Turning Point with David Jeremiah

[Judy Harder]

Monday, July 08

Preach It!

For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.
2 Corinthians 1:20

Recommended Reading
2 Corinthians 1:18-24 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Corinthians%201:18-24&version=NKJV )


Perhaps you've attended a church where the congregation is vocal in supporting the pastor while he speaks. "Amen, brother! Preach it! That's right! Yes, Lord! Amen!"

Listen to Today's Radio Message ( http://www.davidjeremiah.org/site/radio.aspx?tid=email_listenedevo )


Even if you don't attend such a church, you can personally read the Bible with a similar response. According to today's verse, when God makes a promise to us, Jesus says, "Yes!" and we shout, "Amen!" This is true for every promise made to us in Scripture, for this verse begins, "For all the promises of God ...."

This is illustrated by the everlasting covenant God made with Israel and with the covenant love He extends to us. His promises are not fleeting or provisional. All His promises in Christ are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.

Find a promise in the Bible today that meets your need. Remember Christ knows that very promise and says, "Yes!" You can respond with a hearty "Amen!" as you claim it for yourself.

I remember her Bible always open in a convenient place -- the kitchen counter, her bedside table, beside the sofa, or even on the ironing board. In this way, she could quickly glean a promise or memorize a verse as she continued her work.
Gigi Graham about her mother, Ruth Bell Graham

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Proverbs 27-29 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs%2027-29&version=NKJV )

[Judy Harder]

Tuesday, July 09

Warning: Danger Ahead!

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9

Recommended Reading
2 Peter 3:8-14 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Peter%203:8-14&version=NKJV )

Unless a person lives on a mountaintop in the wilderness, it's hard not to be confronted with the turmoil in our world. It's not just greater awareness -- it is the fact that new developments in nuclear technology, disease, political unrest, natural disasters, and poverty make unrest a personal matter.

Listen to Today's Radio Message ( http://www.davidjeremiah.org/site/radio.aspx?tid=email_listenedevo  )


So how should the Christian respond? Urgency in world affairs should produce an urgency in spiritual affairs -- an urgency to share with people the sure and certain hope found only in Jesus Christ. The apostle Peter goes to great lengths to warn his readers that this world is going to come to an end in a cataclysmic fashion (2 Peter 3:10). But he also says that God is patient, not wanting any to perish. Instead of using God's patience as permission to pursue our own dreams, every Christian must endeavor to prepare those who have no hope with the hope of salvation in Christ.

If you have hope in Christ and know of others who don't, ask God to give you an open door to share His Good News with them.

The problem of the church today is not that the Gospel has lost its power, but that the church has lost its audience.
Paul Little

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Proverbs 30-31 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs%2030-31&version=NKJV )

[Judy Harder]

Wednesday, July 10

When God Speaks

Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Luke 12:32

Recommended Reading
Luke 22:29-30 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2022:29-30&version=NKJV )


One of the greatest learning experiences Jesus' disciples had was when they set out on the Sea of Galilee in a boat and a great storm came upon them (Mark 4:35-41). Their boat was taking on water and the disciples were sure they would soon drown -- yet Jesus was sleeping calmly in the rear of the boat. The disciples had forgotten one thing: Jesus had said, "Let us cross over to the other side" (Mark 4:35).

Listen to Today's Radio Message ( http://www.davidjeremiah.org/site/radio.aspx?tid=email_listenedevo  )


When God says something is going to happen, that thing  will happen.  If Jesus says He and the disciples are going to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, they will arrive. Might the journey be harrowing? Yes! But they will arrive. Just so, Jesus has promised His followers a kingdom -- the coming kingdom of God. And in light of that promise, He has said, "Do not fear" (Luke 12:32). The turmoil in our world today is like the wind and waves on the Sea of Galilee -- it can cloud our expectation of arriving. But Jesus has given us a kingdom, and a kingdom we will receive.

If you fear what you see happening in the world around you, focus instead on what God has said in His Word. Thank God today that nothing in this world can negate His promises.

A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts.
Paul Johnson

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

[Judy Harder]

Thursday, July 11

Unlimited Power

.. . . that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
1 Corinthians 2:5

Recommended Reading
1 Peter 1:3-5 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Peter%201:3-5&version=NKJV )

For thousands of years, man relied on burning wood for energy, then coal, followed by petroleum. But today's scientists are experimenting with multiple sources to power our world: solar, wind, hydrogen, algae, methane gas, ocean currents, geothermal, ethanol and other biofuels -- the search for energy and power is progressing nonstop around the world.

Listen to Today's Radio Message (http://www.davidjeremiah.org/site/radio.aspx?tid=email_listenedevo  )

It is ironic that the scientific community mostly ignores the greatest source of power in the universe: the power of God. The apostle Paul wrote that "in [Christ] all things consist" (Colossians 1:17). That is, it is Christ who holds the entire universe together by His power! How much good would a new power source be in a world that literally came apart at the seams? How much more guidance might we receive about finding and using energy in this world if we asked the One who holds the world together for guidance?

Christians must continually remind themselves -- we do not live by the wisdom of men but by the power of God (1 Corinthians 2:5). We are "kept by the power of God" until the end is revealed (1 Peter 1:5).

I hold one single sentence out of God's Word to be of more certainty, and of more power, than all the discoveries of all the learned men of all the ages.
Charles H. Spurgeon

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Ecclesiastes 5-8 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes%205-8&version=NKJV )

 

[Judy Harder]

Friday, July 12

Wisdom From Fear

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs 1:7

Recommended Reading
Proverbs 9:10 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=%20Proverbs%209:10&version=NKJV )

In a list of more than a thousand colleges and universities around the world, more than one hundred have the word "knowledge" in their institution's motto. Ontario, Canada's Queen's University is a good example: Sapientia et Doctrina Stabilitas. Or, in English, "Wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times."

Listen to Today's Radio Message ( http://www.davidjeremiah.org/site/radio.aspx?tid=email_listenedevo  )

As valuable as education is, most people have concluded that education alone doesn't have the power to bring the stability and peace we desire. So what is the source of wisdom and knowledge? When the life of the prophet Daniel depended on his ability to interpret the king of Babylon's dream, he turned to God. Daniel prayed, "[God] gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding" (Daniel 2:21). "Understanding" means "understanding who God is" -- that God is a God to be feared, honored, and respected. God honored Daniel's fear and answered his prayer. As Proverbs says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge (Proverbs 1:7; 9:10).

Is there something you need to know? God is ready to give wisdom and knowledge to those who fear Him.

There is no wisdom but that which is founded on the fear of God.
John Calvin

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Ecclesiastes 9-12 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes%209-12&version=NKJV )

[Judy Harder]

Weekend, July 13 & 14

The B-I-B-L-E: The Wordless Book Song

Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Psalm 51:7

Recommended Reading
Psalm 51 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2051&version=NKJV )


In a sermon in 1866, Charles Spurgeon told of an old man who used to study a wordless book of three pages -- black, red, and white. Spurgeon proceeded to present the Gospel using those colors to symbolize sin, the blood of Christ, and forgiveness. A few years later, evangelist D. L. Moody preached in Liverpool using a wordless book of four pages, adding gold to illustrate heaven. Christian workers around the world started using the "Wordless Book" to lead children of all ages to Christ, sometimes adding a green page for Christian growth.

Listen to Today's Radio Message ( http://www.davidjeremiah.org/site/radio.aspx?tid=email_listenedevo  )

Frances M. Johnston put words to the Wordless Book when she wrote a song about it: "My heart was dark with sin, until the Savior came in. His precious blood I know, has washed it white as snow. And in His Word I'm told, I'll walk the streets of gold. To grow in Christ each day, I read the Bible and pray."

When we experience the message of the Wordless Book for ourselves, it leaves us speechless. Try sharing the Gospel soon, using the colors of grace.

In yourselves, you are stained with sin; but when you stand before God, clothed in the righteousness of Christ, the stains of sin are all gone.
Charles H. Spurgeon

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Song of Solomon 1-8 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Song%20of%20Solomon%201-8&version=NKJV )

[Judy Harder]

Monday, July 15

The Last Hour

Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.
1 John 2:18

Recommended Reading
1 John 2:18-25 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20John%202:18-25&version=NKJV )

The true identity of the Antichrist isn't yet known, but that doesn't keep people from speculating. A document from the first century suggests that Christians in the early church believed Nero was the Antichrist. A later generation wondered if it was Justinian. Centuries later Napoleon had the dubious honor of being a candidate; and in more recent times Hitler, Mussolini, and Mikhail Gorbachev have been suspected to have been the Antichrist.

Listen to Today's Radio Message ( http://www.davidjeremiah.org/site/radio.aspx?tid=email_listenedevo  )

Perhaps some of these leaders were forerunners of the Antichrist, for John tells us that many antichrists have already come (1 John 2:18) and the spirit of the Antichrist is now at work in the world (1 John 4:3). But the identity of the ultimate Man of Lawlessness is still a mystery, though maybe not for long. Perilous times are coming. The Rapture could occur at any moment, followed by the Antichrist and the Great Tribulation.

We need to take every opportunity of sharing the message of Christ. If it was "the last hour" in the days of the apostle John, we must now be living in the last minutes.

Has not our Lord Jesus carried up our flesh into heaven and shall He not return? We know that He shall return.
John Knox
 
Read-Thru-the-Bible
Isaiah 1-3 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%201-3&version=NKJV )
 

[Judy Harder]

Tuesday, July 16

True Truth

And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
John 8:32

Recommended Reading
John 17:17 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2017:17&version=NKJV )


One of the most famous figures in the development of the digital world is Andrew Grove, the Hungarian-born former CEO of Intel Corporation. Besides being a brilliant visionary and manager, he was also a stickler for quality when it came to Intel's products. Grove is often remembered for telling his employees, "The devil is in the details."

Listen to Today's Radio Message ( http://www.davidjeremiah.org/site/radio.aspx?tid=email_listenedevo  )


Andrew Grove didn't invent that saying, but applying it to the micro-detailed world of computer chips is understandable. A world in which details matter even more is the world of spiritual truth. And sadly, the devil -- the  real  devil -- often confuses the details for the unknowing. If Jesus said that the truth will make us free, then anything that is not the truth cannot make us free. And it doesn't matter by how much we miss the truth -- by an inch or a mile, a miss is still a miss. Jesus also said that God's Word is truth (John 17:17). Therefore anyone who wants to know God's truth has to make a study of Scripture his or her focus (2 Timothy 2:15).

Since so many people profess to have "the truth" today, make sure what you believe is what the late theologian Francis Schaeffer called the  true  truth -- the truth that comes from God and is found in His Word.

The truth of Scripture demolishes speculation.
R. C. Sproul

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Isaiah 4-8 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%204-8&version=NKJV )

[Judy Harder]

Wednesday, July 17

With or Without

But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.
Matthew 5:44

Recommended Reading
Luke 23:34 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2023:34&version=NKJV )


When Caleb Donnelly deployed with the Marines to Iraq, his wife Grace gave him an expensive love bracelet to wear. After his return, their home was burglarized and the bracelet, along with other jewelry, was stolen and never recovered. When the thieves were caught, the judge sentenced them to make restitution to the couple, but the couple declined the money. Instead, Grace wrote a letter of forgiveness to them, saying, "I have already forgiven you with or without an apology. . . . I will be praying for you." A lawyer involved said he had never met anyone as forgiving and truly Christian as Grace.1

Listen to Today's Radio Message (http://www.davidjeremiah.org/site/radio.aspx?tid=email_listenedevo  )


When it comes to forgiving those who have harmed us, Jesus is the extreme example: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do" (Luke 23:34). A few weeks later, the first Christian martyr, Stephen, prayed the same prayer concerning those who stoned him (Acts 7:60). Ephesians 4:32 is the principle: "forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you."

If there is someone you need to forgive, do so today -- with or without an apology.

Nothing causes us to so nearly resemble God as the forgiveness of injuries.
John Chrysostom

1 Portsia Smith, "Letter of forgiveness," February 21, 2013. <news.fredericksburg.com/newsdesk/2013/02/21/letter-of-forgiveness-moves-caroline-court (accessed 3-8-2013)

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Isaiah 9-11 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%209-11&version=NKJV )

[Judy Harder]

Thursday, July 18

Ready to Go?

Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.
Matthew 24:42

Recommended Reading
Matthew 25:1-13 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2025:1-13&version=NKJV )

In biblical days, the bridegroom would travel in a procession to the home of his bride-to-be. The bride's family and friends would maintain a vigil, watching for the groom's arrival, so as to meet him with appropriate fanfare and welcome. Jesus used this very custom as the basis for a parable that carries a sober warning to all.

Listen to Today's Radio Message ( http://www.davidjeremiah.org/site/radio.aspx?tid=email_listenedevo  )

In the parable (Matthew 25:1-13), ten virgins (think bridesmaids) were waiting with the family for the groom. When the groom was seen coming from afar at night, only five of the virgins had lamps with sufficient oil to go out and light the way for his arrival. The other five virgins had to go to buy oil, and when they returned, the door to the celebration was closed and they were shut out. Jesus' point was, "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming" (Matthew 25:13). The Son of Man is coming for His Church at the Rapture -- those not prepared will be left out of the celebration.

Preparation means two things: Placing one's faith in Christ, and then living faithfully each day in anticipation of His return -- which could be today! "Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" (Revelation 22:20)

How many Christians live their lives packed up and ready to go?
J. I. Packer

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Isaiah 12-14 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2012-14&version=NKJV )