Monthly Archives: September 2024

When was the last time you gave thought to just how merciful Jesus really is? It is my prayer that you will continually contemplate the multiplied mercies of your Master after reading this word of encouragement today.

A ruler of the synagogue came to Jesus and fell at His feet, crying out for Him to come to his house and heal his 12-year-old daughter, who was dying. Jesus agreed to help, and then something remarkable happened. While He was on His way to heal the girl, Jesus healed a woman who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years! This shows me the limitless supply of mercy within our Master. While He was on a mission of mercy to one, He extended mercy to another.

Our Lord’s ministry was marked by mercy beyond measure everywhere He went. He healed the sick, made the lame walk, caused the blind to see and the deaf to hear, and raised the dead to life. All these mercies were delivered while He was on His way to the most magnificent errand of mercy the world has ever known.

When Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. (Matthew 27:50-51)

Every act of mercy performed by our Lord was done while He was on His way to the cross. He took time for the little children. He had a divine appointment with a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. He received prostitutes and tax collectors. He ministered to His fearful disciples on a boat in a storm. He wept with two sisters who were grieving the loss of their brother Lazarus. He even celebrated with his mother and disciples at a wedding. Everything Jesus did was a mercy to all those He did it with. 

Did you notice in Matthew 27:51 that the curtain of the temple was torn from top to bottom? Do you know what that means to you today? It means mercies beyond measure are ready for you to receive. The temple was divided into three primary parts: courts, the Holy Place, and the Most Holy Place (which only the high priest could enter once a year on the Day of Atonement). This curtain that was torn from top to bottom was the one separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place, which means that the barrier between God and His people has been once-for-all removed by the cross work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

If that is not mercy beyond measure, I don’t know what is! Our access to the Almighty is unrestricted. The only Mediator is Jesus. We can go to Him morning, noon, and night, 24/7, knowing that we will be received and met with mercy beyond measure because Jesus has never stopped being merciful to His people . . . and He never will.

What mercy do you need today from your Master? What’s keeping you away?

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!     

How do you know if you love the gift more than the Gift Giver? Check your heart response when you start losing the gift! When the sky is blue, the clouds are fleecy, and the sun is shining brightly, it’s easy to love the Lord. But what about those times in life when the storm winds blow and waves of challenge crash over you?

Satan told God that Job loved the gift more than the Gift Giver; God knew that Job loved the Gift Giver more than the gift. Satan threw down the gauntlet of challenge, and the Lord God took it up. What followed in Job’s life was catastrophic. In a matter of mere moments, Job received reports that he had lost all of his wealth and all of his children. This was his response:

At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.  (Job 1:20-22)

Did Job love his children? Of course! Was he grateful to have wealth? I’m sure he was. But he did not love either more than he loved his God. Satan believed that Job’s obedience and love for God was rooted in his self love — that Job loved God because God had showered so many blessings on him. “Remove the blessings,” the devil reasoned, “and You will remove his love for You.” God knew better.

Later in the biblical account, Job wrestled with God and asked some very penetrating questions. But Job never did sin by charging God with wrongdoing, and God blessed Job with even greater blessings than those he had before. Job knew that everything he had was simply a gift he had received from God. And as much as he loved the gifts God had given, not one of those gifts ever sat upon the throne of his life. God was always Job’s first priority in life. 

Would you or I be able to say along with Job, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart” after having suffered such unimaginable loss? To lose his wealth and later his health was one thing. But to lose all ten of his children in one cataclysmic instant seems like a loss too great for anyone to bear.  And it certainly would have been if Job loved the good gifts God had given him more than he loved the Gift Giver Himself.

So how do we arrive at the place Job was? Surely it will only be by the grace of God. But in that grace, we need to see the gracious Hand that provides everything we enjoy in this life. When you and I read the book of Job, we understand the whole story. But Job, who was living it out at the time, did not. He had no knowledge of all that was going on behind the scenes, and that demonstrates with dazzling clarity that Job really did love God more than any of the gifts he had received from His hand.

Job’s friends were convinced that his suffering was a result of some sin in Job’s life. They believed his trials were a punitive and corrective action from God. They were wrong. What all God had in mind we cannot know, but one thing we do know is that part of the purpose of Job’s suffering was to deepen His relationship with God. 

Elisabeth Elliot, wife of murdered missionary Jim Elliot, penned these profound words that will close, far better than I ever could, this word of encouragement to love the Gift Giver more than His gifts:

God is God. If He is God, He is worthy of my worship and my service. I will find rest nowhere but in His will, and that will is infinitely, immeasurably, unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to. 

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

If you have spent much time in church, you are probably familiar with the last half of the verse above. There is great encouragement to be drawn from the fact that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” But as awesome as that truth is, we must be careful not to miss the encouragement that is offered us just before that truth. 

The key word in the first half of Romans 5:8 is demonstrates, because it is written in the present tense. In the koine Greek that was used to write the New Testament, the present tense indicates an ongoing, continuous action. Romans 5:8 tells us that God is continually demonstrating His love for us. It would seem to have made better sense for Paul to have written “demonstrated” in the past tense, just like the word “died” that follows. Because Christ died for us in the past, you might well think that “demonstrated” would be the best choice of words. But Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, kept demonstrates in the present tense, no doubt to provide us with ongoing, continuous encouragement. In context, Paul was addressing the suffering and persecution that the Roman Christians were going through when he declared that God “demonstrates” His unwavering love for us.    

Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (Romans 5:3-5)

Paul was reminding the Christians then — and you and me today — that God’s love is being continually poured into the lives of His people. Paul knew that the only way the Roman Christians would be able to deal with the severe suffering they were experiencing was to be reminded of the ever-present, continually-poured-out love of God. The Holy Spirit is demonstrating the love of God in Christ Jesus for His people 24/7. There is no time out and no days off.  God demonstrates His love for His children moment by moment. 

It is one thing to meditate on the love God demonstrated on the cross where Jesus took our place and paid the penalty for all our sins. But it is another thing altogether to keep in view the love of God that He demonstrates to us in countless ways with every beat of our hearts. Paul does not want us to miss the eternal encouragement found in experiencing every ounce of God’s past love in our lives as a profound, present reality.

Is this the confession of your life? Paul’s inspired pick-me-up will help you remember the fact that God demonstrates His love for you with every breath you take. Rejoice, Christian. Rejoice!

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT…AMEN!     

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6)

If you are anything like me, and you really like to be in control, I have a word of comfort and encouragement for you today. To be sure, it isn’t easy to deny yourself and your desires, to mortify your flesh, and to submit to God’s will and timing in your life. We all have a tendency to be a bit like Martha, who not only tried to control her environment, she also tried to control Jesus!

As one of Jesus’ closest friends, Martha seems to have been constantly stressing over the details of daily living, especially when it came to hospitality – which is a good gift from God that we can turn into a bad gift if we believe it is the ultimate gift. Martha was growing more and more exasperated as she was preparing a meal for Jesus and His disciples while her sister Mary chose to sit at the feet of Jesus instead of continuing with the preparations.

Finally Martha’s frustration boiled over. “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself?” Martha demanded acerbically. “Tell her to help me!” Notice the response from Jesus: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:40-41).

Martha was doing a good thing in her hospitality. But her need to be in control would not allow her to shut it down and sit with Jesus. Her controlling nature came between her and the Lord. Yet Jesus never rebuked Martha; He simply told her what is best – Him – and said the best would not be taken away from Mary. Jesus is the cure for control freaks like Martha and me. Luke’s account makes it clear that what we do for Jesus is not as important as what we do with Him. And spending time at the feet of Jesus is the cosmic cure for our controlling nature.

Remember, when Jesus raised you from death to life, you surrendered control of your life to Him. And there is no one better to be in control of your life than Jesus! The more time you spend sitting at His feet, the better you will be able to surrender your time, talent, and treasure to His control for the expansion of His kingdom and not your own.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT…AMEN!     

May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep . . . (Hebrews 13:20)

The writer of Hebrews was telling us that before we were even in existence, Jesus was on the way to save and sanctify us. Rightly understood, the truth of God’s eternal covenant will provide you with a peace that passes all understanding. You were on the mind and heart of God before you were on this earth! To be sure, our finite minds cannot begin to understand the eternal encouragement that this truth of a covenant as old as eternity has been designed to provide. That is why it requires our attention day and night. We must never lose sight of this unimaginable blessing, which is rooted in the good pleasure of our God (Ephesians 1:4-5). 

Think about it this way: Before you were, you were His! That means before you did anything worthy of God’s favor, His favor was already yours. Before you did anything commendable of His blessing, His blessing was already yours. Before you did anything to warrant His love, His love was already poured out on you. God has always dealt with you based on His mercy, not your merit. God has always related with you based on His grace, not your good works. God has always loved you based on His choice, not your character.

So if you did nothing to earn God’s favor, blessing, or love, it is secure forevermore, regardless of what you have done or will ever do in this life. If you do good, God will not love you any more; if you do badly, God will not love you any less. 

Perhaps you should read that again. Everything you need you already have because of the eternal covenant of God. You have His forgiveness, His pardon, His adoption, His acceptance, and His promise to finish what He started in your rescue (Philippians 1:6). How your heart should swell with joy unspeakable because God has given you a wellspring of life and a storehouse of love. How good must our God truly be to have established this covenant in eternity past and to extend it throughout eternity future? Surely we cannot begin to plumb the depths of our good God! 

Regardless of where this message finds you today, pause a moment to feast on its fullness. Before you were, you were His! There was never a time when you were not His. And remember, what God has joined together shall stay joined together forever and ever. And this unending union is not rooted in your faithfulness to Him (because we are so often unfaithful), but rather in His faithfulness to us. Let the life we live be a holy hymn that extols the glories of this eternal truth with every breath we take and every step we make. 

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT…AMEN!     

If you have been walking with the Lord long enough, you can recall times when He seemed distant from you. You can also remember those pleasant seasons when your load was light, your burden was easy, and your heart beat for nothing smaller than Jesus. But there have also been those times when you found yourself in somewhat of a spiritual wasteland, just like Job. 

Job continued his discourse: “How l long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me, when his lamp shone upon my head and by his light I walked through darkness! Oh, for the days when I was in my prime, when God’s intimate friendship blessed my house.” (Job 29:1-4)

If you are familiar with the story of Job, you know about the terrible tragedies he faced. And here we see him longing for you and I might call “the good ol’ days,” when his intimacy with God was the anchor of his soul. But after so much suffering, God seemed distant and heaven was silent. Because we know the whole story, we know that Job did not invite any of his difficulties because of unrighteous behavior.

Today you and I often find ourselves longing for “the good ol’ days” because we have been “bad” recently! Now, “bad” has many different shades. Sometimes we simply neglect the wonderful means of grace God has given us that bring us into the presence of God in a very special way: We miss church, we neglect prayer, we are inconsistent in our Bible study. These omissions always leave us feeling empty, wanting, and longing for that feeling we had when we were diligent in our spiritual disciplines.

Sometimes it is a matter of idolatry; we have removed Jesus from the throne of our lives and and allowed something smaller than Him to sit there. The prophet Jeremiah hit that proverbial nail squarely on the head:

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

One minute our heart is beating for Jesus, and the next minute it is beating for a thousand other things. We are in a constant battle with divided affections; when our affections are divided, God will eventually step in and give us what we need to reorient our hearts back toward Him. Most often, He will give us a glimpse of “the good ol’ days” to help us get our lives back on track. 

Spiritual pride can also give us a sense of separation from the presence of our God. Self-love will always cast a shadow over our Savior. To be sure, Jesus is shining as bright as ever, but our pride has made our spiritual eyes grow dim.

So if you currently find yourself feeling separated from your Savior, what should you do? Recognize that your longing for “the good ol’ days” is God’s call to you to return to Him! Run to Jesus and seek His face; know that He never left your side. Remember, when God feels distant, we can be sure of one thing: God never moved . . . we did. Cry out to Jesus, and rejoice in the truth that no matter how “good” those ol’ days might have been, the best is yet to come. 

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT…AMEN!     

Perhaps you are familiar with the term “consolation prize,” the term frequently used designate an award of minor or lesser value than first prize. The consolation prize is given to the losers in the completion, the runners-up who finished behind the winner. Well, today I want to encourage you with a completely different kind of consolation prize, which is given to the people of God — every every last one of them, including you!

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. (2 Corinthians 1:3-7)

If you take even a cursory glance through the passage above, one word jumps right off the page: comfort. A word that is synonymous with this word comfort is consolation, which appears four times in the New King James Version’s rendering of 2 Corinthians 1:3-7. So it is plain to see that the Christian is given a Cosmic Consolation Prize that is wholly other from anything offered in this world. It is not for the loser . . . It is not for the runner up . . . It is for every child of God. It is the cosmic consolation given to every Christian every moment of every day.

Jesus is our Consolation — our Everlasting Consolation — and He gives His consolation to every one of His disciples. Our Consolation comes to us in times of trouble. Our Consolation comes to us in seasons of suffering. Our Consolation comes to us in the darkness of distress. And as He delivers His consolation to us — all of us — we begin to grow in His grace and in the patient endurance that helps us endure trouble, suffering, and deep distress. AND His consolation equips us to minister to others who need consolation.

Another way to look at this Cosmic Consolation would be to say that everyone on Team Jesus is a winner. There is no “runner-up trophy,” no consolation prize given for second place, and no one finishes in last place. Everyone who has trusted in our Lord’s atoning work on the cross receives this Cosmic Consolation, simply by virtue of our union with Him.

So remember, whatever it is you are facing today . . .

• Trouble at the office
• Difficulties in your marriage
• Parenting a prodigal
• Fragile friendship
• Less than perfect health
• Financial shortfall

. . . Look to the One who is with you in all that you face, knowing this truth: Greater is the power (consolation) that is in you than any power that can come against you. Jesus promised to send “another Helper” (John 14:16), the Holy Spirit, our Cosmic Consolation, to walk with you and in you. He has never let you down in the past and He never will. You have His Word on that!

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT…AMEN!     

Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor. (Matthew 27:13-14)

Pilate pressed our Lord to speak on His own behalf, and we read to our own amazement that our Savior was silent. “Jesus made no reply.” It wasn’t because Jesus was at a loss for words; the Jewish temple guards, who were certainly not friendly to Jesus, had marveled that “No one ever spoke the way this man does” (John 7:46).

To be sure, in the life of every disciple of Christ there is a time to speak and a time to be silent. The key is to have the wisdom and discernment to know the time.

So much can be said about these two words — no reply — that should bring great encouragement into the life of every Christian. “Jesus made no reply” when words might have brought a blessing to Himself. But never did He withhold His words when He could bless others. 

Jesus said to the fishermen He found by the shore, “Come” and they became fishers of men. 

Jesus said to the little man perched in a tree, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately” and he rose up into the ministry of the Gospel along side of his Master. 

Jesus said to the woman at the well, “Will you give me a drink?” and she received the living water of life and became the first evangelist in her town of Samaria. Many there became believers. 

Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery, “Woman, where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you?” and she left His presence forgiven and faithful to Her Lord. 

These are just a few of the many examples of the words Jesus used to bless others. He gave no reply to Pilate, refusing to provide a defense against the false accusations leveled against Him, but He never missed the opportunity to defend and bless others.

Where has Jesus spoken into your life and brought you great blessing? Remember, Jesus made no reply because He chose to take our place and die on a cross. Jesus made no reply so He could drink the full cup of God’s wrath. This was the time for Jesus to be silent because His silence testified to Him being the True Lamb of God, who was silent “as a sheep that before its shearers is silent” (Isaiah 53:7). But when it comes to your relationship with Him, He has not stopped speaking life to you, and He will not all the way into glory.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Today is the 23^rd anniversary of the event we know as 9/11, September 11, 2001, a day and date that has been stamped on the national consciousness of our nation. The cry of America is, “We will never forget!”

We will never forget the pictures of those two planes flying into the Twin Towers.

We will never forget the pictures of the first responders arriving at the scene to help the victims (Those pictures are particularly close to my heart; I spent nearly a decade serving on the Hollywood Fire Rescue Department).

We will never forget the sight of the two towers dropping off the landscape of lower Manhattan as they collapsed to the ground, taking with them nearly 3,000 victims.

We will never forget how a nation came together to both mourn and mount up against sin and evil in this world.

To be sure, 9/11 is to be remembered for many reasons. One reason is to remind all of us of the brevity of life. And that reminder comes to us each and every day as we read about and personally experience this truth in our own lives. Nobody knows when their life will come to an end or how it will happen. Since the fall in the Garden of Eden, death has been the debt all men have paid. When it comes suddenly and unexpectedly, it can rock us to our core. The events of 9/11 did that to us, and they lit a fire of faith deep within that would not go out.  We realized that God has saved us to serve Him and to surrender our lives completely to His control. We began to understand, not only the importance of the good news of the Gospel, but the urgency with which are called to share it today, because we may not have the opportunity to do it tomorrow.

On October 8, 1871, while preaching at Farwell Hall, the great evangelist D. L. Moody asked his congregation to evaluate and think about their relationship to Jesus and return to church next week to make their decisions for Him. That crowd never reassembled. While they were singing the closing hymn, the rising din of fire trucks and church bells scattered them forever; Chicago was on fire! The Y.M.C.A. building, church, and parsonage were all lost in the next 24 hours, as well as the lives of some 300 residents of the city. When thinking back on that fateful evening, Moody said, “Giving my congregation a week to think over in their minds their decision for Jesus is my greatest regret in life. Never again would I give my listeners time to go home and think about their response to the gospel.” And he never did. 

May we never forget the lessons taught us by D. L. Moody and the terrible events of 9/11. May we be passionate about sharing the truth of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. May we never forget what He has done for us, and may we be bold to proclaim the truth of His free gift of eternal life.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT…AMEN!     

These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. (1 Corinthians 10:11)

Make no mistake about this biblical truth: Your life . . . my life . . . everyone’s life will serve as either an example to follow or a warning to avoid. As one who worked as a coach for decades, I have always been dismayed by high-profile athletes who insist, “I’m not a role model!” The truth is, they may not want to be a role model, but they most certainly are for someone who is watching. The same can be said of everyone who professes faith in Jesus Christ. 

You do understand that you are the only “Bible” some people will ever read, yes? Many unbelievers — particularly those raised in the West during the last 30 years — know nothing about the 66 books of sacred Scripture, but they know a great deal about the life they see you living before their eyes. And if they know you to be a disciple of Jesus, the way you live is what they will come to believe about the Jesus of the Bible.

The question that you and I must ask ourselves is this: Is my life serving as an example to follow? Or is it a warning to avoid? 

I want to make something perfectly clear: I am not saying we must live a perfect life. Only Jesus did that. We live every aspect of our lives imperfectly. We all do things we ought not do, we say things we ought not say, and we think things we ought not think. What I am talking about is the desire to live a life that is pleasing to God, recognizing that it will not be perfect on this side of the grave. 

Peter’s life was far from perfect; he denied our Lord three times and later refused to eat with Gentile Christians, earning a sharp rebuke from the apostle Paul (Galatians 2:11-14). Yet the life Peter lived serves as a wonderful example of what it means to live for nothing smaller than Jesus, even while living imperfectly. Every great saint in Scripture and in the history books had their share of blemishes and warts that all the world could see. But those failings just make them more real to us.

If you’re anything like me, your own failings are all too real. Others may not see our shortcomings, we know they are there. We are painfully aware when we do not measure up to the standards Scripture sets for us. But in spite of our sins, God has chosen us to put the Gospel on display. Remember, God uses imperfect people because that’s all He’s got! 

Have you considered the example you are setting for those who are watching you? When you mess things up (as you inevitably will), confess your sin and ask for forgiveness, both from God and those you have offended or hurt. Then get on with life, asking God to give you His supernatural strength to live it for His glory and the good of others.

Everyone is an example . . . including you. The question is not whether you are an example, but rather what kind of example are you setting? Christian, be an example of one who is living for the glory of God.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!