“He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:15).

What is sin? Sin is universal and it represents the margin of difference between all that God is and what we are on our own.

Sin is anything that falls short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23), so that God will evaluate sin as any behavior that falls short of what He does, what He says, and what He is.

Sin is exposed simply by relating our behavior to God’s behavior. God is perfect, and by that perfection we can recognize what sin is, because sin is anything which falls short of His perfection.

God Himself is therefore the only standard by which sin is recognizable.

Sin is also defined as faithless independence: “Whatever is not from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23). It is an attitude of “lawlessness” according to I John 3:4.

He Who is in us is holy. When we step out of dependence in Him into independence in us, the measure of our repentance will be the measure of our dependence in Him. Every area of our life which we have not learned to be truly dependent on God is an area of our life in which we have not yet truly repented.

Christ died for us, who is risen and alive, who indwells every believer, so that we may no longer be egocentric, self-oriented, living only for our own interests.

Never be sorry for your self. Just be sorry for your sin!

The two disciples, one whose name was Cleopas, both were headed to Emmaus, a small village. They each had a shattered hope and a stifled love. Why? The One they longed for who would free them from Roman bondage and spiritual darkness was dead. And even worse the body was found missing and could not be found. They were crushed and very saddened by the death of the Christ, God’s anointed.

What did the Lord Jesus do for them as they walked and talked toward Emmaus? He came alongside them and spoke with them of God’s plan from Scripture. He raised their very thoughts to God and explained and expounded the written Word. The Word of God tells us after the meeting with the resurrected Lord the disciples’ hearts burned within them.

God’s great desire is that we allow the Spirit of God to encourage us. Today take the Word of God and allow His Word to speak to you afresh and anew. For God’s Word is an encourager of good and true things. His faithful Word never fails as we walk in this world that wills to darken your faith. God’s Word delivers love and hope. He will be known to you as you break bread together by opening the Word of God and meditating upon Him.

Father please bring us to the Word of God over and over again. When we are downcast draw us to yourself. When we are discouraged pick us up with your staff and set us on our feet once more. We love you for You know we need You. In your Son’s name. Amen.

“But we hoped that it had been he who should have redeemed Israel; and, besides all this, today is the third day since these things were done” (Luke 24:21).

“As for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine” (Titus 2:1). Biblical knowledge is meant to be both intellectual and experiential. There are two sides to the same coin and it is meant to be enjoyed together. Knowledge without response is like an incomplete sentence or a song without a chorus. We have to go beyond merely quoting the truth….to obeying it. Why are we to contend for the faith? Because there are false teachers, wolves in sheep’s clothing, counterfeits, apostates in our pulpits across the church scene.  Theology was important to Jude and Paul. God takes the truth seriously. We must know what and why we believe. That is God’s call on every believer. Our faith is not primarily a feeling. It is belief based on fact. It is more about a grounded assurance than personal philosophy. We can not simply make up facts or imagine things about God and then base our lives on those thoughts. Faith fads, theological trends, popular contemporary thinking, is carrying an unthinking church away from strong historical beliefs and Scripture. Just believing something doesn’t make it true. It’s either true or not, independent of our belief in it. Everything that is not Scriptural and experientially defended in our daily lives sets up misrepresentation of the God of doctrine and truth. Just ask the woman at the well in John’s gospel chapter four. It may feel as if the Word of God is rocking back and forth, swaying to the fads of Christianity, but it is not…for the Word of God is stable, it is not changing, progressing, or emerging. We are called to stand for and proclaim what is true, and even when necessary to expose false teaching and heresy. Always ask, “What does the Bible say? And not “Does it make me feel good, happy, or accepted by others?”

“To him whom my soul loveth, who wakens me morning by morning and helps me rise with “wings as an eagle.”

It takes prayer and it takes work to meet with God.  Prayer and Work seem to be an oxymoron.  What are they doing in the same sentence?  The two words together seem so contradictory, like jumbo shrimp, civil war — or child safe!  Prayer and Work seem to be opposite concepts.  Yet we have discovered that prayer that doesn’t work, doesn’t work!

Think about it:  it takes work to step out of time to enter into eternity.  It takes work to learn the art of leaving things undone so that the greater thing can be done.  It takes work to miss a meal to take special time to pray.  One might even lose some sleep to learn that prayer is work.  Prayer that works is work, and those who work at prayer realize that prayer works.  That’s not just a play on words, it is the concept of what it means to pray.

Prayer itself is a gracious gift of God.  He made it possible for us to walk right into his presence and talk to him as our Father.  Every child of God has the right and the privilege to come into His presence.  God is available and ready to meet with us at the drop of a hat.  But Satan has a way, for he desires to get into your devotional life, for he wants you to let go of your devoted life to God.  As the little couplet says, “The devil trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees.”

He will do anything to keep you from loving your Savior.  He wants you to stay in bed until the last moment and he wants you to rise not with the “wings of eagles” but with the “forlorn look of a tired soul.”  Find in Jesus your all in all.  Develop your fellowship with Him through your prayer conversation with your God and your Father.

“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4). What does it mean to be a member of Christ’s body?   First of all there is vitality. The believer’s union with Jesus Christ is a living union. The Spirit of God lives in the believer. We are baptized into the body of Christ. It is God who does the work and it is God who gives life.   Secondly, there is unity. We are members of His body. The members of the body work together. They maintain the peace within the body. There is only one body (Ephesians 1:22-23). The church is more than an organization. The church is an organism.   Thirdly, the church has diversity. Though we are one we have different parts to play and to function in the world. The church operates together to build up the body of Christ. When one part of the body separates from its rightful position and place there is a cancer that develops.   Fourthly, the body of believers deals with maturity. We mature in Christ by demonstrating our love for Christ, for each other, and for the lost. I Corinthians emphasizes love while I Corinthians 14 shows how that love should be exercised in the practical activities of the church.   Fifthly, there is ministry. The Lord Jesus works through us, his body, to accomplish what he desires. He ministers and serves as we surrender to Him. We are his spiritual body. The birth of His physical body is found in Luke 2. The birth of His spiritual body is found in Acts 2, both written by Doctor Luke.   We speak of church membership as if it were only a matter of joining the church and supporting the church with our money, attendance, and occasional work. But membership means more than that. We are a part of a living body. We contribute to the strength and growth of that body, the spiritual body of Christ on earth. Membership in the body of Christ means much more than what most think about. May we today wake to the awesome joy of living in Christ.

A New Start

“For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16).

Paul went through much of living in a culture that was antagonistic toward Christ. So many problems came and went against him, trouble on every side of him, problems that pressed hard against him, and yet he learned the secret of contentment.

Look at yourself in the mirror. Tell me what you see? I see in the mirror a man who is aging and breaking down externally. But, again,  take a look in the mirror of the Word. What do you see? Do you see the eternal springing up within you, the everlasting joy that comes from looking away from the obvious to the real?

Paul did not faint because he kept his eyes on the eternal and the internal. His daily focus was disciplined upon Christ and His Word. He learned that the outward things were temporal and could be discouraging. The things not seen were eternal and were an eternal weight of glory. What is discouragement? It is a temporary loss of perspective.

Focus on that which is unseen, the truths you know in your heart, for it is that truth that is a reality. We need to focus on the inner man. Life is passing us by. We have the opportunity to focus on the eternal and internal daily for the next 364 days of the year.