June 30
“God has spoken once, twice…” (Ps 62:11). Scottish physician W.P. Mackay remembered seeing his mother in agonizing prayer over his salvation. But it did not move him, and he grew increasingly godless. Years later, he treated a badly injured laborer. The man asked that his landlady be called, and to bring him “the Book.” Mackay was deeply impressed with the “happy expression constantly on his face.” After his death, a nurse asked, “What shall we do with this?” holding up the man’s Bible. Mackay wrote: “I took the Bible and—could I trust my eyes? It was my own Bible! The Bible which my mother...
Read MoreJune 29
The historical elements of the gospel are found in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ “for our sins” and the multitude of witnesses that join the documentary evidence of Scripture (1 Cor 15:3-9). The doctrinal elements of the gospel are found in Acts 20:21, “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” The practical elements of the gospel are found many places and described by many terms. They should not be thought of as cumulative, a growing list of requirements, but different ways of saying the same thing. “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame” (Rom...
Read MoreJune 28
“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor 6:2). Dawson Trotman writes: The very first trip that I ever took on United Airlines was on a twelve-passenger Boeing plane. It was about a three-hour trip and I wanted to share Christ with someone, but it wasn’t until the last half hour that I got up the nerve to talk to the stewardess. She said, “Do you know I’ve never heard this message before?” She was a church member, but she didn’t know that Christ died for her. She thanked me for speaking to her about her need of personal salvation. Evelyn Sadino accepted...
Read MoreJune 27
To the writers of [the New Testament Epistles] this present life was only an incident. It was lived, with a due sense of responsibility, as a preface to sharing the timeless life of God Himself. To these men this world was only a part, and because of the cumulative result of human sin a highly infected and infectious part, of God’s vast created universe, seen and unseen. They trained themselves therefore, and attempted to train others, not to be taken in by this world, not to give their hearts to it, not to conform to its values, but to remember constantly that they were only temporary...
Read MoreJune 26
Baha’i: founded in 1863 in Tehran, Iran as a breakaway from Islam. There are now 5-7 million adherents. They believe that the deity has revealed himself progressively through world religions, the last of these being Bahá’u’lláh, who united all religions—thus practicing any of these leads to the same end. Of course this is self-defeating. You cannot believe that all ways lead to God and at the same time believe what Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (Jn 14:6). They believe the purpose of life is to develop spiritually. Heaven and...
Read MoreJune 25
Ira Sankey tells of his visit with D.L. Moody to Sunderland, in northeast England: “One evening at the conclusion of a very earnest gospel address, I was requested to sing a hymn, ‘Come Home, O Prodigal, Come!’ A deep hush prevailed, and just before its conclusion a cry was heard through the building: ‘Oh, father, will you forgive me?’ as a young man rushed from the back down the middle aisle to where his father was seated. Throwing his arms around his neck, and with the deepest emotion, he begged forgiveness for some wrong he had done. The father rose from his seat and said, ‘My boy, I...
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