Roots by the River

  In order to understand the weapons of our spiritual warfare, we must begin with the gospel. “Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, that He appeared to Peter, then to the Twelve. After that, He appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all He appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born” (1 Cor. 15:1–8). “Then He opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, ‘This is what is written: The Chri

  "My mouth is filled with praise, declaring your splendor all day long " (Psalm 71:8). Nearly all churches sing hymns of praise at their worship services, but Christians are not in the habit of singing praise all day long . I remember clearly the text that was preached the Saturday night in October 1947 when I received Christ. It was Psalm 40:2: "He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand." This was the result of my cry to God that night: " He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD" (Psalm 40:3). Truly He put a new song into my mouth. Because of His song , many have put their trust in the Lord. "I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation. I do not conceal your love and your truth from the great assembly" (Psalm 40:10). If you have a new song

If this is a war, then there must be weapons. What are those weapons? “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor. 10:3–5). The world wages war with weapons that kill and destroy, whether they be clubs, arrows, swords, rifles, bombs, missiles, starvation, or chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons. The history of warfare is filled with pillaging, looting, rape, torture, murder, and prostitution. Secular warfare is motivated by envy, covetousness, pride, glory, fear, vengeance, patriotism, anger, hatred, and defense of home. There are legitimate reasons for war (there was, after all, war in heaven), but most of the warfare in this world is simply carnal. But the weap

This morning my attention has been drawn to every phrase of the 65th Psalm. Here are a few of those phrases: Verse 3: “When we were overwhelmed by sins you atoned for our transgressions.” Verse 8: “Where morning dawns and evening fades, you call forth songs of joy.” Verses 9-13: “You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it. You drench its furrows and level its ridges; you soften it with showers and bless its crops. You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance. The grasslands of the desert overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness. The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing.” This post coordinates with today's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge . If you are not in a daily reading plan, please join us. We would love to have you reading with us.

  In the last century, many changes have taken place in the sophistication of weaponry for physical war. We now have smart bombs and guided missiles that are very accurate. If a cruise missile were fired from Boston, it could be guided through the goal posts at JFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. The principles of war have not changed. Superior weapons have always had an effect on the outcome of a battle or war. However, superior weapons have not guaranteed the outcome. The morale of combatants, the reason for fighting, and most of all, the implementation of the principles of war, are the main guarantees of victory. The United States lost the war in Vietnam because of the practical disregard of these principles. We had no clear political or military objective. We had clear superiority in weapons, training, and men. But morale was low, and the men did not know why they were fighting. If they did know, the people at home did not know. The Viet Cong, in contrast, knew where they were going

There is only one solution to our country's problems, and that solution is Jesus Christ. The church today is in bad shape. We are not men and women of the Word, we are carrying around a great weight of unconfessed sin, and we are ignorant of God's commands. We are in a spiritual war, and our troops are unfit. What are we to do about this? Be in the Word every day. A few verses or one chapter is not enough; I recommend at least four chapters a day. To help keep you reading, join a plan like the one at TotheWord.com . Learn what God commands and put it into effect in your life by obeying it. Get free of your weight of unconfessed sin and get back in the joy of the Lord. For help with this, read How to Maintain Joy , available as a free PDF here , for purchase here , or on Kindle here . Begin praying for the unbelievers you know and tell them the good news of Jesus Christ. For those of you who intend to take point 3 seriously, over the next few months I will continue to have posts

  "Jesus replied: '"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: "Love your neighbor as yourself"'" (Matthew 22:37-39). How do you love your neighbor? The same way you love yourself. “Yourself” is someone you already greatly love, and therefore is a good standard for how to love someone else. Even people with “low self-worth” love themselves very much. They are much more concerned about themselves than they are about others. How do we love our neighbor as ourselves? For a start, calculate how much time you spend thinking about yourself on an average day. Second, list all the things you do for yourself, including bathing, eating, sleeping, and studying. Third, admit that these things are expressions of love for yourself. Fourth, admit that you do not love your neighbor (even your best friend) this much. Fifth, admit that that is a

There is a wonderful phrase in the poetry of Jeremiah that tells us something of the character of God’s forgiveness. “‘In those days, at that time,’ declares the Lord, ‘search will be made for Israel’s guilt, but there will be none, and for the sins of Judah, but none will be found, for I will forgive the remnant I spare’” (Jeremiah 50:20). Guilt and sins, regardless of how great and how many, cannot be found even when searched for, when God forgives. Zechariah said in Luke 1:77 that God sent John the Baptist “to give His people a knowledge of salvation through forgiveness of sins.” Sins gone, guilt gone, and a knowledge of salvation, all through the forgiveness of sins. This post coordinates with today's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge . If you are not in a daily reading plan, please join us. We would love to have you reading with us.

  There is a great phrase in the poetry of Jeremiah about the character of God’s forgiveness: “'In those days, at that time,' declares the Lord, 'search will be made for Israel ’s guilt, but there will be none, and for the sins of Judah, but none will be found, for I will forgive the remnant I spare'” (Jeremiah 50:20). Regardless of how great your sins or how many there are, they cannot be found once God has forgiven them. Zechariah said of his son John the Baptist, "And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people a knowledge of salvation through forgiveness of sins" (Luke 1:76-77).   Sins gone, guilt gone, and a knowledge of salvation ¾ all through God’s forgiveness. *Excerpted from  Being Christian . To purchase, visit  ccmbooks.org/bookstore .  This post coordinates with tomorrow's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge . If you are not i

“But you must not mention ‘the oracle of the Lord’ again, because every man’s own word becomes his oracle and so you distort the words of the living God, the Lord Almighty, our God” (Jer. 23:36). This sentence shows up in a paragraph in Jeremiah 23. For study, the whole paragraph should be read. I pulled the sentence because of its application today. Weekly I come across people whose own words are their revelation of truth. It is always a distortion of the Word of God. In churches that recognize the gift of prophecy, the same thing occurs. In many instances, there is no means or effort to shut down these false prophecies. Several chapters in Jeremiah are given to shutting down or standing up against these “prophets.” This post coordinates with today's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge . If you are not in a daily reading plan, please join us. We would love to have you reading with us.

  Once, I received a letter asking for help with getting rid of bitterness. The correspondent was so bitter that he admitted he could not do the will of God. However, there was a great contradiction in his letter. He said that he believed in and loved Jesus. I am sure he thought he did, but he did not love Jesus by Jesus’ definition. He said that he could not do the will of God. If he loved Jesus, he would have obeyed Him: "If you love me, you will obey what I command" (John 14:15). "Jesus replied, 'If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me'” (John 14:23-24). If he loved God, he would also love his brother: "If anyone says, 'I love God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love G

"This is what the LORD says: ' Cursed is the one who trusts in man , who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD. He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD , whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit'” (Jeremiah 17:5-8). Note the contrasts: ·     cursed or blessed ·     shrubs or trees ·     desert or water ·     parched places or roots by the river ·     shall not see good or is not anxious in the year of drought ·     uninhabited salt land or bearing fruit unceasingly   The contrasts are great, and the difference is whether we are trusting in man or in the Lord. T