February 27
While speaking on the Bible’s inspiration and the many prophecies fulfilled by the Messiah, one detractor advanced the theory that Christ planned His actions based on the Messianic program. I replied: “Did Judas arrange to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver to fulfill the prophecy (Zech 11:12)? And after Judas hanged himself, who arranged for a potter’s field to be bought with the money? And how, while hanging on the Cross, did Jesus persuade the soldiers to divide His outer garments and cast lots for His inner robe (Ps 22:18)? Did His enemies gave Him vinegar to drink in order to...
Read MoreFebruary 26
“Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Rom 5:20). About the year 1900, evangelist Peter Bilhorn received a song, “The Bird with the Broken Wing.” Using the idea that “The bird with the broken pinion Never soars as high again,” it warned that a “life that sin had stricken, Never soared as high again.” About that time he was invited to preach in the Iowa State Prison. When asked to sing at close, he used that song. When he finished, a young man said, “Chaplain, if that’s true, there’s no hope for us.” Bilhorn realized his blunder, and so wrote this verse: “The soul that comes to...
Read MoreFebruary 25
John Stott writes: “Note the recognizable sequence in the Gospels. When Jesus saw someone in need He had compassion, and when He had compassion He invariably acted. His compassion was aroused by the sight of need, and always issued in the alleviation of need. What His eye saw, His heart felt; and what His heart felt, His hand touched. Divine love is active.” This is how Richard Baxter put it: “Let us hear these arguments of Christ whenever we feel ourselves grow dull and careless: ‘Did I die for them, and will you not look after them? Were they worth My blood, and are they not worth your...
Read MoreFebruary 24
H.P. Barker was visiting the doors when he asked a man, “Are you able to say, ‘My sins, which are many, are forgiven?’” ‘Oh no, I don’t think anyone can speak positively on that.” “What place do you attend on Sundays?” He pointed to the parish church. “Why, sir, every Sunday you repeat in that ancient creed, ‘I believe in the forgiveness of sins.’ Whose sins do you believe in the forgiveness of?” He was silent for a moment, and then said, “I never looked at it like that.” I opened my Bible at 1 John 2:12 and handed it to him. He read, “I write to you, little children, because your sins are...
Read MoreFebruary 23
“Andrew…first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah.”…And he brought him to Jesus” (Jn 1:40-42). “One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, ‘There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish’…” (Jn 6:8-9). “Certain Greeks…came to Philip…saying, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’ Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus” (Jn 12:20-22). A.P. Gibbs writes: “Andrew is a picture of the personal worker. He is mentioned three times, and each time he is described as bringing someone to Christ. There is...
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