James 1:22
There is a type of person who goes to church and hears the word of God, but never applies it to their life. They take comfort in the fact that they have heard God’s word without actually doing it. James says such a person is deceiving themselves. Jesus is not looking for fans, He is looking for disciples.
At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus compares the person who hears the word and does not apply it to their lives as a person who has built their house on the sand. Living your life by only hearing the word of God leads to destruction. You may think you have a nice house built, but when the storms come, you will not be left standing. James pleads with his readers not to deceive themselves and live this way.
On the contrary, Jesus says the person who hears the word and does it, they are like the person who built their house on the rock. When you hear and do the word of God, you build your life on the solid foundation of Christ. No matter the storm that comes your way, you will be left standing. The question is, are you deceiving yourself?
For the King,
Pastor Daniel Batistelli
Like it or not, when we give our hearts to Jesus as our Savior and surrender our will to His Lordship, we enter a battle. It’s a war for our souls. The enemy will do everything he can to pull us away from that relationship and it’s not just our actions but our affections. It involves both our will and our emotions.
This is why James pronounces a blessing on those that endure this kind of temptation or “drawing away.” The promise for those who endure, not just out of determination but out of love, is a wonderful crown of life given to us on that day of our final approval. And how are we approved? By the blood and righteousness of our Lord and Savior.
Giving my actions and affections to the Lord today,
Pastor Gerard Deleeuw
Do you have joy in the Lord? I mean tangible joy, the kind that shows on your face to all around you. I like this verse, written in the present tense, that Lord made the writer of this Psalm glad. Not He will make him glad in the future, once in Heaven, hanging with God. No, He is glad now because of the Lord’s work.
We can have this same kind of joy if we remember all the Lord has done in our lives. If you’ve accepted Jesus, you’re going to Heaven for eternity. Doesn’t that make you happy? All of your sins — which are many in my case — have been forgiven. Does that bring a smile to your face?
Paul wrote a whole letter about joy in Philippians while he sat in a Roman jail cell. He could do that because he didn’t forget Jesus’ redeeming work. Smile, Jesus loves you!
There is joy in the Lord,
Pastor Ron Kitchell
1 Timothy 4:16
I love Paul’s counsel to Timothy, his young pastor in Ephesus. Leading a church is a busy responsibility and no doubt overwhelming for a young man in his first pastorate. Yet Paul gives him, and us, good advice in the above verse: be selfish when it comes to your walk, take care of you first, for in so doing you will place yourself in a position to be a blessing to others.
Setting priorities that place your spiritual well-being at the top of the list is God’s will for each one of us. He who trains himself, watches himself, and takes heed to himself and his doctrines (what he believes). Then he’s ready for every good work in the Lord. Our lives will then be visual aids to those around us. Take his counsel and today selfishly put your spiritual life first. We will all be grateful that you did!
Selfishly caring for my faith first,
Pastor Jack Abeelen
Mark 5:18-19
A defendant is sitting quietly in a courtroom as his life hangs in the balance. He knows he’s innocent and only the testimony of the next witness can exonerate him. And if this witness testifies, he’ll no doubt be set free.
His lawyer stands up and tells the jury, “Ladies and gentlemen. I’m not going to call the next witness. Instead, I’m just going to tell you that what he has to say will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that my client is innocent of all charges.” The attorney sits down and rests his case.
That makes no sense at all, does it? Why wouldn’t he call his most powerful witness to give his testimony? Why would he simply trust the jury to believe his statement? A testimony is crucial here. You can state the truth, but an actual testimony is so much more powerful.
When it comes to sharing their testimonies of faith, many Christians are sinfully silent. But a testimony of the thankfulness you have for what Christ has done for you is the most powerful evangelism tool you have. Share your story of faith with others and let them know how God has changed your life… and can change theirs too!
Pastor William Del Casale
Hebrews 3:12-13
Sin is always an ever-present danger in our walk with the Lord. We face a very dangerous enemy who, even though he has lost us to heaven, is always looking to neutralize or negate our walk with the Lord. We must be cognizant of any sin that creeps into our lives and, as a safeguard, we need to remain accountable to a local church body. Conversely, we need to keep an eye out for others who have been “knocked off the path,” so they do not get left behind.
We are commanded here to exhort one another daily, the implication being that our obligation to the church body is not once or twice per week, but every day. There are plenty of ways in which modern technology negatively dominates our lives, but ministering to one another is an area where it can excel. We can easily use our electronic devices to send an encouraging verse from our Bible app, call someone to check in on them and to pray with them, or to send a text of encouragement. The point is that we need each other and need to be involved in each other’s lives in order that we may all finish the race well. Lord, grant us a circle of saints to whom we are accountable and give us a heart to reach out to them daily, and provide us with the right words of encouragement as we minister to those closest to us.
Jeff Mericle
Ephesians 2:1-3
In these verses, Paul makes it clear just how dead we were before Christ saved us. He exposed our bondage to sin, our control from a powerful evil being, and the fact we were slaves of all our own evil passions. We need to remember the hopelessness of our former selves and how lost we were apart from the amazing grace of God!
The editors of the NKJV wanted to put a ray of hope in verse 1 by including the bracketed words from verse 4 because these three verses are very dark and bleak without them. But the Apostle Paul let all the bluntness and finality of our hopeless state be exposed: we were dead in our sin and defenseless slaves of three wicked forces: 1) the world, 2) Satan, and 3) the flesh. Furthermore, Paul reveals that we were by our very nature objects of God’s wrath.
But we who were dead have been made alive in Christ Jesus! By the grace of God, by faith, we have escaped the wrath of God. Hallelujah!
Therefore, may the reminder today of the hopeless cesspool from which we have been saved engender in our hearts a fresh spirit of thankfulness to God for His amazing grace. May it also motivate us to live in the power of the Spirit over the three evil influences that once doomed us.
Tom Day
The fourth commandment given by God is the only law in the 10 commandments that is not moral in principal. The idea of the Sabbath was to take one day out of a seven-day period to rest and take time to reflect on God and His goodness in providing the blessings and provisions we need for life. This had both physical and spiritual implications because we were created as physical and spiritual beings. We all need rest for our bodies and rest for our souls.
This command was to benefit man and his whole being, to liberate him to enjoy rest and delight in his God. Sadly, the Israelites treated it much differently, piling laws on top of laws to make the Sabbath more laborious than restful. Thankfully when Jesus came onto the scene, He blew up all these extra laws and said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” Not only did Jesus set this law straight in His earthly ministry, He then fulfilled its requirement at the cross.
The rest that every man desires, peace between God and man, is now permanent when our faith and trust is in Jesus. Everyday our soul is now at rest in knowing we belong to God and, though the Sabbath is no longer law to the Christian, it’s always a good practice to take a day out of the week to rest our bodies and enjoy the bountiful blessings of God and the work He has done for us!
Pastor Jason Witt
Ephesians 4:28
The idea here is that the new man we are told about in Ephesians 4:24 does not steal but instead works an honest job, one that he can be proud of. The point of working is not only so that you can provide for the things you need but to give to anyone who might have a need.
For the most part, I think of jobs as getting what you need to get ahead, to provide for our families so that we aren’t tempted to steal. Very few times do I put the needs of others before mine. I’m sure that you can run through the list of names and come across many people who might have a need.
Working to give, not to get.
Joshua Navarro
Jesus answers Philip’s request saying, “Have I been with you so long and you still don’t recognize Me. If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.” He is the same God that they read about in the Old Testament, the same God that their fathers told them about.
He was as gentle and patient with the disciples as they were arguing about who’s the greatest, as He was with Gideon when he questioned God’s calling for him. He was as just and faithful with the woman caught in adultery in John chapter 8, as He was with King David when his sin was exposed. There were consequences to his sin but there was hope and forgiveness as well. He was as loving and kind to all those He healed and delivered from various illnesses, as He was with Naaman the leper, when He healed him through the prophet Elisha.
If you want to see the Father, if you want to know what God is like, what He thinks about you, just look at Jesus. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Pastor Doug Hardin
