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
June 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 residents (see 1 Jn 2:15-16). Today, when all the emphasis is thrown on making the most of this life, and even Christianity is only seriously considered in many quarters because of its social implications, this point of view is comparatively rarely held. Yet as we read what they have to say we may perhaps find ourselves saying a little wistfully, “Perhaps these men were right.” — J.B. Phillips
Today’s Reading: Psalms 103-105 Memorize: Luke 24:26-27June 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 hell are merely states of being. They deny the doctrine of the Trinity, as well as Christ’s deity, virgin birth, vicarious death, bodily resurrection and second coming. For these reasons, they are not able to say with certainty: “The Son of God…loved me, and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20). Yet in His mercy, the Lord is still “able to save them” (Heb 7:25) if they come to God through Christ alone.
Today’s Reading: Psalms 100-102 Memorize: Luke 23:4June 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 forgive everything; come now, let us go and ask God to forgive us both, even as I have forgiven you.’ This incident made a profound impression, and…from this time on the spirit of anxious inquiry deepened throughout the city. In a few days Victoria Hall, seating 3,000, was engaged for our meetings, and was crowded to the doors during the rest of our stay.”
Today’s Reading: Psalms 97-99 Memorize: Luke 19:10June 24
Here are some prayer pointers regarding the gospel: 1. Ask the Lord for help in living a life that suits the gospel and “adorn[s] the doctrine of God” (Phil 1:27; Titus 2:10). 2. Ask the Lord for divinely arranged opportunities to witness (Col 4:3). 3. Ask Him for boldness for yourself and your fellow believers (Acts 4:29; Eph 6:19-20). 4. Pray for opportunities to invite your unbelieving friends to gospel events (Lk 14:23). 5. Intercede for them that the Spirit will give them ears to hear His Word and will open the eyes of their heart (Mt 13:15; 2 Cor 4:4). 6. Ask the Lord for ways to build relationships with those who are not necessarily “your type” (1 Cor. 9:19-22). 7. Pray that the Lord will bring other believers into your unsaved friends’ and relatives’ lives to show them the love of Christ and confirm the witness you have given (2 Cor 13:1) 8. Pray “the Lord of the harvest” that He will thrust out more laborers into the harvest fields while there is time (Mt 9:38). — J.B.N.
Today’s Reading: Psalms 94-96 Memorize: Luke 18:13June 23
One treasure for which the heart longs is the security of unchanging love. It is the believer’s certainty that there is nothing that “shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:39). George Matheson, in spite of a deteriorating eye condition, graduated from Glasgow University at age nineteen. While in grad school, he completely lost his sight but persevered in learning both Greek and Hebrew with the help of his sisters. But his fiancée, unwilling to face life with a blind husband, returned his engagement ring. In the depths of his disappointment, Matheson wrote the stirring words: “O love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in Thee; I give Thee back the life I owe, That in Thine ocean’s depths its flow May richer, fuller, be. O cross that liftest up my head, I dare not ask to fly from Thee; I lay in dust life’s glory, dead, And from the ground there blossoms red, Life that shall endless be.” He became one of Scotland’s most beloved preachers.
Today’s Reading: Psalms 91-93 Memorize: Luke 16:31June 22
One of the reasons that sinful or worldly habits are so expensive is that they shut our mouths as gospel witnesses. King David knew this. In one penitential psalm, he wrote, “Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah” (Ps 32:2-4). We need to seek the Lord’s help daily so that our lifestyle always suits the gospel (Phil 1:27). As Leonard Ravenhill forcefully stated it, “We Christians are debtors to all men at all times in all places, but we are so smug to the lostness of men. We’ve been “living in Laodicea,” lax, loose, lustful, and lazy. Why is there this criminal indifference to the lostness of men? Our condemnation is that we know how to live better than we are living.” We can’t expect sinners to take their sin seriously if we don’t deal with ours!
Today’s Reading: Psalms 86-90 Memorize: Luke 16:13June 21
“What will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mk 8:37). Rowland Hill (1744-1833) had preached to large crowds before. Once, it is recorded, he preached to 20,000 at Calton Hill in Edinburgh. On this occasion, the scene is Moorfields Common and he is preaching when the carriage of Lady Ann Erskine approaches. Every eye is drawn away to the new arrival. But the preacher seizes on the situation. “Let us conduct an auction,” he declares. “The article offered is the soul of Lady Ann Erskine, and there are three bidders! The world offers riches, honors and pleasures; the devil offers all the kingdoms of this earth and the glory of them; the Lord Jesus Christ offers grace here and glory hereafter. Who shall have the soul of Lady Ann Erskine?” The words, we are told, make a deep impression on the lady’s heart, and by them she was brought under deep conviction of her sin before the Lord, and later, into the liberty of the gospel of God’s redeeming grace.
Today’s Reading: Psalms 83-85 Memorize: Luke 15:20