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
May 11
“For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake” (1 Thess 1:5). What kind of men largely influenced what kind of results came from their gospel efforts—at least Paul thought so. In his seminal book, “Forward Movements of the Last Half Century,” A.T. Pierson writes: “All real advance finds its starting-point, as also its goal, in more conformity to God. Character lies back of conduct; what we are ultimately shapes what we do. Hence the stress of the whole word of God lies upon the transformation of the man himself. His outward acts, his gifts, his prayers, his whole external life, are of little consequence if they are not the expression and exhibition of a renewed spirit, an inner self that partakes of the beauty of the Lord.” What the Church in the West needs is not better arguments or better methods or better programs but better Christians.
Today’s Reading: Nehemiah 13; Esther 1-4 Memorize: Matthew 5:48May 10
I noticed her in the crowd; she looked to me like royalty. When I asked her to tell me her story, she said her father was a drunk and her mother slept to escape. No one cooked or cleaned or cared for the little girl. “One day, a beautiful lady met me on the street and asked, ‘Would you like to come to a place every week where you’ll be loved?’ She started attending her Sunday School class. The first week the teacher noticed she had no Bible, so arranged to take her for one the next day. “She could have just bought me one, but she made an event out of it—took me to a restaurant and bought be a milkshake. I’d had neither. Then we went to the bookstore, and she picked out for me a Bible with a leather cover. It was,” she said, “the turning point in my life. I remember reasoning, She must think there’s a future for me; she must think I’m going to stick around.” Is a soul worth the price of a Bible with a leather cover? Jesus thought you were worth more than the world. —J.
Today’s Reading: Nehemiah 10-12 Memorize: Matthew 5:17-18May 9
Sanctification comes from the same root meaning as holiness. In its primary sense, it means to be different, then to be set apart, then to be wholly for God, and finally that process by which those who have been declared right shall be made right. “By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ” (Heb. 10:10). “Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach” (Heb 13:12-13). There is positional sanctification (Heb 10:14), experiential sanctification (2 Tim 2:21), and ultimate sanctification (1 Thess 5:23). The Word has a role (Jn 17:17), as do the Holy Spirit (1 Pet 1:2), other believers (1 Cor 7:14), and our personal wills (1 Thess 4:3-4). But it is greatly encouraging to know that “of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us…sanctification” (1 Cor. 1:30). In the mind of God, it is a completed fact (see Heb. 10:10, 14).
Today’s Reading: Nehemiah 7-9 Memorize: Matthew 3:16-17May 8
The Reason Why, a gospel booklet written in 1913 by Robert Laidlaw, a New Zealand businessman, 50 years later had reached a worldwide circulation of 16 million copies in 30 languages. Thousands of letters poured into his office from around the world, letters like: “Have read your booklet. Your booklet has given me rebirth. As a result of the war I lost my left arm and my right hand is crippled. Am a refugee from the East and have no parents or relatives so my only hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ my Savior. —E.K.” Or this: “I have been reading The Reason Why which has been lent to me, and have just accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior, after 26 years of church membership and nine years as deacon and officer. It has taken a long time, and I’ve been under conviction for a long time, but now it’s done: ‘I am my Lord’s and He is mine!’ —B. R.” Good tracts, graciously given and well prayed over, continue to be used by the Lord in conviction and salvation.
Today’s Reading: Nehemiah 4-6 Memorize: Matthew 1:23May 7
To a large degree, the gospel will only grip others’ hearts to the measure in which it has gripped our own. Robert Robinson was living a wicked life in London when he and some friends decided to hear George Whitefield preach. That evening he took his text from Matthew 3:7, “When He saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to His baptism, He said to them, ‘Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?’” Bursting into tears, Whitefield cried, “Oh, my hearers! The wrath to come! The wrath to come!” For three long years, those words haunted Robinson until at last he received the Lord on December 10, 1755. Robinson is best remembered for his stirring hymn, “Come Thou Fount.” He wrote: “O to grace how great a debtor Daily I’m constrained to be! Let that grace, Lord, like a fetter, Bind my wandering heart to Thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love; Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it, Seal it for the courts above.” Amen!
Today’s Reading: Nehemiah 1-3 Memorize: Matthew 1:21May 6
Mormonism (Latter-Day Saints) was founded by Joseph Smith in 1830, and now claims more than 12 million adherents. They believe that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are three separate gods. Salvation is accomplished by faith in Christ, good works, ordinances, and evangelism. Humankind is of the same species as God, were begotten in heaven as offspring of his wives, and were sent to earth for their potential exaltation and godhood. Mormons go to heaven with God and their families; hell is for those who reject God after death. They practice baptism for the dead and eternal marriage, claiming the Book of Mormon as sacred. They teach: “As man is, God once was; as God is, man may become.” How different the words of Psalm 90:2, “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” “I am He: before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me” (Isa 43:10).
Today’s Reading: Ezra 8-10 Memorize: Malachi 4:1-2May 5
How do we know that Jesus rose from the dead? The Lord would not leave us in any doubt. “He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days” (Acts 1:3). Writing circa 56 ad, Paul lists some of the witnesses who saw the risen Christ (and that doesn’t include the meetings with women, their testimony not being valid in a first century court of law), including the statement that over 500 saw Him all at once. Who would deny the corroborating testimony of so many? And many of the witnesses would seal their testimony in their own blood! Not to mention the author himself, who was the most unlikely of witnesses, on the way to Damascus to incarcerate some who dared claim Jesus to be the resurrected Son of God. Peter adds: “We did not follow cunningly devised fables” (2 Pet 1:16). There is no other valid explanation. Otherwise why did the Jews or the Romans not present His closely guarded body? He is risen indeed!
Today’s Reading: Ezra 5-7 Memorize: Malachi 3:17