Tag: believe

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Daily Devotion July 28th

TUESDAY 28th

NIV (42) – ‘They said to the woman, We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Saviour of the world.’

ESV (42) – ‘They said to the woman, It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world.’

We continue with the same verses today as yesterday.

After the woman from Samaria had returned to the town and told the folk about meeting the Christ, it says in verse 30, ‘They went out of the town and were coming to him.’ The account breaks there as Jesus and the disciples have a conversation, (vv31-38) then verse 39 says that many of the Samaritans believed on him because of the woman’s testimony. All of us who are born again, saved, whatever phrase we want to use have a testimony, perhaps some of us who have been brought up in a Christian environment too often think about other individuals who have been saved from an awful life of crime, or addiction etc. and then compare what we were to them and think wow, what a testimony they have. But we too have a testimony, we all have a testimony that is worth sharing. For regardless of our upbringing, whether in a Christian environment or a non-Christian environment we were all sinners, all utterly depraved and heading to a lost eternity, But Jesus met with us, for me it wasn’t at the side of a well, it was on a wooden pew with sticky varnish in a tin Church building, but at that moment I knew I was a sinner, condemned, who needed saving, and I gave my life to Jesus. But that is only a part of my testimony, that happened 51 years ago, and my testimony has continued in that as I was saved by grace I have also been kept by his grace. And what God in Christ has done for each one of us is worth sharing, worth talking about.

There is an older hymn, which we used to sing a lot when I was growing up,

‘I love to tell the story,

of unseen things above,

of Jesus and his glory,

of Jesus and his love;

I love to tell the story,

because I now it’s true,

it satisfies my longings,

as nothing else would do.’

Do we love to tell the story, yes, perhaps to each other who are already born again and already know the story, but what about those who need to hear, just like the people of the town from where the woman in John 4 came from, so the people of the towns where we live, they also need to hear. May God help us to be more willing to share the good news, to gossip the gospel.

By the way, recall yesterday I mentioned the free coffee, I have had my free coffee, but guess what? It was not long afterwards that I wanted another coffee or tea, the ‘Costa’ only satisfied for a short while, but, thank God, the ‘Living Water’ I received 51 years ago is still satisfying and will do for the next however many years I’m spared and throughout eternity.

Finally, the verse for today says, that the towns folk also believed, not just because of the woman’s testimony, but because they had discovered for themselves. We pray that many will yet believe because we will have shared our story, but also many more will yet believe because they will have discovered Jesus for themselves.

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Daily Devotion July 22nd

WEDNESDAY 22nd

John 2:18-25

NIV (v19) –  ‘Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.’’

ESV (v19) – ‘Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’’

Yesterday we saw how Jesus cleansed the temple, after which those who heard him and witnessed what he had done demanded ‘What sign do you show us for doing these things?’ What they were saying was, ‘by what authority, or what authority do you have to do what you have done?’ Firstly, if they had listened to Jesus properly, they would have heard him say ‘Take these things away, DO NOT MAKE MY FATHER’S HOUSE a house of trade.’ So, simply put, his authority or his right to say what he did came from the fact that he was the Father’s Son, we could say he was the ‘house owners’ Son! Therefore, he had every right to do and to say.

At the end of the wedding at Cana, you will remember it says, ‘this the first of his signs, Jesus did . . . and manifested his glory.’ Now they were demanding more signs or further evidence regarding Jesus’ credentials. I do not know about you, but I would have been well impressed with the sign of changing the water into not just wine, but the best wine (even as a teetotaller). I guess like me you have watched TV and someone has come on who is what we call a magician, they do magic tricks and we respond with a wow, even though we know it is a trick, sleight of hand or something else. When Jesus turned the water into wine, this was no magic trick, there was no sleight of hand, this was the real deal. And he could do it because he was God in the flesh. But they weren’t satisfied with this they wanted more, further evidence that would back up his claim as to being the Son of God, and Jesus responds with an answer that confused them even more, and they wouldn’t fully realise what the sign meant until after what Jesus spoke about happened. He said, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.’ We now know of course that Jesus was talking about the temple of his body, his future death and resurrection. But I wonder how many even believed after this the greatest of the signs took place a few years later. Incidentally, Jesus being who he was, if the Jews had demolished the physical building of the temple, he could have rebuilt it in three days! In fact, because of who he was he could have built it in a jiffy, after all he created the heavens and the earth and everything that inhabits the earth whether animal, vegetable, or mineral in six days.

I wonder how often we hanker after God to give us a sign, we want confirmation concerning this or that, we want to be impressed before we will commit, we want to be like Gideon and put a fleece out and when God answers we say ‘Ah, but give me one more sign!’ God does not mind, but it would be far better if we could learn to love God and trust him enough to learn to take him at his word! After all he gave the sign and he also fulfilled it, his death and his resurrection is the only proof we really need to know that Jesus is the Son of God, and in that believing we will have life in his name. In 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 Paul encourages the believer to keep believing the gospel they had heard him preach, and what did it consist of? ‘Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve . . .’

I am trusting thee Lord Jesus, trusting only thee . . . I am trusting thee to guide me, thou alone shalt lead, every day and hour supplying, all my need.

‘Enough this covers all my want; and so I rest! For what I cannot, he can see, and in his care I saved shall be, for ever blest.

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Daily Devotion July 12th

SUNDAY 12th

John 5:18

NIV – ‘For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.’

ESV – ‘This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.’

You would have thought that to have had the Son of God in your midst would have been the most incredible thing to happen ever, but here the Jews were seeking to KILL Jesus, first because he dared to heal someone on the Sabbath, shame on them that legalistic Sabbath keeping was more important to them than seeing a sick man being made whole – secondly, because Jesus had declared that God was his Father, thus making himself equal with God.

Now, either the Jews were correct in their assumption, or Jesus was! Either God was his Father, meaning Jesus was his Son, or Jesus was deluded and was on a mission to con the people as to who he really was, and therefore on a crusade to present himself as someone he was not.

Which is it to be?

This takes us back to where we left off yesterday,  when I stated, ‘The deity of the Lord Jesus Christ is an important part of our Christian faith, it is what marks true Christianity from the cults etc. For we need to have a correct theology of Jesus.’

The whole of John’s gospel, as we discovered from John 20:31 is to demonstrate or to show that Jesus really was who he claimed to be. (‘. . . so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God . . .’) So, what evidence does John give us? And how is his evidence backed up elsewhere in the Word of God?

This is intended to be a devotion, so we will only touch briefly on the answer, and this will be over two devotions as more will come up in later devotions, but I trust sufficiently enough to help us.

Firstly, we will see what God the Father himself had to say. In John’s gospel we have recorded for us what we call Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer, (John 17) and Jesus commences the prayer by saying ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you . . .’ (v1) This is not the first time that Jesus had made this request in prayer, for he said something similar earlier in John 12:27, ‘Father, glorify your name’, and the response is a cry from heaven itself with the reply, ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it’. What is happening is the Father is responding to the Son, thus verifying the Lord Jesus Christ as being his Son. The Fathers name had already been glorified through the Son and was yet going to be glorified through the Son, and this could only happen if the Son was as equally God as the Father was, for in the Old Testament God had declared that he would not give his glory to another. ‘I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols’. (Isaiah 42:8) Through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the glory of God was being revealed. (we will see this in point four)

John mentions the time when Jesus was baptised in John 1:32- 33, Luke, one of the other gospel writers mentions more, he noted that as Jesus came up from out of the water that an affirmation was made loud and clear as to who he was ‘Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.’ Luke 3:21-22. Let us be completely honest here with a question, Would God have given such an audible acclamation concerning Jesus if the Jews were right and that he was a con man?

Secondly we will see what John had to say about Jesus throughout this gospel, and without going through all the detail, it is evident with what we have looked at already over the last few days that John believed that Jesus was the Son of God, he believed in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, he believed that Jesus was fully God and fully man.

Thirdly, what did John the Baptist have to say about Jesus, seeing as he was the one who was sent as a forerunner to prepare the way of the Lord. We will end the devotion today with just a Scripture reminder of some of what the Baptist had to say about Jesus. John 3:30-36 ‘He must increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. For he  whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.  Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.’

The words within the statement of John ‘He who comes from heaven is above all’ is a loaded statement. Surely this cannot be made about anyone unless he were God! I am reminded of an older chorus we used to sin, ‘Far above all, far above all, God has exalted him, far above all, Crown him as Lord, at his feet humbly fall, Jesus, Christ Jesus, is far above all.’ This song is talking about his exaltation after his obedience in going to the cross, but prior to his death, prior to his coming to earth, he as God was above all.

We will continue tomorrow.

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Daily Devotion July 7th

TUESDAY 7th

John 3:16

NIV – ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’

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

I have chosen to go to this verse from John’s gospel today to link it with the verses we had yesterday in John 20:30-31. ‘‘Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.’ Both references are linked to our need to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, which as we discovered yesterday was John’s reason for writing the gospel.

Believe(s) and believing are key words throughout this gospel. You may remember that when I came to Emmanuel Pentecostal Church to speak for the first weekend in September 2019, the theme that I shared was based upon the statement, ‘What we believe about the Lord Jesus Christ is important.’ This is the whole emphasis of John’s gospel, because what we believe, and how we act upon what we believe depends upon whether we receive the life that is offered. It is not just a case of believing in Jesus, it is believing that he is the Son of God, which will lead to life. Tomorrow we will consider the word ‘life’ in this gospel. For today we will consider the words believe and believing.

We have all been brought up in world in which we have been told a mixture of stories, some are factual, others are fiction or fable, known as fairy stories. It is amazing how the world of fiction, fantasy and fable has captured the worlds imagination, leading to multi-billion-pound enterprise especially in the world of film and theme parks. The world is fantasy mad and happy to live in cloud cuckoo land. What the world needs is a good dose of reality and truth, because the world of fantasy leads to a dead end, it may give temporal pleasure but offers nothing for eternity. Reality and truth as found in the gospel of John (as also in the entire word of God) leads to eternal life. And to receive the eternal life that is on offer we need to believe that what John has written is truth, for the one he has written about is truth himself. (John 14:6 ‘Jesus said, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. . .’)

There are at least four things we need regarding believing.

  1. We need to believe we are sinners – sadly the world is so utterly depraved that we are living in unprecedented times when wrong is now considered right, which is a massive stumbling block toward mankind recognising what sin is and that he is a sinner.
  2. We must believe that we need saving / salvation
  3. We must believe that Jesus is the only Saviour
  4. We must believe on Jesus, that is to put our faith and trust in him to be saved

Believing is so important, for not to believe leads to hell, eternal destruction, but to believe leads to eternal life. How we respond is the most important decision we will ever make.

The word believe appears in John’s gospel 48 times, believes 14 times and believing two times. If anyone wants to go through the various references, I will place them at the end of this devotion1, but this amount of usage in one Bible book alone is sufficient for us to understand the importance of believing in Jesus. Our text for today tells us that that is why Jesus was sent into the world, 1) because God loves us 2) he wants us to believe in his Son 3) and as a result we will not perish but will have eternal life. Later in his gospel John records the words of Jesus himself ‘My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.’ (John 10:27-28)

You tell me of any other book that reveals such wonderful and powerful news, there isn’t, for it is in this book alone (the Word of God) and in particular linked with our devotion from the book of John that we can discover the wonder of the truth of a God who loved us enough to come and to live in this world and to give his life as a propitiation for our sin. John wrote later in one of his letters ‘In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation2 for our sins.’ (1 John 4:10)

Dwell on this thought today, that God loved you so much that he sent his Son to die for you.

1 References for believe(s) believing – Jn 1:17,50 – Jn 3:12,15,16,18,36 – Jn 4:21,42,48 – Jn 5:24,38,44,46,47 – Jn 6:29,30,35,36,40,47,64 – Jn 7:38 Jn 8:24,45,46 – Jn 9:18,35,36,38 – Jn 10:25,26,37,38 – Jn 11:15,25,26,27,42,48 – Jn 12:11,36,37,39,44,46 – Jn 13:19 – Jn 14:1,10,11,12,29 – Jn 16:9,30,31 – Jn 17:20,21, –  Jn 19:35 – Jn 20:25,27,31

2The word propitiation carries the idea of appeasement or satisfaction, specifically toward God. Propitiation is a two-part act that involves appeasing the wrath of an offended person and being reconciled to him. This Christ has done through the means of his sacrificial death at Calvary. See also Romans 3:25, Hebrews 2:17 and 1 John 2:2 (ESV, NKJV, KJV) (The NIV uses the words atoning / atonement)

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Daily Devotion July 6th

MONDAY 6th

John 20:30-31

NIV  – ‘Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.’

ESV – ‘Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.’

At the end of his Gospel, John lets the reader know why he has written it, ‘that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah), the Son of God’ and as a result of believing the reader will have life in his name.

I cannot think of any better or more necessary reason to write a book than to point people to the Lord Jesus Christ and to bring them to a place of believing in him. I love books, the one thing I am missing most because of our possessions being in storage for such a long time is my books! I cannot wait to get into our house and amongst other things to be able to unpack my books and have access to them again. But of them all whatever the genre of them, the Word of God is the most precious. The world is full of books, there are libraries around the world that contain thousands upon thousands, publishers are publishing them continually on just about any and every subject matter; reference, factual, fiction, instructional, helps, guides etc. Today we can have them in printed or digital form. But of all the books there is one that stands head and shoulders above every other and it is the Word of God, because as we read in Hebrews 4:12 ‘. . . the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.’

The Bible is a collection of 66 individual books, and John’s gospel falls within the New Testament and classified as what we would call a gospel account. I personally think that John’s gospel is one of the most significant books contained within the most significant book! And why, because as John himself says it is written so that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ and in knowing we may have life in his name. The most important thing for any person today is to come to know Jesus and to have life in his name, and what better way to get to know him than by reading the gospel of John.

As we go through the devotions, if anyone is reading them and as yet you do not have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, can I encourage you to read through this gospel and allow the Holy Spirit to enlighten you concerning Jesus and your need to know him as Saviour, and for those of us who do know him, may we get to know him better, more intimately, more deeper and in a way that we will be able to talk about him more freely to those who need to know him.

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Daily Devotion June 7th

SUNDAY 7th

Hebrews 11:3 ‘By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.’

In this chapter, the Hebrew author takes the readers of his letter right back to the very beginning, Genesis Chapter 1 and to the account of creation.

He was writing this Hebrew letter to Jews who had come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ but were mixing their old Judaism religion with the new covenant of grace and some were even possibly being drawn back to the old rituals and rejecting afresh the new covenant because of the fear of impending persecution.

And as he starts to encourage them from the example of their ancestors in chapter 11, he first takes them right to the beginning of their Hebrew Scriptures and the account of creation.

What he is saying to them is, ‘you are holding fast to what you have believed about creation, you stand firm on your confidence in the one true God who made everything. In the same way I want you to grasp a stronger hold on to genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ by seeing faith at work in the report of your ancestors lives’ and then as he gets to Hebrews 12 he wants them to see their ancestors as a large crowd standing in the arena of life cheering them on, encouraging them not to give up the new found life of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ but to persevere to the end.

Verse 3 is a good starting point for us as well. If we are going to doubt the first few chapters of the Scriptures, and not believe in the creation account, then what is there to stop us from doubting everything else that follows through the rest of this book? None of us were present at the beginning to witness what took place, but by faith we believe what has been recorded for us.

We believe by faith that ‘In the beginning God . . .’ That is, God was already there. We believe by faith that God spoke and as he spoke whatever it was he spoke came into being, the land, the sea, the creatures in the air and in the sea and upon the dry land, the fruit and the flowers and the trees and the shrubs, the moon and the stars and the sun and the galaxies which are still being discovered billions of miles away in outer space, and we believe by faith the creation of man from out of the dust of the ground. YES, humanly it does seem difficult to fully comprehend, but we believe BY FAITH,  faith enables us to believe that the universe was created by the word of God, and exactly as the Genesis writer says, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. The term used to describe this is ‘ex nihilo’ ‘out of nothing’. David the psalmist records in Psalm 19:1 ‘The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork,’ and Psalm 24:1-2  ‘The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein,  for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.’

And I declare today in this devotion that BY FAITH, I believe. I also believe in the work of creation taking 6 literal days of 24 hours as it records for us ‘and there was evening and there was morning, the first day, the second day, the third day, the fourth day, the fifth day, the sixth day and then on the seventh day God rested from all his work that he had done.

And it is BY FAITH that if we were to move further into the Scriptures and read the characters, accounts, stories, happenings etc, I believe them to be literal and true. Noah and the flood, the Egyptian plagues and the Israelites exodus, David and Goliath, Jonah and the Whale, Daniel and the den of lion’s, the Hebrew lads and the furnace, and moving into the New Testament, the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, his full and complete atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world, and the many more accounts which speak of seeming impossibilities having taken place but by faith I believe because I believe in the God of the impossible and the Hebrew writer makes it very clear that Christian Faith requires this kind of faith. Hebrews 11:6 ‘And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God MUST believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek Him.’

Let us remind ourselves that it is possible to have this kind of faith, though not out of ourselves but as a gift from God to all who would believe. (Ephesians 2:8)

How is your faith to believe today? Remember we only need to have faith as small as a mustard seed to accomplish great things with God (Matthew 17:20) but however we feel our measure of faith is we can call out with the same plea as the disciples, ‘Lord, increase our faith.’ (Luke 17:5)

Incidentally if Jesus said we could remove a mountain with mustard seed sized faith a seed which is about 1 or 2 mm in size, imagine what we could do with faith the size of the world’s largest seed, a coco de mer from a palm tree which is about 12 inches in size (30cms) and weighs about 40 pounds (18kg). Wow, Lord I will be grateful for the mustard seed sized faith, I have not even yet started to move mole hills, let alone mountains!

Today I am repeating the same song as last Wednesday

By faith we see the hand of God

In the light of creation’s grand design

In the lives of those who prove His faithfulness

Who walk by faith and not by sight

By faith our fathers roamed the earth

With the power of His promise in their hearts

Of a holy city built by God’s own hand

A place where peace and justice reign

We will stand as children of the promise

We will fix our eyes on Him our soul’s reward

Till the race is finished and the work is done

We’ll walk by faith and not by sight

By faith the prophets saw a day

When the longed-for Messiah would appear

With the power to break the chains of sin and death

And rise triumphant from the grave

By faith the church was called to go

In the power of the Spirit to the lost

To deliver captives and to preach good news

In every corner of the earth

We will stand…

By faith this mountain shall be moved

And the power of the gospel shall prevail

For we know in Christ all things are possible

For all who call upon His name

Keith and Kystyn Getty  CCLI788682

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Daily Devotion May 14th

THURSDAY 14th

Reading – John 4:1-54

In our devotion on Monday, we looked at the parable of the Good Samaritan, I mentioned a verse from our reading today (v9) that says that the Jews do not associate with Samaritans. In this chapter today, we discover that Jesus practised what he preached in that he was willing to associate with those who his kinsmen would refuse to associate with.

We probably know the story well, having just read it, I don’t need to recount it all but what we will have discovered is that as a result of Jesus being willing to associate with this woman, it led to many more Samaritans coming to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. (verses 39-42)

Now this woman was not just a Samaritan, but she was an adulterer, a serial adulterer, that is why she had to come alone to the well, she shouldn’t even associate with her own people, let alone a man who was a Jew! But in God’s plan she had a divine appointment, that would take place, regardless of the protocol or prejudice of the time. It wasn’t by chance that Jesus had to go through Samaria, it wasn’t by chance he sat at the well at the time when this woman would come, it wasn’t by chance that the disciples were not around, it wasn’t even by chance that Jesus was weary, thus needing at that moment to stop and rest. It was all because of a divine timetable. The woman did not know it at the time when she arrived at the well, but she soon discovered that this was a moment that was going to change her life forever. An encounter with Jesus. She went to the well to get her daily supply of natural water, but got far more than she had bargained for, she came away with living and eternal water.

Thinking back to the parable of the good Samaritan, we saw how the Samaritan, who according to the culture of the time, should have walked past the beaten up Jew, but he threw protocol or prejudice out of the window and went to his aid and actually went above and beyond. (Luke 10:34-35) Continually through the life and ministry of Jesus, we read that he also did the same, he was willing to associate with the publicans and sinners, he went to the outcast, he reached out to the helpless and hopeless, he listened to the cry of the beggar, he answered the call of those who were of the upper strands of society or the lower strands, he was willing to go to anyone who called out to him for his help.

Another Scripture we used on Monday, was from the book of James, which reminded us that we should show evidence of our faith by our works, in this same letter James also says that we shouldn’t show prejudice toward anyone, in the ESV I use, the heading is ‘the sin of partiality’ the NIV heading is ‘favouritism forbidden’ the text is James 2:1-9 ‘My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,”  have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonoured the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honourable name by which you were called? If you really fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.’

We are living in a multi-cultural society and we are living in a depraved society, and although we would not accept so much that comes from other cultures, such as religion and practise etc, and we would not accept the lifestyle of many in society, and although there is so much going on around us that we as the redeemed of the Lord do not like and cannot embrace, we should never be prejudice against individuals, the gospel is for the whosoever, Jesus loves the whosoever, Jesus came to die for the whosoever, and he wants us who are born again, to be the conduits of his love and the demonstrators of his compassion in the world around us to day. It doesn’t mean we should overlook the sin, Jesus didn’t, remember he told the woman taken in adultery, to go and sin no more, but we should seek to love them, and pray for them and look for opportunities in sharing God’s love and compassion, to point them to Jesus, the only One who can enable them to know their lives turned around and to bring their lifestyle in harmony to what the Word of God reveals.

The days are long gone where we could think that we are all chips off the same block.  There is so much variance amongst us in our communities, lifestyle, religion, race, culture, behaviour, but there is still only One true and Living God, there is still only one way to eternal life, there is only one source for eternal hope, and it is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we who know him, need to reveal Jesus to the people around us that together, as they come to believe we will become one in Christ Jesus.

As I close this devotion, we will look at Revelation 5:9-10 as you read it, imagine how different it would read if Jesus had been prejudiced to any who were not a Jew! ‘And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.’

Thank God, he found me despite who or what I may have been and that he is no respecter of persons. Thank God he found you and thank God he is still finding. We who are saved know a Man who is the answer to the communities around us, his name is Jesus. Acts 10:34-35 ‘So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.’ In the KJV ‘Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons.’

I can’t take a heart that’s broken

Make it over again

But I know a man who can

I can’t take a soul that’s sin sick

Wash it white as the snow

But I know a man who can

Some call him Saviour, the Redeemer of all men

I call him Jesus, for he’s my dearest friend

When you feel no one can help you

And your life is out of hand

I know a man who can

I can’t walk upon the water

Calm the dark and raging sea

But I know a man who can

I can’t cause blind eyes to open

Or make the lame to walk again

But I know a man who can

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Devotions

Daily Devotion April 26th

Sunday 26th

Acts 1 – Wait

During this week we will look at some portions of Scripture in the book of Acts, concerning Pentecost and the subject of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and conclude with some verses from 1 Corinthians 12 and Galatians 5.

As a local Church in Gateshead, our name ‘Emmanuel Pentecostal Church’ identifies us as being a Pentecostal Church, which in turns identifies us as being a people of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we should not only be Pentecostal in title but in practice as well.

A few weeks back in the devotions, I highlighted some of the ministries of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. (April 2nd) As we look in the book of Acts during this week we will enlarge further, but for today a brief introduction.

Acts chapter one, starts by informing us that Jesus made many proofs to the disciples of his resurrection by appearing to them over a period of forty days. During this time, he instructed the disciples that they were not to depart from Jerusalem until they had received the Holy Spirit.

In verse 6 the disciples were more interested in the kingdom of Israel being restored to which Jesus replied (in my own words) ‘You don’t need to be concerned about these things, it’s all been sorted and arranged by my Father. What is important for you though is this, wait and when you have been baptised in the Holy Spirit you will receive power and you are going to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, then in Samaria and to the end of the world.’

Is it possible that like the disciples, we too can be preoccupied with other matters instead of the priority of Pentecost in our experience?

Immediately after Jesus had said this, he was taken up from out of their sight and a cloud took him up and back to heaven. This is what we refer to has the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, he had accomplished what he had been sent to do, and now he was returning, back to his Father.

The next verse is an encouraging verse because it confirms to the disciples what Jesus had already told them, (in John 14:1-3) 1:11 ‘This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.’ This was good news for the disciples, and it is good news for us today, it is good news, full-stop, but in the trouble-some days in which we are living, it is comforting and reassuring news, that the day is coming and it may be sooner than we realise when this same Jesus who the disciples saw being taken up into heaven is going to come again, and when he does we who are watching and waiting will be taken up so that we will forever be with our Lord. When Paul touches on this same subject in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 he adds at the end in verse 18 ‘Therefore encourage one another with these words.’ May we be encouraged ‘He is coming again’, Amen, even so come Lord Jesus.

The rest of chapter one continues with the disciples returning to the upper room, (v13) they spend a period of time in united fellowship, in one accord with others, including Mary the mother of Jesus and his brothers (120 people altogether) devoting themselves to prayer. It was also there in the upper room, during this time of waiting that they appointed Matthias to replace Judas.

And there they waited, and there they prayed until we get to chapter two and verse one which says, ‘And when the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly . . .’

You may recall I talked about a ‘suddenly’ moment in an earlier devotion, (March 26th) when Paul and Silas were praying and singing at midnight and ‘suddenly’ there was an earthquake. (Acts 16:26) Well, here in Acts 2 there is a ‘suddenly’ moment, and this ‘suddenly’ moment was going to transform the disciples, they were about to receive and to be filled with the promised Holy Spirit and as a result things would never be the same again. But that is the subject for the rest of this week and I pray it is a subject that will not be contained within the boundaries of this week and our devotions but will be the ongoing experience for us as a Church, as a Pentecostal Church as we move forward with God into the future he has prepared for us until that moment when he comes again.

For today, as we embark on this week concerning the Holy Spirit, I jump forward to Acts 19 and ask the question that Paul asked the believers who he met with in Ephesus, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’

I was brought up in a Pentecostal Church, and when I was 18, I went to stay with a friend in Belfast, NI and while there I made contact with one of my dad’s cousins, David Greenow, who lived there and was a full time Evangelist, I knew him well as he frequently returned to Hereford to visit his family and to preach in the Church. We connected for a day and he took me to a few places, but there was one place and one moment that impacted me, it was like a bolt out of the blue. We went to Lough Neagh and as we stood looking across the lough, he turned to me and said, ‘Have you received the Holy Spirit? If not, why not, you belong to a Pentecostal Church.’ It was one of those moments where I knew that God by his Spirit was challenging me concerning my walk and relationship with him. Shamefully I had to reply, ‘No’ and he prayed with me and from that moment on I was desperate to seek and to be filled. I cannot point to a definitive moment when I received, until a while later at a youth conference while seeking the baptism of the Holy Spirit someone praying with me just simply said, I believe you have already been filled, just be released and it happened, I began to speak with tongues as the Holy Spirit gave me the ability. Did something happen at the Lough?

How about you? The disciples had to stay at ‘home’ till they received, wouldn’t it be wonderful if during this time while we have to stay at ‘home’ we were filled either for the first time, or afresh by the Holy Spirit so that when gathered church happens again we will be equipped by the Holy Spirit’s power to take us forward.

They were gathered in an upper chamber,

as commanded by the risen Lord,

and the promise of the Father

there they sought with one accord,

when the Holy Ghost from heaven descended

like a rushing wind and tongues of fire:

so dear Lord, we seek Thy blessing,

come with glory now our hearts inspire.

Let the fire fall, let the fire fall,

let the fire from heaven fall;

we are waiting and expecting,

now in faith, dear Lord, we call;

let the fire fall, let the fire fall,

on Thy promise we depend;

from the glory of Thy presence

let the Pentecostal fire descend.

As Elijah we would raise the altar

for our testimony clear and true,

Christ the Saviour, loving Healer,

coming Lord, Baptizer too,

ever flowing grace and full salvation,

for a ruined race Thy love has planned;

for this blessed revelation,

for Thy written word we dare to stand.

‘This the covenanted promise given

to as many as the Lord shall call,

to the fathers and their children,

to Thy people, one and all;

so rejoicing in Thy word unfailing,

we draw nigh in faith Thy power to know –

come, O come, Thou burning Spirit,

set our hearts with heavenly fire aglow.

With a living coal from off Thy altar

touch our lips to swell Thy wondrous praise,

to extol Thee, bless, adore Thee,

and our songs of worship raise;

let the cloud of glory now descending

fill our hearts with holy ecstasy,

come in all Thy glorious fullness,

blessed Holy Spirit, have Thy way

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