Tag: Simplicity

Simple Words Powered By The Holy Spirit

On By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Needs, Praise, Recognize God, Spiritual Gifts, Understanding, WorshipLeave a comment

DATE POSTED Wednesday, 2022-04-27
WRITTEN AT: Citra, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: 1 Corinthians 2:1-5
TRANSLATION: Living Bible (TLB)

BIBLE TEXT: 1 Dear brothers, even when I first came to you I didn’t use lofty words and brilliant ideas to tell you God’s message. 2 For I decided that I would speak only of Jesus Christ and his death on the cross. 3 I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling. 4 And my preaching was very plain, not with a lot of oratory and human wisdom, but the Holy Spirit’s power was in my words, proving to those who heard them that the message was from God. 5 I did this because I wanted your faith to stand firmly upon God, not on man’s great ideas.

APPLICATION: Praise God for those who have been persistent and successful throughout their years of education, and have shown initiative to excel and learn even more about a particular trade. Often we might step back and congratulate them, for their gifts help them excel in their jobs. In our biblical account of Paul, we must realize that He had just come from Corinth where we see him going to Mars Hill in the city of Athens, gathering with the intelligent students of the day to discuss with one another about the happenings of their day and place, and as in Paul’s case, to teach and preach the Word of God. Often this discussion and philosophy would serve only to help the very top students of the day, because the success of his sermon was very minimal in reaching the actual hearts of the lost and uneducated. Commentaries believe that this intellectual time by Paul failed in his mission to teach and preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Coming now to Corinth, Paul was touched by God to speak the truth of the Word to the common person, and not be so concerned about impressing just the highly educated. This helps to explain why Paul placed aside his oratory skills and instead sought the help of the Holy Spirit and the heart of God for His people. I believe it is evident that God uses hearts to touch hearts, for eloquent words often fall by the wayside. Does this still happen in our churches today? Of course this continues. I sincerely believe that it is often not intentional, as we all tend to speak at the level that we would normally communicate in life. So I believe that it takes the power of God to actually help a teacher or preacher to simplify his message so that those in attendance would understand and apply the message to their lives. After all, why study and labor over a lesson or a sermon, if it will fall on deaf ears, or is not understood by those listening. Friends, that could also happen in any of our lives. For those who have attended church and been under the listening of thousands of sermons or Bible studies, we have learned a language that only fellow Christians truly understand. How then can we speak to an unchurched, unbeliever, who knows nothing about our special language? The important thing that comes out in this lesson today is that Paul sought the help and power of the Holy Spirit, and I am convinced that the Holy Spirit not only knows what we need to simplify, but He also knows the level at which the hearer needs to understand. Begging God for the wisdom on what to say to those who need to hear, is only one part of the equation. We should also ask God to bless us with an understanding heart – one that will identify with our audience and help us to become one with them. God’s messenger who could teach His Word is a unique and amazing thing, but to also find one who could simplify it so that even the uneducated, unsaved, needy person who might be weak in their faith, is nothing less that miraculous. May God bless the messenger who is attentive to the Holy Spirit in teaching and preaching the Word of God in simplicity and clarity!

BLESSING(S) NOTED: To understand God’s Word is far more beneficial than to listen to many eloquent words that do not clearly teach us the picture that God wants painted in our hearts and minds.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank You for leaving us Your Word, and also the Holy Spirit to bless us in our understanding of it. Please help us to always be mindful of the hearer when we try to witness, teach and preach, so that the world will know about You and their need for salvation, and not just be impressed with our level of education. Thank You for our educators, and for where they have brought us to scholastically. Please help us to reach family and friends from all walks of life and varied levels of education. Holy Spirit, please help us to always understand what our audience knows about our Father, so that our teaching and our witness will result in the unsaved receiving Jesus, spiritual growth and in productive fruit. Please open the heart of our hearers so that they will desire to know more about the Jesus we love, adore and serve. 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 might 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 subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. You may also visit me on Spotify and listen to Nuggets while you’re out and about. I would 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!

Accept THE GIFT Like a Child

On By Ed AlgreenIn Children, Faith, Genuine Faith, Humble, Humility, TrustLeave a comment

Post Date:

 Tuesday, 2017-05-16
SCRIPTURE

From:

 Mark 10:14-16 (ERV)

Text:

 14 …. So he said to them, “Let the little children come to me. Don’t stop them, because God’s kingdom belongs to people who are like these little children. 15 The truth is, you must accept God’s kingdom like a little child accepts things, or you will never enter it.” 16 Then Jesus held the children in his arms. He laid his hands on them and blessed them.
OBSERVATION:
The disciples did exactly like we would still do today. When the crowds came pressing in on the center of attention, Jesus, they thought to begin reducing the confusion by keeping the children at bay. Surely Jesus would want to speak with the town authorities, or possibly the indigent, or even the known rebels in the town, But to their surprise, Jesus got upset at them, because He wanted the children to come to Him.
APPLICATION:
One translation reads that adults must learn about and accept Jesus in the simplicity of a child. I know that some adults still get pretty excited on Christmas morning, but really nothing to compare to the excitement of a child. Ever notice how a child never meets a ‘stranger’? For those that are not too sheltered, they will walk up to a total stranger and talk to them just like they would to a family member. Ever notice how children absorb everything they are taught, while adults must prove it first? Google has become our greatest friend, because when we can’t trust what the pastor said in church, we could prove him wrong by checking it out on Google! Our children are so trusting that we have to teach them at a very early age that there are some bad people out there that they must be careful of. Adults often have to be retrained that there are some good people out there that they can trust and befriend! In our text today, Jesus is teaching us that adults are to receive kingdom things like little children, with trust and dependence on Him. Our personal abilities, riches, or effort does nothing to enhance our personal relationship with Jesus. Ever notice how within a few days of being with their school or Sunday school teacher, a child will greet them each time with a great big hug and a smile, because they have found someone who cares for them and loves them in return. That’s the same way it is with Jesus Christ. He has already proven His love for us, for with arms stretched from east to west on the cross at Calvary He showed us how much He loved us. And although our eternal life was very costly to Jesus, He made the sacrifice so that we would not allow personal cost to be a hindrance to accepting Him and entering heaven’s portals. Spend some time around a child today and at the end of the day, review your relationship with the King of Glory in light of the faith, trust and love that you witnessed as you observed that child.
PRAYER:
Heavenly Father, You created us as children so that, as adults, we could appreciate the qualities in little people. I’m sure that as You grew us into adulthood You expected us to maintain some of what we learned as a child, but I believe that we have taken on so many bad qualities of this world, that we have lost much of our faith, trust, humility and love. These are not only qualities we see in our children, but they are key qualities we see in our Savior, and qualities that help us to draw close to You, dear Lord. Please continue to draw us to yourself and please continue to strengthen the qualities that we need in order to draw close to You and be a living witness of You with all that we come into contact with. We are Your children Lord, please help us to love, trust, honor and worship You as child would, 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!