Category: Actions

Actions Reveal One’s State of Christianity

On By Ed AlgreenIn Actions, Honest Relationship, Reflective of Jesus ChristLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE – 3 You still live as men who are not Christians. When you are jealous and fight with each other, you are still living in sin and acting like sinful men in the world. ~ 1 Corinthians 3:3 ~ New Life Version (NLV)

THOUGHTS: I want you to consider for a quick moment the frustration by a pastor on a Monday morning when he hears about the fight between two members of his church the previous night. Of course this is in light of a sermon the previous day on the characteristics of Jesus Christ. Now take this one step further: John 3:16 reminds us that God allowed His very own Son to suffer at the hands of sinful men in Herod’s court; hung to a cruel cross and suffer beatings and disgrace by the same men He was actually dying for. Time and time again Jesus modeled the character that He wanted His followers to display on this earth so that unbelievers might recognize and/or be reminded of the qualities of their Lord and Savior. Now, in addition to the Pastor being disappointed and frustrated on hearing the bad news of his church members the previous afternoon, imagine the sadness that must sink deep into the heart of our Lord. Paul made it very clear to the Corinthian church that they were fooling themselves, for they were acting like sinful men, or men of the world, or men led by Satan himself. I would like to suggest to you friend, that Satan is always looking for opportunities to bring division, and cause disruption among the people of God. For you see, God loved the world so much, that He gave His only Son so that we might have life eternally in heaven with Him. Satan’s job, and ultimate aim in life, is to stop folk from knowing the love of Jesus and the peace that comes from His almighty hand on our lives each and every day. Satan looks for opportunities and weaknesses every day to distract believers and cause them to question their actual relationship with Jesus. Friends, just as we stay in sweet communion with our spouse to maintain a healthy and loving marriage, it is also incumbent upon us to do the same in our relationship with Jesus. Because He has given us ‘choice’ in life, He will not force Himself upon us, but He is always ready and willing to respond to our desire to follow Him and to help us as we endeavor to learn His ways, communicate regularly with Him and exemplify Him in every aspect of our lives. Each day others can conclude whose we are. Jesus always knows the very heart of His children, so there’s no fooling Him. Where do you stand today friend? Christians, let’s not disappoint our Lord. To my readers, if you are totally new to the things of the Bible and have never met this Jesus of whom I have referred, please go on to read my ‘Footnote’ and either get in touch with me, or sit down with a local Bible-believing church leader. We would be overjoyed to introduce you to our Savior!

PRAYER: What a Might God we serve! Thank You Father for making the way for us to be assured of our ultimate destination! In much the same way that we live like a married man/woman – because we are married, I pray that it would be very evident to all that may come into contact with us that there is another ‘love’ in our lives also, because of the way we live and the things that we say. Lord Jesus, You very clearly know each heart and our innermost thoughts, so You know how messed up we can often be. Lord, we don’t want to be Christians still controlled by the world and therefore our lives sometime reflect You, while at other times the world can easily say like Paul did to the Corinthians: your actions strongly indicate that you are not ‘Christian’ at all. We never want You to embarrassed to claim us as Your very own child Lord, so please forgive us for allowing the world to so easily distract us and turn our eyes and dependence away from you. We need You each and every minute of every day. Please help us to always seek Your face so that we may stay focused on the joys of knowing You and having Your watchful eye and helpful hand upon us to guide, protect and lead us in the way approved and pleasing to You. I ask these things in the name of Jesus, because ‘I Need Thee Every Hour‘, AMEN!

FOOTNOTE: If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please speak with a local Bible Teaching pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com so that we can pray with you and give you help and or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Any words underlined above will indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to blogger.nuggetsfromgodsword.org and read more, or you may freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. If you are anywhere near the Highlands County, Florida area and do not have a church home, I would be thrilled to welcome you at Bible Fellowship Church, Sebring, FL! Click the link to check out service times and/or other special activities. God is at work among us! Please consider coming to worship with us!

While We Wait…

On By Ed AlgreenIn Actions, Christ's Return, Christ-Like, Wait PatientlyLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (Contemporary English Version – Jude 20-23): 20 Dear friends, keep building on the foundation of your most holy faith, as the Holy Spirit helps you to pray. 21 And keep in step with God’s love, as you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to show how kind he is by giving you eternal life. 22 Be helpful to all who may have doubts. 23 Rescue any who need to be saved, as you would rescue someone from a fire. Then with fear in your own hearts, have mercy on everyone who needs it. But hate even the clothes of those who have been made dirty by their filthy deeds.

THOUGHTS: Many may not even notice the subtlety of objects placed in the lobby of businesses today to distract the attention of those waiting in long lines, but pay particular attention the next time you see a TV mounted in the lobby of a business for you to watch. Sometimes this is used to advertise, but more often just to provide entertainment so the waiting person will ignore the waiting time! So this is what we do when we wait for service here on earth! In these verses today, we are warned what’s important for us to be doing as we wait on the return of our Lord Jesus. Friends, I believe you will note that if we were busy about what we should be doing while we wait, there wouldn’t be near enough time for us to be ‘busy bodies’ who cause division and distractions in the church and/or among God’s people. In fact, I believe you will see that there is even more evidence that these disruptions are nothing more than Satan’s way to slow and/or stop the progress God could make in and among His church. So here’s what we really should be doing as we wait:

  • Keep building on the faith that convinced us of God’s love for us (vs 20)– Don’t you stop and reflect sometimes on you could possibly have gotten to where you’re at today, compared to the time when you first believed and was on fire for the Lord, lifting up His name to everyone you came into contact with?
  • Pray (vs 20) – Not just pray for ourselves, but pray that the Holy Spirit would enlighten us and help us to pray according to His will; for His benefit; through His power and for the things that He sees a need for us to pray for. This is often a totally foreign concept, compared to our selfish prayers for self, spouse, sons, daughters and no more. Imagine praying to God about those things that He is concerned about?
  • Keep in step with God’s love (vs 21) – another version says “guard and keep yourselves in the love of God”. In other words stay so closely attuned to God’s love that there’ll not be room for Satan to interfere with Your thought process, that often impacts Your actions, your will and your love to others. Remember how pure love was demonstrated for us – sacrificially, and on a cross for our benefit, not a soft cozy benefit to Jesus for His obedience and suffering. We too must learn to put God first and place others above self when it comes to reflecting our love like Jesus did.
  • Be helpful to those who may have doubts (vs 22) – Remember where you were when Jesus sent someone to rescue you, and reflect that kind of compassion toward others.
  • Rescue the unsaved (vs 23) – I love this scripture as it compels us towards an urgency we should use in our rescue efforts. When you think about it, we are literally rescuing someone from a fiery Hell, just as you would rescue someone from a home on fire. Before you make your first move to rescue someone from a fire, you have decided that they are worth you risking your life for, and you are exercising the God-given desire and abilities inside of you to save them. Let’s ask God to help us to do this with those who need rescuing from the ultimate pit of Hell should they die without accepting Jesus as Lord of their life.
  • Have a fearful respect for those in need (vs 23) – if not for the grace of God in your life, you could very easily be that person in desperate need. God saw our desperate need to be rescued from Hell and He sent His very own Son so that we might be saved. How far are you willing to go to help those in need that you come into contact with?
  • Hate even the clothes of the wicked one (vs 23) – don’t condone evil, sin and those things that God hates. See the soul that needs rescuing, but show no compassion for their evil deeds.

PRAYER: Father God, You have shown us very clearly through Your saints/writers how to find peace in knowing You as our Master and King; You have given us assurance of our salvation and in this passage of scripture today You have clearly shown us how we should live while we wait for Your return. Thank You for holding our hand the whole way through this challenging life on earth. We were rescued by some caring messenger of Yours, and there are many that we know that needs to be rescued. Please continue to impose upon us the urgency of the hour, the urgency of those friends who may never show it, but really need the salvation that only You can offer. Please continue to bless us with mercy, grace and an urgency of the needs of our fellow man so that when that day comes that You call us home to glory, we shall all gather around Your feet and worship You endlessly for rescuing us from our worldly destiny to Hell into the glories of heaven with You and the Father. And, Oh What a Glorious Day is a song that has reverberated in my mind the whole time while writing this blog. Be blessed by it as you meditate. God loves each of us with an endless love that is indescribable and impossible for mere humans to understand. Just know it and believe in Him to enjoy that love for all times friend! I ask all this today, in faith and in the faithful name of Jesus my Lord, AMEN!

 

FOOTNOTE: If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please speak with a local Bible Teaching pastor, or read through Biblical truths on How To Know Jesus, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com so that we can pray with you and give you help and or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Any words underlined above will indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to nuggetsfromgodsword.org and read more, or you may freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. If you are anywhere near the Highlands County, Florida area and do not have a church home, I would be thrilled to welcome you at Bible Fellowship Church, Sebring, FL! Click the link to check out service times and/or other special activities. God is at work among us! Please consider coming to worship with us!

What You Should Be Doing, Based on the Times

On By Ed AlgreenIn Actions, How to Live, Warning SignsLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (God’s Word Translation – 2 Timothy 3:1-5): 1
You must understand this: In the last days there will be violent periods of time. 2 People will be selfish and love money. They will brag, be arrogant, and use abusive language. They will curse their parents, show no gratitude, have no respect for what is holy, 3 and lack normal affection for their families. They will refuse to make peace with anyone. They will be slanderous, lack self-control, be brutal, and have no love for what is good. 4 They will be traitors. They will be reckless and conceited. They will love pleasure rather than God. 5 They will appear to have a godly life, but they will not let its power change them. Stay away from such people.

THOUGHTS: I believe that if I would have stripped out the scripture references on this passage this morning, you may have assumed that I was quoting the local newspaper, or sharing with you what might be happening in my realm of friends. I discovered two very important things in these verses that I want to share with you friends:

  1. Warning signs of the last days (before Jesus comes) – Keywords such as bragging (in order to promote self); arrogance (placing yourself above others because you have such confidence in self); abusive language (we hear it in the music being blasted as cars pass us by, or we hear it from the passengers – like I heard from my back yard yesterday while a car was passing); curse their parents (I don’t know if there has been a time in history where there has been as much animosity as today between parents and their children. It really hurts me beyond explanation); lack of gratitude (in spite of the generosity of many, there are some very ungrateful folk who receive without any thought of gratitude); no respect for what is holy (so hurtful to hear of robberies and defacement, but especially sad to hear when this happens to a church. I’m really surprised that God has not yet stricken the offenders blind or hurt them seriously during such acts); Friends there are several other signs in verses 3, 4 and 5 that I could also expand on, but I believe you and I can appreciate that these are not ‘pie in the sky’ actions and/or characteristics, but actual actions that we see occurring almost daily in our circles, right now in 2015. Why, you might ask? The scripture tells us that these are all signs of the last days before the last trumpet call, when Jesus will come to take His bride (the church – believers – Christians) home to be with Him in glory.
  2. What must Christians be doing? – We are instructed to stay away from such people as described in (1). Why do you suppose God would instruct us towards such segregating actions? Friends, if you swim in a septic tank, you will come out very smelly. We are to distance ourselves from folk that have characteristics described in this scripture, and instead show them by our character, our speech, and our bold witness that there is a better way to live. With God’s help, it is possible to be holy and righteous. It is possible to live our lives free from conceit and self-worth, but totally controlled by the Holy Spirit and in line with what our circles would expect from Christians – free from hypocrisy.

Friends, to live like God intended, we must be sincere in our relationship with God, and we must be willing to be controlled by His Holy Spirit dwelling inside of the Christian who will steer us towards love and good works. Do you feel that kind of power today? Let us draw close to God so that He might draw close to us and mold us into His likeness. Please feel free to use the information in my ‘Footnote’ to contact me, if there is anything that I might pray with you about, especially in regards to this lesson today. I’m sure that your local pastor and/or church leader would also welcome the opportunity to sit and chat with you about any questions God might have provoked in your mind today after reading this devotional.

 PRAYER: Lord God, Your Word is very plain and it is filled with ‘Nuggets’ meant to convict us of our sin, and show us the way to live more like You. Thank You for loving Your children so intimately, and for caring enough about our witness after we commit to You. We want to be more like You every day, and every day we are more and more convinced of the need for Your power and Your strength to guide us through this life and protect us from the evil one. Please use us as Your instruments today to win the lost and encourage the fallen or despondent. May we be alert to your soon return and more excited every day with anticipation of worshiping You endlessly in heaven very soon! I ask these things in the perfect and all loving name of Jesus, the name above all names, and Your only Son, AMEN!

 

FOOTNOTE: If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please speak with a local Bible Teaching pastor, or read through Biblical truths on How To Know Jesus, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com so that we can pray with you and give you help and or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Any words underlined above will indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to blogger.nuggetsfromgodsword.org and read more, or you may freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. If you are anywhere near the Highlands County, Florida area and do not have a church home, I would be thrilled to welcome you at Bible Fellowship Church, Sebring, FL! Click the link to check out service times and/or other special activities. God is at work among us! Please consider coming to worship with us!