Turning Point with David Jeremiah

[Judy Harder]

Monday, September 16

Simplicity

Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.
Hebrews 9:24

Recommended Reading
John 14:1-6 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2014:1-6&version=NKJV )

Copies come from an original. Examples illustrate truth. Foreshadowing is used to point to the future. To reach us, God has to make things simple. If He revealed all of Himself and heaven to us now, we would fall before Him in awestruck fear.

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This world is temporary and any roots and security we build here will pass away. Adam and Eve left the Garden. Abraham was a nomad. Jacob fled from his brother. Joshua led the Israelites into a new land. Each of their lives reminds us of the transient and temporary nature of our lives. God gave the Israelites the design of the tabernacle to illustrate His holiness and perfection. The entire structure kept the holiness of God in view. It was made by human hands and was a foreshadowing of heaven, where God dwells in all His glory.

Our life here is a fleeting moment, but we can focus on God, His glory, and the eternity that awaits us when we trust in Him. Then our lives and actions will be gloriously transformed, serving as an example of all that God can do through those who trust in Him.

If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.
C. S. Lewis

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Hosea 10-14 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hosea%2010-14&version=NKJV )

[Judy Harder]

Tuesday, September 17

The Go-Between

For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.
1 Timothy 2:5

Recommended Reading
John 3 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%203&version=NKJV )

"Mom! He pinched me!" As children we often ran to our parents when a disagreement broke out between us. Sometimes our parents would tell us to sort it out ourselves, other times they would step in as a mediator, helping us mend our relationship with one another.

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When sin entered the world and the relationship between God and man was broken, man had no one to mediate and mend his relationship with God. Only a being who was both deity and human could bridge the gap between man and God. We were stuck, unable to renew our relationship with God.

Aware of our inability to rectify our relationship to Himself, God chose and appointed a Mediator. He sent His son, Jesus, to earth, clothed in the flesh of humanity to become our Savior and Mediator and pay the penalty for our sin. When we believe in Him, our relationship with God is healed and our future destination is secured. Through Christ we can have an intimate relationship with God on earth and throughout eternity.

Jesus [Christ] stands between us and God, and for that very reason he stands between us and all other men and things. He is the Mediator ... Since the whole world was created through him and unto him ... he is the sole Mediator in the world.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Joel 1-3 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Joel%201-3%20&version=NKJV )

[Judy Harder]

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9


Justice and Mercy
God is just. However, He often delays His justice so people can come to know Him. For example, Dr. Cyril E.M. Joad, the former head of the Philosophy Department at the University of London, and some of his colleagues, may have done more to undermine the faith of the collegiate world of recent generations. Dr. Joad taught that God was an impersonal part of the cosmos and that there is no accountability to Him. Yet, God did not strike him dead or give him a crippling disease. Before he died, Dr. Joad became a zealous follower of Jesus Christ. Most likely many of his followers started a relationship with Jesus Christ as a result of his testimony and writings.

God's delayed justice is an opportunity for Him to show His mercy to many. Follow your Father's example--examine your motivations in the way you deal with difficult people. Look for opportunities to extend mercy!


Today's One Thing
Thank God for ways that He has shown you mercy by delaying justice.


Going Deeper
Galatians 6:7; Romans 2:1-4

 

[Judy Harder]

Wednesday, September 18

Connecting the Dots

Those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.
Acts 3:18-19

Recommended Reading
Isaiah 52:13-53:9 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2052:13-53:9&version=NKJV )

Connecting the dots is a children's game. As a child draws a line, connecting the dots sprinkled across the page of his or her coloring book, a picture is created. Similarly the verses in the Old and New Testament can be connected and reveal Jesus as our Savior.

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The first dot is God's creation of man. The second dot is sin entering the world through Adam and Eve. Next are the many dots of wandering prophets and kings. A picture of need emerges. Humankind is in need of a Savior. Broken and sinful, man is incapable of saving himself.

The first dot in the New Testament is the genealogy of Christ in Matthew. This dot connects us to the past. Jesus is from the tribe foretold to bring a Savior. From this point the four Gospels are filled with dot after dot, revealing the life and character of Jesus. He came with truth and compassion, speaking accurate judgment but offering forgiveness and mercy. As the line is drawn leading to Christ's death and resurrection, the picture is complete. Jesus is our perfect Savior. He died for our sins. Can you connect the dots and trust in Him today?

Grace is love that cares and stoops and rescues.
John Stott

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Amos 1-4 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Amos%201-4%20&version=NKJV )

[Judy Harder]

Thursday, September 19

Before and Behind

He is the image of the invisible God ... For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible ... All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
Colossians 1:15-17

Recommended Reading
Isaiah 40:10-31 [ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2040:10-31&version=NKJV ]

Some people try to look at the life of Jesus solely from the time He lived on earth -- they see Him as a wise teacher, but nothing more. But Jesus existed before He came to earth. The prophets foretold His coming and the Israelites looked forward to the coming of the Messiah with great expectation. Everything was created by and through Christ. The miracle of life and the masterful detail of creation come from Him. What we see is only a part of His creation. The description of Christ in Colossians matches the description of God throughout Scripture, confirming Christ's deity. In John the message is clear, "The Word was with God, and the Word was God" (1:1).

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This is a key point -- Jesus  is  sovereign and yet, while He lived on earth, He submitted Himself to the will of the Father. He laid aside His divinity -- for us. What a glorious thought -- the sinless, sovereign Son of God -- loves me!

Nothing, therefore, happens unless the Omnipotent wills it to happen. He either permits it to happen, or He brings it about Himself.
Augustine

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Amos 5-9 [ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Amos%205-9%20&version=NKJV ]

[Judy Harder]

Friday, September 20

Let Us Prepare

.... not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
Hebrews 10:25

Recommended Reading
Hebrews 3:12-15 [ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews%203:12-15&version=NKJV ]

If you are having guests over for supper, you create a To-Do list -- at least mental if not written -- preparing "now" for "then."

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The writer to the Hebrews had that mindset as well. He devoted an entire section of Hebrews 10 to how we should live while anticipating the arrival of Christ:

1. "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith" (verse 22a). Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).

2. "Let us hold fast the confession of  our  hope" (Hebrews 10:23a, NIV). Hope keeps us focused on Christ's promise to return for us (John 14:1-3).

3. "And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works" (Hebrews 10:24). The central activity of Christianity is the gathering of believers together for encouragement, education, and edification (Acts 2:42).

Just as hosts say to one another, "Let us prepare for our guests," so Christians say, "Let us prepare for Christ's return with faith, hope, and love" (1 Corinthians 13:13).

It ought to be the business of every day to prepare for our last day.
Matthew Henry

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Obadiah 1 [ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Obadiah%201&version=NKJV ]

[Judy Harder]

Weekend, September 21 & 22

Fall Favorites: Fellowship

Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.
Romans 13:8

Recommended Reading
Romans 13:8-11 [ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%2013:8-11&version=NKJV ]


Sam Rayburn served nearly a half-century in the U.S. House of Representatives and became one of the most powerful men in the world, but he never outgrew his friends. One night, a friend's daughter passed away. Early the next morning the man heard a knock on his door, and when he opened it, Mr. Rayburn stood outside. "I just came by to see what I could do to help," said Rayburn. The man said nothing could be done.

Watch This Week's TV Broadcast[ http://www.davidjeremiah.org/site/television.aspx?tid=email_watchedevo ]

"Well," Mr. Rayburn said, "have you had your coffee this morning?" While Rayburn was working in the kitchen, the man came in and said, "Mr. Speaker, I thought you were supposed to be having breakfast at the White House this morning."

"Well, I was," Rayburn said, "but I called the President and told him I had a friend who was in trouble, and I couldn't come."

Sometime during this fall season someone will need your support and fellowship. A friend in trouble is the most important person in the world; and fellowship is the funnel through which our love flows to others. Do you have a friend in need today?

Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love. The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.
John Fawcett

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Jonah 1-Micah 4  [ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jonah%201-%20Micah%204%20&version=NKJV ]

[Judy Harder]

Monday, September 23

Keep the Meaning

And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.
1 John 1:3

Recommended Reading
Hebrews 10:19-22 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews%2010:19-22&version=NKJV )

Several hundred years ago, the English word "seminary" was used to describe a garden plot -- a place where seeds were planted and sprouted. That meaning is no longer in use. Today, a seminary is where young men and women enroll to be trained for various kinds of Christian ministry (a place to nurture and grow young ministers).

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The use and meaning of some words can change without harm; the original meaning of other words should never change. "Fellowship" is a biblical word, but its meaning is often diluted if not changed outright. It comes from the Greek  koinonia , a word that means "commonality or oneness." Fellowship never meant "have doughnuts and coffee," although sharing meals together can be an expression of oneness and unity in faith (Acts 2:46). But the expression should never be mistaken for the underlying reality. The deepest dimension of fellowship is the oneness we have with God Himself and the Lord Jesus Christ. It is amazing to realize that, by being one with Christ, we are one with God.

Only by being one with God can we be one with each other.

Fellowship with Christians is for the sake of fellowship with God.
J. I. Packer

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Micah 5-7 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Micah%205-7&version=NKJV )

[Judy Harder]

Tuesday, September 24

Examine Yourself

Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition.
2 Thessalonians 2:3

Recommended Reading
1 Timothy 4:1 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Timothy%204:1&version=NKJV )

Who would you name as the most infamous person in the New Testament? Other than the Antichrist, it has to be Judas Iscariot. He was a man who gave the impression of believing in Jesus. Then, he betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. Judas fell away from Jesus -- fell away from his faith -- and became what the New Testament calls an apostate.

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"Apostate," in the Greek language, came from a word that meant "to lead away or to depart from." An apostate is one who departs from his or her presumed, professed faith in Christ. Judas had every opportunity to know about Jesus and to know Jesus Himself; he did not suffer from lack of knowledge or access. He had everything one needed to become a true follower of Jesus. But he didn't; he fell away from the faith he led others to think he possessed. The other eleven disciples persevered in their faith and became faithful apostles, but he did not.

Paul's exhortation to the Corinthians applies to all who profess Christ: "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves" (2 Corinthians 13:5). Don't fail the faith test!

Apostasy must be called what it is -- a spiritual adultery.
Francis Schaeffer

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Nahum 1-3 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Nahum%201-3&version=NKJV )

[Judy Harder]

Wednesday, September 25

Why People Leave

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.
1 John 2:19

Recommended Reading
Acts 20:29-30 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2020:29-30&version=NKJV )

Have you ever sat in church and wondered where a particular person was -- even pondering if they had stopped attending church at all? How many people who sit in Christian churches on Sunday morning are actually true followers of Jesus -- and how many are not? That question does not mean that anyone who leaves a particular church is not a Christian. And without question, there are people who faithfully attend church who are not yet followers of Christ. Based on what John had written about those who left the body of believers, they left the faith  first , then the church. They had denied the incarnation of Christ; they denied, and did not have, God the Father; they were liars and deceivers; they had nothing in common with other Christians (1 John 2:19-23; John 4:23; 2 John 1:7).

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If someone leaves one solid church to attend another, that's one thing. If he leaves church because he has left the faith, that is altogether different -- and eternally serious.

Unbelief is the root of apostasy.
Thomas Watson

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Habakkuk 1-3 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Habakkuk%201-3&version=NKJV )