LifeLink Devotions

Monday, February 5, 2024

Acts 4:32 “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.”  

In contrast to the philosophy of most Americans today, this passage of Scripture stands out as one of the most incredible statements of commitment to the Lord in the entire Bible. The church of Jesus Christ is brand new. It is not popular. Its members are being persecuted. It would be acceptable in our minds for the people to go into hiding and protect what they have. It would be expedient for them to keep quiet about their faith and resume a traditional social lifestyle. After all, one’s personal faith should not become a point of contention with culture, should it? Why should what we believe about God interfere with our social and economic pursuits? Why would anyone ever intentionally put themselves at risk of persecution or poverty?

We have a powerful propensity for the pursuit of worldly prosperity. We may make contributions to a good cause, but only to the extent that it is affordable and doesn’t interfere with our personal economic goals. What a huge dissimilarity exists between our attitudes today and the actions of the early church. While we pursue economic security through investments, the early church sacrificed their possessions to meet the immediate needs of people. Now let me clarify – there is nothing wrong with being rich and secure, so long as we don’t put our trust in those riches to provide our security. Riches are a gift from God to be used for God’s purpose, not for self. We don’t have any indication that the people of the early church sold their only home or their only piece of land. In fact, the people who sold land and homes are described as having more than one. No one was asked to give up their only home. But those who had investments were not selfish with them and surrendered all of their value to the Lord when it became necessary so that God’s purpose could be accomplished.

It is in this context that we are introduced to a man named Joseph, who had been given a new name by the Apostles. They determined that there was a characteristic of this man’s life that was worthy of recognition, and they gave him a name that described who he was. They called him Barnabas, which means Son of Encouragement. In him we see one of the ways in which we as Christ’s children are called to be an encouragement to others. Barnabas modeled for us how to encourage others by giving gifts to the Lord that will meet their needs. 

Barnabas was a part of a Christian community that understood and accepted God’s purpose for them – to boldly testify to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The early church believed that their number one priority was to tell the world about Jesus and not back down for any reason. All the believers were one in heart and mind about this. They knew their purpose and they determined to accomplish it at all cost.

That meant social rejection and persecution. Many lost their jobs. Many were financially insecure. But none were in need. Isn’t that incredible? There were no needy people among them. Every time a need was realized, someone who had plenty gave up what they had worked so hard to achieve so that the body of Christ could be cared for. Barnabas is singled out as the prime example of one of the people who used their resources in this way. I believe it’s because God wants us to realize what a ministry of encouragement this is. The first thing we need to know about encouragement is that it requires the availability of everything we own. If we are not willing to give up what we have for the sake of someone who has less, then our words of faith and encouragement are of no value.

Listen to what James the brother of Jesus says.  “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”  Listen also to what the Apostle John says. “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” God places the highest priority on putting faith and love into action by encouraging others who are in need with sacrificial gifts of our resources.

Encouraging others begins with putting people’s needs ahead of our own personal financial goals and security. That is only possible if we truly trust God and believe that He will provide all of our needs according to His riches in glory through Christ Jesus. Let’s pursue His purpose and use whatever we have for His glory, trusting Him to provide for all of our needs as He uses us to provide encouragement to others while we meet their needs. Maybe then the church will experience the power of God as it did in Acts, and we will see people saved from their sin and death.  

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Friday, February 2, 2024

Read Job 16:1-5 

Do you have a “Why” brain, a “How” brain, or a “Who” brain? I am naturally a “How” brain. Since I was a small boy, I wanted to know how things worked. I loved taking things apart and putting them back together, trying to use all the pieces with no leftovers. Until God called me into the ministry, I was planning on being a doctor. Knowing how things worked and using all the pieces would have been very important. I still ask lots of questions whenever I’m at the hospital. My mind has a deep desire to know how things happen.

Some of you are “Why” brains. Do not confuse yourselves with people who are “Why use the brain” people. You are people who need to know why things happen the way they do. You may not care so much about how something works, but you certainly want to know why it should work. You are the people that need to have a purpose for everything. While I may be satisfied to know that something could work, you want to know why we should even try to make it work. And when something bad happens, your brain goes into overtime trying to figure out why it happened.

When God tested the faith of Job by allowing Satan to destroy everything of value in his life, Job went through a time of serious contemplation of his life. Even though he made it clear that He trusted the character of God, he still had some serious questions about the activity of God. At a time when he needed encouragement, his four closest friends showed up to show him sympathy and bring him comfort. Their grief was so overwhelming that they sat in silence with Job for seven days before anyone spoke a word to him. Then, following words of despair from Job, the three friends speak. The first friend to speak is Eliphaz, and he has a “Why” brain. He is convinced that Job’s suffering is the result of his sin, because the innocent never perish. He thinks the best way to comfort Job is to help him figure out why all these things have happened.

Bildad speaks next, and he has a “How” brain. The first word out of his mouth is “how”. He wants Job to know how to fix the problem. His diagnosis results in the prognosis of repentance. If Job repented of his sin, his life would start working out right again.

The third friend to speak is Zophar, and he has a “Who” brain that has been warped by pride. He wants Job to focus on God’s nature and character, but he does it in a condescending and judgmental way. He actually tells Job that if he really understood the deeper things of God he would realize that his sin has made him deserving of more judgment than what he has actually received. Eliphaz, the “Why” brained one, jumps in at this point and agrees, telling Job another reason why this has all happened: “You don’t fear God enough.” 

It is at this point that Job stops his friends from talking and tells them that they are miserable comforters. Job is frustrated that in his time of deep need his friends can do nothing but accuse him of wrong. If they were in a similar situation Job would be able to do the same thing, but he says he would never do that. Job understands that when we are hurting and hopeless, we don’t need reasons and fixes, we need healing and hope. Job says he would make sure his words were encouraging and comforting so they would bring relief. Job admits to his friends that his hope is gone, and that his heart needs healing. It is obvious that his friends didn’t hear what he said, because Bildad responds to Job by saying, “Look, here’s how it works. God punishes the wicked, so you must be wicked.” Both of the other friends agree, and Job is left to defend himself as a righteous man who understands God, and he succumbs to pride and reviews all of the ways he is a good man. It is time for the youngest friend Elihu to speak.

Elihu rebukes the other three friends for being “How” and “Why” brained. He warns them not to presume they have God figured out. Then he rebukes Job for pridefully defending himself and not being humble before God. He then asserts God’s justice, extols God’s greatness, and proclaims God’s majesty. Elihu has a true “Who” brain. But before we praise him too highly, God speaks and puts even Elihu in his place by saying that no man can truly understand the mind of God. When God is done speaking, Job repents of his pride and his heart is healed and his hope is restored.

So what is the point of all of this? If you want to be a true encourager of others, learn to comfort them with words that direct their attention to who God is. Forget the how and the why and focus on the WHO! The knowledge of God is our greatest comfort. Don’t try to figure out causes and solutions to their trials. Instead assure them that God is with them no matter what their circumstance, and He never fails. Here’s what Job admits when all is said and done:

“I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my counsel without  knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.” (emphasis mine)

One purpose of God in our trials is so that we may see Him. When your friends need you, the best healing you can bring is the hope that comes from seeing God in all of His glory. Help them see Him. Become a person with a “who” brain and let the “who” be God!

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Thursday, February 1, 2024

I’m sure you have heard the old saying, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”  I heard it a lot when I was growing up. I think it’s what motivates me to golf and fish and pursue the big one. When I golf, every par three is a potential big one. Fishing is the same with every cast. It’s most fun when someone is with me as we encourage one another to keep trying. Without the encouragement of another person, I fear we would soon stop trying.

Judges 20:19-23 “The next morning the Israelites got up and pitched camp near Gibeah.  The men of Israel went out to fight the Benjamites and took up battle positions against them at Gibeah.  The Benjamites came out of Gibeah and cut down twenty-two thousand Israelites on the battlefield that day.  But the men of Israel encouraged one another and again took up their positions where they had stationed themselves the first day.” 

If you want to fully understand the impact of today’s Scripture verse you will have to read the entire 20^th chapter of Judges from your Old Testament. In it you will discover that the tribe of Benjamin has joined forces with the people of Gibeah to fight against the rest of the tribes of Israel. Israel wants to destroy Gibeah because of the rape of a woman in their land. The Israelites have an army of 400,000 swordsmen, while the tribe of Benjamin has 26,000. It doesn’t seem like a fair fight. But God is about to teach a couple of incredible lessons to everyone involved. Let’s highlight them and then I’ll let the Holy Spirit magnify them in your heart and mind as you read the whole story.

1. Israel asked God which tribe should go up first to fight the Benjamites. In other words, the nation as a whole was so over-confident that they could easily win that they determined only one tribe should fight for them at a time. The tribe of Judah goes up and 22,000 of them are killed and the Benjamites win the day. The lesson: whenever we go out to fight the enemy, go with all your strength and don’t take the enemy for granted.
2. The next day Israel asks God if they should go up and fight again, but this time there is no mention of dividing the duties between the tribes. They were willing to go fight again with all their strength, but they were still going in their own strength depending on their numbers rather than God’s strategies. They took up the same positions that had led to defeat the day before. They may have had more strength, but they were not using God’s wisdom. They lost again.
3. The third day the tribes of Israel spent time in worship to God before they asked for permission to go and fight. They did not assume victory, and they did not rely on their own strength to fight. They turned in worship to God and gave the battle to Him. God promises to fight for them and give them the victory. God gives them a plan, they submit to the plan, and the plan works to perfection.

The battles we fight against our enemy Satan can only be won if they are fought in the strength of the Lord. Every situation in life is an opportunity to worship God and let Him give us a plan for victory. Every circumstance is designed by God to test our faith and our resolve to turn to Him rather than to our own strength and wisdom. The failures we experience are only true failures if we quit. They are steppingstones to success if we let God teach us to trust Him and listen to Him.

Tucked away in the middle of this story is a verse that challenges us with our role to encourage others who have just experienced failure. Following a huge loss that should have been a win, the men of Israel encouraged one another and again took up their positions where they had stationed themselves the first day.

Even those who had experienced the failure understood the importance of encouraging others. The very soldiers that had survived the tragic defeat were the ones who did not give up. They knew their cause was just. They knew they represented the Lord. They were not going to let one, or even two back-to-back losses keep them from trying again. They knew they had another chance to win, and they encouraged each other to go for it. They went right back to the point of defeat and took up their positions again. That’s not how we would usually respond. We may be encouraged to try again, but only if we can start fresh in a new place. But God wants us to go back to the point of failure and start there.

There may have been failures in your life that have made you run, seeking to start over in a new location. Don’t let it happen again. Go back to the point of failure and take up your position and do it right this time. Be encouraged to do it because this time might be the time God gives the enemy over into your hands. And if it’s not this time, then try again until you learn everything God wants you to learn to be a complete soldier of Christ. Be encouraged – God gives us the victory through our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Judges 7:9-12  “During that night the LORD said to Gideon, “Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands. If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah  and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp.” So he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the camp. The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.”

Sometimes the circumstances of life are overwhelming. The odds seem to be stacked against us. Every piece of human logic and reason gives us no incentive to proceed. Everything points to defeat and loss. Giving up is the best option.

Gideon found himself in exactly that situation. The nation of Israel had been overrun by the Midianites and their allies for the last seven years. God had allowed this because of the sin of His people. Then God called Gideon to lead an army against the Midianites and restore Israel to its rightful place as rulers of the land. The task seemed overwhelming to him. He made lots of excuses to God as to why he would not be able to accomplish the task. He even doubted that God really cared. You can read about his fear and excuses in Judges 6:11-15.

Gideon is totally convinced he cannot do what God is asking him to do. But the angel of the Lord says this: “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.” The English Standard translation of the Bible says, “You will strike down the Midianites as one man.” The Lord is saying to Gideon, “No matter what the odds look like from your perspective, for me it will be as if you are fighting only one man.” Gideon is almost convinced, and he brings an offering to the Lord and God demonstrates His power to him. You can read the rest of the story in Judges 6:17-40.

After Gideon is sure that God is with him, he gathers the armies of Israel – 32,000 men all together. But God makes it clear that He wants the nation of Israel to take no credit for what is about to happen. God wants the people to be totally dependant upon Him and to give Him all the glory for the success. He instructs Gideon to send soldiers home until only 300 men are left. These 300 would be the army that defeats the Midianites.

Now Gideon is afraid again. God understands his fear and provides an answer to it. He sends him down to the Midianite camp and says, “Listen and you will hear words that encourage you to carry out the mission.” When Gideon heard the dream of one of the soldiers and how the other soldier interpreted it, He worshipped God and carried out the plan. Gideon realized that his fears were foolish and He totally trusted God to accomplish His purpose. He woke up the army and implemented God’s plan, and God used the 300 soldiers to totally wipe out the enemy.

So what can we learn about encouragement from all of this? First, God understands our fears and our tendency to listen to human reason and logic. He knows we are bent on walking by sight and not by faith. But He does not leave us to the consequences of such living. Instead, He speaks to us words of encouragement to give us faith to fearlessly face the foe. He is constantly assuring us that He is with us and that we can live life from His perspective. Listen! You can hear Him right now giving you the assurance that everything will be fine if you trust Him.

Second, God knows we need visible evidence to substantiate what He is saying to us. Look around and you will see it. You will see God’s presence in other people who are going through more difficult circumstances than you are. You will hear it in people’s conversations as they discuss the power of God and what they have seen Him accomplish. You will be strengthened and encouraged by the stories of God’s victories in other people’s lives. You may even hear non-Christians telling of their respect for God because of what they saw happen in people’s lives. Listen! God is using other people to assure you that everything is in His control.

Third, God knows other people need to be encouraged and He has called us to be the ones speaking the words of encouragement to them. We need to hear more stories of God’s victories in people’s lives. We need to be willing to recognize what God is doing in us and then be bold enough to tell others what He has done.

Someone out there is being told by God right now to “listen, and afterward you will be encouraged to proceed.” Maybe you are the one to whom they will listen. Speak up! Tell your God stories! Praise Him publicly. There’s a Gideon out there who needs to hear and be encouraged.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

There are days when we wake up and really need to be encouraged. There were days when I was in full-time ministry that I wondered if all of the hard work was worth it. My heart ached because of the number of people who walked away from the Lord and from the church. It was very hard to invest so much time and energy only to see people give up on the pursuit of God’s promises for the sake of earthly pleasures.

Moses found himself in a similar but much more serious situation when the people of Israel decided to listen to the report of ten of the twelve scouts that had been sent into the Promised Land to scope it out. Those ten spies came back with a very negative report and convinced the people that it was a waste of time to pursue God’s promise. Their focus was totally on the earthly perspective, and they saw no human way that this campaign would result in their possession of the land. Only two men, Caleb and Joshua, had their eyes focused on God’s perspective, but their voices were not heard. God sentenced all the people except Caleb and Joshua to death in the wilderness without ever experiencing the fulfillment of His promise. As their leader, Moses was also held responsible and was not allowed to enter the land. For the next 40 years Moses was to lead the people on a wandering journey that would end in death. But he had three responsibilities that are significant:

1.      Moses was to lead the people who had rejected God’s promise back to a position of trust in God where they would honor Him with their lives even though they would still suffer the earthly consequences of their sin. As their model, Moses needed to teach the people that eternity is the goal and the fulfillment of life, not what this world offers.

2.      Moses was to train the innocent children to trust God completely so that when the time came for them to enter the Promised Land they would do it. This would be difficult, because their parents had believed the report that the land was unconquerable, and they would be asked to conquer it 40 years later when the population and strength of the land would be even greater.

3.      Moses was also to personally encourage Joshua, whom God had chosen to be the leader of the nation after Moses.  Deuteronomy 1:37 – 38 “Because of you the LORD became angry with me also and said, “You shall not enter it, either. But your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will enter it. Encourage him, because he will lead Israel to inherit it.” Moses would spend the next forty years training and encouraging a young man to take his place and accomplish what he thought he would get to do. What a battle Moses must have had with resentment and discouragement while following God’s command to be an encourager.

The Bible has a lot to say about encouragement and being an encourager. The Old Testament alone has 309 references to encouragement, while the New Testament has some 45 references to the subject. There are some important truths about encouragement that we should study. Today we begin that study with this truth: encouraging others is not a product of our own circumstances but is a response to what God is doing in someone else’s life. 

If Moses would have only been an encourager when things were good with himself, Joshua would have never been trained to lead the nation of Israel. For forty years Moses invested in the life of someone who would get to do what he wanted to do. Day after day Moses was reminded by the very presence of Joshua that he had failed and that he would not realize the full promise of God on this earth. But Moses was faithful to God’s command because he saw the bigger picture. His faith was not in what God can provide in this world but in what God will fulfill in eternity for those who are faithful to Him. Moses set aside his disappointment and discouragement and began the incredible work of encouraging the next generation of God’s people who would conquer the enemy’s territory.

Pride keeps us from doing what Moses did. We have convinced ourselves that we can do it better than anyone else and if we can’t get it done, no one will. Get over yourself! God may only need you to prepare the way for someone greater. Look at the examples of that in Scripture. John the Baptist, who knew that he must decrease so that Jesus could increase. Barnabas, who introduced Paul to the Apostles and encouraged them to step out of the way and let him do the work God had called him to. Phoebe, who served and encouraged Paul while he was in prison in Ephesus and is forever commended in Scripture as a woman of God. (Romans 16:1-2) And then there was Jonathon, the son of Israel’s king Saul, who stepped aside and encouraged his best friend David to become the famous king of God’s choosing.

Encouraging others is not a product of our own circumstances, nor is it dependent upon the benefits we will receive. Encouragement is a response to what we see God planning to do in the life of another person.  I know our lives are busy and we are overwhelmed with our own circumstances. We are most concerned about our own outcomes. It’s time for that to change. Let’s begin looking around at what God wants to do with other people, and let’s invest some time and resources in them. Be an encourager, not because you have the time or the energy or because you feel like it, but because you see God at work, and you care most about His purpose and plan in people’s lives. Do something today to encourage someone to be all that God wants them to be.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Monday, January 29, 2024

Most of us would rather forget the painful experiences of our lives. We would rather not remember the things or the people that hurt us.  We prefer to be comfortable, and never go back to the darkness of death.

But as Isaiah closes out his book of prophecy, he declares the word of the LORD about the political and physical status of the earth during the millennial reign of Christ. All the enemies of Jesus have been conquered and put to death. The King of eternity has descended to the earth and taken His rightful place on the throne of Israel. All the people of the earth, from every tribe and nation, will come and bow down before Him. And as a part of their worship, they will go out and look upon death as a reminder to be faithful and obedient to God.

Isaiah 66:22-24 “As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the LORD, “so will your name and descendants endure. From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the LORD. “And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”

This is hard for us to accept. Why would Jesus allow the view of Death to be open to all the people of His temporal Kingdom on earth? I do not presume in the slightest way to know the answer to that question, but I do know this – the view of consequences is a great motivator and deterrent.

During the Millennial reign of Christ, the earth will be filled with finite human beings. You and I will be in our eternal bodies, not subject to the physical laws and limitations of creation. We will have already seen Christ in His eternal glory and so we will be like Him. 1 John 3:2 says, “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” We who are in Christ in this present age will be raptured prior to the beginning of the next age – the great and glorious reign of Jesus Christ on the earth. Satan will be bound in the bottomless pit for a thousand years, and the earth will be at peace.

However, those people who are alive in the flesh during this time will still be subject to their free will and will have the right to choose to obey the King or reject Him. The consequences of disobedience must be understood, and God requires everyone to see them. The gruesome reminder of rebellion against God will be constantly visible to all the people of the world.

We live in a time where consequences of rebellion against God are minimized rather than memorized. We intentionally choose to consider them inconsequential. We maximize the pleasure of the present while minimizing the probabilities of penalties. We succumb to the same temptation as Eve in the Garden of Eden – we choose to reject God’s truth that He alone is sufficient to satisfy every need of our lives and we choose to believe that such rejection will not result in death.

We have become very adept at eliminating the view of consequences of our sin. We are enamored with the pleasures and have erased the pain that has most certainly resulted from previous choices.

But God would have us constantly look at the consequences of sin. Yes, it is true that our love for God is what compels us to love and serve Him, but true love for God requires a complete view of who He is, and He has shown us that there is justice and condemnation for all who disobey Him. This is the constant fear that is healthy for all His followers. Such fear elevates grace to the highest place of praise, for without God’s love for us we too would be subject to condemnation and death. It is by keeping the consequences of sin ever before us that we appreciate the grace of God more and more.

My friends, do not forget the reality of Hell. Do not refuse to believe in the finality and eternity of punishment for sin. Do not think that because you are saved by His blood that you are not subject to His loving hand of discipline (see Hebrews 12:4-13). The visible consequences of sin are a gift of God’s grace. Embrace the view of them, for in them is found the love of God.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Friday, January 26, 2024

One morning while I was making the bed, there was an instant flash of the flesh that suggested I was too busy to make the bed and I should get going to work. I quelled that thought immediately and continued to get the bedroom in order. Then another thought came to my mind – “This is the least I could do for her.” I was overwhelmed at that moment with a total distaste for that statement. Why do we say it, and what makes us think that it’s a good thing to only do the least that we could for someone?

I started to think about that statement in relationship to what God does for me. What if He only did the least He could do? As I thought about it I found myself doing a little bit extra straightening of the comforter and pillows on the bed. I looked around the room for anything else that needed to be picked up or put away. As I left the house and moved the car seats from my vehicle to my wife’s, I did so with extra care and precision, buckling them firmly in place to protect those precious lives.

I started thinking about what God promises to do for His people in Isaiah 66, and how He would never do the least He could do, but will go beyond what is expected or even deserved.

Isaiah 66:12a  “For this is what the LORD says: I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream;”

As I read verses 12 through 21 again, I saw so much more than the least God could do. I saw Him granting peace and wealth. I saw the people flourishing not just surviving. I saw God extending Himself beyond anything He had ever done before to bring people who had never heard of Him to the place of eternal worship. I saw Him extending grace to “newbies” in the Kingdom by promoting them to positions of priesthood. He did far more than the least He could do.

Then I was reminded of one of my favorite words from the Bible – a word used in 1 John 3:1, where it says, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” When God loved us, it was not with the least love He could give – He LAVISHED His love on us. He could have extended just enough love to forgive us so we could have access to eternal life. But instead, He lavished His love on us so that we could be called His children, with full rights of inheritance of all things with His Son Jesus.

I choose to live my life that way. I will strive to not intentionally do the least I could do for someone. I will strive to not allow my selfish desires to influence the expression of the love of God to others. From this day forward, I want my life to be lived lavishly – not in the materialistic way many choose to bring honor to themselves, but with the heart of a servant Savior who lavished His love on me. I will not settle for doing the least I could do. I will serve them to the full extent of God’s love that was lavished on me.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Thursday, January 25, 2024

My soul continues to be overwhelmed with a burden for the souls of people who are lost in their sin and are moving rapidly towards eternal death. Again this morning I read the entire sixty-sixth chapter of Isaiah. In this concluding chapter God is explaining the final separation of the righteous from the unrighteous – the righteous into His presence on the new earth that will endure forever (66:22), and the unrighteous into eternal punishment (66:24). The judgment of God on the unrighteous will be severe, beginning with the harsh treatment of verse 4, to His fury of verse 14, and His fire and sword of verse 16.

But what I am most burdened with is God’s statement in verse 17. I am burdened because it describes good-willed people with religious inclinations and spiritual values who are included in God’s judgment. These are people who have put on an outward appearance of spiritual life, and who participate in religious traditions and sacraments, but on the inside are still lost in their sin.

Isaiah 66:17  “Those who consecrate and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following the one in the midst of those who eat the flesh of pigs and rats and other abominable things–they will meet their end together,” declares the LORD.

Every day I am confronted with connections to people who are trusting in the wrong things for their security. They trust their goodness, reminding others that they are a good person. They trust their success, displaying their abilities to the world around them. They trust their wealth, building bigger and bigger kingdoms to their own credit. They even trust their churches, seeking to find spiritual security in their obedience to the sacred duties declared by their leaders to be necessary to earn the approval of God.

But their hearts are unchanged from their condition of sin. As a result, in one of the most painful and heart-wrenching statements God ever makes, they will meet their end in the same way as those who absolutely rejected anything to do with God and His Son Jesus. The one who did their spiritual duty will be condemned right alongside of the one who did abominable things. Oh how that breaks my heart!

My friends, the Scriptures are very clear – there is only One Way to eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. His death and resurrection are the only qualifier for eternal life. And those who have repented of their sin and been forgiven by faith in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross not only must not, but in reality cannot go back to a life of sin and compromise with the world. The warnings of the Apostle John are clear:

1 John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.For everything in the world–the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does–comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”

And again the Holy Spirit speaks through John and says:

1 John 3:9 “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.”

Dear people, we must declare boldly whom we will serve. Will we serve ourselves and seek acceptance from the world, or will we serve the Savior and forfeit the world of today for the eternal world that is coming? There can be no compromise. You cannot serve both because you cannot love both. Make your choice carefully. What you choose to love has eternal consequence.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Wednesday, January 24, 2023

A line has been drawn in the sand. It is along that line that a chasm will soon be fixed for eternity. For the moment, while the line is still crossable, many people pass from one side to the other and back again as if there were no line at all. As they do, the line becomes obscured by sand that is kicked on it by feet that tread on the truth under the direction of hearts and minds that are motivated by selfish sin.

Back and forth across the line go millions and millions of people. They seem to have good intentions, but they are blind to the existence of the line. Their blindness to the line is their choice, having decided not to look at it because they have chosen to look only at their own lusts and take delight in their own desires.

In their blindness to the line, they are convinced that they can have all the desires of the flesh and still earn favor with God and somehow attain eternal life. So they continually cross the line from religious duty to sinful pleasures and back again. Little do they realize that the line is still there, and one day, maybe very soon, that line will become an un-crossable chasm and they will be trapped for all eternity on the side of death and destruction with no hope of seeing the Creator they have denied.

There will be many on the eternal life side of the chasm. They will be those who were esteemed by God because of their humble hearts, their repentant spirits, and their awe of the Word of God. They will be the ones who continued to see the line no matter how obscured it became to the rest of culture.

God drew the line in the sand in the Garden of Eden. It has been there ever since. Then one day some 2000 years ago His Son re-traced the line with His finger dipped in the blood of His own sacrifice.  He declared clearly and concisely that He was The Way, The Truth, and The Life. He stated truthfully that no one can ever get to eternal life with the Father except through His sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection to new life. He taught frequently that crossing back and forth over the line is unacceptable and inexcusable. The person who believes they can cross back and forth between surrender to Jesus and selfish sin is not fit for the Kingdom of Heaven.

Isaiah 66:3 “But whoever sacrifices a bull is like one who kills a man, and whoever offers a lamb, like one who breaks a dog’s neck; whoever makes a grain offering is like one who presents pig’s blood, and whoever burns memorial incense, like one who worships an idol. They have chosen their own ways, and their souls delight in their abominations;”

As I read Isaiah 66:3 I am deeply moved by the blindness of people to the blood-stained line in the sand. Billions of people who are being misled and deceived by the enemy of God – our selfish pride – to believe that they can obey some spiritual law or sacrament and thereby earn the favor of God, all the while doing only those things that please themselves and fulfill their own desires. How my soul is tormented by their lostness. How I grieve for their souls on that day when the sand that has obscured the line falls into the eternal chasm of separation between eternal life and eternal death.

All their sacrifices and spiritual rituals will mean nothing from God’s perspective if the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary is ignored. That is the line God drew in the sand. There is no other way to God than through His Son Jesus. That may sound narrow to many, but to those who are being saved by the power of His death and resurrection it is the way of freedom.

Many people are very sincere about their religions. However, nowhere in God’s sacred and holy Scriptures are we told that God rewards sincerity with eternity. He rewards humility – a broken and repentant heart that turns in faith from a life centered on self to a Savior who gives real life. Salvation is not available to the person who intends to keep kicking sand on God’s blood-stained line. Forgiveness is a one way bridge across the line from the side of sin to the side of salvation. Forgiveness is not to be a cheap and easy way for us to keep crossing the line back and forth between religious duty and personal gratification. That is a denial of the Gospel truth and intentionally ignores the reality of the coming chasm.

My friends, many are deceived. Many are doing spiritual duties to earn the favor of God while they continue to seek and serve self every day. Let us blow away the sand that has obscured the line in our own lives, so that it can be clearly seen by those around us. They need to see the line and be drawn by the Holy Spirit to cross it into the arms of a loving Savior who drew the line with His blood.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Several years ago I attended the annual Pastor’s Conference at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. As is typical of me when I go to such events, I take lots of notes. I especially like to write down quotes I hear. One of them came from Crawford Loritz as he spoke on handling the pressures of life.

He told a story that resonated with my heart. It revealed the typical ways we respond to pressure. Sometimes we expend exceptional amounts of energy trying to resolve the things that are causing the pressure to build. Other times we go into full-blown performance mode and overcome the pressurized attacks on our worth by accomplishing bigger and better things. At times we even attempt bigger and better things for God and call it faith, when it really is nothing more than a self-serving attempt to re-establish the baseline of our personal value.

But then it happens – the bottom falls out. Everything goes wrong. All our best efforts are destroyed, and we fall flat on our faces as the problems pile up around us. How could God allow this to happen? Where is He in my time of need?

Then Dr. Loritz said this – “On my way to accomplishing something, God is working so I will become something.”

You see, being is more important to God than doing. Who we are matters more than what we do. In fact, are we really capable of doing anything that matters apart from what God is doing in us and through us?

The prophet Isaiah spoke of it here at the beginning of chapter sixty-six. Isaiah 66:2 “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.

God does not esteem the one who thinks He can accomplish great things. After all, what can we really accomplish? Has not God done it all? The one God esteems is the one who is becoming the reflection of His love and grace – the one who is humble and broken (contrite) and lives in reverential awe of God.

FREEDOM! That’s the shout of my heart at that moment of recognizing that God no longer requires my accomplishments but honors my brokenness. It is in my weakness that He is proved to be strong and mighty. It is in a simple vessel of clay that God has placed the eternal treasure of His glory (2 Corinthians 4:7). Let the pressures come. Let the cracks be exposed. As Stuart Briscoe said, “The more cracks that develop simply allow more of the light of God’s glory to shine through.”

That’s the contrast between life in the flesh and life in the Spirit. We are either on the way to accomplishing something, or we are watching to see how God works so we will become something.

I know which one I choose!

Pastor John