To true discipleship?
To cross-carrying?
To self-denial?
To separation from the world?
To crucifixion of the flesh?
To holy living?
To nobility of character?
To a despising of the world's treasures?
To total committal to Christ?
Of course, the answer to all these questions is NO!

Feel free to forward these gems to others who may be encouraged or profited 
by them!
www.gracegems.org


How to be a Witness for Christ

Jennifer Heeren

A young woman visited my church one day and a friend of mine greeted her and 
introduced her to me. I was friendly as I talked to this woman and she 
seemed very nice too. I found out that she was going to have knee surgery 
soon. I also found out that she had a husband but he hadn’t come with her to 
visit this church. I sat with her during the entire service and she was 
grateful that she didn’t have to sit by herself. I prayed during the service 
that God would meet this young lady’s needs. I knew that
she was seeking something bigger than herself or she wouldn’t have come to a 
church where she didn’t know anybody. I even prayed over the next few weeks 
for God to help her. But I didn’t ask any questions that God could have used 
to help her. I wish I would have shared more deeply and been more open, but 
I was a little afraid that she might ask a question that I wouldn’t be able 
to answer. Have you ever not spoken about God because you were worried that 
you would not be able to answer questions that
come up if you did?

John 4:1-42 tells the story of a Samaritan woman running into Jesus when she 
is doing one of chores—fetching water at the well. Jesus speaks to the 
Samaritan woman and asks her for a favor in a time when Jewish people did 
not speak to Samaritans. Jesus does not care about nationalities; He cares 
about people.

Then Jesus offers her more than just physical water; he offers her Living 
Water for her spirit. He starts out asking her for a favor and turns it 
around to what he can offer her. The woman doubts what Jesus tells her but 
voices her doubts in questions so she can get clarification. She does not 
keep her doubts to herself.

Jesus reiterates that Living Water is indeed spiritual and supplies much 
more refreshment than physical water. He goes on to explain that Living 
Water provides eternal life with God. The woman still doesn’t quite get the 
full repercussions but asks for that living water anyway. She thinks that if 
that living water lasts forever then she wouldn’t have to make so many trips 
to the well. The important thing is that she is willing to hear more from 
Jesus.

Jesus brings up the woman’s past because Living Water or the Spirit always 
wants to bring repentance into the picture. People need to see and admit 
that they do indeed mess up and need help from God. The Spirit helps us to 
see our mistakes and failures and we all have them. The woman cannot believe 
that he knows her past. Hadn’t she hidden her past in her neat and tidy 
present?

Instead of turning away in shock and embarrassment from what this Man knows 
about her, she continues to ask him questions. She wants to know about true 
worship, which means that she is thinking about God. Jesus explains that 
some people celebrate their knowledge of God while others celebrate their 
feelings about God. He goes on to explain that neither by itself is true 
worship. True worship is both spirit and truth and you cannot have one 
without the other. Knowledge alone only feeds your pride.
Spirit alone can lead to following fickle emotions. However, both together 
keep you looking toward God even when you do not feel like it or when 
circumstances seem to contradict God’s Word.

The woman says that she believes that a messiah is coming and this messiah 
will answer any questions she has now. Jesus plainly acknowledges that he is 
indeed the Messiah. Deep down she must believe him because she leaves her 
water jar (the very reason she was there in the first place) and runs back 
to her village. She tells everyone she sees that she has just met a man that 
knew everything about her. She wonders aloud, “Could it be the Messiah?” She 
voices her opinions to others even though she
is not sure of all of the details herself. Those people come out in droves 
to see for themselves. Her curiosity arouses others’ curiosity.

Many people from this woman’s village believe because she simply said what 
she saw—a man that knew everything about her. Those people invite Jesus to 
stay with them so they can hear more and Jesus does. Therefore, even more 
people hear his message and believe.

Some of the villagers thank the woman for sharing what she saw. That’s it. 
That is all she did. She shared what she saw.

As Christians, we are called to be a witness for Jesus Christ. The 
definition of a witness is a person who makes a statement about what he or 
she has seen or heard. That’s it.

I can easily be tripped up and therefore not speak up because I think I don’t 
know everything about the Bible. I may not know the answers to questions the 
person may ask but I am not called to know everything. I am called to share 
what I have seen. I am called to share what has brought me hope in my life. 
That’s it.

I do not have to know every nuance of Christian doctrine in order to share 
what I have seen.

Jennifer Heeren has always loved to write. For more than a decade, she has 
enjoyed writing encouraging blog messages. She loves to write things that 
bring people hope and encouragement. Her cup is always at least half-full. 
She regularly contributes to Crosswalk.com and has also been published on
ChristianDevotions.us.
She lives near Atlanta, Georgia with her husband. Visit her at
www.jenniferheeren.com.

Publication date: February 20, 2014


Should Christians Evangelize?

Mike Pohlman

We live in a day and age when many professing Christians are questioning 
whether or not people of other faiths (or no faith at all) should be 
evangelized. Which makes the following headline today in the Times of London 
very interesting: "
Anglicans Called on to Convert Non-Christian Believers."

In some ways it's hard for me, as a card-carrying evangelical (I don't 
really have a card), to understand why Christians would need to be called on 
to pray and work for the conversion of non-Christians. How does it get to 
this point? The Anglican Rev. Nezlin Sterling offered this explanation:

We have positioned ourselves like the disciples did immediately after the 
death of Christ, behind closed doors, paralysed with fear of the world.

Fear of the world is certainly one cause of silence when it comes to our 
witness. We fear being shunned, rejected and scoffed at by those that don't 
want anything to do with Christianity. We worry that people will be offended 
by our desire for them to embrace our faith. We fear being called intolerant 
or disrespectful. We fear tension at work or at home. We fear not being 
perceived as cool. We worry about coming across as too serious (C'mon, man. 
Stop worrying about such weighty things. Just relax!).
The list of fears seems limitless.

The most important thing missing in our list of fears? God.

I'm praying that the Anglican communion is gripped with a renewed sense of 
the fear of God so that bold witness to the gospel follows. And while I'm at 
it, I'm praying that this card-carrying evangelical joins the ranks of those 
overwhelmed with the majesty of the One with whom we must give account. For 
unless this happens fear of the world will keep me silent.

I Need Thee Every Hour
Friday, February 21, 2014
“Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that 
we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” – Hebrews 4:16
NASB
Even as a young girl, Annie Hawks wrote poems that expressed her faith in 
God. One day as she was going about her normal activities in 1873, when she 
was
37, she felt an overwhelming closeness to God. Describing this moment, she 
wrote how she suddenly “became so filled with the sense of nearness to the 
Master.”
Annie knew that the Lord was so precious to her that she wondered how she 
could ever live without Him. Words started flowing into her mind, and she 
said
the thought of His presence at once took “full possession of me.”
She wrote, “I need Thee, O I need Thee; every hour I need Thee.” She knew 
that she needed to seek an intimate relationship with the Savior in order to
be blessed: “O bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee.”
Annie realized that when she was close to Jesus, He provided all the 
protection she needed: “I need Thee every hour, stay Thou nearby; 
temptations lose
their power when Thou art nigh.” And she needed Him all the time: “I need 
Thee every hour, in joy or pain; come quickly and abide, or life is in 
vain.”
She had discovered that Jesus would provide the answers to all of her 
problems: “I need Thee every hour; teach me Thy will; and Thy rich promises 
in me
fulfill.” In His presence, she could experience deep and lasting peace: “I 
need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord; no tender voice like Thine can 
peace
afford.”
These became the words to a hymn that still touches lives: “I Need Thee 
Every Hour.” Right now, if you know this hymn, sing it unto God. Ask Him to 
overwhelm
you with His presence. He is right by your side, going through your journey 
with you. Speak to Him often. Call on His name, and allow Him to fill you 
with
His peace, joy, and power.

Today's Inspiration Prayer

Today's Inspiration Prayer

Father, I need You in my life every hour and minute. I depend upon You for 
peace, direction, and protection. Fill me with Your presence. Thank You! In
Jesus’ name. Amen.

Further Reading: Hebrews 4
www.inspiration.org

Jesus Wept
by Ryan Duncan, Crosswalk.com Entertainment Editor

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 
After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. –
Matthew 4:1-2

I once heard a story of a woman who lost her only daughter in a tragic 
accident. After the funeral she fell into deep despair, and many of her 
friends
began to worry about her safety. In desperation, one of them asked their 
local priest if he would go to her house and speak with her, but the moment 
the
woman saw him she flew into a rage.

“Get out!” She screamed, “I already know what you’re going to say. You’re 
going to tell me that everything happens for a reason, that this is God’s 
will,
and I don’t want to hear that.” The priest did not move. Eventually the 
woman began to calm down and started to sob. It was at that the priest 
spoke, quietly
and gently.

“Listen,” he told her, “I don’t know why your daughter died, and I do not 
know why God allowed it to happen, but I do know that God understands what 
it
is to lose a child, and that he is standing next to you, and that he cannot 
stop your suffering but that he loves you and he loves your daughter, and if
you let him into your heart you will see her again.”

What really struck me the first time I heard this story was that God really 
did understand the pain of losing someone. I realized that for a long time
I’d had a false view of Jesus. I’d always pictured him as this tall, 
soft-spoken man who was completely serene no matter what the world threw at 
him. I
didn’t understand that when God became a man he embraced all human 
sensation, even the ones that hurt.

Jesus got hungry, just like us (Mark 11:12). He got frustrated, just like us 
(Mark 11:14). He got sad (John 11:35), and angry (John 2:16-17), and scared
(Luke 22:44). Jesus probably laughed with his friends, and grew stern with 
the Pharisees. The Bible says that Jesus lived a sinless life, but that 
doesn’t
mean he wasn’t human.

Some of you may be having a fairly nice day while reading this and some of 
you may be having a pretty miserable one. Regardless of what is happening to
you, know that God understands how you feel, and that he will always love 
you.

Intersecting
Faith and Life: Follow Christ through his years of ministry. Take note of the 
times when Christ displays his emotions.

Further Reading

Matthew 4:1-11

Spring Blooms

2 Corinthians 2:14 (NKJV)
14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and 
through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.

Early one spring a group was going to meet at our church to go somewhere. It 
was one of the first beautiful, sunny, warm spring day so we waited outside 
for everyone to get there. All of a sudden there came an odor that smelled 
like someone had dumped some kitchen oil or grease in the yard that had 
turned rancid. Come to find out it was the aroma coming from the blooms on 
the Bradford Pear tree. These trees have a beautiful natural shape and are 
one of the first trees to bloom. The blooms look great but then you get a 
whiff of the aroma and it turns you off immediately.

A few weeks later it was Easter Sunday. The blooms were about all gone from 
the
Bradford Pears but the church had ordered a number of Easter lilies which 
some people had placed around the sanctuary. When you entered it that Easter 
Sunday morning the aroma was heavenly.

WE who call ourselves Christians may look like a beautiful bloom. Others may 
know we go to church. We may tell others we are a Christian. We might carry 
a Bible around or have a Christian bumper sticker on our car. These things 
make us look like a bloom but what aroma are we giving off to those who 
really know us?

I know that no one is perfect and that we all sin from time to time but if 
we show the fruit of the spirit which is love, joy, peace, patience, 
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control we will 
diffuse a sweet aroma like that of the Easter lilies which may draw people 
to Jesus Christ.

What if those around you continually hear you using bad language or telling 
dirty jokes? What if people see you continually doing personal work on the 
employer’s time?
What if you get your employees to do your personal work during your employer’s 
time? What if people see you fly off the handle often or do many other 
things that are not part of the fruit of the spirit? These people may see 
you at first like a pretty bloom but when they see you doing these types of 
things they smell the aroma of a Bradford pear. If they are not Christians 
then they might think that there is no difference so why should they want to 
become a Christian?

The apostle Paul wrote:

1 Thessalonians 5:22 (NKJV)
22 Abstain from every form of evil.

That is what we need to do to draw others to Jesus Christ. WE each need to 
be more like Easter lilies and less like Bradford Pear blooms.

by Dean W. Masters

Owner of the Master's List

Today's Quote:

If the world's ship is sunk and we as believers are in the lifeboat, are
we rescuing those who are drowning in the waters around us? I wonder. I
think a lot of believers are having a huge party, thanking their divine
Captain for saving them. They are making so much noise they can't hear
the cries of those begging for a hand up onto the lifeboat. Then there
are others who lean over the edge of the boat, busily bashing anyone in
reach with their blanket judgements, pet doctrines, end time theologies
and harsh words. They view those who drown as a result to be hard
hearted and unreceptive to their help.

Katherine Walden

Devotions by Christine Caine - Undaunted

Read
Ephesians 1:22–23

The apostle Paul describes the Church as the Body of Christ.

House of Worship

The word “church” comes from the Greek word ecclesia, which is defined as 
“an assembly” or “called out ones.” The root meaning of “church” doesn’t 
pertain
to a building but rather to a people. That’s you and me! The apostle Paul as 
the Body of Christ. This would suggest life and activity.

This concept came alive to me one day when Nick and I were visiting a 
200-year-old European cathedral, one of the most majestic every constructed. 
Though
it was beautiful to look at, there was no sign of a living, active Body of 
Christ. A sign erected for tourists told us that once upon a time, it had 
been
the center of community life. It had served not only as a house of worship 
but also as the major social justice agency, the main relief organization, 
and
the primary center for medical and aged care. This church had not been 
limited to the four walls of a cathedral. Quite the opposite, her influence 
and
reach had gone far beyond the confines of the bricks and mortar that 
constituted her physical structure.

The church had really been the Church in the community and was not just 
doing church in a building. The congregants had been living from the inside 
out—
not only loving God with all their hearts, souls, and minds but also loving 
their neighbors as themselves. But where had all those believers gone? Why
had the building outlasted the church in this community? Why were people no 
longer worshiping God in this place? How does something that starts out as
a dynamic, living organism—part of the Body of Christ—end up as a dead 
monument, nothing more than a tourist attraction? And if this church was not 
a living
church, who was actually loving the people who lived in this neighborhood?

I have discovered that a church loses its life and effectiveness at the 
point it stops being the church that God created her to be and starts going 
through
the motions of doing church. What is true for the individual Christian 
remains true for the corporate Body of Christ. As long as a local church is 
actively
involved in the lives of those who live in the community, it remains alive, 
dynamic, vibrant, and healthy. This kind of church—the kind the cathedral 
once
was—is, at its core, what God created it to be.

Point to Ponder

Have you ever thought of yourself as being a living, breathing part of the 
Church? You are as long as you are vitally joined with Christ and the 
members
of Christ’s Body.

Ron Hutchcraft Ministries - A Word With You

A Word With You
Church Island - #7074

My wife and I were in Colorado, and she said, "I want to go to a ghost 
town." I did too, because I was pretty sure there wouldn't any antique 
stores there.
So we drove many miles down this rutted road and into this deserted little 
village called Winfield. Now it wasn't like this 100 years ago. No, then the
gold and silver fever was in the air, and Winfield was alive with the boom 
that was going on in the area. There were fortune hunters, and fortune 
spenders,
and fortune losers.

Today, however, there are just a few buildings. It stands silent; almost an 
outdoor museum. There were several hotels back in the boom days, saloons and
one church. The church is still standing, and it should be. Though it stood 
there overlooking that bustling town, no services were ever held in that 
church.
Oh, the town had a church, but the church had absolutely no effect on the 
people there in their frantic pursuit of wealth and pleasure.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Church 
Island."

As I looked at that ghost town, I honestly couldn't help but ask, "Is that 
us as Christians in our town, in our world today?" We have services, but are
we really making any difference? Are we connecting with the lost people who 
are all around us? Or are they just racing after their pleasure and after 
their
money, largely oblivious to what's going on inside our steepled buildings? 
Are we Christians living on Church Island while most of the people Christ 
died
for are on the mainland over there, totally disconnected from Jesus and from 
His people? It wasn't meant to be that way.

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew chapter 5, 
beginning in verse 13. "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt 
looses its
saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything 
except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world.
A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it 
under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand and it gives light to 
everyone
in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men that they may 
see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

Salt can only change the flavor of the meat if it's in contact with it. It 
does nothing at all huddled together in a salt shaker does it? Light can 
only
transform the darkness in a room if it's in the room in direct contact with 
the darkness. Your town doesn't need all the light bulbs huddling together
in a light convention. The light has to be out where the people are. Who 
would build a house with all the lights in one room, leaving the rest of the 
house
dark?

We are in the first American Christian generation to be asked to represent 
Christ in a post-Christian country where the majority of people don't know 
our
book, they don't know our vocabulary, and they don't know our subculture. 
They don't know about what our Savior could do for them. We can't do what 
we've
always done and reach the lost people of this culture. And they must have a 
chance at our Jesus!

How do we break out of being Church Island in a sea of lost people? First, 
you address their needs. If they don't care about Christ, we have to find 
ways
to help them with the things they do care about; their children, their 
marriage, their stress, their emotional pain, their recovery. They'll only 
want
to be with us if we find a need they have and try to meet it.

Secondly, we have to speak their language. We've got to move out of our 
Christianese vocabulary. They just don't understand it. And stretch 
ourselves to
tell Jesus' story in words they speak. We need to love them in their 
language; in ways that they can feel. And ultimately, we've just got to go 
to their
world and not expect them to come to ours.

It's a sad feeling to stand in a church that had no effect on the dying 
people around them. And how sad it must be for Jesus to stand in His church 
today
and see that same thing happening. We cannot be content to hunker down on 
Church Island, when just beyond our reach are people whose eternities are at
stake.


Two Very Different Ways to Treat Sinners

Paul Tautges

There are basically two different ways we treat fellow sinners. We either 
act like self-appointed judges who, like the Pharisees, act out of our 
supposed self-righteousness, or we act like needy sinners who never step 
very far away from the cross and, therefore, like Jesus (who, unlike us, was 
not a sinner at all!), are quick to dispense grace and forgiveness. To 
summarize it another way, we either live by the letter of the law, which 
kills the soul, or we live by the Spirit, which gives life (2
Cor 3:6).

These two approaches are what we see in massive contrast in John’s account 
of the woman caught in adultery. The contrast is startling. Please stop 
here. Take two minutes to read John 8:1-11 before proceeding.

In John's example of the redeeming love and grace of Jesus we see the 
difference between treating people according to the letter of the law and 
treating them according to the Spirit. Here we see pompous leaders, who long 
to squash a sinful woman like a bug, contrasted alongside a Savior whose 
abundant grace pursues and ultimately restores her.

How a Self-Righteous Pharisee Treats Sinners

The scribes and the Pharisees, the self-righteous religionists, drew public 
attention to the woman’s sin in order to bolster their own reputation as 
spiritual experts of the law. Their accusation, though true, was for the 
purpose of trapping Jesus. However, in order to do so they used the woman's 
humiliation, public shame, and condemnation for their own self-serving 
purposes, not for the nurture and care of her broken soul. In short, these 
spiritual leaders thought first of judgment, but never of
mercy, grace, or restorative love.

But something unexpected happened. Jesus turned the tables on the 
"punishers" and they were caught in their own trap just as passages like 
Psalm 7:15-16 predict.

How a Grace-Dispensing Savior Treats Sinners

When Jesus effectively turned the focus of the self-righteous leaders to 
their own guiltiness before God (that they too deserved death as violators 
of God’s law), they lost the grounds for their accusation and judgment of 
her. Jesus, on the other hand, pursued the sinner with grace—the kind of 
grace that first forgives and receives before instructing to live in 
holiness and obedience to God (2 Cor 5:15).

When sinners are treated according to the letter of the law the soul is 
killed and any attempt at restoration fails miserably. However, when sinners 
are treated with the redeeming grace of God then the Spirit gives life as He 
grants the twin gifts of repentance and faith and the subsequent ability to 
heed the call to “go and sin no more.”

Which of these two approaches describes us? Are we like the scribes and 
Pharisees who were quick to pronounce judgment on others and rid their life 
of offensive sinners who were beneath them? Or are we like Jesus 
who---without lowering God’s standard of holiness---reached out to sinners 
with patient grace? Have we forgotten that the ground is level at the foot 
of the cross? Do we recognize that no matter how long we've been a Christian 
we will never get to the point where we will have the “right”
to condemn another? Are we daily conscious of the reality that there is only 
one who has the power to condemn and that it is not you or me? (Rom 8:34).

Let’s get honest with ourselves. How do we treat fellow sinners, really?

Why Your Spiritual Life Needs Travel

Ryan Duncan

If you could wake up tomorrow, and go anywhere in the world, where would you 
go? Maybe France, to walk the streets of Paris and enjoy some French 
cuisine? If you’re more of a rough-and-tumble kind of person there’s always 
Australia, with its wild bush and stormy reefs. What about somewhere closer 
to home? Cities like Chicago and New Orleans may be a part of the same 
country, but their cultures couldn’t be more different.

For my part, I would choose a small village in Southern China, a place I 
once visited while studying abroad. While it may not be as grand as the 
other destinations I’ve mentioned, this village holds a special place in my 
heart for one reason: It’s Church. You see, many years ago I attended a 
Sunday service there, and as I sat in the back, feeling awkward and overly 
conspicuous, it suddenly dawned on me that I was in the company of 
Christians. We may be from different places and speak different languages,
but we all served the same loving God who died upon a cross to save us from 
our sins. In that moment, I realized the Kingdom of God was some much bigger 
than myself.

Travel has the ability to open your eyes. It can show you that Jesus is not 
limited to your neighborhood or your circle of friends. God’s spirit moves 
in the hearts of people from every nation. R. Eric Tippin of
Relevant Magazine
writes,

“The Christian faith is, in one sense, universal, for we all profess the 
same core beliefs. At the same time, the practice of the Christian faith is 
as diverse as the cultures in which it is preached and believed…If you take 
advantage of the opportunity to worship with those of other cultures, the 
mental meanings of the words ‘Christian’ and ‘Church’ will no longer be 
limited to your own local congregation but will span the globe—crossing 
oceans, centuries and cultural barriers.”

The world is a big place, and sometimes it’s easy to focus on the things 
that make us different instead of acknowledging what we all share. All of us
struggle with sin and temptation,
and it is only by Christ’s redeeming grace that we can be made whole again. 
The
book of Romans
puts it pretty well when it states,

“This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who 
believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the 
glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption 
that came by Christ Jesus.”– Romans 3:22-24

Right now we are in the middle of celebrating the
Winter Olympics.
In this time of unity, let’s take a moment to remember that God’s kingdom is 
not divided by language or nationality. We are all connected, not just by 
the shared history of the scriptures but by the overwhelming love of Jesus 
Christ.

What about you? What places hold special meaning in your heart?

*Ryan Duncan is the Culture Editor for Crosswalk.com

The believers' graces

(Thomas Watson)

Saving grace is the infusion of new and holy principles into the heart, 
whereby it is changed from what it was, and is made more and more into 
Christ's
image. Grace infuses . . .
light into the understanding,
tenderness into the conscience,
consent into the will, and
harmony into the affections.
Yes, grace is like leaven, pervading the whole man, until all is leavened.

Grace is a string of pearls, with which the Church (Christ's Bride) is 
adorned.

The heart inlaid and enameled with grace, is like the "king's daughter, all 
glorious within." A gracious soul is the image of Christ, skillfully drawn
with the pencil of the Holy Spirit. A heart beautified with grace is God's 
lesser Heaven, "I dwell in the high and lofty place--and also with him also
who is of a contrite and humble spirit." Grace humbles--yet elevates.

Grace is the flower of the soul, which fragrance Christ delights to savor. 
Grace is to the soul, what . . .
the eye is to the body,
the sun is to the world,
the diamond is to the ring.

Grace makes the heart a spiritual temple, which has this inscription on it, 
"Holiness unto the Lord!"

The believers' graces are . . .
weapons to defend them,
wings to elevate them,
jewels to enrich them,
spices to perfume them,
stars to adorn them,
cordials to revive them, and
evidences for Heaven, when death is near.

When grace flourishes--sin cannot thrive.

Grace is Christ's portrait drawn on the soul.

The river of grace can never be dried up, for the Spirit of God is the 
spring which feeds it.

Here on earth, Christ puts His graces upon His spouse--in Heaven He will put 
His glory upon her.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
We have published George Mylne's comforting short article, "
What is Your Burden
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Feel free to forward these gems to others who may be encouraged or profited 
by them!

The Perverse Generation
by Sarah Phillips

"O unbelieving and perverse generation,"Jesus replied, "how long shall I 
stay with you and put up with you?"
Luke 9:41

There is much written today about how the world has lost touch with God and 
morality. It's easy to view the past with rose-tinted glasses, to believe in
"the good old days" or reminisce about a golden era. We do this in the 
Church all the time, often pointing to one practice that, if resurrected, 
would
surely turn this generation around.

"If only the women still wore head coverings in church… "

"If only we sang ancient hymns… "

"If only young men and women got married earlier… "

Don't read me wrong here… these issues are important. But the stark reality 
is, every generation has fallen short of God's glory. Every generation has
sinned. Does this sound familiar?

"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for 
authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of 
exercise. Children
are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise 
when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before 
company,
gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their 
teachers."

How often have I been tempted to mutter these words when encountering 
today's teenagers? But this quote is attributed to Socrates by Plato. 
Apparently
teens weren't doing so well in the ancient world either. The fallen nature 
of man has followed us through the ages, plaguing the young and old alike. 
Our
broken nature manifests itself in so many ways… from the darkest sins to our 
lack of basic manners and courtesy.

Jesus himself seemed to grow weary of the sins of his own day. I imagine the 
opening scripture was expressed with a mix of sadness and righteous anger.
During Lent, which begins with Ash Wednesday, our church acknowledges God's 
just anger at the end of every service with this chant: Parce, Domine, parce
populo tuo;/ ne in aeternum irascaris nobis which translates to: "Spare your 
people Lord: / Be not angry Lord with your people forever."

But what is the rest of the story? Even as his sinful followers surrounded 
him, Jesus healed the spiritual and physical afflictions of a possessed boy.
We see here that going back to the "good old days" doesn't have the power to 
save us. It's the person of Jesus Christ who saves. This is the miracle of
Easter: The incredible mercy of a God who would be justified in staying 
angry forever after the golden era of Eden went terribly wrong. He hears our 
cries
for redemption - weak though they may be - and saves us.

Is the world worse today than it was yesterday? Does it matter? God's 
patience and mercy for our "perverse and unbelieving generation" reveal the 
depths
of his divine love. And those forgiven the most sins have the greatest 
number of reasons to rejoice.

Intersecting
Faith
& Life: Have you ever felt so deeply ashamed of your sins that you thought 
no one could be as bad as you? Take heart. Some of the greatest saints were
the worst of sinners. All sins can be forgiven when we call out to the Holy 
Spirit and ask for mercy. Rejoice in the second chances that come with 
Easter.

Further Reading
Luke 7: 47
Romans 3: 23

How Much Do You Have to Hate Someone to Not Proselytize?

James Emery White

Editor's note: This excerpt taken from chapter 4 of
Christ Among Dragons: Finding Our Way Through Cultural Challenges
by James Emery White

As a culture, we are rediscovering the validity of spirituality, once again 
making room for insight, intuition and even revelation. Articles on angels, 
near-death experiences, prayer and healing have become cover stories. 
Spiritual themes run throughout contemporary music. Films and television 
increasingly explore religious ideas and settings. People are interested in 
spiritual things, they're asking spiritual questions and are beginning to 
see that many of their deepest needs are spiritual in nature.

But in the new search for the spiritual, Christianity may lose while others 
gain. Or there may be such an eclectic gathering of spiritual commitments 
that Christianity will, at best, be only sampled. You may have heard of the 
term metrosexual. A metrosexual is a man found deep in the hair-care aisle 
or in the salon having his nails buffed to the perfect shine, while he's 
checking out the latest fashion magazines. He's a sensitive, well-educated 
urban dweller in touch with his feminine side. He loves
to shop, wear jewelry and fill his bathroom counter with moisturizers — and 
maybe even makeup. In other words, he embodies a new definition of what it 
means to be a man. One that borrows heavily from what it means to be a 
woman, and combines it into a new identity.

Think of people becoming metrospirituals. There is a keenly felt emptiness 
resulting from a secularized, materialistic world that has led to a hunger 
for something more, but many go no further than the search for an 
experience. We have come to the point where the soul cannot be denied, but 
all we know to do is search for something "soulish." So an extraterrestrial 
will serve as well as an angel; a spiritualist as well as a minister. 
Borrowing a phrase from historian Christopher Dawson, we have a
new form of secularism that embraces "religious emotion divorced from 
religious belief." In our current climate, people might be as likely to 
explore Wicca as the Word, Scientology as the Spirit. Or they may, in the 
end, explore nothing at all.

A Land of Swedes

When the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) was released, 
much was to be expected: mainlines are losing ground, the Bible belt is less 
Baptist, Catholics have infiltrated the South, denominationalism is on the 
wane. What was most alarming was the increase in "nones" — nearly doubling 
from 8 percent to 15 percent, making those who claim no religion at all the 
third largest defined constituency in the United States, eclipsed only by 
Catholics and Baptists. Further, "nones" were the
only religious bloc to rise in percentage in every single state, thus 
constituting the only true national trend. As the ARIS report concludes, 
"the challenge to Christianity ... does not come from other religions but 
from a rejection of all forms of organized religion." Barry Kosmin, 
co-researcher for the survey, warns against blaming secularism for driving 
up the percentage of Americans who say they have no religion. "These people 
aren't secularized. They're not thinking about religion and rejecting
it; they're not thinking about it at all." It is not that unbelief is 
driving out belief, James Turner suggests, but that unbelief has become more 
readily available as an answer to the question "What about God?" Unbelief is 
becoming mainstreamed, as evidenced by Barack Obama's recognition of people 
without faith, the first president to do so, in his inaugural address.

Thus, we must see America as a mission field. As an Episcopalian priest from 
South Carolina recently offered, "A couple came in to my office once with a 
yellow pad of their teenage son's questions. One of them was: ‘What is that 
guy doing hanging up there on the plus sign?' " But America is not just any 
mission field — but a very specific one. As in "think Sweden." In his book 
Society Without God, sociologist Phil Zuckerman chronicled his fourteen 
months investigating Danes' and Swedes' religion.
His conclusion? Religion "wasn't really so much a private, personal issue, 
but rather, a non-issue." His interviewees just didn't care about it. As one 
replied, "I really have never thought about that. ... It's been fun to get 
these kinds of questions that I never, never think about."

Sociologist Peter Berger once quipped, "If India is the most religious 
country on our planet, and Sweden is the least religious, America is a land 
of Indians ruled by Swedes." What we must now realize is that we are 
increasingly becoming a land of Swedes.

I would think such a climate would provide the perfect motivational setting 
for evangelism: spiritual openness, coupled with spiritual desire and hunger 
for spiritual experience, yet divorced from Christian belief. Yet this is 
not what is happening; the largest evangelical denominations, such as the 
Southern Baptist Convention, are not exhibiting a rise in baptisms but a 
steady, multiyear decline. Muslims are likely to outnumber Christians in 
Britain in just a few decades, and the Mormon Church now
claims twelve million members, including six million in the United States. 
Why is it that this generation of Christians is losing such dramatic 
spiritual ground?

Passivity

Most of us are familiar with the concept of urgency. It has to do with 
something that needs immediate attention because of its gravity. One of the 
challenges facing evangelical Christianity is that we do not seem to feel it 
is urgent to reach people for Christ. This despite an explicit effort from 
Jesus to generate such urgency:

There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in 
luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with 
sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs 
came and licked his sores. The time came when the beggar died and the angels 
carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. In 
hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with 
Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, "Father
Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in 
water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire."

But Abraham replied, "Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your 
good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here 
and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm 
has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor 
can anyone cross over from there to us." He answered, "Then I beg you, 
father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him 
warn them, so that they will not also come to this
place of torment" (Luke 16:19-28).

When we die, we face either heaven or hell. While the great and final 
judgment was yet to come for both of these men, it's clear from this story 
that immediately upon our death, the fate of our lives is not only sealed 
but the verdict of that inevitable judgment is set in motion. The beggar 
Lazarus was by Abraham's side, which along with the concept of paradise, is 
mentioned in the Talmud as the home of the righteous — the place where the 
righteous dead go to await their future redemption and vindication.
The rich man was in hell (Greek, "hades") the place where the wicked dead go 
to await their final judgment. And the chasm between the two cannot be 
crossed.

We do not often let our thoughts travel to such realities. It is 
uncomfortable. Even chilling. But one person in Jesus' story had it envelop 
every fiber of his being: the man in hell. To such a degree that he 
experienced a remarkable change in priorities. As I once heard someone 
observe, five minutes in hell made the rich man a flaming evangelist. Why? 
Because suddenly he knew it was all for real. And once he knew this, nothing 
mattered more than warning those he cared about. He knew that hell was
not a figment of someone's imagination. It was real, and real people go 
there for eternity. And the man in hell knew that it would take someone 
going to them, talking to them, making it clear to them. Hell has a way of 
making that evident. We must realize that our friends, our family members, 
that person in our neighborhood, the person we work with who does not know 
Christ is in real trouble.

We must not see the needs of the world solely in terms of food and clothing, 
justice and mercy, shelter and companionship. We must see those needs, to be 
sure, and meet them — but we must see beyond them to the fallen nature of a 
world and humanity that produced those needs. We must see eternity waiting 
to be written in their hearts. I know of a ministry to young male 
prostitutes working the streets of Chicago that offers food, shelter, 
counseling and an array of other social services to help men
move out of that degrading lifestyle. Most of us would think that is more 
than enough, that the greatest issue had been addressed. But not John Green, 
the leader of Emmaus Ministries, who has said, "We do violence to the poor 
if we don't share Christ with them." And he's right. It is difficult to 
imagine passivity in regard to those who have yet to embrace the Christian 
faith. The Scriptures do not simply speak, they thunder:

We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal 
through us (2 Corinthians 5:20).

Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation (Mark 16:15).

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name 
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to 
obey everything I have commanded you (Matthew 28:19-20).

I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might 
save some (1 Corinthians 9:22).

One Saturday night, just as we were beginning the first of our weekend 
services, a tragic car accident happened in front of our church's main 
entrance. A 35-year-old man accidentally crossed the median line and ran 
into a car coming in the opposite direction. He wasn't wearing a seatbelt 
and was thrown from his car. He died on the scene. The "scene" being the 
side of the road by our front sign. Members and staff from our church were 
the first by his side. No one knew who he was.

It goes without saying that a death of any kind is unsettling. But a death 
in front of a church brings everything about our lives and mission into 
unique focus. That night, as I drove from our campus, I could only think: 
Was he a Christ follower? Did anyone ever reach out to him? What comfort is 
there in his family right now? I was told there was a child's safety seat in 
the back of his truck. Was he a father? I could not shake the depth of that 
human tragedy — and the consequences. Not just in regard
to the immediate throes of grief that would descend upon all who knew him, 
but the consequences of his death for eternity. I took it upon myself to 
find out who he was. His name was John. He was 35 years old. He had a young 
wife and a 22-month-old daughter. I called the pastor of the church who was 
doing the funeral. It was a little Baptist church not far from our own. I 
learned that the entire church was in a state of shock, and that they took 
the following Sunday to try to process his death together,
as a family of faith. Their one consolation? They knew he was a Christian. 
John was a Sunday school teacher and deeply committed to his faith. And 
while I was still aware of the enormous pain that surrounded his death, 
inside, I whispered a prayer of gratitude.

There were heroes around John's death that Saturday. Some of them were 
members of my church, along with medics, firefighters, police officers — all 
doing all that they could to save a life. And it was so clear what needed to 
be done. It was so obviously urgent. But in truth, the real saving had 
already been done, because another group of people saw the urgency 
surrounding his life in another way. The real heroes were the people who 
saved John before he died. And the best response of our church was
not to run up the hill to serve at the scene of an accident, but to reach 
out to the thousands who drive by our campus in their cars every day. For 
each one will, in their own way and time, meet an equally fateful end. Yet 
it is precisely this challenge that seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

According to the International Programs Center, U.S. Bureau of the Census, 
at the time of this writing, the total population of the world is 
6,793,790,293. Over two billion of them are Christians. That's one out of 
every three persons on the planet. But according to the latest research from 
Todd M. Johnson, research fellow and director of the Center for the Study of 
Global Christianity, most non-Christians have never met a follower of 
Christ. Over 86 percent of all Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims do
not even know a Christian. Globally, over 80 percent of all non-Christians 
do not personally know a Christian. It would seem that we have confused the 
command to not be of the world with not being in it — particularly in terms 
of relationships with those who do not share our faith. We are isolated from 
the very people we say we long to reach, having seemingly retreated into a 
subculture of our own making.

This was not the model of Jesus. He went into the world; he spent time with 
those who were far apart from God. He reached out relationally, built 
friendships, went into their homes, attended their parties, broke bread at 
their tables. It was profoundly intentional and openly risqué, to such a 
degree that he was derisively called a friend of sinners. The scandal of 
Jesus' interaction with the unchurched is often lost on modern readers of 
the Gospels. So he went to a party of Matthew's? So he ate with
Zacchaeus? So he spoke to a woman at a well? He was just being courteous, 
akin to someone who would open the door for a young mother or help an 
elderly person across the street. Such matters are passed over quickly to 
get to the heart of the story. But attending Matthew's party, eating with 
Zacchaeus and speaking to the woman is the story. In the ancient world 
"table fellowship" was considered an act of intimacy — arguably among the 
closest of intimacies. This helps explain the depth of betrayal
David felt when he spoke of those with whom he had shared bread but who then 
turned against him (Psalm 41), as well as the pain Jesus felt when Judas — 
immediately after taking the bread from his hand — went out into the night 
for his thirty pieces of silver. To eat with someone, particularly a 
"sinner," was far more than a meal. It signified welcome, recognition and 
acceptance. Eating with sinners simply was not to be done — not even in the 
name of redemption: "Let not a man associate with the wicked,
even to bring him near to the law," went the later rabbinic saying. This is 
why we read of the shock and dismay that Jesus was virtually indiscriminate 
with whom he ate (Luke 14-15). But he was more than just willing to meet and 
speak with those far from God. He was passionately intentional, proclaiming 
that such interactions rested at the heart of his mission: Who needs a 
doctor: the healthy or the sick? I'm here inviting outsiders, not insiders — 
an invitation to a changed life, changed inside
and out (Luke 5:31-32, The Message).

came to seek and to save what was lost (Luke 19:10).

Go out to the roads and country lanes, and urge the people there to come so 
my house will be full (Luke 14:23 ncv).

At the time of this writing, Mecklenburg Community Church has just over 79 
percent of its total growth coming from the unchurched. Leaders from other 
churches often ask what we do to reach such large numbers of non-Christians. 
They want a program, a style, a series, anything that might translate to 
their context and work. The reality is that our strategy is constantly 
changing; our "secret," however, has remained the same for nearly two 
decades: we are committed to reaching out in the most effective
way possible. It's that simple. We do not believe we exist for ourselves but 
for those who have yet to come. We do not build the church to meet our needs 
but the needs of others. Our "front door" has been intentionally, 
passionately, thrown open, and we do not simply invite others in but 
actively seek them out and bring them. In explaining this to others, I often 
tell of an event that happened in the early days of Meck. We spent four 
years meeting in an elementary school, which meant we had to set
up every Saturday and break down every Sunday. One weekend we were breaking 
down after the service, putting things back in trucks and sheds and cars, 
and Susan and I looked around and realized that our daughter, Rebecca, 
wasn't there. I thought she was with Susan, and Susan thought she was with 
me. She was only about 7 years old at the time. At first, we only panicked a 
little, because we assumed she'd be found right around the corner. But she 
wasn't right around the corner. She wasn't out on the
playground, she wasn't in any of the rooms, she wasn't in the hallway, she 
wasn't in the cafeteria, and she wasn't in the gym. We couldn't find her 
anywhere. I have seldom experienced such sheer panic and fear. My little 
girl, gone.

I started racing through the building, going into rooms we didn't even use, 
hallways that were darkened, I ran outside and yelled her name until I 
thought I was going to lose my voice. Nothing mattered more to me than 
finding my daughter. It occupied every thought, every ounce of energy. 
Everything else paled in comparison. Just as we were getting ready to call 
the police, going back over every inch of the school again, I saw, down a 
long, dark hallway that we didn't use, outside of the doors we
always blocked off because it was so cut off and led directly to the fields, 
a little head with brown hair barely above the glass. She had gone out the 
door, it had locked behind her, so she had sat down where she couldn't be 
seen and was just waiting for someone to find her. She had been crying and 
was scared, and she didn't know what to do but wait. I ran down that 
hallway, threw open those doors and grabbed that little girl and held her 
like you would not believe. You could not have pried her
from my arms. That is the heart of God. The heart of the Father is one in 
absolute, ongoing, permanent frenzy to find the lost. And that is to be our 
frenzy as well.

Hostility

But there is more than just passivity that we must address. Many Christians 
view those outside of the faith as needing to go to hell. They are the bad 
guys, the enemy; we refer to them as "pagans," "secular humanists," 
"liberals" and worse. Our relationship seems intensely adversarial in 
nature. It's the pro-family, Christian-radio listening, fish-sticker 
wearing, big-Bible carrying types versus the left-leaning, 
evolution-believing, gay marriage-supporting, Harry Potter-reading pagans.

And those outside of the faith have little doubt about our sentiments. In 
their book unChristian, David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons detail research on how 
those between the ages of sixteen and twenty-nine who are outside of the 
church view the church and people in it. They offered a set of words or 
phrases as possible descriptors of Christianity, and then cataloged the 
number who affirmed their accuracy. Leading the way was "anti-homosexual" 
(91 percent) and "judgmental" (87 percent). "Outsiders believe
Christians do not like them because of what they do, how they look, or what 
they believe," write Kinnaman and Lyons. "They feel minimized — or worse, 
demonized — by those who love Jesus."

Consider what has been our political voice — or at least, what has been 
perceived to be our voice. An editorial in Christianity Today titled "Hating 
Hillary" chronicled the depth of rancor and animosity among Christians 
toward Hillary Clinton, particularly during her run for the presidency. 
While her political stances have been polarizing, instead of civil discourse 
there was an avalanche of animosity expressed in everything from T-shirts, 
bumper stickers, voodoo dolls and "No Way In Hellary" barbecue
aprons. At the 2004 Republican convention, a spokesman for the Family 
Research Council passed out fortune cookies with the message: "#1 reason to 
ban human cloning: Hillary Clinton."

In anticipation of her historic run, which would have made her the first 
female president in U.S. history, the late Jerry Falwell announced at a 2006 
Values Voter Summit, "I certainly hope that Hillary is the candidate. 
Because nothing would energize my [constituency] like Hillary Clinton. If 
Lucifer ran, he wouldn't." So much for the "aroma of Christ" (2 Corinthians 
2:15). And it is easy to smell. It reminds me of a story told by Martin 
Niemoller, a German Lutheran bishop who was called on to negotiate
with Adolf Hitler during World War II in the attempt to save the church of 
Germany from being closed down by the Nazi dictator. Toward the end of his 
life Niemoller had a recurring dream in which he saw Hitler standing before 
Jesus on Judgment Day. Jesus got off his throne, put his arm around Hitler 
and asked, "Adolf! Why did you do the ugly, evil things you did? Why were 
you so cruel?" Hitler, with his head bent low, simply answered, "Because 
nobody ever told me how much You loved me." At this point,
Niemoller would wake up from his dream in a cold sweat, remembering the 
countless meetings he had with Hitler — face to face — and he never once 
said, "By the way, Führer, Jesus loves you! He loves you more than you'll 
ever know. He loved you so much that He died for you. Do you know that?" For 
Niemoller, this was a nightmare. For us, it is the heart of our challenge.

The End for the Means

But even among those who are neither passive nor hostile, the evangelistic 
mandate can still be muted if not silenced — largely through such an 
emphasis on connecting with the non-Christian that there is little vision 
for the relationship beyond the connection. It is as if the emphasis is on 
the temporal, not the eternal, in terms of focus and intent.

I spoke at the inaugural gathering of an annual event, simply titled "Q," 
that brings together the leading figures among emerging generations, all 
considered on the cutting edge of infiltrating and shaping culture for 
Christ. I have great respect for this event, its intent and its founders, 
and what follows is not meant to disparage "Q" in any way. But it was an 
interesting visit. I had arrived early enough to listen to preceding 
addresses and to capture some of the hallway conversations. There was
much talk of reaching culture, impacting culture, shaping culture — and then 
it hit me. No one was talking about reaching the people who were making that 
culture. There was talk of justice and art, but not redemption.

In some quarters it is as if we are focusing on the means to the end, only 
to forget the end. I have noticed this with many new churches planted to 
"reach the world" and "connect with culture." After sitting through 
countless such services, the pattern seems the same: enormous effort to 
connect culturally, great explanations of the practical wisdom and ethic of 
the Bible, but seldom is given the invitation to actually cross the line of 
faith in Christ.

When my turn came to speak, I went off script. I didn't plan on it — it was 
just one of those moments where as I was speaking the Holy Spirit planted a 
thought in my mind that I followed. I made a passing comment that we must 
not forget the most critical cultural engagement of all remains personal 
evangelism. In fact, I quipped that in many of the more advanced and "hip" 
conversations about cultural engagement, evangelism was conspicuous by its 
absence. I wasn't sure it was what I needed to say,
but then I was besieged by large numbers afterward who seemed to be quite 
taken — if not shaken — by my offhand remark.

It seemed to be an important reminder. I sense among some that the primary 
goal is to "get" culture and participate with it to be seen as current. But 
once we find ourselves in positions of cultural influence, or having created 
needed cultural bridges, then what? Historically, the most transformational 
of cultural revolutionaries did not merely understand or penetrate culture — 
they sought to redeem those in it. And wisely so. As Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 
observed, "The line separating good and evil
passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political 
parties either, but right through every human heart. ... It is impossible to 
expel evil from the world in its entirety, but it is possible to constrict 
it within each person."

The irony of our day is that never before has a generation of Christians — 
particularly young Christian leaders — cared more about connecting with 
their culture for the sake of Christ. The dilemma is that many are 
connecting, but once the connection is made, the gospel itself seems lost in 
translation. Or perhaps more accurately, lost in transmission. We must never 
forget that we relate to culture for a reason — its redemption. Many of us 
have lamented the loss of a whole gospel — meaning its reduction
to nothing more than salvation for the world to come, overlooking the need 
to reach out to the poor and homeless, the AIDS infected and the victim of 
injustice. How tragic if we went from one half of the gospel to another half 
and never seized its whole transforming, revolutionary intent for the whole 
world.

The Gift of a Bible

Now some might think, But what if I turn them off? What if they react 
negatively? This seems to be the arresting fear of our day. Those actually 
engaged in the effort are among the first to witness to its spurious 
assumptions. Most people — even the most hardened of skeptics — respond 
positively to a winsome and compelling witness. Penn Jillette is the 
talkative half of Penn and Teller, the Las Vegas comedy-illusion team, now 
with their own program on cable TV. Penn is an outspoken atheist. But he
posted a video blog on his personal website about a man who gave him a 
Bible, which has much to teach Christians:

At the end of the show ... we go out and we talk to folks, ... sign an 
occasional autograph and shake hands. ... here was one guy waiting over to 
the side ... nd he walked over to me and he said, "I was here last night at 
the show, and I saw the show and I liked the show. ..."

He was very complimentary. ... And then he said, "I brought this for you," 
and he handed me a Gideon pocket edition. I thought it said from the New 
Testament. ... And he said, "I wrote in the front of it, and I wanted you to 
have this. I'm kind of proselytizing."

And then he said, "I'm a businessman. I'm sane. I'm not crazy." And he 
looked me right in the eye and did all of this. And it was really wonderful. 
I believe he knew that I was an atheist. But he was not defensive. ... He 
was really kind and nice and sane and looked me in the eyes and talked to 
me, and then gave me this Bible.

And I've always said that I don't respect people who don't proselytize. I 
don't respect that at all. If you believe that there is a heaven and hell 
and that people could be going to hell ... How much do you have to hate 
somebody to not proselytize?

How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is 
possible and not tell them that? And that's all I want to say.

Perhaps, that's all we need to hear.

Dr. James Emery White, a frequent contributor at Christianity.com, is the 
founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, 
North Carolina. He also serves as professor of theology and culture on the 
Charlotte campus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Tamar, Daughter-in-Law of Judah

Her name means: "Date Tree" or "Palm Tree"

Her character: Driven by one overwhelming need, she sacrificed her 
reputation and nearly her life to achieve her goals.
Her sorrow: That the men in her life failed to fulfill their responsibility, 
leaving her a childless widow.
Her joy: That her daring behavior resulted, not in ruin, but in the 
fulfillment of her hopes to bear children.
Key Scriptures:
Genesis 38
;
Matthew 1:3

Her Story

Genealogies hardly make compelling reading at bedtime—or at any other time, 
for that matter. Perhaps you welcome them with a yawn, or skip over them 
entirely
as you read through the Bible. But even long lists of bewildering names can 
reveal interesting insights into God's mysterious plan. That's the way the
Scriptures work, yielding hidden riches on every page.

Take the genealogy in the first chapter of Matthew, for instance. It lists a 
grand total of forty-one male ancestors of Jesus, beginning with Abraham,
and a mere five female ancestors, three of whose stories (those of Tamar, 
Rahab, and Bathsheba) are colored by such distasteful details as incest, 
prostitution,
fornication, adultery, and murder.

Jesus, the perfect Son of the perfect Father, had plenty of imperfect 
branches in his family tree and enough colorful characters to populate a 
modern romance
novel. That women should be mentioned at all in his genealogy is surprising, 
let alone that four of the five got pregnant out of wedlock. In addition,
at least three of the women were foreigners, not Israelites.

Tamar fell into both categories. Her father-in-law, Judah (son of Jacob and 
Leah), had arranged for her to marry his firstborn, Er. Half Canaanite and
half Hebrew, Er was a wicked man, whom God killed for his sins. That's all 
we know of him.

After Er came Onan, Judah's second son. As was the custom of the time, Judah 
gave Onan to the widowed Tamar, instructing him to sleep with her so that
she could have children to carry on Er's line. But Onan was far too crafty 
for his own good. He slept with Tamar, but then "spilled his semen on the 
ground,"
thus ensuring Tamar's barrenness. That way he would not be saddled with the 
responsibility for children who would carry on his brother's line rather 
than
his own. But God took note, and Onan, too, died for his wickedness.

Already Judah had lost two sons to Tamar. Should he risk a third? Shelah was 
his only remaining son, not yet fully grown. To placate his daughter-in-law,
Judah instructed Tamar to return to her father's house and live as a widow 
until Shelah was of marriageable age. But time passed like a sluggish river,
and Tamar continued to wear her widow's garments as Selah grew up.

After Judah's wife died, he set out one day for Timnah to shear his sheep. 
Hearing the news of her father-in-law's journey, Tamar decided to take 
desperate
and dramatic action. If Judah would not give her his youngest son in 
marriage, she would do her best to propagate the family name in her own way. 
Shedding
her widow's black, she disguised herself in a veil, impersonating a 
prostitute, and sat down beside the road to Timnah. Judah slept with her and 
gave her
his personal seal and cord along with his staff in pledge of future payment.

About three months later, Judah learned that Tamar was pregnant, little 
realizing he was responsible for her condition. Outraged that she had 
prostituted
herself, he ordered her burned to death. But before the sentence could be 
carried out, Tamar sent him a stunning message: "I am pregnant by the man 
who
owns these. See if you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are."

The man who had so quickly passed judgment, little heeding his own secret 
tryst with a prostitute, was suddenly taken up short. To his credit, he told
the truth, saying, "She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn't give her 
to my son Shelah."

Six months later, Tamar gave birth to twins. Once again, as with Jacob and 
Esau, the children struggled in her womb. A tiny hand came out and then 
disappeared,
but not before being tied with a scarlet thread by the midwife. Then a 
small, slippery body emerged, but with no trace of the red thread. They 
named the
first boy Perez (meaning "Breaking Out"). Then the little one with the 
scarlet ribbon was born and they named him Zerah (meaning "Scarlet"). Perez 
was
recognized as the firstborn. From his line would come King David and 
finally, hundreds of years later, Jesus of Nazareth.

Judah had shown little concern regarding the continuance of his line. 
Instead, God used a woman, shamed by her own barrenness and determined to 
overcome
it, to ensure that the tribe of Judah would not only survive but that it 
would one day bear the world's Messiah.

Her Promise
The story in
Genesis 38
reveals nothing about Tamar's knowledge of God's hand in the events of her 
life. More than likely, she was totally unaware of the power of God at work.
But he was at work nevertheless, bringing good out of tragedy and blessing 
out of less than honorable events.

That's the beauty of this story. God's power to bring positive things from 
the negative, even sinful, events of our lives is just as much at work now 
as
in Tamar's day. We may not see it today or tomorrow—or perhaps ever—but we 
can trust the God we love to do what he loves: bring blessing to us in spite
of ourselves.

Today's devotional is drawn from
Women of the Bible: A One-Year Devotional Study of Women in Scripture
by Ann Spangler and Jean Syswerda. Visit
AnnSpangler.com

What is the 'Bad Eye' in
Matthew 6:23?
John Piper

A verse in Matthew is somewhat difficult to understand. It seems to dangle 
in the Sermon on the Mount with little connection to what goes before and 
after: "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your 
whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body 
will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is 
the darkness!" (Matthew 6:22-23).

Before it: the familiar saying about not laying up treasures on earth: "Do 
not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy 
and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures 
in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not 
break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be 
also" (Matthew 6:19-21).

After it: the equally familiar saying about not serving God and money: "No 
one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the 
other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot 
serve God and money" (Matthew 6:24).

Therefore, the sayings before and after Matthew 6:22-23 deal with treasure 
or money. In fact, the first would flow really well into the second if we 
simply left out the intervening verses 22-23. The gist would be "Treasure 
God in heaven, not money on earth . . . because you can't serve two masters, 
God and money." So why does Jesus link these two sayings about money and God 
with a saying about the good eye and the bad eye?

The key is found in Matthew 20:15. Jesus had just told the parable of the 
workers in the vineyard. Some of them had agreed to work from 6 am to 6 pm 
for a denarius. Some the master hired at 9 am. Others at noon. Finally some 
he hired at 5 pm. When the day was done at 6 pm he paid all the workers the 
same thing—a denarius. In other words, he was lavishly generous to those who 
worked only one hour, and he paid the agreed amount to those who worked 
twelve hours.

Those who worked all day "grumbled at the master of the house" (Matthew 
20:11). They were angry that those who worked so little were paid so much. 
Then the master used a phrase about "the bad eye" which is just like the one 
back in Matthew 6:23. He said, "Am I not allowed to do what I choose with 
what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?" (Matthew 20:15).

Unfortunately that last clause is a total paraphrase, not a translation. "Or 
do you begrudge my generosity" is a very loose paraphrase of "Or is your eye 
bad because I am good (ē ho ophthalmos sou ponēros estin hoti egō agathos 
eimi?)" The "bad eye" here parallels the "bad eye" in Matthew 6:23.

What does the bad eye refer to in Matthew 20:15? It refers to an eye that 
cannot see the beauty of grace. It cannot see the brightness of generosity. 
It cannot see unexpected blessing to others as a precious treasure. It is an 
eye that is blind to what is truly beautiful and bright and precious and 
God-like. It is a worldly eye. It sees money and material reward as more to 
be desired than a beautiful display of free, gracious, God-like generosity.

That is exactly what the bad eye means in chapter six of the Sermon on the 
Mount. And that meaning gives verses 22-23 a perfect fitness between a 
saying on true treasure (vv. 19-21) and the necessity of choosing between 
the mastery of God and the mastery of money (vv. 24).

So the flow of thought would go like this: Don't lay up treasures on earth, 
but lay up treasures in heaven. Show that your heart is fixed on the value 
that God is for you in Christ. Make sure that your eye is good not bad. That 
is, make sure that you see heavenly treasure as infinitely more precious 
than earthly material treasure. When your eye sees things this way, you are 
full of light. And if you don't see things this way, even the light you 
think you see (the glitz and flash and skin and muscle
of this world) is all darkness. You are sleepwalking through life. You are 
serving money as a slave without even knowing it, because it has lulled you 
to sleep. Far better is to be swayed by the truth—the infinite value of God.

So if you are emotionally drawn more by material things than by Christ, pray 
that God would give you a good eye and awaken you from the blindness of "the 
bad eye."

Pastor John

By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website:
www.desiringGod.org.

From Russia, with God's Love
by Ryan Duncan, Crosswalk.com Culture Editor

The mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps. –
Proverbs 16:9

Last year, I set out to fulfill my longtime goal of traveling to Russia as 
part of an international missions’ team. The organization I applied to was 
one
I’d volunteered with in the past. Every December they would partner with 
Russian Christians and visit orphanages just outside of Moscow. Once there, 
they
would spend the day handing out gifts, singing songs, and hopefully telling 
the children how God loved them. Now, I’d been on missions’ trips before, 
but
for some reason I knew this one was special.

Deep down, I sensed that God would do something truly amazing through this 
trip, and I wanted to be ready when it happened. In the months leading up to
our team’s departure, I did all I could to prepare for the work ahead. I 
picked up books on Russian history, volunteered in my Church’s Sunday 
school,
read my Bible and prayed heavily like never before. In my mind’s eye, I saw 
myself rising up as a Christian leader who helped many lost souls encounter
God. As you might expect, that’s not how things played out.

The trip was by no means a failure, but it certainly wasn’t the mountaintop 
experience I’d been expecting. For starters, the moment we touched down in
Moscow I became utterly, painfully, violently Ill. My first two days in 
Russia were spent in a hotel bathroom, where I almost took the liberty of 
placing
my headstone. After pulling myself together, I became overwhelmed with our 
constant travel and shifting schedules. I had trouble connecting with my 
teammates,
with the children, even with God.

By the time I returned home, I was feeling very disillusioned. What had I 
done wrong? Was my pride to blame for everything that had happened? I fell 
back
into old routines and life went on as it had before, except for one thing. 
Before departing for Russia I’d promised my church’s Sunday school leader I
would volunteer for six months, and I still had three months to go.

Fast forward a year later, and I am now a regular volunteer at my Church’s 
Sunday school. I try not to speculate, but I think that may have been God’s
plan all along. After all, God works in mysterious ways, and sometimes our 
disappointments are merely detours to His purpose.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own 
understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths 
straight.”
– Proverbs 3:5-6

Intersecting
Faith
and Life: Remember, sometimes God has to take us halfway around the world 
just to lead us next door.

Further Reading

James 2:14-17

One of the Main Things

Blocking and tackling. Hitting the open man. "Gentlemen, this is a 
football." The basics.

Sometimes in seeking that extra half-second that takes us up an echelon, we 
can forget the fundamentals. We can lose sight of what got us here. But 
maybe, instead of the hundred things we try to juggle to make us faster, 
higher, stronger, a great life just requires that we remember two or three.

For example, when we get a biblical peek into heaven in the book of 
Revelation, where people are trying to describe why they're giving "glory 
and honor" to God, their reasoning is based on something you probably 
learned in kindergarten—"for you created all things, and by your will they 
were created and have their being" (Revelation 4:11).

God made you. Stop to think what that means . He made you with love, with 
intention, with enough unique detail that no one else on the planet—either 
now or in all the centuries past—has ever looked exactly like you. (I mean, 
think of how many combinations of eyes, ears, and noses that takes!)

Maybe some mornings, all you need to start your day is to look at your open 
hands, with their opposable thumbs and functional design, and realize that 
God has a purpose for you and for everything yet to happen in the next 24 
hours. He's put too much thought into you to make you have to over think.

Pray this prayer: Lord, if I ever doubt my purpose in life, help me remember 
that you created me for a reason. I know we're not just a bunch of randomly 
assembled body parts. Help me to live and worship you with that kind of 
intention.
Please visit Joe Gibbs' Website at
www.GamePlanForLife.com
for Joe's Video Blog and more!

Make Him Glad with Your Love

Psalms 45:8

And who are those who enjoy the privilege of making the Savior glad? His 
church--His people. But is it possible? He makes us glad, but how can we 
make Him glad? By our love. We think it so cold, so faint; and so, indeed, 
we must sorrowfully confess it to be, but it is very sweet to Christ.

Listen to such love expressed in Solomon's song: "How beautiful is your 
love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine!" See, 
loving heart, this is how He delights in you. When you rest in Him you do 
not only receive, but you also give Him joy; when you gaze with love upon 
His beauty, you not only obtain comfort but impart delight.

Our praise also gives Him joy--not the song of the lips alone, but the 
melody of the heart's deep gratitude. Our gifts are also very pleasant to 
Him; He loves to see us lay our time, our talents, our substance upon the 
altar, not for the value of what we give, but for the sake of the motive 
from which the gift springs. To Him the lowly offerings of His saints are 
more acceptable than the thousands of gold and silver.

Holiness is like frankincense and myrrh to Him. Forgive your enemy, and you 
make Christ glad; distribute of your substance to the poor, and He rejoices; 
be the means of saving souls, and you give Him to see of the travail of His 
soul; proclaim His Gospel, and you are a sweet savor unto Him; go among the 
ignorant and lift up the cross, and you have given Him honor. It is in your 
power even now to break the alabaster box and pour the precious oil of joy 
upon His head, like the woman in the Bible, whose
testimony is still remembered wherever the Gospel is preached. Will you not 
join her in expressing your love and devotion for the Lord Jesus? And even 
in ivory palaces the songs of the saints will be heard.

Family Bible reading plan
verse 1 Job 14
verse 2 1 Corinthians 2
From Morning & Evening revised and edited by Alistair Begg copyright © 2003. 
Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News 
Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187,
www.crossway.org.

He Knows My Name
By Skip Heitzig

One of my favorite songs was written by my friend Tommy Walker. Tommy and I 
were in the Philippines at a crusade some years ago, and when he sang that 
song, thousands of people in the crowd began to weep as they sang along: “He 
knows my name. He knows my every thought. He sees each tear that falls, and 
hears me when I call.”

I found out it was their favorite Christian song because in a huge 
metropolitan area like Manila, with so many millions of people, they all 
felt like they were just a face in a crowd. And the idea that there’s a God 
in heaven who knows my name and calls me by name is so comforting.

It’s personal when somebody calls you by name. Even if you are in a noisy 
crowd and can’t hear much, when somebody speaks your name across the room, 
you hear it.

The picture brings to mind a passage in John 10: “He who enters by the door 
is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep 
hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out” (vv. 
2-3).

Look closely at verse 3: “He calls his own sheep by name.” In Jesus’ time, 
shepherds had names for individual sheep in their flock. The shepherd might 
call one “Wanderer,” and another one “Grumpy,” and yet another “Slowpoke,” 
because he knew them, and their personalities and idiosyncrasies.

It’s the same way for Jesus as the Good Shepherd. He knows your name. He 
knows you inside and out, and He calls to you.

It’s a beautiful thought that we have a shepherd who takes care of the 
sheep. Sheep are prone to wander and leave the path, and they require a 
constant attention in order for them to survive. Phillip Keller, who was a 
shepherd in Canada, wrote that sheep require more attention and meticulous 
care than any other class of livestock.

When David wrote, “The Lord is my shepherd” (Psalm 23), it was a bragging 
point: “Look at who my Shepherd is! Look at who’s in control of my life!” 
Being a shepherd himself, David knew that the quality of life for any sheep 
depends on the kind of shepherd that takes care of it. So he was exalting 
God’s greatness.

But John 10 also says “the sheep know his voice.” “And when he brings out 
his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know 
his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from 
him, for they do not know the voice of strangers” (v. 4-5).

When Jesus Christ came to this earth as the shepherd, many in Israel did not 
recognize him. “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him” (John 
1:11). But some, the true sheep, heard His voice and placed their faith in 
Him.

There’s a great point there: The Shepherd knows your name, so know His 
voice, and learn to trust His leading. Maybe he’s leading you out of a bad 
or sinful relationship, or away from a false religion or some other negative 
influence. Trust Him, because He’s leading you toward green pastures and 
still waters.

The way may be rocky and dark, but ultimately it’s going to be peaceful, it’s 
going to be nourishing.

Copyright © 2014 by Connection Communications. All rights reserved.

GRACE: More Than We Deserve...

"I'll remove the stone heart from your body and replace it with a heart 
that's God-willed, not self-willed"
(Ezekiel 36:26
MSG).

Grace is God as heart surgeon, cracking open your chest, removing your 
heart -- poisoned as it is with pride and pain -- and replacing it with his 
own.
Rather than tell you to change, he creates the change. Do you clean up so he 
can accept you? No, he accepts you and begins cleaning you up. His dream 
isn't
just to get you into heaven but to get heaven into you. What a difference 
this makes! Can't forgive your enemy? Can't face tomorrow? Can't forgive 
your
past? Christ can, and he is on the move, aggressively budging you from 
graceless to grace-shaped living. The gift-given giving gifts. Forgiven 
people forgiving
people. Deep sighs of relief. Stumbles aplenty but despair seldom.

Grace is everything Jesus. Grace lives because he does, works because he 
works, and matters because he matters. He placed a term limit on sin and 
danced
a victory jig in a graveyard. To be delivered by grace is to be delievered 
by him -- not by an idea, doctrine, creed, or church membership, but by 
Jesus
himself, who will sweep into heaven anyone who so much as gives him the nod.

Not in response to a finger snap, religious chant, or a secret handshake. 
Grace won't be stage-managed. I have no tips on how to get grace. Truth is, 
we
don't get grace. But it sure can get us. Grace hugged the stink out of the 
prodigal and scared the hate out of Paul and pledges to do the same in us.

If you fear you've written too many checks on God's kindness account, drag 
regrets around like a broken bumper, huff and puff more than you delight and
rest, and, most of all, if you wonder whether God can do something with the 
mess of your life, then grace is what you need.

Let's make certain it happens to you.
This excerpt is taken from
Grace: More Than We Deserve, Greater Than We Imagine.

In this faith-stretching book, Lucado challenges you to be changed, shaped, 
strengthened, emboldened, softened, and "shaken to your senses" by Jesus' 
radical mercy.

Copyright 2014 Max Lucado. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Today's Turning Point with David Jeremiah
Monday, February 17
The Endless Song

So I will sing praise to Your name forever.
Psalm 61:8

Recommended Reading
Revelation 4:6-8
Someone just paid a million and a half dollars for a ruined violin that 
can't be played. Its value isn't in its musical quality but in its history, 
for
it was played the last time in April 1912 by a doomed musician named Wallace 
Hartley aboard the Titanic. Hartley and his fellow musicians reportedly 
played
"Nearer, My God, to Thee" as the vessel slipped beneath the icy North 
Atlantic. Hartley's body was recovered ten days later with his violin 
strapped to
him.

God's children never know when we'll sing our last song on earth; but we 
know that because of Christ, we'll be part of an endless choir in the 
heavens.
The palmist said, "I will sing praise to Your name forever."

Since heaven is a literal place, and since we'll have resurrection bodies, 
we'll all be capable of singing and rejoicing and praising. It's not that 
heaven
is merely a never-ending church service. The New Heavens and New Earth are 
literal places with never-ceasing meaningful activities. And praise will be
a rich part of that activity.

Our joy there will be unending and unsinkable.

I want to be fluent in heaven's language. I want to become an expert at 
praise.
Ruth Graham, in In Every Pew Sits a Broken Heart
Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah
Copyright € ¦© 2014 Turning Point for God. All rights reserved.

A Spiritual Spring

Song of Songs 2:12

The season of spring is welcome in its freshness. The long and dreary winter 
helps us to appreciate spring's genial warmth, and its promise of summer 
enhances its present delights. After periods of spiritual depression, it is 
delightful to see again the light of the Sun of Righteousness. Our 
slumbering graces rise from their lethargy, like the crocus and the daffodil 
from their beds of earth; and our heart is made glad with delicious notes of 
gratitude, far more tuneful than the warbling of birds.
The comforting assurance of peace, which is infinitely more delightful than 
the turtledove's cooing, is heard within the soul.

This is the time for the soul to seek communion with her Beloved; now she 
must rise from her natural sordidness and come away from her old 
associations. If we do not hoist the sail when the breeze is favorable, we 
make a grave mistake: Times of refreshing should never be allowed to pass us 
by. When Jesus Himself visits us in tenderness and entreats us to arise, can 
we be so ungrateful as to refuse His request? He has risen so that He may 
draw us after Him. He, by His Holy Spirit, has revived us so
that we may in newness of life ascend to the heavenlies and enjoy fellowship 
with Him. We bid farewell to the coldness and indifference of a spiritual 
winter when the Lord creates a spring within. Then our sap flows with vigor, 
and our branches blossom with high resolve.

O Lord, if it is not springtime in my chilly heart, I pray You make it so, 
for I am tired of living at a distance from You. When will You bring this 
long and dreary winter to an end? Come, Holy Spirit, and renew my soul! 
Quicken me, restore me, and have mercy on me! This very night I earnestly 
implore you, Lord, to take pity upon Your servant and send me a happy 
revival of spiritual life!

Family Bible reading plan
verse 1 Ecclesiastes 11
verse 2 Titus 3
From Morning & Evening revised and edited by Alistair Begg copyright € ¢Â© 2003. 
Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News 
Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187,
www.crossway.org.
Dean Masters, owner of the Masters List

Tony Reinke / April 19, 2014
Have You Found What You’re Looking For? (Easter Sunday)

Like children scattering around a yard for Easter eggs, you and I are on a 
hunt.

We all hunt. Our thirsty souls rummage through every nook and cranny of this 
world, in search of shiny pleasures and saccharine delights.

Every such joy seeker, in pursuit of treasures that will not fade or rust or 
break or be stolen, must pay careful attention to Easter — not with a 
nod-off-through-the-sermon
kind of attention, but with a real, earnest, eager attention riveted on 
Christ. If we miss the significance of the resurrection, we scamper past the 
greatest
joy in the universe.

The Joy of Jesus

As the dark shadows stalked the soon-to-be crucified Christ, he turned his 
attention to joy. Throughout this Holy Week of his crucifixion, Jesus had 
foreshadowed
his death for his disciples who struggled to make sense of it all. He 
addressed their concerns directly in John 16:19–24.
Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what 
you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you 
will
not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? Truly, truly, I 
say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will 
be
sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.

When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but 
when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for 
joy
that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow 
now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will 
take
your joy from you.

In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever 
you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have
asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be 
full.
We rewind Holy Week to hear Jesus forecast the changes to come in his 
resurrection. He wanted his disciples to anticipate Easter Sunday as the 
cataclysmic
dawning of true joy. And here’s what it all means for joy seekers.

A Blood-Bought Joy

Jesus spoke of this joy as he faced the torture of Good Friday. He faced 
denial, faced betrayal, faced beatings, faced splinters and nails and 
spears —
he could not stop talking about joy! Only joy would keep him going. Joy was 
on his mind, joy was on his tongue, and joy was drawing him, not away from
suffering, but into it (Hebrews 12:2).

Jesus went to the cross for joy: to buy joy, create joy, and offer joy.

As the world celebrated the savage killing of God, out of this sea of 
foaming rebel hostility emerged a blood-bought, inextinguishable joy.

An Unbreakable Joy

If the killing of the Author of life could not extinguish this joy Jesus 
speaks about, nothing can — and nothing ever will. No opposition from the 
world,
no opposition to the gospel, and no cultural despising of Christ, will 
overcome the resurrection joy of Jesus.

As we have seen this week, the unquenchable joy of Easter was birthed in the 
greatest trauma and tragedy and evil the world has ever unleashed — the 
murder
of the Son of God. Death, the Devil, demons and the coordinated rebellion of 
mankind all allied together cannot stymie this joy. Persecutors cannot steal
this joy away. No power, no event, no enemy, can sequester the resurrection 
joy of Jesus Christ that burst out of the tomb with him.

Worldly joys are brittle in comparison. Sickness and poverty crumble joy, 
and the long process of aging and dying slowly strips life of all its 
worldly
pleasures (Ecclesiastes 12:1–8). Death recedes all our joys, save one. Only 
one joy cannot be thwarted by death, because only one joy was purchased by
blood.

A Newborn Joy

The resurrection joy of Jesus escapes the clutches of death because it’s the 
joy of the new creation, a joy broken free from the evil of this fallen 
world.

And this makes Easter breathtaking. As Jonathan Edwards boldly declared: 
“The resurrection of Christ is the most joyful event that ever came to 
pass.”
And rightly did Charles Spurgeon say: “No man shall ever take from me the 
joy that Christ rose from the dead.” The resurrection is the most joy-filled
divine event in biblical history worthy of our eternal adulation and awe and 
wonder. But it’s more than a breathtaking historical spectacle.

Jesus employed a common birthing analogy to introduce a radical cosmic 
birth. His death was the birth pangs of a new creation; his resurrection was 
the
arrival of a new creation into history. In his resurrection, Jesus set in 
motion an unstoppable chain reaction that will one day culminate in the 
resurrection
of the dead and the renovation of all creation.

Here’s the point. In the long history of joy in this fallen world, after 
ages of unsatisfied appetites and hunger pangs in the hearts of men and 
women
and children, the resurrection of Christ marks a crescendo. Never has joy 
found greater expression on earth. In John 15:11, Jesus offered his 
disciples
“full joy,” an invitation only possible from within the final stage in 
cosmic history. Such a stage was born on Easter morning.

Jesus wants his disciples to thirst for a post-resurrection joy as the 
arrival of a newly amplified joy, a long-awaited and long-anticipated joy, a 
never
before fully seen or experienced joy in human history. The resurrection of 
Christ will bring the most spectacularly joy-filled event because it ignites
an eternally abiding and forever unconquerable joy.

The Old Testament foretold of this joy, the birth of Christ announced this 
joy, Holy Week seemed to extinguish this joy, but the resurrection of Christ
is the point in history when the unassailable torch of God’s joy emerged 
from the sea of foaming rebel hostility, rose up and lit the summit of an 
Olympic
torch of joy that will burn for all eternity.

A Joy for the Asking

But as magnificently as this joy entered the world in this defining moment 
in cosmic history, this joy presses close to us. So Jesus taught his 
disciples
to ask and seek for more of this joy. This is the open invitation of the 
Messianic age.

And this joy makes sense of the logic of John’s Gospel. Jesus said he must 
die and go to the Father, and would leave his joy with the disciples. Once 
he
was with the Father, Jesus sent the Spirit to dwell in them (another 
unmistakable sign of the new creation). United to Christ, the disciples 
would now
pray by the Spirit, to the Father, through the Son.

Easter reshapes prayer, spirituality, and joy. With this inauguration of a 
new creation, the disciples became adopted sons who could pray to a Father 
who
is eager to pour out spiritual flourishing upon them in every way, leading 
to a full and satisfying joy which nobody can take away.

Which is great news for the disciples.

Inexpressible Joy for You

But Jesus’s bold resurrection joy promised to the disciples in John 16:19–24 
is now offered to you and me. We are promised the same “joy that is 
inexpressible
and filled with glory” (1 Peter 1:8).

In Christ, God delights to pour out this resurrection joy into your life, a 
joy that fills, and a joy that cannot be stolen from you. What do we do? We
simply ask our gracious Father for more of it!

The Easter joy Jesus foretold has arrived, and it’s deeply personal. The 
resurrection is both a cosmic event, and it comes intimately close, 
reminding
us of God’s work in our lives. “The point of Easter is that God is in the 
process of clearing this world of all heartbreak” (John Piper). Therefore, 
“Christ’s
resurrection not only gives you hope for the future; it gives you hope to 
handle your scars right now” (Tim Keller).

Such a restoring and reviving joy was purchased for you and me in the 
resurrection of Christ.

Feast and Celebrate

Easter is for stark contradictions.

If Christ is still dead, death reigns, and all our joys are vain. So hoard 
every plastic Easter egg you find, because whatever you find inside is all 
the
joy you have to grab. Or, as Paul says, “If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us 
eat and drink, for tomorrow we die’” (1 Corinthians 15:32).

But if death is dead, and if the dead are raised — if Christ is risen from 
the dead! — brothers and sisters let us feast and celebrate, for the dawning
light of our inextinguishable and inexhaustible eternal pleasures have 
broken into the darkness, offering us a life of joy in Christ that cannot 
fade or
rust or be stolen away!

Today, delight in the resurrection joy of Christ, pray it bigger in your 
life, and treasure it for all eternity.

----------------------------------------------------------
This is the final post in Desiring God’s 2014 Holy Week series “The Final 
Days of Jesus,” inspired by the
new book
of the same title by Justin Taylor and Andreas Köstenberger. Holy Week 
illustrations provided in partnership with
Crossway Books and Adam Greene.

Experiencing LIFE Today - February 13, 2014

“Love is a perilous dance too, you see. And if we stop dancing, we’ll die. 
Don’t ever stop dancing.” ― Kate Avery Ellison, author of Frost

Marching has its purposes in the military and in bands; but in Christianity, 
it can kill you. It kills your joy, it kills your energy, and it kills your 
passion for Jesus. And sooner or later, it's bound to burn you out, blister 
your feet, and bore you to death with its monotony. Ready for an honorable 
discharge? Here's how:
list of 4 items
• Recognize your need and your brokenness. Cry out to Him in honesty, from a 
heart that is tired and desperate for the real thing.
• Reject your flesh, self-righteous methods, standards, systems, and your 
devotion to programs, etc.
• Realize your hopelessness. Stop trying. Stop working. Stop striving. You 
might need to quit the committees and ditch duties. Just stop and let Him 
know that you know that all your efforts are hopeless.
• Rest in His finished work. Not just His crucifixion on the cross, but His 
resurrection from the grave. The crucifixion making it possible for your 
sins to be removed. The resurrection making it possible for you to find new 
life, to be a new creation. All that work was done on your behalf. It is 
finished.
list end
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in 
heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my 
burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

Listen, it takes courage to break ranks with those who are marching for God. 
You have to be a real fool to enter into the dance with Jesus (see 1 
Corinthians 4:10). It's going to feel awkward and maybe even scary. But the 
joy is worth it, every misstep of the way.

Okay, Lord, You win. I'm calling it quits. I surrender. I'm tired of 
performing, I'm tired of conforming. I'm broken, hopeless, and exhausted. 
I'm done with the march. I want to rest in You as You lead me in the dance 
of grace. Amen.
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Dean Masters, owner of the Masters List

Encouragement For Today

Lysa TerKeurst

April 21, 2014

6 Prayers to Pray the Week After Easter
Lysa TerKeurst

"The angel said to the women, 'Do not be afraid, for I know that you are 
looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as 
he
said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his 
disciples: "He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into 
Galilee.
There you will see him." Now I have told you.'" Matthew 28:5-7 (NIV)

I don't think Easter is quite done with me yet.

I know what glorious things this Holy Day says to the world at large.

But what does Jesus want me to know, to think about, to wrestle through at 
this time of year? This season of new beginnings.

So, I'm lingering here a bit longer.

I feel like the girl who wears the same outfit to school two days in a row. 
Easter is done now. Time to put it back in the closet. Only for me it isn't.
I want to wear it again today, tomorrow and many more tomorrows.

After all, Easter is no longer a ritual to me. It's a revelation. A time 
where Jesus splits my soul along the fault line of a scar deep within: I was 
an
unwanted child to my birth dad.

Unwanted.

But to Jesus ... I was wanted so much that He gave His life for me. It feels 
so personal. Even though I know God so loved the world, He gave His son, it
becomes very individual if we let it.

Be personal.

With Jesus.

Yes.

So, in the midst of a world putting Easter away, might we let it sit with us 
for just a bit more?

I keep my Bible open to the place where the angel spoke to the women at the 
tomb. And I tangle my thoughts around His words from Matthew 28 as six 
prayers
emerge ...

• "Do not be afraid," - God, I hand over to You those things that make me so 
afraid. Resurrect the parts of my faith squelched by fear.

• "I know that you are looking for Jesus," - God, when my soul is searching, 
help me know the answer to every longing can be found in You.

• "He has risen," - God, the fact that Jesus is risen should lift my head, 
my heart and my attitude. Help me to live today as if I really believe this
with every part of my life.

• "just as he said," - Jesus, You keep Your promises. Help me live as though 
I believe that with every part of me. Help me trust You more, obey You more
and resemble You more.

• "Come and see," - Jesus, You had the angels invite the women in to see for 
themselves that You had risen. You invite me into these personal revelations
every day. Forgive me for sometimes rushing about and forgetting to come and 
see for myself ... You, Your Word, Your insights.

• "Then go quickly and tell his disciples," - Jesus, I don't want to be a 
secret keeper with my faith. I want to be a bold and gracious truth 
proclaimer.
For You. With You. Because of You. Me, the unwanted girl whom You loved, 
redeemed and wanted.

In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Yes, let this miraculous Easter be personal. And prayerful. And linger a bit 
longer.

Dear Lord, I want to let Your Truth sink deep down into my heart and soul 
today. Help me stay focused on You. In Jesus' Name, Amen.