Video Bible Lesson - Sanctification Isn't Passive by Dr. Charles Stanley

1/2 Hour of God’s Power with Scott Ralls

3/28/2020

Sanctification Isn't Passive
Dr. Charles Stanley

1 Thessalonians 4:1-8
Did you know that God didn't save you just to keep you from hell and get you into heaven? His top priority while you are here on earth is to shape you into the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29). But at this stage of our sanctification, He doesn't do it all for us. We have a responsibility to cooperate with Him and actively participate in the process. Yet many Christians have a passive attitude about the life of faith. They tolerate sin and smooth it over with the age-old excuse, "Nobody's perfect!"
When you received Christ as your Savior, you took the first step in your walk with Him--a walk that will last the rest of your life. However, you also stepped into spiritual warfare with Satan. The Enemy may have lost your soul, but he's going to do everything he can to hinder, sidetrack, and discourage you. The last thing he wants is a saint who's on fire for the Lord and useful in the kingdom.
But many believers have abdicated their responsibility to live holy lives. In fact, some of them look and act just like the unbelieving world. Sexual immorality is one area of compromise that the apostle Paul addressed specifically, but in truth, we should abstain from anything that interferes with godliness.
Have you allowed something in your life that shouldn’t be there? If so, you need to drop it now. You don't want a thread of sin to become a rope, then a chain, and finally a cable that traps you in a stronghold. Turn back to the Lord, and let your sanctification continue.

#Jesus, #Christian, #Bible, #Salvation, #Heaven, #God, #HolySpirit

Streams in the Desert

Streams in the Desert

And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon a heap. (Joshua 3:13).

Brave Levites! Who can help admiring them, to carry the Ark right into the stream; for the waters were not divided till their feet dipped in the water (ver. 15). God had not promised aught else.

God honors faith. "Obstinate faith," that the PROMISE sees and "looks to that alone." You can fancy how the people would watch these holy men march on, and some of the bystanders would be saying, "You would not catch me running that risk! Why, man, the ark will be carried away!" Not so; "the priests stood firm on dry ground." We must not overlook the fact that faith on our part helps God to carry out His plans. "Come up to the help of the Lord."

The Ark had staves for the shoulders. Even the Ark did not move of itself; it was carried. When God is the architect, men are the masons and laborers. Faith assists God. It can stop the mouth of lions and quench the violence of fire. It yet honors God, and God honors it.

Oh, for this faith that will go on, leaving God to fulfill His promise when He sees fit! Fellow Levites, let us shoulder our load, and do not let us look as if we were carrying God's coffin. It is the Ark of the living God! Sing as you march towards the flood!
--Thomas Champness

One of the special marks of the Holy Ghost in the Apostolic Church was the spirit of boldness. One of the most essential qualities of the faith that is to attempt great things for God, and expect great things from God, is holy audacity. Where we are dealing with a supernatural Being, and taking from Him things that are humanly impossible, it is easier to take much than little; it is easier to stand in a place of audacious trust than in a place of cautious, timid clinging to the shore.

Like wise seamen in the life of faith, let us launch out into the deep, and find that all things are possible with God, and all things are possible unto him that believeth.

Let us, today, attempt great things for God; take His faith and believe for them and His strength to accomplish them.
--Days of Heaven upon Earth

Knowing the Heart of God.....Dr. Charles Stanley

Knowing the Heart of God

Dr. Charles Stanley

1 Corinthians 13:11-13

Most people long to be understood. We may have many acquaintances, but we all have a deep need to feel truly known by those we love most. This is because we were created in God's image--He also desires to be intimately understood and loved by us.

Just as you don't want to be known for only the superficial details of who you appear to be, it's not enough to know about the Lord. He wants us to learn how He thinks and feels, what's important to Him, and what His purposes are. Of course, it's impossible for man to completely know the mind of the Creator of the universe. In Isaiah 55:9, He tells us, "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts." The depth and breadth of His mind is so great we will never be able to fully grasp it in this lifetime.

However, we can better understand God's heart and character by seeking Him and learning day by day from His Word. If we genuinely desire to walk in His ways, we must first genuinely know Him. We come to know our friends better by sharing more experiences together. Similarly, we will also understand God better the longer we walk with Him and meditate on what He has revealed about Himself in the Bible.

God wants you to seek Him with all your heart, and He promises that when you do, you will find Him (Jer. 29:13). So, the next time you're feeling a need to be better understood, turn to the One who understands you perfectly. Even more importantly, ask Him to help you know Him better.

A Prayer for Praise

By Debbie McDaniel

“From the rising of the sun, to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised.” – Psalm 113:3

We have so much to praise God for, there's great power in giving honor to Him. And many of you live that truth out, every single day of your lives. The Bible is filled with examples of praise when we see His power released - life-changing miracles, dramatic stories of the enemy being halted or defeated, hearts being changed and drawn closer to Him.

Yet the reality is that way too often, daily struggles or constant life demands can crowd out our praise to God.  We might check the worship box at church and somehow think we’re good for the week. And all the while, with souls distant and cold, we sing words, we listen to music, then we go home.

Sometimes it really is a sacrifice to offer praise.  We may not feel like it.  We’re struggling.  We're weary.  Or maybe, we feel like He let us down. We think God seems distant, like he's far away, or doesn't really care about what's troubling us. Painful life blows and losses might have recently sent us spiraling.

We have a choice every day in this life.  To live absorbed in worry and stress, on the fast track of busy, focused only on what surrounds us, tuned into the roar of the world. 

God desires our whole heart.  He waits for us to return. He longs for us to know the power of His presence over our lives.  He desires to bless us more than we could imagine. His Spirit urges us onward, calling us closer.

May He help us to look up...open our mouths...and sing.

Dear God,

We praise you today with our hearts and songs, we praise you for your faithfulness, we praise you for your great power and love. We confess our need for you, our lives don't go so well when we just spin around on our own. We struggle and worry, get weary and worn. Yet you never leave us. Thank you for your presence. Thank you for your care over us, thank you that you breathe renewal right into our souls. We ask for your spirit to fill us, to draw us close to yourself, and to work your purposes through us, as we set our eyes on you.

In Jesus' Name,
Amen.

Why the Book of Psalms Is for You

Why the Book of Psalms Is for You
By Dane C. Ortlund

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.”  –Psalm 1:1-2

The Psalms Speak to Our Humanness

The Psalms are not written for the experts. They’re written for ordinary Christians leading ordinary lives—lives that are marked by depression, discouragement, despair, frustration, or maybe even numbness toward God or anger toward others. Deep disappointment with the way life is unfolding, guilt, a sense of shame—the Psalms address these pervasive, universal human realities and concerns.

The Psalms engage directly and explicitly and repeatedly with such things. So, the Psalms are going to help you live the Christian life. That’s what they’re there for! And they'll help you live in a way that is trusting in the Lord and mindful of his goodness, even in the darkness that we are often walking through.

A Springtime Mystery

A Springtime Mystery
by Katherine Britton

"For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."- Romans 1:20

When was the last time you wondered if spring would ever come? Not in the ironic sense - really wondered if winter might last forever, something like the 100 years of winter in Narnia. My guess is never. Most of America lives in the reality of four seasons, and we expect the Earth to naturally cycle from winter to spring to summer to fall. We expect trees to unfurl new leaves this time of year because they're supposed to.

But what if they didn't? What if the trees bloomed in winter when their new leaves would freeze, or what if their flowers matured into hornets' nests instead of apples? What if they didn't bloom at all?

In his autobiographical work, Orthodoxy, G. K. Chesterton remembers his journey from agnosticism to faith including such nonsensical questions. Before he became the great 20th-century apologist, he was a man confined to the world of determinism, where the natural world was governed by impersonal laws or nothing. But observing spring outside his window, he was struck by the wonderful fact that for some reason, trees do indeed bloom into fruit.

"They [materialists/determinists] talked as if the fact that trees bear fruit were just as necessary as the fact that two and one trees make three. But it is not… You cannot imagine two and one not making three. But you can easily imagine trees not growing fruit…"

"I had always vaguely felt facts to be miracles in the sense that they were wonderful: now I began to think them miracles in the stricter sense that they were willful. I mean that they were, or might be, repeated exercises of some will. In short, I had always believed that the world involved magic: now I thought that perhaps it involved a magician." (Orthodoxy)

I owe Chesterton a great debt, because he taught me to be amazed at everyday grace. After all, how often do we marvel that the sky is blue (or grey) instead of orange or electric pink? Yet again, familiarity breeds contempt, and we forget what incredible world this "magician" made and keeps in order. Like children who see the same magic trick one too many times, we stop wondering "how did he do that?" and are bored until we see something new.

I use the term "magician" loosely - God is no mere conjurer of tricks, and Jesus didn't feed the 5,000 just to wow the crowd. But I wonder that we lose our wonder of this world, even in its fallen state. As Paul writes in Romans, the evidence of God's incredible, "eternal power" and transcendent, "divine nature" is right in front of our eyes. How do we forget a God so great that He makes trees bloom?

As Virginia turns to spring again, I can't help but look outside and be amazed. To paraphrase Chesterton, the fact that grass is really green - and so perfectly suited for springtime sports - truly is a miracle, a supernaturally guided fact. What an awesome God.

Intersecting Faith & Life: When was the last time you took a look outside? Consider that "the heavens declare the glory of God" (Psalm 8:1) and the Earth is the work of his hands. Are you properly inspired to worship their Creator?

Further Reading:

Psalms 8:1
Psalms 33:5
Genesis 8:22

Our Ultimate Hooray.....by Charles R. Swindoll

Our Ultimate Hooray
by Charles R. Swindoll

John 11  

What gives a widow courage as she stands beside a fresh grave? What is the ultimate hope of the handicapped, the abused, the burn victim? What is the final answer to pain, mourning, senility, insanity, terminal diseases, sudden calamities, and fatal accidents?

The answer to each of these questions is the same: the hope of bodily resurrection.

We draw strength from this single truth almost every day of our lives—more than we realize. It becomes the mental glue that holds our otherwise shattered thoughts together. Impossible though it may be for us to understand the details of how God is going to pull it off, we hang our hopes on fragile, threadlike thoughts that say, "Someday, He will make it right," and "Thank God, all this will change," and "When we're with Him, we shall be like Him."

More than a few times a year I look into red, swollen eyes and remind the despairing and the grieving that "there's a land that is fairer than day" where, as John promised in the Revelation, "He shall wipe away every tear... there shall no longer be any death... any mourning or crying or pain... there shall no longer be any curse... any night... because the Lord God shall illumine them; and they shall reign forever and ever" (21:4; 22:3, 5). Hooray for such wondrous hope!

Just imagine... those who are physically disabled today will one day leap in ecstatic joy. Those who spend their lives absorbed in total darkness will see every color in the spectrum of light. In fact, the very first face they will see will be the One who gives them sight!

There's nothing like the hope of resurrection to lift the agonizing spirits of the heavyhearted. But how can we know for sure, some may ask. What gives us such assurance, such unshakable confidence? Those questions have the same answer:the fact of Christ's resurrection.

Because He has been raised, we too shall rise! No wonder we get so excited every Easter! No wonder we hold nothing back as we smile and sing and celebrate His miraculous resurrection from the grave!

Jesus Himself promised: "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies" (John 11:25).

Easter is a double-barreled celebration: His triumphant hurrah over agony and our ultimate hooray of ecstasy.