Roots by the River

Today I want to bring to your attention several related passages that are clearly directed to individuals or households , not to the whole church. “There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land” (Deut. 15:11). “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14:13-14). “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27). “Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?” (James 2:15-16). We have managed to evade these clear teachings by delegat...

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:2). There are many ways of teaching both truth and falsehood. One of the most effective ways comes under at least three different names: memorization, grammar, and catechizing. Even when this effective way is used with the truth of the gospel, the teaching may not cause faith . When it does not cause faith, it is because some things are missing, generally in the teacher. These things are: 1) the power of the Holy Spirit, 2) love for the student, 3) preaching boldly, 4) preaching in the name of Jesus Christ, and 5) fear. “But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘LORD, who has believed our report?’ So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:16-17). “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers…that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctr...

This is a guest post from Brad Scheelke, manager of Oasis Books in Logan, Utah.  Greetings in our kind and merciful Father. “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God —that is our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let him who boasts boast in the Lord’” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31). Let’s thank the Father often that because of Him we are in His Son. When you think of wisdom, what do you think about? Is it about how well or poorly you know the Bible? When you think of holiness, what do you think about? Is it about how consistently you obey God or how frequently you sin? This passage states that the person of Jesus Christ is our wisdom, holiness, righteousness, and redemption. It does not say that He has given these to us, but rather that He IS these for us. It does not depend on our performance, but only on whether we are in the Son. If we have Him, we have all these things. Therefore, let us boast (glory...

“If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land” (Isaiah 1:19). “If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea” (Isaiah 48:18). “The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever” (Isaiah 32:17). Isaiah’s views of obedience and the result of righteousness are peace, quietness, and confidence forever.

“ So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him” (Col. 2:6). We are to obey the same way we received Christ, that is, by grace through faith. Obedience is always from the heart. If it is from the head only, it might be by the act of will only, and therefore it will be by effort and not by grace. Before I became a Christian, I lived a life of “obedience” in that I did not use profanity or slang, smoke, drink, or have sex. I was impressed with my goodness (or lack of badness). I impressed my non-Christian classmates with my “goodness.” I did not impress the Christians. I had two strong attributes which also happen to be the primary attributes of Satan: ·        Arrogance: I was self-righteous and proud of it. Satan said, “I will be like the Most High.” ·        Lying: I lied very much. Jesus said of Satan that when he lies, he speaks his first language. I was being like the d...

“Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God” (Psalm 90:1-2). “But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children” (Psalm 103:17). God’s everlastingness has been extended to us who believe. It includes everlasting joy and everlasting kindness. “His love endures forever” (Psalm 136). Thank God!

Two life-changing readings took place in my life in the Fall of 1955. The first was my second reading of Dynamic of Service . This book is a series of lectures on personal evangelism given by Paget Wilkes to fellow missionaries from several missions in Karuizawa, Japan, in 1920. I think that it is the best book on the subject. The second was reading and studying Acts 8, 9 and 10. This was brought to my attention by a missionary in Japan. The following is a piece of his teaching: In chapter 8, take the time to see how God led Philip to the Ethiopian and the Ethiopian to Philip. In chapter 9, God led Saul of Tarsus to Ananias and Ananias to Saul. Chapter 10 tells us how God led Cornelius to Peter and Peter to Cornelius. In each of these stories, the unbeliever was saved. God knew that each of them was ripe for the harvest. God led them to the harvester and the harvester to the ripe harvest. From a human point of view, each of them was an unlikely candidate for immediate salvation. ...

As you read through the book of Acts, look at every conversion, and see what happened right before it: what was said, who said it. The situations are the same today.     A long time ago, my duty in the Officer’s Christian Fellowship was the east coast of the United States. I went to an officer’s office at Fort Lee, VA, and stayed overnight, then I went on to Norfolk and Fort Bragg.    Forty years later, I was no longer on the staff of OCF, but I had to go to Denver. While I was in Denver, I checked in at the OCF offices. There was the same Air Force officer I had met in Fort Lee, retired now, a colonel. I had stayed in his house when he was a first lieutenant. He asked me, “Do you know what happened when you stayed overnight?” I said, “No, I just remember staying in your home.” He said, “You led the next-door neighbor to Christ.” I had no memory of it.    Ten years after that, I was speaking at a banquet at the Hotel Salisbury, and who was th...

“Dear children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21). “Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison” (Deuteronomy 29:18). John and Moses, fourteen hundred years apart, warned against turning to idols. The warning is needed today among evangelicals. “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). This verse should be memorized by all Christians everywhere. Present-day turning to idols starts with relativism, then adjusting to the world to reach the world, then syncretism, then idolatry. This post coordinates with tomorrow's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge . If you are not in a daily reading plan, please join us at TotheWord.com . We would love to have you reading with us.