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Post Date: |
Saturday, 2017-04-29 |
| SCRIPTURE | |
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From: |
Mark 6:1-3 (Voice) |
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Text: |
1 Jesus went back into His own hometown where He had grown up, and His disciples followed Him there. 2 When the Sabbath came, He went into the synagogue in Nazareth and began to teach as He had done elsewhere, and many of those who heard Him were astonished. Those in the Synagogue: Where did He gain this wisdom? And what are all these stories we’ve been hearing about the signs and healings He’s performed? Where did He get that kind of power? 3 Isn’t this Jesus, the little boy we used to see in Joseph’s carpenter shop? Didn’t He grow up to be a carpenter just like His father? Isn’t He the son of Mary over there and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, Simon, and their sisters? Who does He think He is? And when they had thought about it that way, they became indignant and closed themselves to His message. |
| OBSERVATION: | |
| Jesus knew that in ministry we would face opposition, just as He faced when He ministered in the synagogue among the Pharisees. They closed themselves to His message’ and I’m afraid that this may be all to familiar to us today…. | |
| APPLICATION: | |
| All the time we hear stories of people that don’t like church, or would rather not hear of our Lord, and this may often discourage us. However, had we not have been just as stubborn, we might struggle in overcoming the disappointment in trying to witness to those kind of friends. The struggle faced by the Pharisees was that the same Jesus who stood teaching them, was the same one born to their neighbor, or hometown friends. The same one who may have run around playing with their children. In fact the kid, whose brothers are known around all of the neighborhood circles. Some of us might have similar experiences, where one of our own have returned from seminary to minister among us. Are you accepting of them? When one has been radically changed and returns to minister to you, are you accepting of them, or do you struggle to see beyond their past? Would you have been able to accept the apostle Paul, after all he did in his life before Christ as Saul? Friends, God changes things, and He also changes people way beyond anything we can do for ourselves, or anything we could imagine. Please remember that when we pray for our pastor and teachers that God might speak through them to us, we must look beyond the inabilities of the man standing before us and look to the God who created this world and each of us. The God who gave His all for our eternal appointment with He and His Father in heaven. It’s not about us, or the man who stands in the pulpit, but its about the Master who has a word to share with us, encourage us with and/or direct us towards. Please don’t allow anything to close your mind to what our God has to share with you. | |
| PRAYER: | |
| Lord, thank You for loving us enough to accept our plea for forgiveness. So often we allow the vices of Satan to affect us and distract our listening to You God and the blessings that You have in store for us. Please forgive us for allowing the forest to blind our vision from the awesome blessings You have in store up ahead for us. Thank You for still radically changing the hearts of mankind and using even the most challenging ones to declare the kingdom of God to us, so that we might otherwise turn our eyes to the Savior of this world. Please continue to minister among us so that all may come to a saving knowledge of the Master. 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 this devotional, please click on the above 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. Words underlined in my blog could 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 Nuggets From God’s Word and read more, or you may freely to 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, located at 3750 Hammock Rd, Sebring, FL 33872! 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! | |
Category: Preaching
The Gospel Message
May I encourage you to get your spiritual ‘Nuggets’ to start your day off right? Pretty amazing that our awesome God would consider feeding even us with His Word! May I encourage you to read the whole devotional, and look for a blessing, friend!………
Today’s Bible Reference: Acts 2:38-41
Today’s Bible Text: 38 Peter said to them, “Change your hearts and lives and be baptized, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ. Then God will forgive your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 This promise is for you. It is also for your children and for the people who are far away. It is for everyone the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 Peter warned them with many other words; he begged them, “Save yourselves from the evil of the people who live now!” 41 Then those who accepted what Peter said were baptized. On that day about 3000 people were added to the group of believers.
The Bible Translation: Easy-To-Read Version (ERV)
My Take Away: These verses form the whole jest of the gospel, or the purpose for churches today. The gospel is preached, or shared with individuals, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, their hearts are stirred, and they accept Jesus as their Lord. I know that this sounds extremely simple friend, but in and of our sinful selves, we want nothing to do with Jesus, or anyone else that will challenge us or the way we live. Conversely then, whenever we hear the Word of God taught or preached, and it prompts us to question or to want to change our way of life, it is at that point that we need to listen to Peter’s response in verse 38, for it is God speaking to us. I believe that the church today is just as relevant as it was in Peter’s day. I believe that people need the Lord today as much, or more than, anyone ever needed the Lord before. I believe it is more critical than ever before that Christians, and church leaders, be sincere and persistent about preaching the Word of God in its simplest form, so that the world will know without a doubt who Jesus is. I can assure you friend, that Jesus really loves you, and so do I! I’ll be praying for all who might read this devotional today that God would be active in your decision making, for only He can change the heart of a sinner. Praise God He did it for me, so I know for sure!
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for making a way for us to one day see You and spend eternity with You in heaven! Thank You for those, like Peter, and our current-day pastors who diligently deliver the message of Truth from Your Word. I pray that more of us, as recipients of that message, will share our faith with others, for the same gospel message that impacted our lives can be enjoyed by many others that we come into contact with, if we will be bold enough to share. Bless us this day with Your grace the boldness and power to share that which we have been blessed with. Please touch our pastors this weekend with power from on high, so that the world might hear and believe. In deepest appreciation for Your love and Your message of hope, I ask these things today, 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. Allow someone to pray with you and give you help and/or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Words underlined in my blog could 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 www.nuggetsfromgodsword.org and read more, or you may freely to 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, located at 3750 Hammock Rd, Sebring, FL 33872! 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!
2016
Nuggets From God's Word 