August 17
“There are two things I like that Islam teaches,” I told a group of upset young Muslims. Upset because I had told them about some Muslims I knew who had found true peace in Christ. “Islam teaches that God is God the Just, and God the Merciful. But when you stand before Him at last, will He be just or merciful?” “Both,” they responded. “That’s a quick answer, but it can’t be right. Justice means God receives full payment for every sin you have committed. Mercy means He has found a way not to charge you. Both can’t be true.” They chased their tails for a while until I interjected with the...
Read MoreAugust 16
Hinduism, the indigenous religion of India, has 900 million adherents worldwide. Although there are many subdivisions, they generally believe in One Supreme Reality (Brahman) who is manifested in many gods and goddesses. They believe that humans are in bondage to ignorance and illusion, but are able to escape. The purpose is to gain release from rebirth, or at least a better rebirth and continue by reincarnation until enlightenment is gained. They practice yoga, meditation, worship (puja), devotion to a god or goddess, and pilgrimage to holy cities. India has had the gospel since the first...
Read MoreAugust 15
“She out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood” (Mk 12:44). A woman told me she had lost half her oil fortune in the recent economic downturn. “Can you tell me how to get it back?” she asked. “No, but I can tell you how to keep the other half.” “How?” “By giving it away for the Lord.” The principle is clear; we only get to keep what we give away for Him. Big-time farming is expensive. If we think the advancement of the work of God in this world will be done for free, we only need to read the history of the early church, and the sacrificial giving involved, to...
Read MoreAugust 14
The Psalms are often used as Messianic proofs in the preaching of our Lord and His disciples. Christ said to His own, “Everything must be fulfilled that is written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms” (Lk 24:44). Risto Santala (The Messiah in the OT, p. 108) writes: “The New Testament borrows 224 separate passages from 103 different psalms, and, with the same passages appearing in different places, this gives a total of 280 psalm quotations in the NT.” Approximately 50 of these deal with the sufferings, death, burial, resurrection, ascension of Christ, and the spreading...
Read MoreAugust 13
“Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean” (Lk 5:12). Bruce Olson was raised in a Lutheran family in Minneapolis. He heard sermons on the need for change, but never about the power to change. One night at age 14, he prayed, “Lord, everything is messed up around me. And its messed up in me, too. But, please, God, I want to change. I can’t do it myself. And I don’t understand how You can do anything within me. But, Jesus, if You could change all those people in the Bible, I guess You can change me. Please, Jesus, let me know You. Make me new.” When he was 19, the Lord led him, without...
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