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Post by Parker on Jun 23, 2023 10:42:22 GMT -8
JUNE 23
REDIRECTED FAITH
Matthew 7:21
Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
Many people believe they will be welcomed into heaven because they’ve lived a good life, or they come from a religious family, or they’ve attended church all their lives.
My challenge is to help them see they are placing faith in themselves—their works, their heritage, their personal standards of ethics and morality, or some other man-made qualification. They haven’t understood that, to become a Christian, they must redirect their faith from themselves to Jesus Christ.
They must stop trusting in themselves, their parents, their heritage, their morality—and begin trusting in Jesus Christ. They must “bet” their eternal life on Christ alone. They must take Him at His Word that He alone is able to save them.
David Jeremiah, Sanctuary: Finding Moments of Refuge in the Presence of God
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Post by Parker on Jun 24, 2023 7:47:13 GMT -8
JUNE 24
ANGELS MUST NEVER RECEIVE WORSHIP
Colossians 2:18
Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind.
A desire for angels that is greater than a desire for the Creator will lead to trouble. One reason why angels are invisible to humans may be that, if they were seen, they would be worshiped. Man, who is so prone to idolatry as to worship the works of his own hands, would hardly be able to resist the worship of angels were they before his eyes.
Twice in the Book of Revelation, John was con-fronted by an angel and tried to worship him. Both times the angel told him not to worship the angel but to worship God. Karl Barth once wrote that it is inappropriate for people to talk of angels independent of their experience of God in Christ. While God may send you angels, gratitude must always be directed to God, the God we know in Christ.
It is wrong to “ask your angel” something. We are never told to pray to angels. We pray to God and He sends the help we need.
David Jeremiah, Sanctuary: Finding Moments of Refuge in the Presence of God
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Post by Parker on Jun 25, 2023 10:16:30 GMT -8
JUNE 25
WE CAN GO ANYWHERE WITH JESUS
Joshua 1:8
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it.
Most of us read the Bible casually and carelessly. We read the Word of God and it has no effect on us. That’s why the Word of God has become so insipid in our lives; it has no power over us. The greatest thing we can do in reading God’s Word is to understand that the Lord has given the book to us as our marching orders. We are to read it, study it, and then do it. Our prayer before reading the Bible should be, “Lord, show me in Your Word today what You want me to do! Show me the things in my life that are not in conformity with Your will, for I commit myself as I open this book that whatever You say to me here, I’ll do it.”
With Jesus with us we can go anywhere—into Canaan with its walled cities and giants everywhere, and into the days of the year ahead, where every day poses a mystery and a challenge. We all will face giants in our futures, but know this: If He is with us, we are sufficient to win in the power of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
David Jeremiah, Sanctuary: Finding Moments of Refuge in the Presence of God
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Post by Parker on Jun 26, 2023 6:37:13 GMT -8
JUNE 26
FROZEN IN SIN
PROVERBS 5:23
[The wicked man] shall die for lack of instruction, and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
The story is told of an eagle perched on a block of ice just above Niagra Falls. The swift current carried the ice and its majestic passenger close to the edge of the great precipice. Other birds warned the eagle of the danger ahead. But their words were unheeded. “I have great and powerful wings,” he boasted. “I can fly from my perch at any time.”
Suddenly the edge of the falls was only a few feet away. The eagle spread his powerful wings to mount up over his impending doom only to discover that his claws had become frozen to the block of ice.
Scripture warns those who think they are immune to sin to be careful! They are on the verge of falling (1 Corinthians 10:12; 1 Timothy 3:6). “I never thought it would happen to me” are words which have hounded many a person until their dying day (Proverbs 5:11–14). Every Christian needs to know that yielding to temptation can happen—and will, unless the instruction of wisdom is embraced.
Wisdom says, “Hear me clearly: The road to immorality is the road to destruction.”
David Jeremiah, Sanctuary: Finding Moments of Refuge in the Presence of God
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Post by Parker on Jun 27, 2023 7:19:39 GMT -8
JUNE 27
RADER OF THE LOST SOULS
ISAIAH 30:21
Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it.”
Evangelist Paul Rader had often spoken to a certain banker in New York concerning his soul, but to no avail. One day God seemed to speak to Rader, urging him to go immediately and once again seek out this individual. Obediently he caught a train and went to the banker’s house. As he approached the house, he saw the banker standing in the doorway. “Oh, Rader,” the banker said, “I’m so glad to see you. I wrote a letter begging you to come, but I tore it up.”
“That may be so,” replied the evangelist, “but your message came by way of heaven.” Under deep conviction of sin, the man was impressed by Rader’s special effort to reach him with the gospel. Consequently, that very hour he accepted the Lord. In his newfound joy he exclaimed, “Rader, did you ever see the sky so blue or the grass so green?” Suddenly the banker leaned heavily against Rader, then with a gasp fell into his arms—dead! He had been saved on the very brink of eternity. What if Paul Rader had delayed to come, taking the promptings of the Lord with less urgency? Let us always be keenly sensitive to the Lord’s leadings.
David Jeremiah, Sanctuary: Finding Moments of Refuge in the Presence of God
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Post by Parker on Jun 28, 2023 10:40:08 GMT -8
JUNE 28
THE SPIRIT’S INSTRUCTION
1 CORINTHIANS 2:12
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
Years ago, I remember hearing Campus Crusade founder Bill Bright teaching on the Holy Spirit. In his message, he told about a man to whom he’d been witnessing. One of this man’s problems with the Christian faith was that he’d tried again and again to read the Bible but couldn’t make any sense of it.
Then the man received Jesus Christ and came back to visit Dr. Bright a week later. He had an amazing story to tell. During that week’s time, he said, it was as though somebody had rewritten his Bible. Suddenly the Scripture came alive to him. Understanding broke into his thoughts like quick lightning strikes.
How had it happened? The Teacher had taken up residence within him. What had once been obscure and confusing now pulsated with meaning, encouragement, and hope.
Paul wrote, “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.” That means that Christians, who have the Spirit of God living within them, have an inward interpreter who helps them to understand what the Bible means.
David Jeremiah, Sanctuary: Finding Moments of Refuge in the Presence of God
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Post by Parker on Jun 29, 2023 5:38:24 GMT -8
JUNE 29
WAITING OUT OF CONTROL
Genesis 16:3–4
Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.”
We learn from reading about Abraham that hope is necessary because often waiting is uncontrollable. Did you know God didn’t tell him how long he would have to wait? He just said, “Here’s the hope. You just wait.”
God’s promise to Abraham was not to be fulfilled for many years. And in some respects that promise was not totally fulfilled even in his lifetime. You and I are the fulfillment of that promise. According to Galatians, we are the children of Abraham. We are the result of God having blessed Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; having blessed the nation of Israel; and then, through Israel, having blessed all of us. We are blessed because of Abraham. But Abraham never saw all of that. He saw enough, but he had to wait.
Hope is the ingredient that keeps us going between the promise and the fulfillment. Hope is the thing that gets us up in the morning when we know that God cares but we haven’t seen any evidence of it in the last few days. Hope drives us onward when we want to stop and quit. Hope keeps our dreams alive while we are waiting. And we need hope because we can’t always control the timetable.
David Jeremiah, Sanctuary: Finding Moments of Refuge in the Presence of God
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Post by Parker on Jun 30, 2023 5:05:55 GMT -8
JUNE 30
AWESTRUCK
Revelation 15:4
Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For you alone are holy.
The primary meaning of the word holy is “separate.” It means to cut. A holy person is cut apart from the rest. God is holy in that He is totally, in His person, separate from all of us. So much so that it is almost a foreign subject to talk of Him. He is so awesome and so overwhelming in His person that there is nothing in human language or in human experience to which we may compare Him.
Some years ago a German scholar named Rudolf Otto tried to determine in a scientific way what happened to people when they came in contact with that which they believed to be holy. He observed that there is something extra in the experience of the holy, something you can’t describe in human terms. The clearest sensation that a human being has when he experiences the Holy is an overwhelming sense of creatureliness. When we meet the Absolute, we know immediately that we are not absolute. When we meet the Infinite, we come in contact immediately with our own finiteness. When we meet the Absolute Holy, we become aware that we are not like that.
David Jeremiah, Sanctuary: Finding Moments of Refuge in the Presence of God
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Post by Parker on Jul 1, 2023 15:02:22 GMT -8
JULY 1
OFFERING OF PEACE
JOHN 14:7
Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you.
Christ offered His peace to the disciples during an unbelievably difficult period in His own life. He was enjoying the peace of God, but He knew the disciples were about to be sorely tested and would need God’s peace as well. Anyone can have peace when things are going well at home, financially, and with regard to health. Even the world can manifest a semblance of peace when everything is going smoothly.
It is in the context of difficulties that God wants us to experience His peace and manifest it to the world. Jesus offered His peace to the disciples at exactly the time it would be needed most: a time when their own sense of peace and calm would likely disappear. He wanted His disciples—and He wants us—to be at peace during the most difficult hours of our lives.
Believers in Christ can live in a world where seemingly irrational and indiscriminate things happen without warning but not be undone by worry and fear. We can have peace knowing that God is in control of our lives. While it may appear that things are out of control in the world, we can know that we are eternally protected and watched over by God’s sovereign and loving care.
David Jeremiah, Sanctuary: Finding Moments of Refuge in the Presence of God
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Post by Parker on Jul 3, 2023 12:01:29 GMT -8
JULY 3
CARING FOR SINGLE SAINTS
ACTS 2:44–45
Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.
I want to address a word to single parents—and to those in the churches they attend. I know of no greater need for a ministry of support and encouragement than to those who are handling the pressures and responsibilities of vocation and childrearing alone. Single parents are fighting battles that no one else in the church is facing.
God can use our resources to help meet the needs of the single parents in our churches. He wants to use people to meet the needs of people in our churches today—especially the needs of all our single saints.
Are you a single Christian? Then do what you can to express a desire for ministry and a desire to be ministered to. If you are a leader in your church, do what you can to raise the priority and resources given to ministry to singles. This growing segment of the church must no longer feel as though they are outsiders. They must be as welcome as the most famous single person of all time—Jesus Himself.
David Jeremiah, Sanctuary: Finding Moments of Refuge in the Presence of God
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