Verse of the Day 5/16

 

Verse of the Day 5/16

 

Hebrews 1:1-2   Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, ² but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.  English Standard Version (ESV)

 

How many of us would like to hear a word from God?  Today's verses show us how God has communicated with His people through the ages.  In the Old Testament there were signs and wonders, and God's message was delivered through the prophets.  When Jesus came He spoke and taught the Word of God.  When we want to hear from someone, whether it is a sermon, a coach giving instruction to his team, a conversation over the phone, or perhaps facetime with family members, we have to put ourselves in a position to hear and be paying attention.

 

Former NFL head football coach Tony Dungy writes, "The key to good communication is for the speaker to enunciate well and use words that can be understood; the listener needs to listen and focus on what is being said and not what he or she wants to say.  God knows what He is saying and how to say it - we need to be still and listen for His voice.  It's always a good idea to start in His Word, the Bible.   "

 

For the Christian that wants to hear from God, this being in position involves having His Word in front of us and in our hearts and minds, it means paying attention, shutting out the clutter and noise of the world and focusing our attention, ready to receive the instruction, and ready to put it into action to apply it in life.

 

John Piper writes, "any of us after the apostles, whether third or fiftieth generation, can hear God in the Son.  He has spoken to us.  This is where we hear God.  He is not silent.  Nor has any of us exhausted His Word.  Oh, let us read and ponder and meditate and memorize and saturate our minds in this great, final Word – which the Holy Spirit serves by all his gifts."

 

God sent His Son, let us come to Him, place ourselves in a position to hear, let us listen to Him, and then go and do what He has said in His Word.

 

Blessings,

 

Mike

 

 

       Hebrews 1:1-6 The Message (MSG)

1 ^1-3 Going through a long line of prophets, God has been addressing our ancestors in different ways for centuries. Recently he spoke to us directly through his Son. By his Son, God created the world in the beginning, and it will all belong to the Son at the end. This Son perfectly mirrors God, and is stamped with God's nature. He holds everything together by what he says—powerful words!

The Son Is Higher than Angels

^3-6 After he finished the sacrifice for sins, the Son took his honored place high in the heavens right alongside God, far higher than any angel in rank and rule. Did God ever say to an angel, "You're my Son; today I celebrate you" or "I'm his Father, he's my Son"? When he presents his honored Son to the world, he says, "All angels must worship him."

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                             

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Verse of the Day 5/15

Verse of the Day 5/15

John 3:14-15    And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.    English Standard Version (ESV)

Today's verse came from yesterday's read through the Bible plan.  On Sunday I had listened to the Gaither Vocal Band song "I Believe in a Hill Called Mount Calvary", it brought the verses in the passage together speaking of what we believe in as Christians, that God so loved the world that He gave us His Son, that in believing, putting our full faith and trust in Him, we have eternal life.

The song mentions a number of things that we believe in, in Jesus, the power of the cross, the power over death, and that that power is still available and changing lives today.  This led me to the Apostle's Creed which gives a more complete summation of what we believe in as Christians.

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
      creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
      who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
      and born of the virgin Mary.
      He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
      was crucified, died, and was buried;
      he descended to hell.
      The third day he rose again from the dead.
      He ascended to heaven
      and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
      From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
      the holy catholic* church,
      the communion of saints,
      the forgiveness of sins,
      the resurrection of the body,
      and the life everlasting. Amen.

Consider today what you believe, more so, who you believe in.   Belief in Jesus still has the power, will always have the power to change lives today and eternal life for every believer.

Oh, I believe that this life
With its great mysteries
Surely one day will come to an end
Oooh but faith will conquer
The darkness and death
And will lead me at last to my friend   (Gaither Vocal Band - "We Believe in a Hill Called Mount Calvary"

--   In Christ,  Mike    Folllow the Verse of the Day blog at http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com  Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,  in accordance with the riches of God's grace.  NIV    

John 3:14-18 New Living Translation (NLT)

¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵ so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.^[a]

¹⁶ "For this is how God loved the world: He gave^[b] his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

¹⁸ "There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God's one and only Son.

Verse of the Day 5/13

Verse of the Day 5/13

Ephesians 1:4-5    even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,    English Standard Version (ESV)

I try not to repeat verses very often in these posts, but as I read a devotional by John Piper about Charles Spurgeon's conversion and still had the thoughts of "And Can it Be" running through my mind, I couldn't help but go back to these verses.  That He "chose" us and "predestined us" in love does not go over well with many in today's society and even within many churches and in today's "Christianity".  But the thought of God's sovereignty are foundational to the Christian faith.

The other day we considered the question "who is Jesus"?   Today we'll consider "how did we become a Christian"?  John Piper shares Charles Spurgeon's testimony:

"One weeknight, when I was sitting in the house of God, I was not thinking much about the preacher's sermon, for I did not believe it.    The thought struck me, How did you come to be a Christian? I sought the Lord. But how did you come to seek the Lord? The truth flashed across my mind in a moment — I should not have sought Him unless there had been some previous influence in my mind to make me seek Him. I prayed, thought I, but then I asked myself, How came I to pray? I was induced to pray by reading the Scriptures. How came I to read the Scriptures? I did read them, but what led me to do so?    Then, in a moment, I saw that God was at the bottom of it all, and that He was the Author of my faith, and so the whole doctrine of grace opened up to me, and from that doctrine I have not departed to this day, and I desire to make this my constant confession, "I ascribe my change wholly to God."   Charles Spurgeon    Today we celebrate Mother's Day. Most of us, unless we were adopted, we weren't chosen specifically, we are the the product of our earthly parents.  But God, chose us before the foundation of the world, through our parents.  Today we celebrate our mother's love, and the love of our wives for our children, and rightfully so. We honor them and praise them for their selfless, steadfast love.  We also celebrate the love of God, the source love, as Spurgeon wrote "at the bottom of it all."    Amazing love, how can it be?  'Tis mercy all, immense and free;  For, O my God, it found out me.  'Tis mercy all, immense and free;  For, O my God, it found out me.      

--   In Christ,  Mike    Folllow the Verse of the Day blog at http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com  Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,  in accordance with the riches of God's grace.  NIV    

Ephesians 1:1-6 The Message (MSG)

1 ^1-2 I, Paul, am under God's plan as an apostle, a special agent of Christ Jesus, writing to you faithful believers in Ephesus. I greet you with the grace and peace poured into our lives by God our Father and our Master, Jesus Christ.

The God of Glory

^3-6 How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.

Verse of the Day 5/11

Verse of the Day 5/11

 

Mark 8:29-30   And he asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Christ." ³⁰ And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.  English Standard Version (ESV)

 

Yesterday evening I had the chance to play some golf at a small country course.  As is often the case the plaques on each of the holes had some sponsor.  As I came to one of the last holes the plaque simply asked "who is Jesus"?  I stopped, surprised by the plaque, but immediately answered in my mind "my Savior".

It was a warm evening, but as I continued on I had "goose bumps" or as some in North Carolina would say, "chill bumps".

 

Immediately after that, the song "Our Master" by Matthew Ward came to mind.  My daughter Laurie and I had sung that song together in church many years ago, the song, the lyrics and the memories are precious to me. 

 

Our Master
Our Savior
You are Lord our King
Our Master
Our Savior
We give our praise to our King
To our King

You're the Everlasting Father
The Beginning and the End
There is no one that can take your place
There is no other Name   (Our Master – Matthew Ward)

 

As I mentioned yesterday, the read through the New Testament plan is in John 1, there in verse 29 John the Baptist said "look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world".  In verse 34 he says "this is God's Chosen One".   Later in verse 41 Andrew tells Simon his brother "we have found the Messiah"; in verse 41 Philip tells Nathanael "we have found the one Moses wrote about in the law"; and then Nathanael tells Jesus "you are the king of Israel".

 

They believed and professed their belief.  A.W. Tozer writes, "believing then, is directing the heart's attention to Jesus.  It is lifting the mind to "Look, the Lamb of God" (John 1:29), and never ceasing that beholding the rest of our lives."

 

So, if asked that question, "who is Jesus"?, how would you respond?   The answer to that question will determine your destiny. 

 

Blessings,

 

Mike

 

Mark 8:27-32 The Message (MSG)

The Messiah

²⁷ Jesus and his disciples headed out for the villages around Caesarea Philippi. As they walked, he asked, "Who do the people say I am?"

²⁸ "Some say 'John the Baptizer,'" they said. "Others say 'Elijah.' Still others say 'one of the prophets.'"

²⁹ He then asked, "And you—what are you saying about me? Who am I?"

Peter gave the answer: "You are the Christ, the Messiah."

^30-32 Jesus warned them to keep it quiet, not to breathe a word of it to anyone. He then began explaining things to them: "It is necessary that the Son of Man proceed to an ordeal of suffering, be tried and found guilty by the elders, high priests, and religion scholars, be killed, and after three days rise up alive." He said this simply and clearly so they couldn't miss it.

 

 

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Verse of the Day 5/10

Verse of the Day 5/10

 

John 1:4-5  In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.  English Standard Version (ESV)

 

The read through the New Testament plan that I'm following has moved into the book of John.  In John 1 we find several key terms, the Word, which was from the beginning, in verse 1 we read "the Word was with God and the Word was God".   We also find the word "light"  in today's verses and a total of about 36 times in the book of John.  In John 8:12 Jesus said "I am the light  of the world.  Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."  Life, life in Christ is another key term that we find in the book of John and we read in John 3:16 of "eternal life".

 

John 3:16 English Standard Version (ESV) "For God so loved the world,^[a] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

 

Take some time today to think about these things.  Perhaps, decide to read through the book of John over the coming weeks and focus on the key points.  For today, ponder the words from the following stanza of a familiar Christmas  song, "Hark the Herald Angels Sing":

 

Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
risen with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,
born that we no more may die,
born to raise us from the earth,
born to give us second birth. 

 

Consider those things that He brings to us when we put our faith and trust in Him, light and life, healing, a second birth – salvation.

 

Celebrate Jesus today, praise Him, follow Him, and learn from Him.

 

 

Blessings,

 

Mike

 

John 1:1-5 The Message (MSG)

The Life-Light

1 ^1-2 The Word was first,
the Word present to God,
    God present to the Word.
The Word was God,
    in readiness for God from day one.

^3-5 Everything was created through him;
    nothing—not one thing!—
    came into being without him.
What came into existence was Life,
    and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
    the darkness couldn't put it out.

 

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