Word For the Day

Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way (Psalms 139:23-24 NAS95). How willing are you to have God search your heart? Of course God knows all of your thoughts, emotions and motives without your permission. You can’t shut God out as He knows all things. However, the question is are you willing to let God expose your inner thoughts? We love ourselves and hate to have our egos damaged. We don’t like to see the evil intentions of our heart exposed to the light of truth. However, there is nothing more important than looking into the perfect law of liberty to see who we really are (James 1:25) One mark of an unbeliever is an unwillingness to acknowledge God in their mind (Romans 1:28). It is a gracious act of the Holy Spirit to reveal sin to you. We are commanded not to be conformed to this world. The means to that end is the transformation of your mind (Romans 12:2). Exposure to G...

Introduction During my years as a Director of Education, Minister of Education, and Senior Pastor, there is one thing I have learned without question. There is no end to the books, programs, classes, techniques, and tools meant to improve or garner evangelism in the local church. Unfortunately, all of them that I have seen could focus more on a fundamental need.  I don’t mean to sound harsh, but it seems, the goal of these resources is, without them stating such, to embolden terrified, sin-laden-Christians to participate in outreach through the use of humanistic means without first dealing with the witness himself. Let me give a disclaimer before I give you an example of which I speak. Most of the tools, I won’t say all, have a proper Gospel included in their methodologies. Also, no matter the messenger, the Word of God can and will accomplish what God desires (Isaiah 55:11). However, humanistic goals and a lack of spirituality cannot sustain a lasting evangelistic effort. Evangeli...

Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy. (Matthew 5:7) As believers we have received so much mercy already. Let us be thankful for the rich blessing God has poured out on us. However, there seems to be something more here. If not more, then at least a correlation. The correlation is mercy will be met with mercy. Those who are merciful shall obtain mercy. How does this play out in our lives? Well, the implication is believers should have and cultivate a spirit of mercy and forgiveness.  Mercy is an intrinsic quality of the Holy Spirit.  For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy (James 3:16-17).  Having the Holy Spirit in our heart, we have the capacity and duty to be merciful. Believers will never come under a judgment of condemnation, but we are told to deal w...

One might think the filling promised to those who hunger and thirst is the imputation of Christ righteousness. Clearly, those who seek after Christ in faith trusting His atoning work, will be imputed with Christ righteousness. However, this understanding seems to be outside the context. Christ is speaking to His disciples at this point. He left the multitude and went up on a mountain and sat down to teach them. Most would agree He is describing the ideal attitudes believers should demonstrate.  Ideally, we should hunger and thirst for righteousness. This craving is at its greatest when we have immersed ourselves in the Scriptures. The Word of God is a lamp, and it provides reproofs and instruction (Pr. 6:23). For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebrews 4:12). As we consider our lives we will see many s...

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). NKJV There is no better example of meekness than our Savior. When facing the cruel world leaders He restrain the use of His power in order fulfill His ministry to save His elect.  Early in the morning the chief priests with the elders and scribes and the whole Council, immediately held a consultation; and binding Jesus, they led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate. Pilate questioned Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?" And He answered him, "It is as you say." The chief priests began to accuse Him harshly. Then Pilate questioned Him again, saying, "Do You not answer? See how many charges they bring against You!" But Jesus made no further answer; so Pilate was amazed. (Mark 15:1-5) NKJV Why was Pilate amazed? Wasn't it because the response he received was much different than expected? Pilate expected excuses and pleading. Of course, he received neither excuses nor pleading. Jesus co...

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. (2Pet. 1:2-3) Sometimes we make the Christian life more difficult than it need be. We complicate it by interjecting human reason into our walk that robs us of grace and peace. We unconsciously look to works in hope of  a means of grace. We employ asceticism thinking we need to appease God or prove to Him we are worthy to be granted a blessing. These misguided efforts will only lead to despair. Peter tells us plainly that God has granted everything we need pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of God. It’s not complicated. If you want grace and peace in your life you need to increase your knowledge of God. That increase of knowledge is not to be interpreted as knowledge only in an academic sense. While raw fa...

And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." So He said, "Come." And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!" And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" (Mat 14:28-31) The Lord has impressed upon this writer that there is starting faith and ending faith. Both are grounded upon the solid ground of faith in Christ, however they differ in resolve. It seems easier to start a ministry or take a path by faith, than it does to finish it.  Considering the amount of faith it took for Peter to ask Jesus to bid him come is amazing. Then to get out of that boat and start to walk to Jesus is even more amazing. Who would do that? So it is surprising to read the words of Jesu...

As believers we have been made citizens of the kingdom of God. We used to be  children of the world. We were depraved, unable to seek God. However, God chose us to be His children. We were made citizen of His kingdom through that redemptive process called salvation. Jesus Instructs the Disciples How to Live in His Kingdom? He does this in Matthew 5 during His Sermon on the Mount. In that sermon He makes a number of statements commonly called the beatitudes. He says a lot more than what we will look at today, but today we will focus on eight beatitudes. 1. Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit Those who are poor in spirit have a right assessment of their spiritual condition. They realize they have no righteousness in themselves. They have come to understand the truth that the only righteousness one may obtain comes by faith in the only righteous person who ever lived--Jesus Christ the Righteous. Those who are righteous have heard the Gospel, repented of their sins, and have believed in Jes...

If you ask people, “Do you believe there is a God?” most would say yes. Of course this statement must be qualified. A person saying “I believe in God” does not necessarily mean that person is resting their eternal soul on the one true God described in the Bible. Still, it remains that most people acknowledge the existence of a god of some form. Why? The answer is simple. God has made Himself known to all men. This is an inescapable reality. Notice how clear the Bible is on this point. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful,...