Death

It’s a leap year so repeat yesterday’s reading: Job 29 & 1 Corinthians 15

The power of death is no more.  The fear of death has been removed.  All that is in death’s place is the promise of everlasting life and abundant joy in the presence of the glorious Trinity.  Now, we must live in resurrection faith.  Does your life prove your faith in the resurrection or does your life preach this message: This life is all that there is?

Strong Father, give me resurrection faith.  When my eyes close and my heart stops that is not the end.  There is so much more to experience on the other side of death.  The fullness of faith, the removal of sin, and the experience of being forever in Your presence are my sure gifts in Christ.  Make it so that today and all my days that I have left on this earth are lived to the fullest.  Do not let them be days spent on selfish pleasure but days spent bringing the good news of Christ to all people.  Christ died for our sins. He rose again from the grave.  All those that trust in Him will be raised with glorious bodies like His.  Give me joy and boldness in the truth today.

Give me boldness in Christ,

Amen

Work

Today’s Reading: Job 29 & 1 Corinthians 15

Job 29 details the life of a man who works for the benefit of others. 1 Corinthians 15 put explicit content into why we work and what we are working for. In fact, 1 Corinthians 15 has bookends that are all about work.

1 Corinthians 15:10, “On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. ”

1 Corinthians 15:58, “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

The resurrection is the power that saves and the power by which we work. Through the resurrection of Christ comes the defeat of sin and death plus the sending of the Holy Spirit. To seek the spiritual gifts is to seek the power of the resurrection is to seek the empowering of the Spirit. Because we are people of faith in Christ we must be people who labor hard always seeking the grace of God.

Mighty God, there is none like You.  No one else compares to You.  You are magnificent and Your splendor fills the earth. Your glory shakes the foundations of heaven. Your words shatter the trees of Lebanon.  The resurrection of Your Son changes everything.  My body and all of creation groan for redemption.  Bring us the newness of the resurrection. Make all things new. Remove Your enemies.  Wipe away all sin and temptation.  Give me the resurrection body.  But in the time before Christ’s return give me energy to work.  Give me joy in my work.  May I care for the widow and the orphan.  Give me perseverance as I am confronted with the needs of others. Give me compassion for others and guard me from cynicism.  May all people from all nations and all walks of life see the compassion and truth of Christ in me. Make the resurrection of Christ the reason I live.  Show me His glory.

In Jesus’ Name

Amen

Wisdom

Today’s Reading: Job 28 & 1 Corinthians 14

Wisdom is what we are after. We’re searching for wisdom that makes sense of God’s world and our part in it. We need God’s instruction so that we can understand suffering.  We need the mind of Christ to bring worship, tongues, and prophecy in order. We need wisdom that values the building up of the church.  Desire the spiritual gifts. Desire God’s wisdom to understand and use the spiritual gifts.

Father, I pray that You would give me what is needed to build up Your church.  Whatever You desire of me, whatever Your church requires I pray you will give it to me.  Ground me in truth and good order.  Give me a hunger for the outworking of Your plan in my life.  Man has explanations but they are often wrong.  You have explanations and they are always right.  May I hear from Your Word before I get someone else’s opinion. So much of what I do, say, and think during corporate worship is not for the building up of others. Forgive me God for my sin.  Make it so that all that I do, say, and think is for the building up of others. Give me passion that matches the splendor of Christ. Give me wisdom that reflects Your mind.  Give me order so that what I do is not confussing. Help me my God. I come to you desperately needy.

I come to You in Jesus’ Name

Amen

Great love

Today’s Reading: Job 27 & 1 Corinthians 13

It never fails, every time I read 1 Corinthians 13 I am reminded of how much I need God’s grace to forgive me and strengthen me so that I will love others appropriately. I know what love is; God has shown me what love is by sending his Son to die for me.  God has made His enemy His friend through the sacrifice and resurrection of His Son.  Love that does not give is not love.  Love that does not give rightly is not love.  We need knowledge and we need faith so that we can love.

Father, forgive me for not loving. I love myself but I do not love my neighbor as myself. That is a great sin and when I love this way I deny the law and the prophets. In my repentance give me faith and knowledge to love correctly. I don’t want to just acknowledge my wrong I want to live rightly.  I want to love like You love.  I want to give like You give. I want to reflect Your love to my family and all those I come in contact with. Jesus has shown me the pinacle of love. Help me in the big and small ways to die for the benefit of others.  Raise up in Your church men, women, teenagers, and children who are sacrificial lovers of others. Please Father, You have shown us how to love I pray we will follow in the way of our great Savior.  Help me and help Your church to love with right faith and a full knowledge of the Gospel. Help us our God. We come to You desperately needy.

In Jesus’ name

Amen

The God who is worthy

Today’s Reading: Job 23 & 1 Corinthians 10

There is so much we can say about the justice of God, the strength of God, the mercy of God, the commands of God, and the glory of God.  For the benefit of worship let’s try this morning to utilize truth as praise.

Father, the mighty strength of Your hand is such that none can resist it and those who are in Your hand can never be taken away. None is like You. I can compare no one to You. To the praise of Your glory is the fact that Your strength is matched by Your mercy. There is no temptation I will ever face that You will not provide me the strength to stand firm in holiness and the way of escape when necessary.  Give me a strong back and swift feet.  Too often I have a weak back and slow feet. Change me into a man who reflects the image of Christ the one who stood firm and was always ready to do Your will.

I pray now for my church.  Make us one, Father.  You can unite us.  Just as there is one loaf in the Lord’s Supper so too there is one body of members.  Make us one, Father. Unite the strong and the weak.  Break the boasting of the proud and strengthen the weak knees of the feeble.  Give us eyes that look to the needs of others and not to the desires of our own flesh. You can bring us together around Jesus Christ. You can feed us on the spiritual food of His presence and the working of Your will.  Unite us Father.

And God, I continue my request that You would make me an evangelist.  It is clear that being an evangelist does not mean a change of vocation but a change in who I desire to please. May my greatest pleasure come from pleasing others and not from pleasing myself.  Use me Father to save people in Granbury and Glen Rose. Use me Father to bring new life and hope to those dwelling in the darkness of sin.  Whatever I eat, whatever I drink, and whatever I do may it bring You praise and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. You are my king and the God who saves. You are my father and the giver of life. I love You my God.

Only because of Jesus,

Amen

Make me a winner

Today’s Reading: Job 22 & 1 Corinthians 9

Our desires as a Christian can be summarized by the winning of two things: winning Christ who is Himself eternal life and winning as many people to Him as possible.

Father, consume me today with knowing Christ and the power of His resurrection. I want to be guided by a passion to spend today and all of eternity with the magnificent Son of God. I want to be led always be a desire to win others to Christ.  May every trip to the grocery store and every walk around the block be a mission trip; an opportunity for evangelism.  Do not let me waste my day on things that matter very little and are focused 100% on myself.  Let me spend my day on things that matter much; knowing Christ and making Him known. There is so much to know about Jesus.  The magnificence of His eternal nature, the glory of His incarnation, the righteousness of His life, the atoning sacrifice of his death, the power of His resurrection, and the splendor of His ascension to Your right hand, His empowering Spirit in me, and His victorious return cannot be exhausted in this day or in an eternity of days. Give me eyes to see. Make me useful to You.

In Jesus’ Name

Amen

Knowledge and love

Today’s Reading: Job 21 & 1 Corinthians 8

Father, please give me a love for You and a commitment to Your truth. May I love Jesus Christ more than I desire to be right about Your discipline or matters of food and drink. I feel in myself a desire to be puffed up in the eyes of men. I want to be seen as intelligent, smart, wise, and helpful to others. But it is foolishness to pursue benefit through pride. Benefit for Your kingdom is found in love not in domination.  Make me a person who loves sacrificially and boldly. Make Mambrino Baptist Church a church that loves sacrificially and boldly. Through Christ may I work to build others up.  Give me a committement to living for You and knowing You.

In Jesus’ name

Amen

Happier

Today’s Reading: Job 20 & 1 Corinthians 7

1 Corinthians 7:39&40, “A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord. 40 Yet in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.”

Our culture has shaped us to be users.  Jobs are all about me.  Relationships are all about me. Government is all about me. Church is all about me.  We are empty cups and all of creation exists to fill me the empty cup. With this mindset how could a wife be happier without a husband? She’d be happier if her husband was a jerk but that this not the context here.  To live is Christ and to do is gain. In Philippians Paul decided that life was better because of the benefit he could bring to others. He didn’t choose life because it felt so good to be loved and appreciated by others. Life is better because it gives the opportunity for loving service and bold evangelism. The married have less opportunity for service in the community and church because of the requirements of the family. And even these commands are for our joy and are good. Think of heaven. Will we be married in heaven? No. We will be consumed with worship and worship filled service of others. Our days will be filled with service unto the Lamb and service in the name of the Lamb. We will live for His good and the good of others. I believe Paul’s point here in 1 Corinthians 7 is that the unmarried are capable of experiencing that heavenly joy in a greater capacity than the married. Should the married divorce? No, there is joy and usefulness in marriage; the married live as a witness to Christ’s love for the church. If married love your neighbors and family like you love yourself. If unmarried love your neighbors like you love yourself. 

Father, I thank You for my wife and beautiful children. I thank You for the singles and widows that are living for you. May both the married and those who are single live for the joy of Christ. Raise up servants. Make me a servant. When I feel the pull of responsibilities may I never long to be free of them for selfish reasons. May I only long for more of Christ in my life and in every sphere of influence.  Show the church and the world Your glory through the life of singles and through lives of those who are married. Both have much to offer. Both have a message to proclaim about the sufficiency and worth of the gospel.  Help our proclamation to be gracious, loud, and clear.

In Jesus’ Name

Amen 

One spirit with Him

Today’s Reading: Job 19 & 1 Corinthians 6

Over the last couple of months I have been learning more about my unity with Christ. This blessed gift is easy to believe, encouraging in all things, and so deep that time cannot exhaust all that it means to be one.

1 Corinthians 6:17, “But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.”

Blessed Master, I say with Job, “My Redeemer lives.” It is a great mystery that Christ has been vindicated by the Spirit through the resurrection of His body.  In the flesh Jesus my Christ lives. He has conquered the grave and defeated death. Jesus is the wonderful Savior; none can compare to Him. He is infinitely great and I am finite and small. He is full of power and grace. I am quick to sin and hurl words. Were it not for the humanity of Christ, He and I would have nothing in common. It is such a gift to me that Jesus took on flesh.  He came not just to live the example of love and obedience.  He came to be the perfect sacrifice for me.  Christ came to be the propitiation for my sins. And He could have done that and remained distant but He didn’t.  By faith in Christ I am forgiven and I am one spirit with Him. That should never be! But it is such a blessing that as I struggle on this earth and seek to follow You I know that I am joined with Christ.  I am a joint-heir with Him. He has blessed me with every spiritual blessing.  In Christ I lack nothing. Magnify that truth in my life today.  Magnify that truth in the life of my church all our days.  Show us the joy and splendor of being one spirit with Christ.

Only because of Christ

Amen

Sincerity and Truth

Today’s Reading: Job 18 & 1 Corinthians 5

God does an interesting thing in 1 Corinthians 5 and I’m not talking about necessary church discipline.  There is plenty of encouraging and helpful material out there on that already. May God see fit to train His church to recover this lost means of godliness.  What I am talking about is the Passover. In verses 6-8 of 1 Corinthians 5 Paul is redefining the Passover. It’s not a one time meal once a year.  The Passover is a way of living.  In light of Hebrews this makes sense.  Christ is not a lamb sacrificed repeatedly; the fulfillment of the Passover meal is Christ.  The Old Testament meal today would not go far enough in the same way that the Old Testament call to remove the simple leaven from your pantry would not go far enough. Instead, remove the leaven of malice and evil from your heart and in it’s place celebrate the festival not with bitter herbs and horseradish but with sincerity and truth.

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith (1 Timothy 1:5).

Let’s celebrate the Passover today but pursuing Christ.

Father, You have given us such amazing illustrations of Christ all around us and all throughout history. The blood of lamb saving us from the angel of death is obviously a foreshadowing of Christ. Cleanse the house of my heart today. Cast out all that is sinful from within me.  Make me pure for Christ.

Make Mambrino Baptist Church pure for Christ. Do not let us hide behind “judge not lest ye be judged.” Let us stand up for truth and purity by judging those who are inside the church. Give us an unmistakeable hunger for holiness that guides our pursuit of holiness in others.  Where there must be discipline make we seek discipline for the saving of a soul.

Guide my feet to the sexually immoral of the world, the greedy and swindlers, and idolaters. Take me and the power of Your kingdom to them that they might be changed. Give us clean hands. Give us pure hearts. May I never lift my soul to another.

For Jesus,

Amen