May 13
“Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again’” (John 3:7). Ravi Zacharias addresses an increasingly common complaint: “‘Why can’t we leave everybody alone to follow the religion within which they were born? Why all this proclamation and propagation?’ Once again, this demand challenges the very core of the Christian faith, because no one is born a Christian. The relationship a Christian claims is one that comes not by culture but by virtue of a personal choice to follow Jesus Christ. Christian ideas may be inherited within a culture, but the Christian commitment is a personal...
Read MoreMay 12
John Townsend had been visiting a prisoner on death row. One day he said to his daughter Abbie, “This man will be executed tomorrow. He always welcomes me, but shows no interest in his soul. Would you have the courage to visit him?” Arriving at his cell, Abbie held out her hand, but he did not take it. So she took his hand in hers, trying to speak. Instead, a flood of tears fell on his hand. Mr. Townsend led her away, saying, “Remember, ‘He that goes forth and weeps bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing bringing his sheaves with him.’” At 6:30 the next morning a...
Read MoreMay 11
“For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake” (1 Thess 1:5). What kind of men largely influenced what kind of results came from their gospel efforts—at least Paul thought so. In his seminal book, “Forward Movements of the Last Half Century,” A.T. Pierson writes: “All real advance finds its starting-point, as also its goal, in more conformity to God. Character lies back of conduct; what we are ultimately shapes what we do. Hence the stress of the whole word of God...
Read MoreMay 10
I noticed her in the crowd; she looked to me like royalty. When I asked her to tell me her story, she said her father was a drunk and her mother slept to escape. No one cooked or cleaned or cared for the little girl. “One day, a beautiful lady met me on the street and asked, ‘Would you like to come to a place every week where you’ll be loved?’ She started attending her Sunday School class. The first week the teacher noticed she had no Bible, so arranged to take her for one the next day. “She could have just bought me one, but she made an event out of it—took me to a restaurant and bought be...
Read MoreMay 9
Sanctification comes from the same root meaning as holiness. In its primary sense, it means to be different, then to be set apart, then to be wholly for God, and finally that process by which those who have been declared right shall be made right. “By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ” (Heb. 10:10). “Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach” (Heb 13:12-13). There is positional sanctification (Heb 10:14),...
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