Bible focus

February 19, 2009

When Does God Give Up On Us? – Part 7 –“Not the Father’s Will!”

One of my all-time favorite verses is Matthew 18:14, Jesus said, “It is not the will of my Father in heaven that even one of these little ones should perish.”  God loves us.  He flat out loves us!  He doesn’t want us to die temporally or eternally.  In fact the psalmist reminded us that precious in the sight of the Lord are the death of His saints.  By now, I'm sure you’ve seen that God never gives up on us.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that none DO perish, because if we give up on Him, or never turn to Him, or reject His love, grace and salvation, He will honor that, and we will be separated from Him forever.  Always remember:  if anyone gives up—it’s us not God, because His will is that NONE, no one, NOT ONE perish.  That’s why He’s so worthy of our worship and praise!  He's the God who never gives up, and never let's go. 

Feb 19, 2009 4:43:00 AM | Bible focus

February 18, 2009

When Does God Give Up On Us? – Part 6 – “I Stand at the Door and Knock!”

If you want to know when JESUS gives up on us a great verse to remember is Revelation 3:20, “Behold! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me.”  I know that Jesus spoke these words to believers.  Billy Graham knows that, too, and it hasn’t stopped him from using it for many decades to remind non-believers that Jesus is never more than our opening the door away from being part of our lives!  Jesus is waiting---He’s waiting whether we’re believers and we’ve temporarily forgotten about Him, or we’re not even sure that He’s there!  Jesus will give up on us, when we can no longer fog up a mirror, but not before, so OPEN the door today!

Feb 18, 2009 4:35:00 AM | Bible focus

February 16, 2009

When Does God Give Up On Us? – Part 4 – “Pearls Before Swine!”

One of the better known images of Jesus when it comes to the question of whether God ever gives up on us is Matthew 7:6 6"Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces. Most scholars say Jesus was telling us not to offer the Gospel to those who aren’t ready to receive it, which seems a reasonable explanation.  But because someone isn’t ready to receive the Gospel TODAY doesn’t mean that God has given up on them.  It means that the person is like the unreceptive people in the Get Out, Given Over, and Heard Hearted posts!  Are you starting to see how amazing God’s grace is through this series?  No one alive is outside of the reach of God’s grace.  Unfortunately, not all respond to His grace, but even when someone is a “pig” God doesn’t give up!

Feb 16, 2009 5:00:00 AM | Bible focus

January 15, 2009

My Favorite Part of Genesis...

In my daily read through the Bible reading for today, I entered into my favorite part of Genesis:  the account of Joseph.  Joseph's story has so many reasons for being my favorite, but most of all it is because the account makes it vividly clear that GOD WAS WITH JOSEPH during Joseph's worst moments.  When his brothers sold him into slavery--God was with him.  When he went to Potiphar's home as a slave--God was with him.  When he was falsely accused by Potiphar's wife and thrown into prison--God was with him.  No doubt God was still with Joseph when Pharaoh called him to come and interpret the dreams he had, and when Pharaoh, but Joseph in charge of all of Egypt, but we would ASSUME God was with him then.  It's that God was with Joseph when He had every right to feel like he was lower than pond scum, that gives all of us hope when life doesn't give us good things.  When Joseph told his brothers about his dream that one day they would bow down to him, Joseph was 17.  The day that his brothers DID bow down to him, he was thirty-eight.  In between Joseph experienced a lot of "highs" and "lows."  The Scripture tells us God was with him in all of the lows.  If you're at least 21 years old, think about the highs and lows of your life over any 21 year period.  Did you sense God with you in the lows.  He WAS!  That's the promise we have from Him, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."  I pray that whatever you're going through right now, that you will know:  GOD IS WITH YOU!

Jan 15, 2009 7:48:24 PM | Bible focus

June 27, 2008

Oswald Chambers on the Sermon on the Mount!

Today's reading from Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest includes this comment on the Sermon on the Mount (and since our Sunday message series through the sermon is the Sermon on the Mount, I thought I'd pass it on!):

The Sermon on the Mount indicates that when we are on a mission for Jesus Christ, there is no time to stand up for ourselves. Jesus says, in effect, “Don’t worry about whether or not you are being treated justly.” Looking for justice is actually a sign that we have been diverted from our devotion to Him. Never look for justice in this world, but never cease to give it. If we look for justice, we will only begin to complain and to indulge ourselves in the discontent of self-pity, as if to say, “Why should I be treated like this?” If we are devoted to Jesus Christ, we have nothing to do with what we encounter, whether it is just or unjust. In essence, Jesus says, “Continue steadily on with what I have told you to do, and I will guard your life. If you try to guard it yourself, you remove yourself from My deliverance.” Even the most devout among us become atheistic in this regard—we do not believe Him. We put our common sense on the throne and then attach God’s name to it. We do lean to our own understanding, instead of trusting God with all our hearts (see Proverbs 3:5-6)

 

Jun 27, 2008 11:21:41 AM | Bible focus

May 29, 2008

Me or Jesus?

Perry Noble spoke last week at the "Whiteboard Sessions."  His big idea was living God's call in our lives.  I was so impressed that I decided to go to New Spring's website (the church where Perry pastors), and listen to a service.  I listened to May 4, 2008, and the theme was "Me or Jesus."  If you want to be challenged to put JESUS first, and experience an amazing worship service (and have 98 minutes to invest) go to Newspring.com and follow the links.  You'll be glad you invested the time!
May 29, 2008 3:20:00 PM | Bible focus

October 24, 2007

Psalm 23 Video!

You'll love this little girl's recitation of the 23rd Psalm!

Oct 24, 2007 2:04:21 PM | Bible focus

March 19, 2007

Suffering for Doing Good...

In 1 Peter 2:20b, the Apostle Peter wrote, "But if you suffer for doing right and are patient beneath the blows, God is pleased with you." Peter actually wrote those words to slaves, bu the principle applies to all of us.  Our culture tells us to avoid pain and suffering at all costs.  God's word teaches that suffering can be redemptive, because God uses it to forge our character and draw us closer to Him.  I don't know who you are as you read this post, but I know this: suffering is part of your reality.  It may be the suffering of circumstance--an illness, a loss or an accident, which has caused physical, emotional or spiritual pain. It may be the suffeirng that comes as a consequence of our actions--suffering for doing good OR for doing evil.  Suffering for doing evil doesn't gain us any credit with God. It CAN help draw us to Him, because negative reinforcement generally moves us away from whatever causes it, and in this case can move us to God.  Sometimes suffering comes as the consequence of doing good.  When we stand up for what is right and true others may ridicule us.  You could get fired from your job.  You may even endure physical suffering.  God's word reminds us that if we endure any of those things, Jesus endured more.  To find out more about the value of suffering in our lives go to yesterday's message titled, "The Path of the Cross Leads to Life" at http://www.newlifexn.org/web/articleid/31292/columnid/3667/articles_view.asp

Mar 19, 2007 10:13:53 AM | Bible focus

Chris Marshall

I'm passionate about Jesus, devoted to Nancy, Abby and Emmy, and live to see others know Jesus!

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