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
July 25
Captain Gustav Stearns was an army chaplain with the 127th Infantry of the U.S. Expeditionary Forces in Europe during World War I. Wounded in battle, honored by General John Pershing for gallantry in action, in one day he buried 51 soldiers under shell-fire. He preached to over 4,000 wounded soldiers on one occasion, and was not afraid to preach a once-crucified, now living Savior. But one of his officers objected: “I wish you would stop preaching so much on the sacrifice of Christ. If you would tell us more about His beautiful life, we would be motivated to walk in His steps,” his superior suggested. “You will walk in His steps if I preach His life, will you?” replied Stearns. “Very well; the Word of God says He ‘did no sin’ (1 Pet 2:22). Can you walk in those steps?” “Of course not,” the officer responded. “Then,” said Stearns, “it is not an example you require, but a Savior from sin. That is why I have preached, and shall continue to preach, the sacrifice of Christ.”
Today’s Reading: Song of Solomon 2-4 Memorize: John 8:36July 24
“But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts” (1 Thess 2:4). In his book, Tales of Great Truths, G.A. Neilson tells of an incident when some unbelievers decided to send their best debater to argue with a local preacher. He was received kindly and began the conversation abruptly: “I believe there is a dispute between us. I thought I would call on you this morning and settle it.” “And what it this disagreement between us?” asked the Christian. “Well, you say,” continued the visitor, “that the impenitent will suffer for eternity, and I don’t think they will.” “If that’s all it is,” responded the believer, ‘then I can tell you there is no dispute between us after all.” “No?” the man replied incredulously. “If you turn to Matthew 25:46,” continued the preacher, ‘you will find the dispute is actually between you and the Lord Jesus. I advise you to go immediately and settle it with Him.”
Today’s Reading: Ecclesiastes 11-12; Song of Solomon 1 Memorize: John 8:34July 23
“God” in various religions might be thought of as benevolent towards creation, but the gospel was Good News when it first burst on the world because men realized “God is Love.” The revelation provided by Christ Himself, the awe-full brunt of suffering which He was prepared to bear in order to redeem mankind, His triumph over man’s last enemy, His ascension to timeless reality taking Human Nature with Him—all these showed one thing, that God is by nature Love and that He loves humanity. Those who accepted this foundation-truth…found that their own “love-energy,” which had previously been turned in on themselves or was being given to the wrong things, now became an outflowing love embracing those for whom Christ died…I am convinced that what we need to recover, perhaps more than anything else, is the conviction that God is not merely kindly disposed towards us, but that He is Love. — J.B. Phillips, New Testament Christianity, pp 94-95
Today’s Reading: Ecclesiastes 8-10 Memorize: John 8:32July 22
J. Budziszewski, a “repentant atheist,” writes: “How then did I become undeceived? Not because anyone called my bluff. When I told the faculty of the University of Texas that there is no rationally knowable difference between good and evil and that we aren’t responsible for our deeds anyway, they gave me a job teaching the young.” Explaining the change, he says: “I did pray to God one night. I told him that I thought I was talking to the wall. I said that if he existed, he could have me, but he would have to show me because I couldn’t tell. As the minutes ticked past, the wall looked more and more like a wall, and I felt a fool. Yet he did hear my prayer. I came, months later, to feel a greater and greater horror about myself…though I did not know it at the time, it was what John’s Gospel calls the conviction of sin. I believe that the Holy Spirit, in answer to my prayer, had been secretly cutting a door in the stone wall of my self-deception.” — Why I Am a Christian, pp 59-60
Today’s Reading: Ecclesiastes 5-7 Memorize: John 8:24July 21
God-hungry men find God. “As the hart pants after the water brooks” (Ps 42:1), so the souls of the Upper-Room crowd panted for the living God. Spiritually naked, they fled to Him to be clothed upon with the blessed Spirit. Empty, they craved to be filled. Powerless, they tarried until they were endued. Bankrupt, they pled the riches of His grace. Then this fear-filled crowd became fire-filled messengers. Though swordless, these soldiers of Christ fought the might of imperial Rome and won. Though without ecclesiastical prestige, they opposed the frozen orthodoxy of sterile Judaism and pierced it to the heart. Unlettered, they unblushingly declared “the whole counsel of God” and eventually staggered the intellectual Greeks. Without question, the greatest need of the hour is that the Church meet her ascended Lord again, and get an enduement that would usher in the revival of revivals just before the night of nights settles over this age. — Leonard Ravenhill
Today’s Reading: Ecclesiastes 2-4 Memorize: John 8:12July 20
“Is not My word like…a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” (Jer 23:29). A couple of undergraduates were standing in one of the quads in Oxford. One was a Christian. In his hand he held a Bible, having come from a church service. The other man looked at him and said, “What have you got there?” “Oh,” he said, “it’s my Bible.” “What do you carry that around for?” “It means a lot to me, and helps me.” “What,” he said, “you don’t believe that rubbish. That’s just the same as any other book.” “I know it isn’t,” said the Christian. “Well, I bet you can’t prove to me that it’s different from any other book.” “I can,” said the Christian. “I’ll prove it to you. Here, take my Bible and put it under your arm and walk three times around the quad. Will you do that?” “Oh no, no…” “I didn’t think so.” This is no ordinary book! “Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant to Thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak Thy word” (Acts 4:29). — Tom Rees, Can Intelligent People Believe? pp 24-25
Today’s Reading: Proverbs 28-31; Ecclesiastes 1 Memorize: John 7:37-38July 19
“The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus” (Jn 12:21). Sometimes the enemy tries to convince us that no one is interested in the gospel. Not true. Millions today will receive earth-shattering news—inoperable cancer, a spouse is leaving them, job loss, or a child in trouble. Jesus said He came for the broken-hearted, and there are more of those every day. Sometimes when a person responds, “I’m not interested,” I ask, “Not interest in what? What do you think I’m offering you?” Often they think we are going to ask them to change holy clubs—to leave their church affiliation and join ours. Are they not interested in inner peace? Certain hope beyond death? Unchanging love? The secret of true happiness? It’s my experience that everyone is interested in those precious commodities. They assume we’re offering them religion when we want to introduce them to the Best Friend one could ever have.
Today’s Reading: Proverbs 25-27 Memorize: John 6:47