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Post Date: |
Monday, 2017-09-25 |
| SCRIPTURE | |
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From: |
Luke 24:50-53 (NLT) |
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Text: |
50 Then Jesus led them to Bethany, and lifting his hands to heaven, he blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up to heaven. 52 So they worshiped him and then returned to Jerusalem filled with great joy. 53 And they spent all of their time in the Temple, praising God. |
| OBSERVATION: | |
| Before being ascended into heaven, Jesus spent some final moments with His disciples, blessing them and giving them reassurance of their reuniting with Him one day. They were very excited over this as they returned to their hometown, and this brought them so much hope that they practically lived at the temple praising God. Does this sound a lot like us? Let’s have a closer look…. |
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| APPLICATION: | |
| Don’t you love to go fishing, and stay out there on the lake, or in the ocean for as long as you want, whether you are catching anything or not? How about those baseball games, when we arrive so early that we could have a tailgate party before the gates are opened, and we don’t mind at all if the game runs into overtime or the hour or two that it takes to work our way through thousands of people and hundreds of cars before heading back home. However, when it comes to church, we are willing to give of one hour per week – for the masses. Nearing that one-hour mark, we see people checking their watches, closing their Bibles and getting real fidgety in their seats. Why some may even take their watches off and visibly shake them, in sight of the preacher so he could see our disbelief about how long this service is going on! So what’s the difference friends? In one case we are spending beau-coup bucks to see overpaid and overweight guys run after a ball all over a large field to possibly score a goal. We know that we will return home without a voice or at least a much diminished voice for a few days, because of our screams in joyous admiration of our favorite player(s). In the other case we are voluntarily going to join other believers who are thankful for the love of the Creator of this Universe; the One who gave His only Son as a sacrifice to save us from our sin; The One who has promised us life eternal with He and His Father in heaven. However, most in attendance hardly sing, or smile, or say a word, or shout with excitement or bring their Bible to follow with the preacher. Furthermore, the excuses I hear my friends making for not being there, I am convinced that this must be way less important than a football game. I realize that this may sound far out there for some who may read this blog today, but is it the unfortunate truth? Remember, you should never lie to God and say that you didn’t have time to attend church, tell it to Him straight – it was not a priority for you. Friends, my desire is that we get back to worshiping our Master and our Lord – personally. When we do a good job personally, then we could join in on the excitement of worship when we come together with other believers, and truly worship our Lord, with our heart’s condition being the only thing that might interfere, or place constraints on our time with the Lord in corporate worship. |
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| PRAYER: | |
| Lord, we have allowed the ‘fun’ things of this world to take priority over our time with You. I’m sure that this is one of Satan’s tools to distract Christians, but Lord I pray that You would reach down and touch Your children once again and remind us of Your love and Your sacrifice, so that we might have a future to look forward to in glory with You and the Father. Forgive us Lord for our lack of commitment and the ease of distraction from Your love for us. May we serve You in all honesty and truth, without hindrances from the evil one, AMEN! |
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| 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! | |
Tag: Bible Fellowship Church of Sebring FL
Faith To Believe
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Post Date: |
Saturday, 2017-09-23 |
| SCRIPTURE | |
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From: |
Luke 24:33-43 (MSG) |
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Text: |
36-41 While they were saying all this, Jesus appeared to them and said, “Peace be with you.” They thought they were seeing a ghost and were scared half to death. He continued with them, “Don’t be upset, and don’t let all these doubting questions take over. Look at my hands; look at my feet—it’s really me. Touch me. Look me over from head to toe. A ghost doesn’t have muscle and bone like this.” As he said this, he showed them his hands and feet. They still couldn’t believe what they were seeing. It was too much; it seemed too good to be true. |
| OBSERVATION: | |
| Jesus had told His disciples ahead of time that He would suffer and die, but He would only be in the grave three days. Mary and her friends had already returned and said that the tomb was empty, and now some of their fellow disciples were telling them about Jesus being alive and chatting with them along the road to Emmaus, yet when Jesus appears before them they were still filled with doubt and frightened. How would we react today if Jesus appeared before us? |
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| APPLICATION: | |
| I believe that after reading this Scripture today, I can understand a little more clearly why we tend to doubt so much here on earth. Think about it, these disciples had been with Jesus all of His ministry life here on earth. They saw miracle after miracle, including Him raising Lazarus from the dead, yet although He told them that He would be taken and would return to earth again, they still could not believe their own eyes. But before we get too deep in criticizing the disciples or coming down hard on them, let’s see how we are doing today. We are blessed at having heard about all that Jesus did through the days of the Bible. We have been blessed by all that God has done in our own lives and through our relatives. We have virtually seen miracle after miracle occur all around us, yet when we ask God for something and we see it miraculously materialize, we use excuses like: I am one lucky man; or I have the best friends around; or why didn’t I think of that? Friends, when will we learn to raise our hands in praise and give God the glory, in humility, for the God of this universe looking down in love and answering our prayer? When we take our petitions before God, there is no more room for ‘luck’ or ‘happen-chance’. We take it before Him in faith and it’s just like He says in return: “it’s OK my child, you can rest assured that I’ve got this. You’ve got nothing else to worry about.” Our part then is to rest in faith that we have passed the baton and our Maker has control of the situation. What a peace that is to the one who believes in Jesus Christ! If you don’t know that kind of peace today friend, please read my footnote on ways that you can get help to know my Savior. |
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| PRAYER: | |
| Lord Jesus, thank You for loving even me. Thank You for caring enough of Your children to hear our heart’s cry and answer our prayers in ways that You know are perfect for us. Please give us faith to believe; faith to rest our cares and concerns at Your feet; and faith to believe in You and the glorious response to our prayers. You alone are God, and You alone can perform the miracles that we are often recipients of. We love You Lord, and we lay ourselves before You, because we are such a needy people. Please hear our cry and answer according to Your perfect will. AMEN! |
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| 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! | |
Follow Through On Your Promise
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Post Date: |
Friday, 2017-09-22 |
| SCRIPTURE | |
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From: |
1 Samuel 1:25-28 (Voice) |
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Text: |
25 They slaughtered the bull, and they brought the child to the priest Eli. Hannah (to Eli): 26 My lord, I swear I am the woman who was praying to the Eternal One in front of you. 27 It was this child I prayed for, and the Eternal has indeed granted me the petition I made. 28 So, as I vowed, I will lend him back to the Eternal. For as long as he lives, let him serve our Eternal One. |
| OBSERVATION: | |
| Each year that the two wives of Elkanah went to the temple with him, for the annual sacrifice. His wife Peninnah would wind up teasing his wife Hannah due to her being childless. However on this particular year, Hannah was deeply moved by this and she prayed so earnestly that Eli, the priest, thought Hannah was drunk. A few years later Hannah returned with the results of that earnest prayer! How well do we do with that? |
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| APPLICATION: | |
| It appears like most of our prayer lives are spent asking God for things – healing, salvation, bringing families back together, etc. I wonder how much God hears back from us on the prayers that He answers? Let me clarify that, our God is alive and He hears each of our prayers. He knows what’s best for us, and He knows when we are sincere about our prayers and when we are trying to tell Him what to do. In asking an all-knowing God, we know that at times His answer might sometimes be ‘No’, but we often hope that many times His answer would be ‘Yes’. When last have you given Him thanks for a ‘No’ answer to your prayer? Interesting, isn’t it? Anyway, Hannah was so serious in her prayer for a child, that Eli thought she must have been drunk. Regardless, God knew the very heart of this woman, and He answered her prayer very positively. However Hannah added in her prayer what she would do if her prayer was answered positively by God. Bribery? Debt of gratitude? I really don’t think so. It is evident from the story that Hannah went to the temple very dutifully with her husband, as expected, each year. I believe she wanted to acknowledge to God that she was asking for a child unselfishly and not just to show revenge to Peninnah, but that she wanted to contribute to the work of the Lord as much as she could. Perhaps it would benefit us to learn a few things from this holy example of this faithful servant of God, like: * While we want God’s very best for ourselves, let’s try asking as diligently for people, or things, that would benefit kingdom work; * Consider the number of years that Hannah must have made similar requests before God. Let’s remember to praise Him for His answers to our prayers, whether they are in our favor or not; * Let’s not be stingy in returning thanks to God, or offering sacrifices to Him, even if its the total of all that He has blessed us with; * Be persistent in meeting with God, even if He decides alternate ways of answering our prayers. Remember, God wants us to ask, but He wants us to be obedient and giving children so that He might be glorified and praised. |
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| PRAYER: | |
| Lord, please touch us and make us more like You. Today we have another great example of a godly person who asked; You gave in response; And she returned all that was given back to You for Your kingdom work. We are so selfish Lord, please help us to be obedient, giving children of the King, all for Your kingdom’s sake. AMEN! |
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| 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! | |
Committed To Serve
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Post Date: |
Thursday, 2017-09-21 |
| SCRIPTURE | |
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From: |
Ruth 1:16-17 (TLB) |
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Text: |
16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t make me leave you, for I want to go wherever you go and to live wherever you live; your people shall be my people, and your God shall be my God; 17 I want to die where you die and be buried there. May the Lord do terrible things to me if I allow anything but death to separate us.” |
| OBSERVATION: | |
| In marrying the son of Naomi, Ruth had dedicated her life to his family. This became more apparent after the death of Ruth’s husband, and in these two verses Ruth clearly stated her commitment to Naomi. I believe that this was very much a part of God’s plan, as we will see how everything aligned for Ruth throughout this beautiful book. This also teaches us about being truly committed to God and to one another with a bond that cannot be broken. |
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| APPLICATION: | |
| Commitment sometimes means that we will continue our job until something better comes up; or it may mean continuing our marriage until our spouse no longer pays attention to us; or keeping our promise to have lunch with a friend as long as something better doesn’t come up. Somehow I can tell that this is not the way that Ruth was put together, for her commitment to Naomi was without conditions and whether anyone else went along to help her or not. Unfortunately, I believe that we have so much to learn from this, for we are so over committed and easily distracted today, that we often commit or promise without ever knowing if we could do all that we said we would. Unfortunately this also involves Christians, for in good gesture at church we might listen to a friend’s problems and promise to pray for them. I’m afraid that this phrase “I’ll pray for you” is so abused, for we walk away from that conversation and never think of that promised prayer again. Perhaps we should either go ahead and pray for the person right there and then, or write their name and request down on a piece of paper, so we could pray for them each day until God answers. Friends, if we claim Jesus as Lord, we commit ourselves to live like He did. We don’t find anywhere in God’s Word where He broke any promises, so in promising to be just like Him, we need to let our yea be yea and our nay be nay. Our word is our honor. How honorable are you? With God’s help we can do this friends! |
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| PRAYER: | |
| Lord, please prompt us to always do what we say we will do and be all that we promise we will be. Following Your perfect will always directs us along the path that You would have us follow, knowing that You will ultimately be glorified in and through us. To God be all the glory! Help us to be men and women of God – good influences/witnesses to all that we come into contact with. AMEN! |
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| 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! | |
Our Rewards For Doing Good
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Post Date: |
Wednesday, 2017-09-20 |
| SCRIPTURE | |
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From: |
Galatians 6:9-10 (GNT) |
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Text: |
9 So let us not become tired of doing good; for if we do not give up, the time will come when we will reap the harvest. 10 So then, as often as we have the chance, we should do good to everyone, and especially to those who belong to our family in the faith. |
| OBSERVATION: | |
| Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul recognized that the followers at Galatia had become very self-minded, in spite of the dire needs all around them. Paul taught them how serving self, led to spiritual death, versus helping the needy would please the Spirit and bless them personally with a great harvest. I believe that God wanted this in His Word because He knew that one day we would be very much the same. Let’s dig in…. | |
| APPLICATION: | |
| I believe that Satan is just as prevalent today as he has always been, in trying to distract Christians from their personal time with the Lord, and also their corporate time in worship to God, and fellowship with other believers. What this results in, is folk who are either overindulged and/or over over-committed at work, and therefore causes folk to look inward for respite on the weekends. This means that many will only find time for their personal favorite pastimes over the weekend, or who use any excuse at all to avoid outside obligations on their ‘personal time’. That’s when we start using excuses like: Well that’s my only day off, so I had to…..; or that’s my only morning to sleep in, so…..; or I have cheated my spouse and kids of time all week, now it’s their turn. Friends, these sound like reasonable excuses to us, but what do you suppose Jesus might say in response? What if Jesus used excuses like these when he was being led to Calvary to ultimately rescue us from our sin? What if we missed an opportunity to hold the hand of a friend at church and lead them to the altar of salvation? Do you suppose these excuses come from devout Christians who opened the Word each day, and dropped to their knees in prayer before a holy and righteous God before leaving for their busy day? Friends, may I suggest that you look deeply into your heart and your personal relationship with God when you start using excuses to meet with Him, or to help others. Natural disasters such as hurricanes or earthquake really bring people together, and extreme love is shown towards those who were impacted. Churches are often filled when folk feel incapable of helping themselves. Folk call out to God like faithful followers when they feel helpless. Oh that we will always call out to Him each and every day, so that our relationship might grow in Him and be filled with the same characteristics that He displayed while on earth. May that inward excitement overwhelm us and push us towards corporate worship so that we might encourage others and help lead the unsaved to Jesus. May we develop an inward drive to help others, like Jesus did. When we stand before the throne on Judgment Day, may God recognize us as a true and faithful follower who helped many along the way. | |
| PRAYER: | |
| For all You have done for us dear Lord, may we be more diligent and dedicated in our time with You and in displaying Your love through helping others here on earth, for thine is the kingdom, the honor and the glory, 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! | |
When God Answers Prayer
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Post Date: |
Monday, 2017-09-18 |
| SCRIPTURE | |
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From: |
Psalm 59:16-17 (TLB) |
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Text: |
16 But as for me, I will sing each morning about your power and mercy. For you have been my high tower of refuge, a place of safety in the day of my distress. 17 O my Strength, to you I sing my praises; for you are my high tower of safety, my God of mercy. |
| OBSERVATION: | |
| David had a way of expressing himself about the relationship that he had with God, and how God answered his prayers in the very miraculous ways that only God could do! In these verses today David was acknowledging through praise, how God heard his prayers and protected him against Saul’s men that surrounded his home. Let’s look into the ways that we can apply this in our own lives…. | |
| APPLICATION: | |
| No doubt there have been times of desperation in our own lives where we have knelt before our Maker in desperation and prayed over very critical moments for a family member, or perhaps a parent, or even a friend. Often we can remember the growth and encouragement that came when our prayers were answered just like we asked of God. However, we tend to get our noses a little ‘out of joint’ when we tell God to do such and such, and He decides that there are alternate ways that He would prefer handling things. This might be a good reminder that the whole reason that we ask God, is that we know that there could be more than one outcome to a situation. For example, in David’s scenario, God could have left Saul’s men hidden for a longer period of time which would have allowed Him more time to work on David; He could have used these men, yes even the opposition, to take David out; or of course He could have stricken the enemies blind so that David could walk away unscathed. I believe that God will gladly listen to our personal desires, or wishes, in a scenario, but I also believe that when we ask that His perfect will be done, that we should strap ourselves in and prepare for the strong, all-knowing, mighty hand of God to be applied in our best interest, or that might bring praise to the Almighty. I believe that most Christians are good about asking, but we may be way too caught up in telling God how to answer our prayers. Additionally, we are way too quick to say that God didn’t, or won’t, answer our prayers, when in fact He answered in line with His perfect will for us. Friends, if we truly know God personally, and we are willing to take Him at His word, then we need to follow the words of an old hymn, ‘Just take it to the Lord, and leave it there’. The other challenging thing for us, is to be ready to obey Him and follow His perfect plan for us, no matter which way He answers. This type of obedience is probably one of the most challenging for mankind, because our tendency is to snarl our noses up when we may have to do something differently than what we asked for. I believe that we need to decide that if God is truly in control, it’s our responsibility to listen and obey Him, knowing that He has our best interest, and His glory, at the center of our heart. | |
| PRAYER: | |
| Precious Savior, thank You for being patient with us as we learn from Your Word, and through our own personal experiences. You are a God who loves and cares for us, and who can be trusted with perfect decisions for us so that You may be glorified. Please help us to take our burdens, cares and concerns to the foot of the cross and leave them there. Please help us to be obedient, even when Your perfect response is different to our personal desires. Lord, may our faith increase everyday because of the awesome working of Your hand, 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! | |
Salvation is Instant
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Post Date: |
Saturday, 2017-09-16 |
| SCRIPTURE | |
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From: |
Luke 23:42-43 (ERV) |
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Text: |
42 Then he (the criminal) said, “Jesus, remember me when you begin ruling as king!” 43 Then Jesus said to him, “I promise you, today you will be with me in paradise.” |
| OBSERVATION: | |
| I found it interesting that at least two of the ways that people tend to think of salvation today, occurred in these two verses. First, that if I ask for salvation today then eventually I will be saved. The second is in Jesus’ response, that today, you are saved. Because I believe that some still believe in one of these concepts and some in the other, I believe that we should examine the two…. | |
| APPLICATION: | |
| On the day that I was born, my mom and dad was given the date and time of my birth. They were not told that if he survives 90 days then you can start the clock running for the beginning of his life, or you will be granted a birth certificate at that time. On the day I got married, my wife and I were given marriage certificates, certifying that we were married on a given date and time in a certain place by a certain pastor. What I have found in Christianity, is that some will say that their journey began when they were influenced by this person and grew as they attended church and matured when they saw answered prayer over an illness. I wonder when the criminal might have considered himself saved if this logic was used? Perhaps Jesus would have told him: sorry buddy, you are just too late in the game? Did you notice that God had been speaking to the criminal before he spoke these words to Jesus? He knew all about the good deeds of Jesus; that he was wrongly accused, and that He was being crucified as an innocent man. I’m sure that the criminal watched the attitude of Jesus throughout the whole march up to Calvary as well. Most importantly, did you notice that Jesus didn’t regurgitate all the sins and/or crimes of the criminal when He was asked to accept him? Jesus simply said to him, what He would simply respond to the vilest offender today: today, you are Mine. Today, should you die, you will be with me in eternity! Friends, let me encourage you to think back to the day and the time that you asked Jesus to forgive you of your sin and accept you as His very own son or daughter. Let me encourage you to write that down somewhere, and embed that in your mind, because as long as you are on this earth, its leader (Satan) will still be on your heels and he will cause you to doubt, or question your salvation. Take Satan back to the place, day and time where you secured your salvation with Jesus Christ, and order him to flee from you, for you serve a new Master now and it’s not him! Of course you will mature in your Christian walk as you learn more about the life, ministry and teachings of Jesus, but keep your markers in place friend regarding the day you decided to serve only Him. | |
| PRAYER: | |
| Father, You are all merciful and understanding of the effects that this world has on your precious children. I know that the angels rejoice when one makes a decision that they want heaven as their eternal home and You as their triumphant leader from the point of salvation and forevermore! Thank You for the awesome plan You put in place for us! Thank You for the gift of Your precious Son, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit to guide us through this earthly life that is bombarded by sin on every turn. We are anxious for our eternal home, but until then, anxious about all that You can do through us to help yet another beggar (sinner) see the Light of the World – Jesus! Please direct us and use us as instruments molded by You. 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! | |
Proof of Son-ship
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Post Date: |
Friday, 2017-09-15 |
| SCRIPTURE | |
|
From: |
1 John 4:7-10 (GNT) |
|
Text: |
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Whoever loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 And God showed his love for us by sending his only Son into the world, so that we might have life through him. 10 This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven. |
| OBSERVATION: | |
| I believe that we have always learned that God is love, and that we should use His example when explaining the word ‘love’. However in our Scripture today, John is helping us to understand that if we claim to know Jesus as Lord, then we must be identified as being a person of that same genuine love as Jesus. Easy? No, but let’s try to apply this today….. | |
| APPLICATION: | |
| After growing into a teenager, I remember being far from home, and someone at a gas station shouted across identifying me with my dad. I was floored, as I never knew that I looked so much like my dad! We often hear people tell couples that they look like sister and brother. I wonder if that’s as much in looks, or how they act so much alike after being together so many years? Friends, with God’s help, I want to especially share with you the unconditional love that Jesus has for us, and I want to remind you that when we identify ourselves with Him – that we are a Christian, then folk should often mistake us for Jesus, because we act so much like all they have read, heard or know about Jesus. This passage today is telling us that we can’t hate a brother or a sister and claim to be Christ-like, for that would be totally opposite to His character trait. Let me remind you that He loved the men that came to arrest Him in the garden where He went to pray, because He reached out and healed the ear of the one whose ear was severed by one of Jesus’ men. On the cross He pleaded with God to have mercy on the folk responsible for His crucifixion, as He felt they really didn’t know what they were doing. He could have called a multitude of angels to clean up the scene at the crucifixion, much like He did at His birth when He reached out to the shepherds, but He sought the Father’s will instead. These few points lead to the fact that just as Jesus loved, in spite of the circumstances, and in spite of the hatred showed to Him, then as His child, we too must seek guidance, strength and boldness to love those who are easy to love, and those who really don’t want anyone to love them. Our witness to them will be most effective when they see Jesus in our words and in our actions, otherwise we come across to them as just another hypocrite. For those of us that represent our Savior, our relationship with Him is way too important to mess up on this. Verse 8 clearly identifies those who choose not to love. I trust that no one reading this blog today will walk away acknowledging that they are not a child of the King. Friends, please know Him and know true love for one another. If you are challenged to show love for everyone, then have a personal meeting with Jesus and analyze Your relationship with Him. There may be some decisions or cleanup that He may want you to do in your life. | |
| PRAYER: | |
| Dear Jesus, thank You for another identifier, and reminder for those of us that claim You as Lord and Master. You portrayed love to everyone, much to the dismay of church leaders in Your day. Yet You have forgiven us of our sin, and we still look down our noses at some, assuming that we could never love them. Your Word is clear – that attitude highlights one who is not a child of the King. Lord Jesus, please help us to seek Your face, Your strength and Your love each and every day, and please help us to never assume that anyone is not worthy of our love. As Your representative, may we learn to love everyone with the same love that You showed to us when a holy and righteous Savior held out His hand and accepted a sinner like me. May You be honored in all that we say and do today, is my humble prayer that I ask in faith, 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! | |
How To Gain God’s Favor
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Post Date: |
Thursday, 2017-09-14 |
| SCRIPTURE | |
|
From: |
Isaiah 58:6-9 (GNT) |
|
Text: |
6 “The kind of fasting I want is this: Remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice, and let the oppressed go free. 7 Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless poor. Give clothes to those who have nothing to wear, and do not refuse to help your own relatives.
8 “Then my favor will shine on you like the morning sun, and your wounds will be quickly healed. I will always be with you to save you; my presence will protect you on every side. 9 When you pray, I will answer you. When you call to me, I will respond. |
| OBSERVATION: | |
| By clicking on the Scripture link, you will see the whole part of this chapter in Isaiah that speaks to the subject of fasting. You can read this and see the heart of God in response to our condition when asking Him for anything. After all, who are we, in our sinful, unclean, selfish character, to ask a holy, righteous, almighty, Son of God for anything at all? Let’s have a look, as this speaks directly to us today…. | |
| APPLICATION: | |
| We’ve heard parents say this over and over to a child that comes to them in boldness, and often disrespect, asking for something: “Who do you think I am child? You may speak to your friends like that, but you don’t speak to me, or any adult like that”! Sounds familiar? Well, who are we to think that if we follow some religious tradition, we could demand anything of God? I was humbled by a pastor from my past, that always prayed to God to ‘please’ do this, or ‘please’ don’t do this. Sounds like a simple word that we would use when asking any human for something, but seldom do we add that pleasantry in our prayers. God told the Israelites in this Scripture from Isaiah something very similar to a New Testament lesson that He also taught – on getting the board out of your own eye, before talking to Him about the splinter in your neighbor’s eye. I believe that God had Isaiah tell the Israelites, and record it in His Word so that we might know, that what God is more interested in than anything else, is the heart of mankind. In 2 Chronicles 7:14 God said that: If my people would humble themselves, pray, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and heal their land. Similarly, in this Scripture, God is telling us to come before Him holy, and righteous – in other words, straighten up our act and perfectly align our lives with Christ, then He will shine on us; heal our wounds; save us; protect us; answer our prayers and be attentive to our plea before Him. Is there something more you might want than that list my friend? This is the God that we worship and adore! This is the God that we approach for forgiveness and with our petitions! May I suggest that you approach Him with the respect He deserves and having considered the issues with self before whining and complaining to Him about others! I am convinced that God loves His children and wants to work His miracles through those of us who are considered clean and worthy vessels. Won’t you join me in seeking God to use even you and I? | |
| PRAYER: | |
| Lord Jesus, thank You for guiding us to all truth and holiness. Thank You for showing us so vividly what it is that You would like from us, so that we may gain Your favor. Lord, I pray that each one reading this blog today might hear directly from You through these simple words, and that they may draw closer to You as they seek Your face in prayer for themselves and for others. 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! | |
When Jesus Looks Into Your Eyes
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Post Date: |
Wednesday, 2017-09-13 |
| SCRIPTURE | |
|
From: |
Luke 22:60-62 (TLB) |
|
Text: |
60 But Peter said, “Man, I don’t know what you are talking about.” And as he said the words, a rooster crowed. 61 At that moment Jesus turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered what he had said—“Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny me three times.” 62 And Peter walked out of the courtyard, crying bitterly. |
| OBSERVATION: | |
| In earlier verses Peter swore that he would do anything and everything to show his loyalty to Jesus. But he was cautioned by Jesus, as He knew what would happen when Peter was really squeezed by the local people to claim his allegiance. Of course Jesus knew what He was saying, and unfortunately for Peter, Jesus was present when it happened the third time when Peter heard the rooster crow, just as Jesus had predicted to Peter. Let’s apply this to our own lives… | |
| APPLICATION: | |
| As a child, I knew when mom’s eyes meant she was proud of me, or when she was upset at me, or when I was really in trouble. At school, I knew the same traits of my teacher. Now that I’m older, I can see how silly it was of me to try and hide certain things from either of these people, because they knew me so well, and they were certainly smart enough to see guilt in my eyes. Reading these verses, I was reminded that Jesus sees me as His loving child, and when I try very diligently to obey Him and do His perfect will. However. I was also reminded that He also sees when I willfully disobey His commands and His instructions, and when I make promises to Him but totally disregard them when I think that no one knows me or sees me. Am I alone in this? Am I the only one that didn’t learn from this embarrassing moment of Peter’s? Friends, each of us must face God for ourselves. It won’t matter how much of a godly mother we had or that our dad was a pastor, God will look into our eyes (individually) and judge us for who we were and for all the words we said or thoughts that may or may not have provoked our actions. If that was to happen today, how would that go for you? May I remind you that this could be the exact scene for you or I today? We all have lost friends this year that we never suspected that they would be called home so early in life. So may I encourage you today to know that you know Jesus personally, and to live as if today will be the day that Jesus looks fully into your eyes and makes a final decision on you, based on what He knows to be the case. | |
| PRAYER: | |
| Father God, we come humbly before You today and confess that way too often we are probably way too much like Peter. Lord, I believe that we all will confess that we would much prefer being the ‘perfect’ child and that we have been totally obedient to you in mind, action and daily walk. Please forgive us for trying to ‘pull the wool’ over our parent’s eyes, our teachers, our friends and for foolishly thinking that we could do the same with You. I believe that our greatest desire as Your child today is that we become more and more like You every day, and that friends we witness to will see us the same in the dark as they see in the daytime; the same in town as they might see out of town; the same in our workplaces as they see in church and that Your character will be evident in and through us at all times. Lord, may You rule and reign supremely in us at all times, is my humble prayer, 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! | |
Nuggets From God's Word 