This perpetual calendar includes:
- Remarkable testimonies of souls won to the Savior
- Explanations of gospel concepts
- Answers to frequently-asked questions
- Stories of real-life witnessing opportunities
- Encouragements and tips for sharing the glorious gospel
April 12
Amy Orr-Ewing tells of a conversation her husband had with a woman at a wedding reception: “At one point she had said, ‘The reason I am not a Christian is that I am studying English Literature, and I don’t believe that there is a Transcendental Signified, and so I can make the Bible mean whatever I want it to mean.’” She explained that words have no actual meaning. A word only has the meaning that a reader or a hearer gives it. It does not itself carry any ultimate meaning because there is no God (Transcendental Signified) to give ultimate meaning to words. “My husband looked at her and said: ‘If that is the case—if words have no meaning except the meaning of the listener or reader—is it OK with you if I take what you have just said to mean, “I believe in Jesus and I am a Christian”? At that moment she…realized that her argument failed its own test. The standards by which she was judging the Bible were standards that her own thinking could not measure up to.”
Today’s Reading: 2 Kings 18-20 Memorize: Jeremiah 31:3April 11
“Our gospel came not to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance” (1 Thess 1:5). Note three aspects to assurance: “the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ” (Col 2:2); “the full assurance of hope” (Heb 6:11); and the “full assurance of faith” (Heb 10:22). Assurance may be lacking for three reasons: if a person is not truly saved and the Spirit is convicting them of their need; if a person is truly saved and living for Christ but is being attacked by the devil to unsettle him; or if a person is truly saved but “walking after the flesh” and therefore has no evidence in his life of the principle of faith. Assurance is not based on looking at self, however. What Christ did on the cross make us safe; what God says in His Word makes us sure. I can no more assure myself than I can save myself. “By this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him”(1 Jn 3:19). —J.B.N.
Today’s Reading: 2 Kings 15-17 Memorize: Jeremiah 29:13April 10
Charles Spurgeon tells the story of an old man who heard a young man preach. When he was asked what he thought of it, he was slow to answer. At last he said, “If I must tell you, I did not like it; there was no Christ in it.” “No,” answered the young man, “because I didn’t see that Christ was in the text.” “Oh!” said the old man, “but don’t you know that from every little town and village in England there is a road leading to London? Whenever I get hold of a text, I say to myself, ‘There is a road from here to Christ, and I mean to keep on His track till I get to Him.” “But suppose you’re preaching from a text that says nothing about Christ?’’ “Then I will go over hedge and ditch until I get to Him,” said the old man. Spurgeon added, “So must we do; we must have Christ in all our discourses, whatever else is or isn’t in them. So when you are called to preach to charwomen or to chairmen, always take care that is the real gospel of Christ is in every sermon.”
Today’s Reading: 2 Kings 12-14 Memorize: Jeremiah 29:11April 9
In John 6:37 our Lord says: “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me.” Doesn’t God want all to be saved? Hebrews 2:9 reads, “that He (Christ) by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” 2 Peter 3:9 also says: “The Lord…is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” No one can read these declarations and say that He has not provided for the salvation of all, or that it is not His will that all should be saved. Regarding John 6:44, it should be remembered that it is the Spirit who woos us to Christ, and that the Spirit has been sent to “convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (Jn 16:8). We should also note that there were those who had a living relationship with the Father when the Son came into the world. It was these whom the Father drew to the Son. And the rest of humanity? That’s the rest of the verse: “…and the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out.” Whosoever will may come!
Today’s Reading: 2 Kings 9-11 Memorize: Jeremiah 17:7April 8
George Whitfield, who preached more than 18,000 times, was one of the most widely recognized public figures in colonial America. During the Great Awakening of 1740, he was addressing a large open-air meeting from the words, “And the door was shut” (Mt 25:10). A young man in the audience, standing not far from the preacher, said to a companion in a voice loud enough for Whitfield to hear, “Well, what does it matter if the door is shut? When one door shuts, another door opens.” Whitfield immediately sprang into action: “Some may say,” he called out to the crowd, ‘What does it matter if the door is shut; if one door be shut, another door will open.’ Yes, that is true: if the door of heaven is shut against you, the door of hell will be open. If you are shut out of heaven, you must enter hell.” The Holy Spirit carried the words home to both of the young men, who remained for conversation with the preacher, and were led to accept Christ as their Savior.
Today’s Reading: 2 Kings 6-8 Memorize: Jeremiah 9:23-24April 7
Your humanity is at stake; the souls of the unsaved are at stake. The sinner saved by grace is not only a person who is heartbroken over his own sins. But he is also heartbroken over the sins and present destiny of those around him: “Rivers of water run down from my eyes, because men do not keep Your law” (Ps 119:136). When you sit around your kitchen table with your children or your siblings or your parents, when you spend time with your friends, when you go into your office, when you walk the streets of your town, when you stand in a great concourse of men and women with the hordes thronging about you, you are in most cases seeing a mass of untaught and hell-bound sinners. Your soul should be stirred to its depths by the reality of those whom you love and even those whom you do not know, lost and on their way to an eternity under the just judgment of a holy God who will yet save whoever turns to Him. — Jeremy Walker, The Brokenhearted Evangelist, p 36
Today’s Reading: 2 Kings 3-5 Memorize: Isaiah 64:6April 6
I had been called at the last minute to speak at a conference. I spent the night preparing and was exhausted when the taxi arrived to take me to the airport. The cabbie, on discovering the purpose of my trip, asked my age; he thought I was too young for the task. I then asked him his age. “Fifty,” he replied. Flippantly I said, “So does life begin at 50?” “It hasn’t begun for me yet,” he responded. “Does your Bible have the answer?” My tiredness vanished as I shared with him the way of salvation. As I read scriptures to him, he suddenly pulled the car to the shoulder, put his head on the wheel, and began to pray. “Lord, You knew I needed this. I’m ready for all you want to do for me. Thank You, Jesus, for what you did to save a pathetic case like me.” Back on the road, his joy was evident as I shared with him the blessings of being in Christ. I wasn’t ready, but the Spirit was, and so was this poor soul. What grace that the Lord uses weak vessels. It’s all He has to work with! —J.B.N.
Today’s Reading: 1 Kings 20-22; 2 Kings 1-2 Memorize: Isaiah 61:10