Tag: bible

Our Conscience (Romans 1-3)

On By pastorjonathanIn DevotionalLeave a comment

Romans 2:14-16 ESV For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. (15) They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them (16) on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

When I was about 10 or 11 years old, I was playing with a friend at a property that his family had just bought. We were exploring the barns and outer buildings when we came up on a box. Naturally being curious we opened the box and found out that is was full of dirty magazines. No one had ever told me not to look at dirty magazines and I was curious about what was inside of them. At that moment however there was a gut feeling that looking at those magazines would be wrong. Fortunately my friend had the same but stronger intuition and closed the box and took it to his parents.

What was at work in my heart was my conscience. I intuitively knew that looking at those magazines would have been wrong. Part of me was curious and willing to violate my conscience. This is the drama that Paul says works out even in those people who have never heard the Law. God’s law is written on their heart in such a way that they intuitively know that some things are wrong and they violate their own conscience.

Someone may not believe the scriptures and subscribe to God’s law. Yet, if they have ever violated their own conscience they can’t claim to stand before God guiltless. We are so great of sinners that not only do we fail to keep God’s law perfectly, we can’t even keep our own conscious clear.

The only real solution is Jesus. Paul reminds us that we will all stand before God and give an account for our lives. Some of us will stand under the judgement and wrath of God as we answer for what we have done. Some of us will stand under the grace and mercy of God because our sins have been forgiven through Jesus Christ and we have new life. On that day we will rejoice as God rewards us for the work he has done in our lives to change us from sinners into saints.

I don’t want anyone on that day to have to stand and face the full consequences for their sin. Not when Jesus has already paid for their sin and all they need to do is repent and trust in Him. I’m praying for opportunities to tell others about Jesus and his glorious gospel that has transformed my life.

Father, Thank you for your mercy and grace. We rejoice to know that you love us, Jesus has paid the penalty for our sins, and we can come to you in faith and receive the forgiveness of our sins. We ask for opportunities to tell others today about Jesus and how they can be forgiven of sin and have new life. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

RESOURCES:

Last Year’s Post

Join us in reading though the New Testament in 90 Days! You can find the plan and previous posts here.

Confident in the Promises of God (Acts 26-28)

On By pastorjonathanIn DevotionalLeave a comment

A few things really jumped out at me today. First it appears that Paul befriended the Roman centurion, Julius who was overseeing the prisoner transfer. We don’t know the details of their conversations but we are given enough clues to deduce some sort of friendship or at least appreciation developed along the way. I’m sure Julius heard the gospel from Paul in that time, but it must have traveled along the lines of genuine care and concern. I wonder how intentional we are to develop genuine friendships with those the Lord has placed in our path and how we might be honest about our faith with our friends?

The next thing that really jumped out today was how in the midst of trying times, Paul held close the promises of God. When everything looked bleak, Paul pressed in to the Lord, he didn’t run from Him or drift. I know when I was in the hospital, keeping the television turned off, reading my bible, and being faithful to pray are the disciplines that drew me closer to the LORD and caused me to witness to those around me almost out of second nature.

Finally, Paul was a man on a mission. He knew the next step that was ahead of him and he was confident the Lord would bring him there. When the boat was driven by a storm for two weeks, Paul knew he’d survive. When a snake came out of the fire and bit him, he shook it off. He knew he would not be detoured from his mission. He was immortal until his purpose on earth was through. How many of us walk with that sort of faith and confidence in the LORD?

Father, Thank you for your Word that speaks life into us. We rejoice at how you used Paul both to plant and start churches as well as to take your gospel across the Roman Empire. We pray that you would use us in the places you have placed and called us to take the gospel around the world. We pray that we would press into you even closer in the days ahead and that we would remind one another of your promises and goodness. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Congratulations if you’ve been following along from the beginning! In the first 40 days of 2021 we have read all four gospels and the book of Acts!

RESOURCES:

Last Year’s Post

Join us in reading though the New Testament in 90 Days! You can find the plan and previous posts here.

When Adversity Becomes Opportunity (Acts 23-25)

On By pastorjonathanIn DevotionalLeave a comment

When reading today we see a lot of shady politicians doing a little political maneuvering that ends up keeping Paul to be in prison for over two years. We might tend to think of this as a huge inconvenience for Paul. Certainly this broken system chewed through a huge part of Paul’s life. Imagine what he could have been doing had he not been detained in prison? How many churches could he have encouraged with his presence? How many more churches could he have planted?

Yet, Paul gets a personal word from the LORD that he will stand before Cesar in Rome. Paul knows where he is ultimately headed. Along the way the adversity he faces ends up being opportunities to preach and share the gospel. Some of the very men who were at the heart of Jesus’ crucifixion, heard Paul share the story of the resurrection. The regional Roman governors hear the gospel message along with their Roman guards and others who would have been present.

It seems fitting that the gospel should and would be pressed forward even more in the midst of adversity. It’s not as though Jesus never met with adversity or the early church hadn’t seen adversity before. It seems as though through the book of Act the LORD uses adversity to grow his church.

We’ve all been living through a pandemic and it has changed the way we do a lot of thing. We’ve faced a type of adversity through this virus that isn’t necessarily the fault of an individual or a corrupt system. Regardless of how the virus got here, it’s here, its real (I’ve had it), and it can and does kill some people. We wear masks, wash hands, keep our distance and do all the things they say help stop the spread. It can be easy to lose focus on the gospel and concentrate on keeping one another safe from the virus. Yet, as I shared with a few men the other day, “Keeping people safe from the virus is important and it shouldn’t be dismissed but our mission has never been safety. Our mission is to share the gospel in our community and around the world. Certainly the virus has created a challenging climate, but it hasn’t changed our calling. It may have also unlocked some doors to ministry.”

We see that with Paul in these chapters. The adversity of dealing with a corrupt political system actually put Paul in a place to share the gospel with Roman guards, governors, an ultimately Cesar himself. When I had the virus and was in the hospital it gave me opportunity to talk to several nurses about the gospel that I would have never met otherwise. It’s also given us opportunity to minister to our neighbors and through technology to share hope with those who tune in to our services online both locally and from around the state and nation.

Father, thank you that even when we face adversity we know that you are with us. Thank you that you are a God who often turns the adversity we face into opportunity to minister to others and share our faith. We ask that you give us wisdom for the days that we live in to reach our neighbors and friends with the power of the gospel. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

RESOURCES:

Last Year’s Post

Join us in reading though the New Testament in 90 Days! You can find the plan and previous posts here.

The Power of a Personal Testimony (Acts 20-22)

On By pastorjonathanIn Devotional1 Comment

When folks look back through history it is difficult to dismiss the ministry of Paul. He did so much to spread the gospel and plant churches that he is often remembered for that alone. It’s easy to forget his testimony. Yet, Paul’s testimony wasn’t easy to dismiss for the his own Jewish class. They knew and respected him as a Jew among Jews. He persecuted the early church with zeal. Yet his conversion sent shock waves through the community of elite Jews. It’s also one of the compelling evidences for skeptics today. What would make a man who ardently persecuted the church do a complete 180 and willing take on suffering, hardship, persecution, and even work to pray his own way to promote the gospel?

I’ve been blessed to be a pastor for several years and it’s natural when I talk with fellow Christians for me to ask about how they came to faith in the Lord. It’s amazing to note how alive most people become when they start telling the story of how they came to faith in the Lord. It’s great that I get to see that passion and I count it a privilege that people trust me enough to share about their conversion experience. I wonder though how many neighbors and friends have heard our own personal story of how Jesus changed our lives?

I once lead a mission trip where I trained all of our students how to share their testimony in 100 words or less. I challenged our kids to share their abbreviated story whenever they had a chance during the trip. I gave them the example that if someone asked why they were there they should just launch into their story and then end with the phrase, “and I want other people to experience what I have in Jesus.” Late in the week one of the individuals working the front desk at the hotel came to me and asked us to pray for them. I asked what was up? They said that they had asked several of our teenagers and adults why they were here and they had heard testimony after testimony and they came under conviction about things in their life that needed to change (they were already a believer). I wonder sometimes too about how we might encourage one another by simply sharing our faith stories.

Paul shared his story in an adverse climate, but through his personal story of conversion and faith the gospel was going out in a compelling way. I challenge you to write out your testimony. Read through it and simplify it. Then share it with someone this week. You never know how God might use your story to encourage a fellow believer or even help spread the gospel to those you have yet to believe.

In the Resources I’ve shared several links to my personal testimony.

Father, thank you for how you have moved in my life to bring me to faith in you. I pray that you would use me to share the gospel and encourage other believers. Thank you that you give us all opportunities to share the reason for the hope we have in Christ. I pray that we will take the challenge to write our testimony and even share it with others this week. Give us clarity and opportunity. Grant us boldness that we might press your gospel forward. In Jesus Name, Amen.

RESOURCES:

Last Year’s Post was really good and deserves a look. There was some good application in on a few things that really stood out to me again this go round but I opted not to comment because I’d already shared those insights last year!

Join us in reading though the New Testament in 90 Days! You can find the plan and previous posts here.

An Outward Symbol of an Inner Reality (Acts 10-12)

On By pastorjonathanIn DevotionalLeave a comment

Quite a few things jumped out at me in the passage we are reading this morning. I’ll keep it limited to three theological observations/ applications for the sake of brevity. First, we see the first mission Paul is entrusted with by the church is to send relief to the church in Jerusalem (11:27-30, 12:25). It is interesting to note that where the gospel started, becomes the place of greatest need. We practice missions in quite a different way these days. Generally a church sends missionaries and money out to the mission field. Here the off shoot of the church in Jerusalem was sending money back to aid those in Jerusalem. It speaks of Jerusalem’s great need as well as the Antioch church’s great love for their fellow believers. Too often in church life we imagine a competition between one another for nickels and noses, yet these churches saw it as their obligation to help one another even to the point of sending people and resources.

The second observation is to note that these events while read swiftly on a page actually occurred over years. We are reading a highlight of the decades that span the infancy of the early church. We know that Paul didn’t start his missionary work right away but spent years in Tarsus and Antioch (Acts 11:25-26). We also note when Peter was set free from prison at the time of the Passover (Acts 12:3-4), which is the same time of year/ festival where Jesus was murdered and rose from the dead, so we know that well over a year has passed between all of these events. Sometimes we can develop apathy towards certain things because it doesn’t seem like God is moving or even moving fast enough. Patience is the word of the day as we note that God moves in his own time. Sometimes it is explosive, but often times it’s slow. What we see recorded in Acts are the highlights of decades of activity. Trust the Lord and keep putting one foot in front of the other on the path he has you on. One day you’ll look back and see just how consistently trusting in him has transformed your character.

Third I want to note that Cornelius and his bunch received the Holy Spirit BEFORE they were baptized. Acts is often used by certain friends to try and establish a gospel plus works based salvation, where individuals MUST be baptized in order to be SAVED. I certainly validate the importance of baptism (I am a Baptist, it’s in the name). When and were possible those who profess Christ should be baptized. It’s the first step of obedience in the LORD and if you don’t take that first step in outwardly trusting God then it’s fair to say your faith is suspect at the very least. That being said, Baptism doesn’t save you, Jesus saves you. In the process of salvation it is clear to me that God must do His work in our hearts first. Water baptism in this instance was clearly an outward symbol of what God had already done in the hearts of Cornelius and his family (Acts 10:47, 11:16-17).

Father, thank you for how you work and move in our lives. I pray that as we look over our years in following you that we see your mighty hand at work in our lives. I pray that you would help us to be confident in your work. I pray that we would work together in unity for the sake of your kingdom and your glory. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

RESOURCES:

Join us in reading though the New Testament in 90 Days! You can find the plan and previous posts here.

Prayer and Persecution (Acts 4-6)

On By pastorjonathanIn DevotionalLeave a comment

There were two things that really jumped out at me right away in todays reading. The first thing to notice was how scripture saturated the prayer was in 4:23-31. I taught Psalm 2 in recent memory and so the reference (Psalm 2:1-2) was still fresh on my mind. For a while now I’ve been trying to model my prayers after the Psalms and other various passages of scripture. It was neat to see how this was affirmed in the reading today. I’ll put a link the resources to a Donald Whitney book that has been helpful for me.

The second thing that really stuck out at me was how much opposition the early church faced. Sometimes we can put on rose colored glasses and think that everything was splendid while God was adding to their number each day. It can be easy to forget that the growth came also with much persecution. As much as God was adding to the church, there were those who were dead set against the gospel and who were willing to murder even.

This shouldn’t surprise us that the gospel has such a profound effect on the lives of people. The gospel has a polarizing effect. Some will come to the Lord and some may harden their hearts and persecute the church. It’s admirable that the early Christians saw this undue suffering as a badge of honor (5:41). Today we often view the road of suffering as missing God’s will, but they saw it as being in the center of His will. The day is quickly approaching and in some ways is already here where individuals will be persecuted for believing the gospel.

Father, thank you for the ability to call out to you in prayer. Thank you so much for the many models of prayer we see in the scripture as well as being able to use your Word to craft our thoughts into well versed prayers. Today we ask that you would give us a boldness to be witnesses for you just like those early disciples. Should we suffer for our witness of you, we ask for the humble attitude of the disciples who rejoiced that they were found worthy to suffer for your name. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

RESOURCES:

Praying the Bible By Don Whitney (Affiliate Link*)

Last Year’s Post

The Cornerstone (Acts 3)

Your Sin isn’t Small (Acts 4)

The Necessary and the Urgent (Acts 5)

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Prayer (Acts 1-3)

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What really jumped out to me today in reading Acts 1-3 was how much time was devoted to prayer in the early church. There were ten days between the ascension and the day of Pentecost that we are told the disciples spent in prayer. They prayed over Judas’ replacement. They were praying when the Holy Spirit came upon them. They devoted themselves to prayer among other things. Peter and John went to the temple at the hour to pray. There is no doubt about it, the early church was a church at prayer.

This caused me to reflect on how little or much the church places an emphasis on prayer these days. It seems like if you don’t want anyone to show up, you call it a prayer meeting. One of my pastor friends had joked as the virus was beginning to spread and we were trying to figure out how to meet safely, “there is plenty of room to socially distance at the prayer meeting on Wednesday night.” Why is there so little regard for prayer these days?

As I contemplated, I couldn’t help but realize the transition that had taken place with the disciples from a month and a half before when they too had issue focusing in prayer and kept falling asleep. In that month and a half they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, ascended into heaven, and all the promises of God coming true before their very eyes. I imagine the recognized their need and dependence on the Lord more than ever. I guess that’s really what’s at stake when we are lazy toward prayer, we don’t recognize how much we need that vital connection with the Lord.

Father, how sweet it is that we get to approach you with such familiarity and dependence. Thank you that we can call on you in prayer at any time. I confess that too many times I’ve been lazy in prayer because I’ve taken things for granted. I confess my deep need for you. By your grace let me be humble yet bold in my approach to you, knowing that you are a good father desiring to give his children good gifts. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

RESOURCES:

Last Year’s Post

The Blessing of Obedience

Babel Has Come Undone in Jerusalem

The Generosity of God

Join us in reading though the New Testament in 90 Days! You can find the plan and previous posts here.

Father, Forgive Them (Luke 22-24)

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“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”

Luke 23:34

The point of the gospels is to lead us to the crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. These are the historical and theological realities on which the Christian faith hangs. Jesus utters several statements on his way to the crucifixion as well as from the cross that help us understand his mind. He knew exactly what he was doing and exactly what was taking place. He knew He was an innocent man dying at the hands of guilty sinners. Yet, even from great physical and emotional agony He has the presence of mind to care and pray for those who torturing Him.

A seminary professor once told me that ignorance and arrogance look the same in a person. When someone hurts us it is easy to ascribe to them all sorts of arrogant motives. However, many times the injury comes not because someone is maliciously against us, but because they are ignorant of what they are doing. They may not even know they are hurting us. Certainly ignorance isn’t innocence, but it isn’t also necessarily malevolent.

How clearly Jesus sees the issue of sin even from the cross. He is literally in the the midst of paying for their sin as he intercedes for them. They didn’t know what they were doing that day, but they would know one day. And on that day, there would be mercy for all those who would come to Jesus in repentance. He was willing to forgive them even while they were crucifying Him.

As I reflected on this verse this morning I couldn’t help but contemplate the way that I have seen and understood some sins in my own life. There are things I’ve done in the past and that I understand more about now. At the time I thought they were no big deal. I look back and realize I was ignorant. I didn’t see everything rightly. I am thankful that God in His overwhelming grace chose to love me despite my sin. As I contemplate how God loves me, that even while I was sinner Christ would die for me (Romans 5:8), I can’t help but examine how I deal with those who sin against me. Certainly I don’t see with the clarity that Jesus sees sin, but there are moments where others have sinned against me that I need to recognize that sometimes people sin out of ignorance and that at the end of the day, forgiveness is more important than offense.

Father, thank you for loving me so much that while I was still dead in my trespasses and sin that Christ died for me. Thank you for the hope of the resurrection. Thank you for the amazing grace poured out on my life each day. Please continue to cultivate the character of Christ in my life. Let me be quick to forgive. Let me be concerned with the wholeness of others more than I am about perceived offenses today. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

RESOURCES:

Last Year’s Post

Never the Less, not my will but yours be done

He was looking for the Kingdom of God

Why was the bible Written?

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You Can’t Be Made Righteous By Your Brother’s Faults (Luke 16-18)

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Luke 18:9-14 NKJV Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: (10) “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. (11) “The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men–extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. (12) ‘I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ (13) “And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise [his] eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ (14) “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified [rather] than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Life isn’t fair. It’s full of people who will hurt us. It doesn’t take long for children to play together before the drama of so-and-so did whatever to start to unfold. Tattling is human nature. Its our sin nature that makes us want to point out the sins of others. Somehow we feel that if our sins aren’t as bad as somebody else’s then we are ok.

We should know better. No one else’s sin can make you righteous. No matter how much of a sinner someone else is, it doesn’t make you right before God. We all stand our fall on our own before the Lord.

When we point out the sins of others, we are trying to justify ourselves. We are trying to make ourselves look better. We imagine that if the fault really lies with someone else, well then maybe we aren’t that bad. The problem is that recognizing someone else’s sin never made our own sin disappear.

This is why forgiveness is such a big deal. When we refuse to forgive others we are holding on to a perverted sense of righteousness because we fail to release them from their sins. That kind of righteousness is self-righteousness and it doesn’t save, it damns.

The only way to truly deal with the sin in our lives is not by pointing out the sin in others, but freely confessing our own sin. Two men went to the temple to pray. One was right in his own eyes and in danger of Hell because he was blind to his own sin. The other freely confessed he was a sinner and walked away justified, not by what he had done, but by the God who hears the prayers of the humble.

Father, Help us not to look for the fault in our brothers, but to freely confess and deal with the faults that lie in our own heart. Help us to trust you to judge the faults of others and to see our heart rightly. I pray that we are always swift to come to you for repentance. I rejoice that you have made a way for us to be made righteous through Jesus Christ who takes away our sins when we humbly repent and trust in you. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

RESOURCES:

One who is faithful in very little

We have only done what is our duty

Will He Find Faith On the Earth?

Last Year’s Post

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The Cost of Discipleship (Luke 7-9)

On By pastorjonathanIn DevotionalLeave a comment

There have been lots of funerals in the last several days. I couldn’t help but be stirred to some sort of joy when when in today’s reading we see Jesus stop a funeral procession and bring a young man back to life. It was echoed when he brought a 12 year old little girl back to life later. I still recon I see Jesus at funerals sometimes. Those we’ve had to say goodbye to lately have been some of the dearest saints I know. But as we stand beside their graves and mourn our loss, I can’t help but draw on comfort that Jesus is the resurrection and the life. While we say goodbye for a little while, that those in Christ will rise again. I saw a glimpse of that and was comforted today.

I also couldn’t help but notice the different responses to Jesus. We all seem to want to pick and choose to come to Jesus on our own terms. Some will follow him, if first they can do something else. A Pharisee doesn’t recognize how sinful he really is before God and so he treats Jesus with shame. A sinful woman sees everything that happens at the Pharisee’s house and she makes an expensive tribute (perfume) to set things right. She knows what it is to be forgiven of her sins and so she loves much.

The reality is that we don’t get to pick and choose how we come to Jesus. If we would come to him for the resurrection of the dead. If we would come to him so that our sins might be forgiven. If we would come to him at all, we must come on his terms. We must surrender all and follow him.

Father, thank you that you are the resurrection and the life! Thank you for how you have comforted me as I have grieved the loss of friends and loved ones this week. I ask for your grace in ministering to others today. I surrender everything to you today and choose to live in your strength and power. In Jesus name, Amen.

RESOURCES:

Last Year’s Post

Join us in reading though the New Testament in 90 Days! You can find the plan and previous posts here.