NOVEMBER 1 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: 2 CHRONICLES 7:12-18 Around the interior wall of our worship center we have 2 Chronicles 7:14. I shared a series of sermons on this passage and though the words were specifically for Israel, reminding them to stay right with God in order to receive His blessings, I believe the principle in this passage can be applied to us also. Most of the time, when a country moves away from God the church looks at the secular society and casts all the b

OCTOBER 31 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: COLOSSIANS 2:11-15 When one is born again, we follow that experience of salvation with water baptism. It is the opportunity for the new believer to testify to what Jesus has done in their life. Baptism is an illustration of the death, burial and resurrection of the person who is dead to their old life, buried as proof of a literal death and then raised to new life in Christ Jesus. Baptism does not save; it is an act of obedience of the bel

OCTOBER 30 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: 1 CHRONICLES 4:9-10 If you are like me as a follower of Jesus, you have prayed sometime or another, "Lord, whatever you have to do to grow me up into what you want me to be, please do it" or " Lord use me in any way that brings glory to you." Then the Lord begins to work in our lives, but in a way we were not expecting, maybe through hard times and we draw back and say, "Lord, I wanted to grow and I wanted to be used by you, but I didn't m

OCTOBER 29 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: REVELATION 3:14-22 In the Christian there is one thing that Lord cannot condone...as a matter of fact, it is the one thing that would cause Him to, "spew them out of His mouth!" He said He cannot tolerate lukewarm Christians and a lukewarm church. Today it seems to be a virtue to be called moderate...and it is good to be moderate in some things, but not so when we are called to follow Jesus. The first and greatest commandment according to

OCTOBER 28 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: PSALM 51:1-11 We who are saved by the blood of Jesus have been made clean. That cleansing is what takes away the sin from our lives and ultimately the penalty for sin. Once made clean by Christ...we are clean. But we all know, even as clean, forgiven believers it is possible to get dirt on us. At the time of Jesus’ last supper with His Apostles, you will remember that He washed their feet. Peter was indignant and said that he would not let

OCTOBER 27 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: 2 Corinthians 5:16-19   It is God who performs the miracle of the new birth to all who believe in His Son, Jesus. How incredible is the truth that the Lord takes we who are dead in our sins and literally brings us into new life. Mankind was created by God, for God. At one time mankind walk with God in perfect fellowship...there was nothing that separated us from Him. Then mankind chose to enter into disobedience, sin entered his heart and

OCTOBER 26 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: John 16:16-24   Life is filled with storms and unexpected losses. We all know the hurt of losing someone we love. It is certain that knowing the Lord as our personal Savior gives us both the strength and the peace in these times. It is important for us to remember that the Lord is faithful...always! We need to keep our eyes on the Lord in all circumstances, and especially in the times of tragedy and loss, because sometimes the world does n

OCTOBER 25 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8   We are not merely physical beings. God created us as spiritual beings with a physical body. The Scripture says the, "Lord formed man out of the dust of the ground, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul." I will readily confess I don't understand all that this encompasses, but clearly our bodies were made for this world, our life comes from God and we are complete in Him...mind, b

OCTOBER 24 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: Psalm 127   Parents are God's primary plan for the raising of children. It is the parent's place to teach their children about the Lord and what it means to follow Him. It is by design that God intends for this to happen...it is not the church's place to raise the children. The church is there to assist, encourage, equip and come along side the parents as they take the responsibility of the spiritual nurturing of their children. God's inte

OCTOBER 23 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: Psalm 29   I have reached the age when my friends have started leaving this earth. My good friends Lon Slechta, Ken Cutchall, Mark Hohn and Cal Calvert went to be with Jesus, all dying from cancer. One thing is sure, that we all will one day die. Death is not the end of things, as a matter of fact, there is more time on that side of death than we had in physical life–there's eternity! We were created for eternity and all of us will live fo

OCTOBER 22 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: Romans 10:14-15   Acts 1:8 says, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses of Me..." So often we make witnessing what we do rather than what we are when it should be both. Our lives are to be so infused with the Holy Spirit that His power working through us transforms us into witnesses of Christ. There is an old saying that goes something like this..."Go into the world and be a witness for Ch

OCTOBER 21 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: Ephesians 3:8-13   The Scriptures teach us that we are to "pray without ceasing." Some would say that is impossible. I would say it's not only possible, it's necessary! Prayer is God's gift to us of His attention, care and direction. We have such a great privilege to be able to commune with God in prayer. It always amazes me that the Lord of all the universe has both the time and the interest to want to hear from me and speak to me in pray

OCTOBER 20 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: Job 42:1-17   The Scripture tells us to "walk by faith, not by sight.” The truth is that we don't always see things clearly. Our view is skewed by so many things. Sometimes it is hard to see past the nose on our face. For us our perspective is our reality. This is the way the world lives, not the way we are called to live. If we chose to walk by sight, rather than by faith, then we would be at the mercy of every situation and circumstance

OCTOBER 19 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: Deuteronomy 13:1-5   Have you ever thought that you needed to help God out? You know, somehow God doesn't quite understand what is really going on, for if He did, He certainly would do this or that. It is unfortunate that for far too many Christians we want a God who is big enough to get us what we want, get out of trouble...but we also want Him not to be so big that we can't control Him. We expect God to do our bidding, when, where and ho

OCTOBER 18 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: Ecclesiastes 2:18-23   We have all lived long enough to know that life is filled with both good and bad. Certainly, the Bible does not try to display that if we would just trust in the Lord all of life would be good and that the bad would somehow disappear. There are those who would say, "just think positively,” telling people that their words create their situation...think good, you will have good...think bad and you bring bad on yourself

OCTOBER 17 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: Exodus 34:10-17   The first commandment that the Lord gave to Moses to share with His people was, "you shall have no other gods before me.” This is a commandment that speaks of the eternal fact that there is no other god except for the one true God! When we look at this command we see God telling His people that they are to have no other gods ahead of Him...I would suggest that the word before can also mean in His presence. It is not just

OCTOBER 16 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: Psalm 119:73-80   When we have a living, vital relationship with the Lord it changes our perspective on His Word and on His commandments. We see them not as a burden, but as a delight. We follow God not so much out of duty, but because we know Him, we love Him; we want to be in the midst of what He is doing. It is certainly true that the Christian life has disciplines as part of it...Bible study, prayer, witnessing, serving. When we genuin

OCTOBER 15 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: Lamentations 3:22-31   Unending love, mercy, grace and compassion are what the Lord has for we who are His children. It is incredible to even think that God has a supply of these things for us that will never run out. The truth is, God does not have a supply in the sense that He goes to some reservoir and pulls these things out when He needs them....these are the very nature of who God is. He does not get these wonderful things from somewh

OCTOBER 14 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: Mark 8:34-38   The Lord never promised that life would be without problems...but He did declare that He is greater than anything or anyone in this world. As I read the Scripture, what becomes clear is that every follower of Christ had difficulties in this world...some just because they lived in a sin fallen world...and some because they were the followers of Christ and their world and Satan came against them. The Lord said that if we would

OCTOBER 13 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: Psalm 34   The Lord never promised that life would be without problems...but He did declare that He is greater than anything or anyone in this world. As I read the Scripture, what becomes clear is that every follower of Christ had difficulties in this world...some just because they lived in a sin fallen world...and some because they were the followers of Christ and their world and Satan came against them. The Lord said that if we would fol