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
February 26
“Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Rom 5:20). About the year 1900, evangelist Peter Bilhorn received a song, “The Bird with the Broken Wing.” Using the idea that “The bird with the broken pinion Never soars as high again,” it warned that a “life that sin had stricken, Never soared as high again.” About that time he was invited to preach in the Iowa State Prison. When asked to sing at close, he used that song. When he finished, a young man said, “Chaplain, if that’s true, there’s no hope for us.” Bilhorn realized his blunder, and so wrote this verse: “The soul that comes to Jesus Is saved from every sin; By the grace He freely gives you, You shall higher soar again.” Thankfully he was invited back to the prison and rectified his mistake. Nearly 20 years later, he met the man who had asked if the song was true, now a believer, who told Bilhorn he was saved the night the preacher corrected the song. “By God’s grace,” he said, “one can soar higher again.”
Today’s Reading: Deuteronomy 28-30 Memorize: Proverbs 30:4February 25
John Stott writes: “Note the recognizable sequence in the Gospels. When Jesus saw someone in need He had compassion, and when He had compassion He invariably acted. His compassion was aroused by the sight of need, and always issued in the alleviation of need. What His eye saw, His heart felt; and what His heart felt, His hand touched. Divine love is active.” This is how Richard Baxter put it: “Let us hear these arguments of Christ whenever we feel ourselves grow dull and careless: ‘Did I die for them, and will you not look after them? Were they worth My blood, and are they not worth your labor? Did I come down from heaven to earth, to seek and save that which was lost; and will you not go to the next door or street to seek them? How small is your labor and condescension as to Mine? Have I done and suffered so much for their salvation; and was I willing to make you a co-worker with Me, and will you refuse the little that lies in your hands?’”
Today’s Reading: Deuteronomy 25-27 Memorize: Proverbs 28:13February 24
H.P. Barker was visiting the doors when he asked a man, “Are you able to say, ‘My sins, which are many, are forgiven?’” ‘Oh no, I don’t think anyone can speak positively on that.” “What place do you attend on Sundays?” He pointed to the parish church. “Why, sir, every Sunday you repeat in that ancient creed, ‘I believe in the forgiveness of sins.’ Whose sins do you believe in the forgiveness of?” He was silent for a moment, and then said, “I never looked at it like that.” I opened my Bible at 1 John 2:12 and handed it to him. He read, “I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.” “God sent His Son to be our Savior. On Calvary’s cross He took our place, and our judgment was poured on Him. Thus He made atonement to God for sin by His own blood. “Now God sends us this message, ‘Be it known unto you…that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all who believe are justified from all things’ (Acts 13:38-39).”
Today’s Reading: Deuteronomy 20-24 Memorize: Proverbs 18:24
February 23
“Andrew…first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah.”…And he brought him to Jesus” (Jn 1:40-42).
“One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, ‘There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish’…” (Jn 6:8-9).
“Certain Greeks…came to Philip…saying, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’ Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus” (Jn 12:20-22).
A.P. Gibbs writes: “Andrew is a picture of the personal worker. He is mentioned three times, and each time he is described as bringing someone to Christ. There is a vast difference between being evangelical and being evangelistic. The former may be sound doctrinally and sound asleep at the same time. It has been calculated that if 100 believers each brought one soul to Christ each year, and each soul won, in turn, brought another to Christ each year, and so on, in 25 years over 1.5 billion souls would be saved!”
February 22
“I am debtor…” (Rom 1:14). A.P. Gibbs spoke of a tract called “Suppose.” In it the question is asked, “Suppose you were offered $1000.00 for every soul you sought to win for Christ. Would you, for this reward, seek to win more souls for Christ than you are doing right now? Isn’t, then, your love for money greater than your love for Christ or your fellow man?” Judge George Mingins in his youth was an infidel in Philadelphia. He left the city and was converted. On revisiting Philadelphia, he stayed in the home of an old-time infidel friend. After three days there his friend said, “George, I hear you’re a Christian.” “Yes.” “George, you believe in God and in hell, and that all impenitents will go there for eternity?” “Yes.” “Well, does Christianity dry up all the milk of humanity in one’s body, as it has yours?” “What do you mean?” “Well,” said his friend, “you have lived here three days, believing all this, and you have not put your hand on my shoulder and said one word to save me.”
Today’s Reading: Deuteronomy 14-16 Memorize: Proverbs 3:5-6February 21
There are many ideas about Election. What does the Bible say? The word is used to describe the divine choice of: Christ (Isa 42:1; Lk 23:35; 1 Pet 2:6), obviously not for salvation for He is the Savior; the unfallen angels (1 Tim 5:21) who did not need to be saved; Israel (Rom 11:28) of whom it was written that many “were overthrown in the wilderness”; the twelve, including Judas (Lk 6:13; Jn 6:70; 13:18; 15:16); the Church (Eph 1:4); and the remnant in the Tribulation (Mt 24:22, 24). It should be seen that this election is for a role, designed to bring blessing to the widest possible number. In this age, the sphere of the believer’s choosing is Christ (Eph 1:4) and is linked to God’s foreknowledge (1 Pet 1:2; see also Jas 2:5; Col 3:12; 1 Thess 1:4; and 2 Pet 1:10). “God (for reasons explained in 1 Cor 1 & 2 where He declares the basis of His choice), in blessing mankind, sets to one side those with a claim by law and chooses those who are brought in by grace.”
Today’s Reading: Deuteronomy 11-13 Memorize: Psalm 139:7-8February 20
“And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire” (Jude 23). Think carefully and prayerfully about these words from Alexander Marshall: “A soul saved saves that soul from more misery, anguish, and torment than has ever been suffered by all the people of the world from the beginning of time to this time, and from this time to the end of time; for that soul has been saved from eternal punishment. A soul saved brings that soul into possession of more joy, peace, and blessing than has ever been enjoyed by all the people of God from the beginning of time until this time, and from this time until the end of time, for that soul has been brought into possession of eternal joy.” David Brainard, one of the first missionaries to the North American Indians, who flamed out for Christ by the age of 36, wrote: “I wanted to wear myself out in His service for His glory. I cared not how or where I lived, or what hardships I went through, so that I could but gain souls for Christ.”
Today’s Reading: Deuteronomy 8-10 Memorize: Psalm 139:1-3