Tag Archives: faith

DO WHATEVER HE SAYS

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LifeLink Devotional for Friday, December 27, 2024

One of the most enjoyable experiences of my life is to purchase a car. One thing I do not expect from the salesman after I buy it is him telling me that I can expect it to cause me all kinds of problems and cost me a lot of money to maintain. Why would he wait until after the sale to tell me this, and why would he sell a car like that in the first place?

I wonder if Mary felt a little bit like that when Simeon told her that Jesus would cause a lot of heartache for her?

Luke 2:34-35 “Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

I know how I felt when the doctor told me that my daughter would need heart surgery when she was two years old. I’m sure you have experienced similar emotions in response to difficult and sometimes tragic news in your family. Here was Mary, just eight days after the birth of the Son of God, being told that there was a time coming when the tide of public opinion would be against Him and her heart would be broken by that. The very people that Jesus had come to save would reject Him and she would not be able to do anything about it.

She got her first taste of that rejection when Jesus was about two years old. The reigning king of Israel tried to have Jesus killed, and the family had to flee to Egypt. Imagine what it must have been like for Mary to know and understand the truth about her Son and yet have everyone else reject that truth. Imagine the nights of loneliness and hopelessness that must have come upon her. Maybe you don’t have to imagine them because you are experiencing them. You find yourself asking the question, “What can be done?”

It is human nature to want to fix what’s wrong and fulfill what’s right. Jump ahead in the life of Christ to a wedding Jesus was attending when He was thrity years old. The host of the wedding did not plan for enough wine, and it had run out. Mary seized this opportunity to introduce the truth about her Son to the world and suggests to Him that He could fix the problem. It was not the responsibility of Jesus to get more wine, but mom was looking for a way to show off her Son. For thirty years she has remained faithful to the truth about who He was and His purpose in coming to the earth.

Whether she was right or wrong to suggest His involvement in this wine problem is not the issue: the real issue is that the things she treasured in her heart about Jesus had not only sustained her for all those years but had equipped her to take a step that would result in the piercing of her soul and the breaking of her heart. She told the servants to do whatever Jesus said, not what she wanted. She had learned the wisdom of living by an eternal perspective and not an earthly one.

My friends, the world will reject us when we live holy lives in honor to a holy God. Our hearts will be broken by the rejection of our spouses and children and those close to us. But remember the words of Simeon – there will be those who will rise because of Jesus just as there will be those who will fall.

That was obviously Mary’s focus. That is to be our focus as well. Our defense against the sword of the world piercing our hearts with rejection is the Sword of the Word of Truth that gives us an eternal perspective. Then we can say with Mary, “Do whatever He tells you.”

Pastor John

THE GIFT OF FAVOR

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LifeLink Devotional for Monday, December 16, 2024

When I travel through states like North Dakota I am struck with the immensity of God. When I leave the beauty of the forests and hills of northern Wisconsin the topography changes radically to flat and almost treeless plains where one can see for miles. The next farm is barely visible, and the horizon seems unattainable. I imagine what is beyond, and my mind swirls as it swims in the depths of infinity. My limitations overwhelm me in the attempt to visualize the limitlessness of God.

That is the way my mind is responding to the incredible grace of God depicted in today’s conversation between the angel Gabriel and the soon-to-be mother named Mary.

Luke 1:26-28  “In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

The great and overarching theme of Christmas is the grace of God. There is nothing that overwhelms my finite thoughts more than an attempt to comprehend the wonder of God’s grace. Our minds are befuddled when we try to quantify that which qualifies us. We who measure others and ourselves by finite qualifications cannot fully comprehend the unconditional qualification of imperfect people by a perfect God. Yet that is what God does by grace.

Have there ever been sweeter words to the ears of any person than to be told that they have found favor with God? Mary was puzzled by this greeting, as are all of us when we are told that we are fully and unconditionally accepted into relationship with God. Yet those are the words that we long to hear. It is the deepest desire of our hearts to be accepted and to know that our lives have purpose and meaning. Yet we doubt the authenticity of the message. We are troubled by the thought that God can draw that close to us because we know the depths of our sin and unworthiness. But can you think of anything you would rather hear than the voice of God calling you His child, His heir, and His friend?

Why should we believe that God’s favor rests on us when the message was delivered to Mary? When God directed Gabriel to tell Mary that she was highly favored, He chose a word that in the Greek language is used only one other time in all of Scripture. Its use is significant. It is found in Ephesians 1:6, and literally translated says, “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.”

We have found, in Christ Jesus, the same favor of God that was proclaimed to Mary. We have been accepted into the beloved. Hallelujah!

What a great message of encouragement for not only us but for all of those millions of people still seeking acceptance. We have the Gospel of Grace. We have experienced God’s unconditional forgiveness and acceptance. Let’s go tell the world that they too can be forgiven and accepted – and it’s FREE! 

Pastor John

THE GIFTS OF VALUE, ACCEPTANCE, AND PURPOSE

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LifeLink Devotional for Friday, December 6, 2024

Several years ago, during the Wisconsin 9-day gun deer hunting season, I spent many hours with my sons and son-in-law in pursuit of the elusive whitetail. At one point during the hunt, I decided to try and help the boys by walking through a couple of creek bottoms and thickets to see if I could jump any deer out in their direction. Besides being unsuccessful in my attempts, I became very hot and thirsty. I had no water with me, and where I ended up on my trek I was not near the fresh water in the creek or the vehicles. I had nothing to drink. All I could do was take off some layers of clothing and sit down in the damp grass and try and cool down. As soon as I had the energy, I went straight to the first source of water I could find. 

Thirst is a powerful motivator, not only from a physical perspective but from the emotional, psychological, and spiritual perspectives as well. Jesus understood human thirst. We thirst for value. We thirst for meaning and purpose to our existence. We thirst for acceptance. We are driven to satisfy these thirsts by any means available to us.

The world offers several temporary thirst-quenchers. We believe value can be found in material possessions and career success. We believe the meaning and purpose of life can be found through scientific and philosophical examinations of our existence. We also believe that acceptance can be found through human relationships. We will go to any length to gain that acceptance, sacrificing security, careers, and health on the altar of sexual sin.

Jesus met a woman like that. She had attempted to satisfy her thirst for acceptance, value, and meaning in life in the arms and beds of men. She had come to the well to satisfy her physical thirst. Jesus offered her an opportunity to satisfy her real thirst. Jesus makes an incredible statement to her in John chapter 4. “The water I give…takes away thirst altogether. It becomes a perpetual spring within…giving…eternal life.” Every emotional, psychological, and spiritual need is satisfied completely and permanently when Jesus enters a life. His eternal life completely quenches the thirst for value, acceptance, and meaningful purpose in life.

When Jesus comes into a life, inestimable value is realized through the knowledge that God would send His Son Jesus to die for our sins so that He could bring us into a permanent and eternal relationship with Himself. No longer do we need material possessions and career success to define our value: our value is defined by the receipt of every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. (Eph. 1:3-8) God quenches our thirst for value for all eternity by giving us the value of His Son Jesus.

When Jesus comes into a life, unconditional acceptance is experienced through the surrender of self to the reign of Christ. God quenches our thirst for acceptance for all eternity by unconditionally accepting into His family those who come humbly to Jesus Christ.

When Jesus comes into a life, meaning and purpose are fulfilled through the understanding of God’s will and purpose for our lives. Back in Ephesians 1 again, verse 9 says, God made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ.

When we come to Christ and drink of His water of eternal life, we are brought into the inner circle of God’s will and purpose. Later in Ephesians Paul describes our purpose – For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. We have been called to a divine and eternal work – to accomplish God’s work. It is a work with matchless meaning and eternal worth.  

So which thirst is driving you today? Drink from the living water of Jesus Christ, and thirst no more. Life will cease to be a pursuit of value, acceptance, and meaning, and will become instead an expression of the value, acceptance, and meaning you have been granted in Jesus Christ.

It’s refreshing to have your thirst quenched.

Pastor John

THE GIFT OF ETERNAL LIFE

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LifeLink Devotional for Thursday, December 5, 2024

In yesterday’s devotional we learned that giving is about expressing love. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” God’s gift of Jesus to pay the price for our sin was the full and complete expression of His love for us. In His gift we see the nature of His heart.

Gifts that are given in love benefit the recipient. Jesus spoke of this when he said, “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” Good gifts are those that bring a blessing to people.

There are numerous benefits that God provides to us with the gift of Jesus Christ. I’m not sure which of them can be prioritized as most important or significant over the others, so I won’t try to convince you of my opinion. Over the next few days, let’s enjoy the blessings that will come from looking at some of them. Today I am overjoyed to consider that in Jesus Christ I have eternal life.

Romans 6:23  For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I have been thinking about eternity a lot lately. Not that I plan to go there any time soon – unless that’s God’s plan for me. One thing I know for sure is that heaven will be the complete and perfect experience of life to the fullest as God intended it to be lived. There will be no confinements of time and space. There will be no experience of sin, sadness, sorrow, or suffering. We will know and understand all things even as God knows us now. We will not be distracted from the glory and fellowship of God by the cares and concerns of the world.

Heaven will never end. We will not know that it had a beginning, and we will not be able to foresee its conclusion. All the perfections of life will become the reality of the present. Every negative experience of this temporal life on earth will be forgotten. Every glorious experience of intimacy with Christ will be perfected into permanence. All that was done for self on earth will be lost and gone forever. All that was done for Christ will be immortalized and treasured for eternity.

What an incredible and indescribable gift! In one act of love all the negatives are abolished and all the positives are established. If only there was a way I could give a gift like that to everyone I love.

But wait…there is a way. I can give them the information they need to choose the gift of God. I can share with them the good news that Jesus forgives sin and abolishes death. I can give them the opportunity to receive eternal life.

And when I do, I have given them the greatest gift of all.

Pastor John

BE DIFFERENT

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LifeLink Devotional for Tuesday, December 3, 2024

It is an unfortunate tendency of human nature to become self-sufficient. The accomplishment of goals leads to pride in our abilities. The accrual of resources leads to dependence upon those resources. The pursuit of social status becomes the means of measuring success. We are never quite satisfied with the essentials, so we choose to live by faith in self rather than faith in God.

The shepherds in the Christmas story were different. Their profession was religiously despised in their culture. Because of their constant contact with the animals, they were not allowed to participate in any religious activities and were certainly never allowed inside the temple to worship. They were forced to live in the fields with their flocks, never owning their own homes or achieving an acceptable level of social status. Such conditions would cause most of us to develop a new life plan or hire a new life coach. We would look intently and lustfully at the greener grass on the next pasture, and it would not be for the benefit of the sheep.

But these shepherds were different. They had not only accepted their position in society, but they worshiped God where they were. They had some good examples from their culture’s past to follow: Moses spent 40 years tending sheep before he was called by God in a burning bush to lead Israel out of Egypt. David was a shepherd boy who had a heart for God and accepted his position. Psalms 78:70 – 72 says,“God chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pens;from tending the sheep he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance. And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.”

The shepherds in our story lived the greatest faith anyone can ever live – God-sufficiency. God saw their humble state and He honored them with the first and only public announcement of the birth of Jesus.

Luke 2:8 – 12  8And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  10But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.  12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Humility is the prerequisite of honor.

But we must be careful, because honor can destroy humility. Honor can become the means we use to set new goals and seek new status. But these shepherds were different. After they had gone and seen the King and worshipped Him in person, the Scriptures say that they returned to their flocks and carried on where they were. We never hear of them again. There was no attempt to use their personal experience to advance their personal status in any way.

That will be true of all who are humble, no matter how honored they have been. Why? Because the humble understand that it’s all about Jesus and His glory, and not about us and our glory.

Jesus honored the humility of the shepherds 32 years later when He spoke these words: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me just as the Father knows me and I know the Father – and I lay down my life for the sheep.”

One day Jesus will honor all of us. Be careful of trying to seek honor for yourself. Jesus said, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”  

The shepherds were different. They did nothing to get noticed. God found them and honored their humility.

He will find you! 

Pastor John

RESIST THE GLITTER

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LifeLink Devotional for Monday, December 2, 2024

Welcome to our Christmas series of devotionals as we daily contemplate the significance of Christ Jesus coming to earth.

In Matthew chapter four, Jesus prepares to begin His three-year ministry to the people of Israel and bring them the good news of God’s salvation, Satan attempts to thwart God’s plan. He tempts Jesus to take His eyes off God’s purpose for His life and turn them to the things of the world. He tempts Jesus with His physical needs by trying to get Him to focus on His hunger. He tempts Jesus to promote Himself in the eyes of people by telling Him to use His power and authority to do a miracle to impress people. Then Satan tempts Jesus to worship him with the promise of a gift. Satan says he will make Jesus the ruler of all the kingdoms of the world if Jesus will bow to him. Fortunately for all of us, Jesus resisted all these temptations and waited for God’s perfect fulfillment of His purpose in His time.

Jesus was convinced that His Father would provide for His physical needs because He was focused on accomplishing the Father’s purpose and not His own. Jesus knew that His Father would one day glorify Him in front of all mankind, so He did not need to exalt Himself in front of people. Jesus also knew that one day God would make Him ruler of all the kingdoms of the world, and that by accepting that honor from Satan it would only make Satan the ultimate ruler and not God. Jesus knew that the gifts that God had promised, even though they required great endurance and patience to be realized, would be far greater than any immediate gratification provided by Satan’s competing gifts.

Every day Satan competes for our loyalty by offering us gifts that promise immediate gratification. Every day we are tempted to sacrifice our worship of the Lord on the altar of personal pursuits and pleasures. Every day we are tempted to serve self rather than God. Satan offers benefits that appeal to the physical, emotional, and financial goals of our flesh. Satan pursues us because he knows that if we accept his offers we will become his best servants: not because we are evil, but because our choice does the most damage to the cause of Christ.

The testimony we give to the power of the Gospel to transform lives is negated by the person who claims Christ but lives under the influence of the flesh. Such a person is Satan’s best employee. In exchange for his gifts of worldly pleasure, power and prosperity they have become Satan’s servants and have made a mockery of the gift of God.

Do you remember the old television game show called Let’s Make A Deal? Every one of us is a contestant on the spiritual version of that show. Two gifts have been offered, and you must choose.

Gift #1 has been fully revealed to us. It offers the guarantee of eternal life following an earthly life of surrender to Christ. It will require suffering, hardship, trials, trouble, and rejection by the rest of the world. But in the end, we are glorified with Jesus and inherit all things with Him.

Gift #2 has also been fully revealed, but for some reason most people choose not to see beyond the immediate glitter that they see. The gift offers wealth untold, acceptance by the world, and the promise that personal pleasure will fulfill all emotional and spiritual needs. Behind all that glitter is the sentence of death and punishment in hell for all eternity. But glitter blinds us. It is so appealing to our flesh that we are willing to gamble our lives on the hope that the experience of the glitter will somehow void the consequences of our choice. That’s why so many people keep choosing gift #2 – and losing.

If you’ve never chosen gift #1, today can be your day. Call on Jesus to save you.

If you have chosen gift #1, make sure you aren’t tempted to trade it in for any part of gift #2. Check your life right now and make sure, like Jesus did, that you resist the glitter and worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.

Pastor John

GIVE THANKS

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LifeLink Devotional for Thursday, November 28, 2024

Happy Thanksgiving. It seems appropriate that we take some time over the next few days to focus on being thankful in all circumstances.

It is possible that you misread that last statement. It does not say to be thankful for all circumstances but be thankful in them. It is a clarification that is necessary for proper application.

I am not thankful for the consequences of evil in this world. However, I can be thankful during those times of suffering because my attitude is based on the goodness and steadfast love of the Lord. In 1 Chronicles 16:34 we read, “Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!” God never changes, so my attitude can always be thankful.

Yet we quickly turn to complaining when circumstances affect us negatively. The heart drifts toward complaint as if by gravitational pull. Complaint seems a reasonable response to a sequence of disappointing events. Generally, we don’t have to extend an invitation for complaint to show up. It arrives as an uninvited guest. Before we know it, complaint feels right because it is familiar.

Author Jeff Manion, in his book “The Land Between” says that we must “evict the spirit of complaint.”  Here’s how he describes it:

“We can discourage complaint’s residency in our lives by inviting another guest to move in with us. That new guest is trust. When we choose to trust in the face of deep disappointment, complaint has less space to maneuver. While attempting to unpack for an extended stay, it discovers that trust has taken all the drawers in the guest room and already occupies the empty seat at the table. Trust evicts complaint. Trust and complaint are incompatible roommates. One inevitably pushes the other one out.”

Trust. Trust in the nature and character of God. Trust is the basis for thanksgiving.

Here’s a definition of trust using the word as an acrostic. It has become the basis for my understanding of the connection between trust and thanksgiving.

TRUST – Totally Relying Upon Sovereign Timing

Trust requires reliance upon God’s absolute control over all things, and that all things are working towards a His glorious conclusion that will result in good for us. When we have that level of trust, then we can also live through any hardship with an attitude of thanks.

Here’s another acrostic that reveals the connection between trust and thanks:

THANKS – Trusting His Attributes Not Knowing Specifics

I believe we have two problems that keep us from being thankful. We don’t trust anyone’s control except our own, and we don’t relax until we know all the details of the outcome. If we choose not to trust the Sovereign timing of God, then we obviously won’t be thankful unless we are in control and know the details of every circumstance. What a tragic and depressing way to live.

Here’s a simple story that helps me to understand that I can trust God with the outcome even when current circumstances seem counter-productive.

A ship was wrecked, and the only survivor washed up on a small uninhabited island. He was exhausted. He cried out to God to save him. Every day he scanned the horizon, searching for help. Finally, he managed to build a rough hut and put his few articles in that hut.

One day, coming home from hunting for food, he was stung with grief to see his little hut in flames and a cloud of smoke. The worst had happened. But later that day, a ship came in and rescued him.

He asked the crew, “How did you know I was here?” They replied, “We saw your smoke signal.”

Maybe the difficulty you have now is a smoke signal that will lead to great blessing. “Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!”

Pastor John

LISTEN THEN DO

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LifeLink Devotions for Wednesday, November 27, 2024

The time has come for the Israelites to enter the Promised Land, and that means it is time for Moses to say goodbye. His farewell address to the nation is recorded for us in the book of Deuteronomy. It is a personal challenge to obedience and faithfulness.

In the first 3 chapters of Deuteronomy, Moses gives the people a historical review of their journey from Egypt. When we get to chapter 4, Moses is ready to start giving the people their instructions for successful and victorious living in their new land. His first statement is most significant – “Hear now, O Israel, the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.”

“Follow them!” Simple words yet so deep in significance. The Hebrew word used here means “to do.” Moses is telling the people that if they want to live they need to do what God says. Then he defines for them what real living is –

1.      To be wise and understanding

2.      To be in intimate relationship with God so He hears our prayers and answers them

3.      To model righteousness

Take a moment and reflect on those three things in your own life and see if you are really living. Are you considered wise and understanding by the people with whom you relate every day? Do they sense an extraordinary ability in you to understand the situations of life and discern the will of God in them? Do people around you come to you when they are in difficult situations because they know you have a direct connection with God in prayer and can touch and understand His heart? Do they see in you a consistency that reflects the holy integrity of God’s law?

All these questions can and should be able to be answered in the affirmative if we are following the laws of God. Unfortunately, many of us are only good listeners, but not good laborers. We hear what God says, but we fail to do it. James, the half-brother of Jesus Christ, in his New Testament book, wrote this, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” If we are to be people of great faith who really know how to live, then we must be doers of the Word of God. Faith is of no value without the actions that prove it. Moses knew this was the key for the Israelites to truly possess life in the new land.

When we claim to have eternal life, but the life we are living so resembles the life of a spiritually dead person, there is something drastically wrong. Moses uses the term “the Lord Your God” over 300 times in his farewell address. He knew that to live victoriously we must get up close and personal with God. We must be intimately in love with God, and true love is defined by obedience. Every aspect of our lives is to be governed and guided by God. God is calling us to a deeper and more meaningful life, and that life begins with obedience to His Word. Won’t you begin that life today?

Pastor John

STICK TO YOUR COMMITMENTS

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LifeLink Devotions for Tuesday, November 26, 2024

Yesterday we were motivated to take steps of faith by the story of several tribes being awarded comfortable land yet joining the other tribes is helping them conquer their land. There is another lesson for us to learn from this story about sin and its consequences. The two-and-a-half tribes had made a commitment years before that they would be united with all the other tribes in entering the Promised Land. Moses reminded them of that commitment and warned them that if they reneged on it they would be sinning, and they would not get away with it.  Moses says these often quoted words, “You may be sure that your sin will find you out.” All sin has consequences, and all sin must be answered for, whether in this life or when we stand before God in person.

We have all done things that we hope will never be exposed. We have lied and lusted, cheated and coveted, hurt and hated. We have committed spiritual adultery by worshipping the gods of money, friendships, social status and power.  If others only knew what we have really done they would be shocked, and the fortified city of our self-righteous life would be destroyed, and we would be left with nothing.

I call on the church of Jesus Christ to become people of integrity, living holy lives honoring to God, knowing that every sin will be exposed before His holy throne. Yes, the consequence of death for sin has been removed for those who are saved, but the consequence of shame has not been removed. The Apostle John says, “And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.” (1 John 2:28) When He returns, our lives will be reviewed in their entirety since the time of our salvation, and we will suffer loss for those things that did not honor God. All decisions and actions coming from self-serving motives will be exposed and burned, and all rewards we had hoped for in those times will be lost. Read carefully these words from the Apostle Paul to the church in Corinth:

“For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.”

Take to heart the warning of Moses, and the next time you are tempted back away from your commitment to Christ and choose to sin, remember – you won’t get away with it because God’s love won’t permit you to live beneath your privilege.

Pastor John

W.W.J.D.

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LifeLink Devotions for Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Not many people wear the W.W.J.D. bracelets any more. This bracelet was designed to be worn as a reminder to ask the question “What would Jesus do?” when we were faced with a decision or confronted with a problem. I hope we have not let the fading of a fad change the foundation of our faith. God still requires us to take action that models His attributes in every aspect of our lives.

On their way to the Promised land the Israelites are being seduced by the Moabites in an attempt by Balaam to become wealthy and powerful. It was Balaam who devised the plan to overthrow the Israelites by turning them away from the Lord rather than by military force. The Moabites were very afraid of the power of God’s people that had been displayed in previous battles against the Canaanites. They knew they did not have the military strength to defeat them, so they weakened them by immorality and idolatry, taking away their source of strength from the Lord.

The seduction of the people was so blinding that one man named Zimri actually brought a Midianite woman back to his family to share right in front of Moses and the Elders who were weeping over the sin of the people at the Tent of Meeting. The punishment for their sins was already underway. The tribal leaders had already begun the killing of all the men who had been seduced into worshiping false gods. Yet this man was so intent on getting what he could for immediate pleasure that he ignored the consequences of his choices. What severe blindness comes over us when we choose to please self rather than God. What brazen disregard for the holiness of God.

Phinehas, the son of the high priest, took action. He went into the tent where the man and the woman were involved in fornication, and he killed them both with one thrust of the spear. In Numbers 25 God commends him for his action, stating clearly that Phinehas acted exactly as God would have acted. Can there be any greater commendation on a life than that? Is that not to be our ongoing response to sin around us today?

Now be careful, I am not advocating killing sinners, unless we are willing to start with self. What I am suggesting is that we take a stand against sin when God clearly does. Multiple denominations in our country are being split over the issue of gay rights in the church. They are debating what the Bible really says about homosexuality. The spiritual blindness caused by the desire for personal pleasure is justified with the term “unity.” What is there to debate about sin? God is holyand he rejects all that is not. We must be bold and courageous to stand against all such attempts to seduce the people of the world into the worship of false gods that satisfy personal passions. 

My friends, take to heart the commendation of Phinehas by God when He says, “I am making my covenant of peace with him. He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites.”  Make it your personal goal to do what God would do. Choose wisely, because one choice to please self could blind you for life.

Pastor John