Author: emmanuelpcgateshead

FRIDAY January 17^th

 

Luke 15:20

‘And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.’

 

As we come to the third of the stories that Jesus gave which Luke has recorded for us in chapter 15, it was difficult to know which of the verses to use, but I have chosen verse 20 because it speaks to us something about the love that God the Father has for those who in the first parable are lost sheep, in the second parable lost coins and here in the third parable, those who have left the home and gone to spend their time in a far country and wasted their lives with what is described as reckless living.

 

But besides the verse I have already quoted there is another verse that reads ‘But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!’’

 

The parable tells us that he had left the family, and in his low state he remembered what the rest of the household would have been enjoying, he came to himself, or he came to his senses, and he knew that he needed to return home. In his hopelessness there was hope! In his lostness there was a place where he could go to, in his recklessness there was the possibility of reconciliation. And so, he planned, and he prepared a speech, and he made for home.

 

This whole parable is such a wonderful story about the love of God and I like the title it is so often given which is, ‘the story of the prodigal son’, for it clearly shows us that many will have enjoyed the blessing of being a part of the family of God, and yet for some reason have chosen to leave and to go and to do their own thing, but God is ready to welcome them back.

 

It speaks to me of the need for we who are in the family of God to pray for those who have wandered away, to pray that they will come to their senses, that they will recall all that they were blessed with and enjoyed in the past and will make their way home to the Father and to the family of God.

 

What a wonderful picture we get as we begin to stop and visualize verse 20! God looking, God full of compassion, God running, God embracing and God kissing! Such is his love! Recapping chapter 15, we add, God searches carefully, God finds, God places upon his shoulder, God rejoices, God places us into his fold, and he welcomes us into his family.

 

The three stories show very clearly the value that God places upon each one of us, and which he demonstrated through what Jesus has done at Calvary.

 

He came to seek and to save that which is lost.

 

That is why I can say that Jesus is the sweetest name I now, and Jesus the very thought of thee with sweetness fills my breast, because he came and he found me.

THURSDAY January 16^th

 

Luke 15:8-10

 

‘Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbours, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.’

 

Why would Jesus give another parable that really speaking led to the same conclusion as the previous one, concerning the joy that is known in heaven over a sinner that repents?

 

Well, I am not saying that I know the answer, but I am going to give my thoughts on the matter. Jesus loved to use simple illustrations so that the simple folk could understand the message. There are only a few that have experienced what it is to lose a sheep, but every one of us can relate to our losing something in the home.

 

I’ve known what it is like to lose a sheep, but I can tell you I have known more often than I wish to remember what it is to lose something around the house, especially my glasses or my keys!

 

But there is something else that we can all relate to, and it is the value of that which was lost, one lost sheep was important to the shepherd, even though he still had another ninety-nine and the one lost coin was important to the woman even though she had another nine coins. It doesn’t matter whether it was one percent that was lost as in the sheep or ten percent lost in the story of the coins everyone matters to Jesus and as we will see in the third story the percentage is even higher at 50% missing.

 

Jesus will leave the ninety-nine to find the one sheep and he will search every nook and cranny to find the one coin that will make the set complete.

 

There is not a single place in this world that the care of, the love of and the heart of God through the Lord Jesus Christ is not willing to go to save a lost soul.

 

He found me in a church, it may have only been a tin building that looked no more than a glorified shed, he has found those who have been locked in a prison cell for crimes they have done, he has met with those who have been in brothels or other places we would call dens of iniquity, he has met with those who have been wandering like lost souls in the streets, he has met men and women in more places that we can ever imagine, because there is no nook or cranny, there is no mountain side nor valley, no place on earth where his love can not reach down into and lift up. He will untangle every bramble, he will pour in the oil and the wine, he will dust off and clean up anyone who is willing to call upon Him and be saved.

 

Such is his love. And the love that we have come to know, he longs that others will also come to know. May God help us to share the love of Jesus to this lost and dying world. Let’s do our part in helping to find the lost sheep and the lost coins.

WEDNESDAY January 15^th

 

Luke 15:4-7

‘“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbours, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.’”

 

I have referenced this parable many times as I have prepared the devotions, and when preaching, obviously it has a farming theme, which was my background growing up, but more importantly they were the verses that were being preached from when I came to faith as a nine-year-old one Sunday evening. But even more important is the meaning of the parable, that Christ Jesus came to seek and to save those who are lost. And that is every single one of us!

 

In Hebrews 12 we read this concerning Jesus, ‘who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God’, (verse 2).

 

Salvation is about God’s love, it is about knowing peace and forgiveness, but it is also most definitely all about joy! The night that Jesus was born, angels announced to the shepherds that they had come to bring good news of great joy to all people.

 

Now whatever the joy is that is talked about in Hebrews concerning Jesus, I believe that it not only included the joy of fulfilling the mission that he had come into the world to undertake, it also included the joy of being exalted to the highest place and I believe it also includes the joy that Jesus himself experiences as he sees lost sinners being found, as one by one men and women come to Calvary, repent and trust in all that he has done for them.

 

But not only is Jesus filled with joy, the parable indicates that Jesus will call those who are in heaven with him (the friends and neighbours in the parable) which I assume will be the heavenly host and together they will rejoice over every sinner that comes to repentance.

 

Yes, when I came to faith as a nine-year-old lad, the good Shepherd rejoiced and all of heaven rejoiced with him for a lost sheep had been found! and the same for that moment when each one of you who reads this devotion came to faith. Heaven was filled with great joy.

 

In yesterday’s devotion I suggested that we learn to love as Jesus loves, today, can I challenge us all, myself included to make 2025 a year where we will do all we can to share the good news to those around us so that it will be a year of great rejoicing in heaven over sinners who will come to repentance, over lost sheep being found and brought into the safety of the fold of God.

TUESDAY January 14^th

 

I am going to turn today to the first of the three well-known parables that we read of in Luke 15, the parable of the lost sheep vv4-7.

 

‘“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbours, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.’”

 

When we briefly considered the previous parables from Matthew 13, they were to do with the kingdom of heaven, in verses 1-3a we see why Jesus told these three in Luke 15, ‘Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable:’

 

They are to help us to understand why Jesus left heaven and came into this world—that is to save sinners! That is not just the tax collectors and sinners that were listening to Jesus, nor just the Pharisees and the scribes who were criticizing Jesus for receiving sinners and feasting with them, he came to all the world and for all the world, he came to save anyone and everyone who will be willing to repent and to believe on him.

 

Some very important verses that even we who are saved need to keep reminding ourselves of, for we can so easily forget that just as we needed saving, so do those around us who we can so easily turn our noses up to, the ones that don’t quite fit into what we consider as being the ‘right’ or the ‘nice’ box that we sadly fit people into and the verses are:

 

 ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.’ John 3:16

 

‘The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.’ 1 Timothy 1:15–16.

 

Paul says of himself, that as far as sinners are considered, he was the worst, or the most foremost, but the reality is that everyone one of us however good or bad we may consider we were before we met with Jesus, were all as bad as each other, for we were all sinners worthy of death, for that is the wages of sin. But the One who revealed himself as the good Shepherd in John chapter 10, came to lay down his life so that we may have eternal life.

 

So, before we turn to this parable, let us all ask the Holy Spirit to help us during 2025 to learn to love sinners the same way that Jesus loves them, even the ones who don’t quite fit into our own liking, for Jesus gave his life for them as much as he gave his life for us.

MONDAY January 13^th

 

We are returning today to the theme I had been taking us through before Christmas, based originally around the words of the hymn, ‘Jesus the very thought of thee, with sweetness fills my breast’, and we finished 2024 considering Jesus as a great storyteller with his parables.

 

Following on from the parable of the Sower, in Matthew 13, Jesus told a series of stories, first about the weeds, then the mustard seed and the leaven, then the parable of the hidden treasure and the parable of the pearl of great value and then the last in this chapter the parable of the net.

 

The theme for each of these stories was the kingdom of Heaven.

 

The kingdom of heaven is a) like a grain of mustard seed (vv31-32), b) like leaven (v33), c) like treasure hidden in a field (v44), d) like a merchant in search of fine pearls (45-46), e) like a net that was thrown into the sea (vv47-50).

 

I will sum them up with the two parables from verses 44-46

 

‘“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”’

 

The Kingdom of Heaven is better than any other kingdom that has ever been and will ever be as far as this earth is concerned, first because it is an eternal kingdom, second because it is also known as the kingdom of God, and thirdly it is a kingdom with a great King. A king who will reign forever and ever, and what is even more amazing is that this King wants us to be found in his kingdom, therefore we need to do all we can to ensure that we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

 

Entry into this eternal kingdom is only through the One who we have already discovered in the devotions is the way, the door, the gate, and he made the entrance available when he gave his life to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. If we link it to the parable of the Sower, the kingdom becomes available to us as we allow the seed of the word of the kingdom to take root in our lives and to become fruitful.

Therefore, we need to play our part to cherish the seed of the kingdom, treat it like the treasure hidden in a field, treat it like the pearl of great value, we need to sell, or I will put it this way, give up, get rid of anything else that may deter us from fully possessing the kingdom of heaven in our hearts and will also deter us or prevent us entering into the fulness of the kingdom when the King returns.

FRIDAY January 10^th

 

. . .  continued from previous devotion

 

Isaiah 26:3-4

 

‘You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.’

 

 

Finally, and so a slightly shorter devotion today, verse 4 tells us that we can trust in the Lord forever, that is not only speaking of unending time, but I think it means in the troublesome times in which we are living, that is we can perpetually trust him, keep on trusting him, all the time throughout all we go through for he the Lord God is an everlasting rock.

 

When we connect this to the perfect peace, it means that as we keep our minds focused on him, we will discover that in these shaky times we are firmly fixed on a perfect and eternally fixed rock. See GOD cannot be moved!

 

We all know so well the 46th Psalm that says that God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

 

But the psalm then tells us that although the earth will give way, the mountains be moved, the waters roar and foam, and the mountains tremble at its swelling, our confidence because of who God is, is this, we say ‘THEREFORE we will not fear! (v2)

 

And how can this be, it is because as we keep our mind stayed upon God instead of being stayed upon the troublesome world and our troubling circumstances we will have and know his perfect peace.

 

Psalm 46 encourages us to ‘Be still’. So ‘be still’ in the midst of all that is going on around you, whether in your own life, your home, your family, the school, college, university, the workplace, etc. and know that the I am is God.

 

And reminding us of what Jesus himself said, the One who Isaiah has told us was to be called the Prince of Peace,

 

John 14:27

 

‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.’

 

John 16:33

 

‘I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.’

 

So, to close the devotions for this the first full week of 2025, Isaiah 26:3-4

 

‘You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.’

 

THURSDAY January 9^th

 

. . .  continued from previous devotion

 

If you were at the AGM last November, you will recall that I spoke from these verses in Philippians 4:4-7

 

‘Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.’

 

And Paul continues to tell us what it is we need to set our minds upon, those things that we need to be thinking about verses 8-9

 

‘Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.’

 

I have said it before, but it is worth saying again, as we consider these things that are true, honourable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellence, worthy of praise, it is perfect picture of who Jesus is! So, we think about Jesus, set our minds on Jesus! And the peace of God will be with you!

 

If we keep our minds stayed on God and our thoughts thinking of Jesus,  and we are consistent in our trust in God, and our trust in Jesus, he will keep us in his perfect peace! Jesus himself said to the disciples, ‘Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.’ The NLT puts it this way ‘Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me’ (John 14:1).

 

The word ‘stayed’ in Isaiah 26:3 in the ESV is translated as

 

‘Steadfast’ in the NIV

‘Fixed’ in the NLT

‘Dependant’ in the CSB

‘Maintain their faith’ in the NET

 

The original Amplified says this ‘You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You’.

 

The later Amplified says this ‘You will keep in perfect and constant peace the one whose mind is steadfast [that is, committed and focused on you—in both inclination and character].’

 

I think we could take each of these various translations and when we apply them to our own hearts, we surely can see that it could be so easy for us to lose out on this perfect peace because we allow our minds and the inclination of our hearts to dwell on that which is not wholesome toward our spiritual well-being!

 

Peace is available, perfect peace is available to us all and through all of our circumstances as we keep our minds fixed on the Peace giver himself.

 

to be continued . . .

WEDNESDAY January 8^th

 

. . .  continued from previous devotion

 

You will remember for 2024 the motto had been from Zechariah 4:6

 

‘Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.’

 

And we still hold onto this verse, but specifically for 2025 it is to be Isaiah 26:3-4

 

‘You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.’

 

We are most definitely living in troublesome times. Almost every day we hear of things that alarm us and would cause us perhaps to become even fearful as to what is going to happen next, and the remedy for the believer is to allow the peace of God to fill us and to grip our hearts instead of allowing fear to grip us.

 

Beside the troublesome circumstances that we see in the world, we all if not all the time are often faced with our own troubling circumstances—sickness, employment worries, family circumstances, stressful moments, what will trouble me may be different to what troubles you, we could add so much to the list, but we need to allow the peace of God to come and to fill our hearts in such a way that the fear that we can allow these things to grip us with is squeezed out.

 

When it comes to the peace that I am talking about, these verses tell us this important point ‘YOU’ keep him in perfect peace’, GOD himself will keep us in perfect peace, we thank God for all those who can help us in so many ways, but the highest and best source of lasting peace is to be found in heaven itself, from the One who created us and knows every intricate detail about us. He knows exactly how each one of us is wired up and he can put his finger onto any and every troubling situation and give us peace.

 

The source of the peace couldn’t be any better! You know what it is like when you are looking for a product, you do a few checks, maybe look at some of the reviews to see that the product is fit for purpose, well, search out the word of God concerning the peace of God and see the reviews, and I can assure you it rates as the highest, and as the best! It is described as ‘perfect peace’.

 

But then we need to look a little further into these verses, for there are two conditions attached to this promise of being kept in perfect peace and it is found in these words ‘whose mind is stayed on you’ and ‘because he trusts in you’.

 

We need to remain in the place where having come by faith to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ that we continue to exercise that trust, and we do it by ensuring that our MINDS have become so altered by the message of the Cross that we set our minds upon those things that pertain to what it truly means to be a child of God.

 

to be continued . . .

TUESDAY January 7^th

 

Isaiah 26:3-4

 

‘You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.’

 

The different verses that we read yesterday, all say something about peace, and if I were to sum them up quickly, they are all concerning the peace of God, the peace that comes from God and it is peace that is all wrapped up in the Son of God. It is peace that is only found through having a right relationship with God that comes through the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

See it is a peace that cannot be found anywhere else, definitely not through the United Nations, it is different and far superior to any effort of peace that can be found in this world, it is peace that comes through the one who is called the Prince of Peace, and initially brought to us at the Cross, for as Paul reminds us in Ephesians chapter two that Jesus came and as verse 17 says

 

‘He came and preached peace to you that were far off (that is to the Gentile) and to those who were near (that is to the Jew).

 

And how was this peace preached or declared? At the Cross, for verses 13-16 says

 

‘But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.’

 

We all need to know what it is to have peace with God – the sin that had separated us needed to be taken away, the barrier removed, the hostility removed, the tension removed, and it has happened for us who have come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and it can happen to who read this today who have yet not come to accept Jesus as Saviour. For without Jesus as your Saviour you cannot and do not have peace with God.

 

But we also need to know what it is to have peace from God, for although the relationship between us and God has been restored, we still live in a troubled world, we all go through life experiences that can cause us to be troubled, disturbed, anxious and fearful, yet the Prince of Peace brings to us, offers to us his peace as we make the journey on earth through to our eventual arrival in heaven.

 

to be continued . . .

 

MONDAY January 6^th

 

Well that is the Christmas and New Year break over and as I get back into sending the devotions, for this week, I am going to break down the ministry that I brought to the church at Emmanuel on the Sunday morning of December 22^nd into a few segments as not all the fellowship were present and may not have turned to the video to watch and listen.

 

The reason for this is that the ministry I gave was linked to the verses that I shared at the AGM in November as being the verses I believe that the Holy Spirit had led me to for our motto for 2025. It also gives the opportunity for those who were there to read it through and to be reminded, for there is no doubt today that we need the promise of peace as contained in these verses.

 

Here are the verses from Isaiah 26:3-4

 

 ‘You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock’,

 

and then for today, the other verses that I shared that are linked to peace and sometimes it does us good to just stop and to meditate upon what it is we have read from the word of God.

 

Isaiah 9:6-7

 

‘For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.’

 

John 14:27

 

‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.’

 

John 16:33

 

‘I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.’

 

Philippians 4:7

 

‘And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.’

 

to be continued . . .