Category: Blog

Who Did Jesus Come To Save?

On By Ed AlgreenIn A Lamp unto My Path, Adoration, Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Awesome God, Beyond Description, Blessing, Blog, Celebrate God, Needs, Podcast, Praise, Praise-worthy, Recognize God, WorshipLeave a comment

DATE POSTED: Monday, May 22, 2023, and I was blessed to be at O’Brien, FL when God inspired me to write this blog post. Please see my Footnote on how you might read or listen to this devotional or any past posts.

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE FROM THE The Message (MSG) IS FOUND IN Luke 15:1-4; 7

THE BIBLE TEXT IS: By this time a lot of men and women of questionable reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, “He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends.” Their grumbling triggered this story. “Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? ….
Count on it—there’s more joy in heaven over one sinner’s rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.

MY INITIAL THOUGHTS: I believe that most churches will have as a part of their Mission Statement, that they exist to save sinners and disciple the saved. How will you rate your church in achieving their Mission Statement? In today’s Scripture, Jesus had to remind the Pharisees and religion scholars the purpose for His coming. I hope that we will be reminded of the same as we meditate on this Scripture today.

APPLICATION OF THE WORD: I wonder if each reader took a moment to peruse your church congregation, how many might be present who are unsaved. Yes, survey the crowd before and after your service to see if needs were met through the preaching of God’s Word that day. If one is saved during the service, do you take a moment, as a congregation, to celebrate the one that was rescued from sin and now anew in Jesus? Less we be discouraged, many churches will have very few opportunities to celebrate the victorious touch of God’s hand on the unsaved, for some pastors do not offer an altar call, and some don’t always preach an evangelical message. So perhaps a pastor from one of my past churches was right when he said that most people are saved outside of the church doors, and then the celebration takes place inside of the church. Perhaps our children are saved at home, perhaps we have opportunity to lead a coworker to the Lord during our lunch break. Perhaps a waitress asked to meet with us after work to learn more about the Savior she saw evident in our character or in our actions, through public prayer over our food, etc. These seem like obvious opportunities to evangelize the lost, but to try and identify with where the Pharisees may have been coming from in doubting Jesus, what if you saw your pastor lunching with the known drug lord who lives in your neighborhood? What if you saw the Pastor’s wife entering the home of a known prostitute? What if any of these events were noticed on several occasions, do you suppose that you would approach the elders of your church to report your observations? What if any of these irreputable individuals visited your church? Will you be among the number to greet them and welcome them into worship with you and other worshippers? Or, will you be one of the ones who will look down your glasses with a question mark as to why they left their illicit businesses long enough to attend church? Dear friends, I hope that your hearts and eyes were opened and humbled like mine were upon reading these verses again. It is awesome to worship with other believers, most of them already saved, but our real work is in witnessing to the unsaved in our circle of friends, encouraging the ones who visit our church in search of the Savior they may have seen evident in the lives of a Christian who touched their lives that week. Perhaps if we were as determined as we should be about reaching the lost in our circle of family, friends and coworkers, we would be more understanding of who others are meeting with. Take note of the story used by Jesus to teach the religious leaders, and then go after the lost sheep – the unsaved. Let’s learn to look forward to times of rejoicing at our next church service as we learn of the lost sheep that were found and/or saved and given freedom in knowing Jesus Christ as Lord.

BLESSINGS WORTH NOTING: Anticipate rejoicing with other believers at your next church service over lost ‘sheep’ that were found, saved and now in worship with you!

PRAYER BECAUSE OF THE IMPACT OF TODAY’S SCRIPTURE: Thank You Lord for saving my soul through the preaching of Your Word many years ago. Praise God for church members, parents and friends who prayed for my salvation! They all rejoiced at the good news of one lost ‘sheep’ being saved into the fold of Jesus! Lord, I want to be bold enough to witness to the unsaved in every location that I find them, not just inside the church doors. Please help our pastors, church leaders, and all Christians to have that same mindset, for we don’t know the date of Your return, nor if the unsaved will choose to enter our church doors. So, please help us all to not delay in sharing Your love and sacrifice in every circumstance, every day. As prepared children of God, perhaps we could break the cycle of lost opportunities and hearts that are hardened to see Jesus work in ALL lives and not just the ones that are obviously searching for the Savior. May we be known to the world as loving children following the footsteps of our loving Lord, and concerned about all the unsaved, no matter what label the world has placed over their heads. AMEN!

FOOTNOTE: There are two more pages on my blog that will provide you with additional information, one of them being ‘To Know Jesus’. If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading/listening to this devotional, please click on this page, or speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. Please allow someone to pray with you and give you help and/or encouragement as you begin or continue your walk with Jesus. If you would like to see or hear more of my devotionals, please go to NuggetsFromGodsWord.org and read more, or go to Apple Podcasts and search for Nuggets From Gods Word to listen to more podcasts. You can also choose to freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s written devotional, or on the Apple Podcast app, simply search for Nuggets From God’s Word and click ‘Follow’ to be notified of Podcast updates. Please allow me to encourage you to find a church home near by your home and attend as frequently as you could. Get to know God and allow His people to encourage and strengthen you in your Christian walk, while making every effort to be a blessing to them. God is at work among His people! Please consider growing in your faith, as you worship with fellow believers!

What Will God, or a Self-Evaluation Reveal

On By Ed AlgreenIn A Lamp unto My Path, Adoration, Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Awesome God, Beyond Description, Blessing, Blog, Celebrate God, Needs, Podcast, Praise, Praise-worthy, Recognize God, WorshipLeave a comment

DATE POSTED: Saturday, May 20, 2023, and I was blessed to be at O’Brien, FL when God inspired me to write this blog post. If short on time to read my devotional, please consider visiting Apple Podcasts at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nuggets-from-gods-word/id1558668439.

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE FROM THE The Passion Translation (TPT) IS FOUND IN Proverbs 6:16-19

THE BIBLE TEXT IS: There are six evils God truly hates, and a seventh that is an abomination to him:
(1) Putting others down while considering yourself superior, (2) spreading lies and rumors, (3) spilling the blood of the innocent, (4) plotting evil in your heart toward another, (5) gloating over doing what’s plainly wrong, (6) spouting lies in false testimony, and (7) stirring up strife between friends.  These are entirely despicable to God!

MY INITIAL THOUGHTS: As an employee, I despised self-evaluations, but as a supervisor, I loved to hear the ratings by my employees in their self-evaluations! This caused us to take time to examine ourselves and be honest through what we really knew deep down inside. I feel like today’s Scripture gives us 7 areas of life to perform a self-evaluation on ourselves before we bow at Jesus’ feet and hear His judgment on these areas of our life. Take time to perform your self-evaluation today!

APPLICATION OF THE WORD: In the business world I discovered several kinds of employees, when it came to evaluations. Some would not complete a self-evaluation, because they already knew they exceeded expectations in every area of their job description! Some completed an evaluation, but they did just as I already described – they rated themselves either ‘very good’, or ‘excellent’ in all categories. Then there were some who really took their self-evaluation seriously and often rated themselves more critically than their supervisor. I remember offering to lower my rating to match theirs a few times, but the employee asked me not to!! But it was obvious that supervisors saw what the employee wanted you to see, while employees knew deep inside what they felt about their performance. Friends, if the world knew us half as good as we know ourselves deep inside, they would understand our mindset while performing some of our job requirements. Some religious scholars might try to encourage you by saying that we need not heed to these instructions that Solomon wrote in the book of Proverbs, but only pay attention to what God said personally, and through His Son, Jesus. However, I subscribe to the thought of other scholars who will tell you that God allowed every word we read in His Book of Instruction, as they were uniquely inspired by Him for our good. Employees questioned, and often we too will ponder, why on earth are these rules in place and expected of us? But let’s never forget that it was God who created us. and it was He who also had a plan in mind for us to spend all eternity with Him. In giving us the freedom to live here on earth for a time, He knew we would face the temptations of the evil one and the misgivings of the ones who choose to give Satan rule over their life. For those who choose to accept Jesus as Lord, God wanted us to have His very special guidebook (the Bible) where we might learn about His ideals, His desires, His wisdom, His guidance and His love that permits Him to willingly be our guide while here on earth. This includes telling us the things that He dislikes and despises, such as in our Scripture verses today. Let me encourage you dear friends to pay close attention to what displeases our Maker, our Redeemer and our Everlasting King. I took the liberty of numerating each of the seven things mentioned in our Scripture. Please ask God to open your heart and your eyes to see if you need closer attention to either of these things. Do your self-evaluation today, so that when You meet Jesus face-to-face, He will be pleased to welcome you home to glory with the words we all anticipate – ‘Well done, good and faithful servant’. It WILL be worth it all dear friends!

BLESSINGS WORTH NOTING: Knowing what God hates should help us strive to please Him in every way, in every walk of life, every day!

PRAYER BECAUSE OF THE IMPACT OF TODAY’S SCRIPTURE: Thank You Lord for creating us in your own image, and in Your perfect will. Allowing us to live in this world with all of its troubles, and with so many led by the evil one, has left us doing things that I’m sure has disappointed You. Especially after being reminded by today’s Scripture of the things You hate and that are considered despicable to You, we can only hang our heads in shame, knowing that we have failed in so many ways. However, through Jesus Christ, we can do all things and be perfect in Your sight, if we allow the Holy Spirit to control our minds, our actions and our feelings towards others. So, precious Lord, I plead with You to open our minds, our understanding and our heart to desire a life pleasing to You. I know that in Your strength, You can do ALL things, so please help us to keep focused on what You desire of us. Direct us towards Your Word each day, so that we could read all that You outlined for us. I believe that it’s only through Your power and our submissiveness that we will overcome this world and the evil one. Touch the lives of the unsaved that may happen across this devotional, Lord. Draw them to Yourself before it is too late. AMEN!

FOOTNOTE: There are two more pages on my blog that will provide you with additional information, one of them being ‘To Know Jesus’. If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading/listening to this devotional, please click on this page, or speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. Please allow someone to pray with you and give you help and/or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. If like to see/hear more of my devotionals, please go to Nuggets From God’s Word and read more or go to https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nuggets-from-gods-word/id1558668439 to listen to more podcasts. Of course you can also choose to freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s written devotional, or on the Apple Podcast app, simply search for Nuggets From God’s Word and click ‘Follow’ to be notified of Podcast updates. Please allow me to encourage you to find a church home near by your home and attend as frequently as you could. Get to know God, and allow His people to encourage and strengthen you in your Christian walk, while making every effort to be a blessing to them. God is at work among His people! Please consider growing in your faith, as you worship with fellow believers!