Good Words for Today
“Sin is the second most powerful force in the universe, for it sent Jesus to the cross. Only one force is greater—the love of God.” Billy Graham
In the kingdom of God the way up is down, the way to become great is to become a servant, the way to life is by dying to self and the way to have more is to give away what you have. He who would find his life must lose it for Jesus' sake. And the road to the kingdom goes by way of the cross.
O Lord, teach me the joy of the yielded life. Bring me to the place where You alone are my greatest treasure. Amen.
Each year when we celebrate Easter, we are reminded that God’s ways are not our ways. The disciples were not expecting a resurrection, yet God answered with an empty tomb. We may rest assured that when we do our part God will not fail to do his. For the Christian, every day is Easter and every prayer an opportunity for God to surprise us with an unexpected answer.
"Christians belong in the public arena, working for both morality and justice in public policies—but without illusions. There are no quick fixes; politics alone cannot hope to change the character of a nation." Chuck Colson
True preaching is not sharing. It is not dialogue or discussion. When I stand behind the pulpit, I’m not having a dialogue with the congregation. This isn’t a large-group discussion. If you want to discuss something, we can go out for a Coke and we’ll talk for a while. Discussion is good and has its place, but that’s not what preaching is all about. Preaching is not dialogue because God is not negotiating with the human race. He has declared the terms of salvation (they couldn’t be better since he made it free for the asking) on the basis of the death of his Son.
"Rescue the perishing, Care for the dying, Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave; Weep o’er the erring one, Lift up the fallen, Tell them of Jesus the mighty to save." Fanny Crosby, 1869
I pray for grace, dear God, to yield up anything that keeps me from discovering your best for my life. Grant that the good may go in order that the best may come. Amen.
“He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold” (Job 23:10). The hotter the fire, the more the pain but the quicker the gold comes forth. In the end you will be both approved and improved by God. Your trials are not wasted nor are they random acts of fate. You will be approved—found to be good. You will be improved—made to be better. I can’t tell you when your trials will end, but I do know this much: He’s an on-time God. You can’t rush him, but he’s never late either. When the appointed time has come, the fierce heat will dissipate and the gold of tested character will come forth in your life.
We ought to enjoy life. “Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do.” (Ecclesiastes 9:7). Of all the people in the world, we should be the ones having the best time. After all, we know we aren’t going to live forever and we know where we’re going when we die. So have a blast while you last.
"Does he not see my ways and count my every step?" (Job 31:4). O be careful little eyes what you see O be careful little eyes what you see For the Father up above Is looking down in love Oh be careful little eyes what you see
Don’t ever be surprised by the hostility of rich and powerful people to the Lord and his people. If they hate Jesus, they will hate those who follow Jesus. The more you openly identify with Jesus Christ, the more you will face opposition from the world. It was so in the beginning, and it is the same today.
"Right is right even if nobody is right, and wrong is wrong even if everybody is wrong. God does not change the moral law to suit our behavior." Billy Graham
"Fear not, little flock, from the cross to the throne, From death into life He went for His own; All power in earth, all power above, Is given to Him for the flock of His love Only believe, only believe; All things are possible, only believe; Only believe, only believe; All things are possible, only believe." Paul Rader, 1921
"The lower down we get the better. I frequently find that I cannot pray as a minister; I find that I cannot sometimes pray as an assured Christian, but I bless God I can pray as a sinner. I begin again with, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner,' and by degrees rise up again to faith, and onward to assurance." Charles Spurgeon
"Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous" (Hebrews 13:5). Marriage is of central importance because it is one of the key ways in which God displays his glory in the world. The key word in that sentence is “glory,” which speaks of God’s greatness, his character, and his reputation in the world. God intends that your marriage display something of his character to the world. That leads us in some surprising directions: --Your marriage is not primarily about you, your husband or wife, your children, or your family. --Your marriage is not primarily about your own sexual fulfillment. --Your marriage is about God! Until we grasp this, we will never have a proper foundation for thinking Christianly about marriage. In the great debates convulsing our society, we must ask, “Where is God glorified in this?” It is never enough to say, “This is what I want.” Or “This is how I feel so it must be right.” We must ask, “How can we order our lives and all our relationships so to bring the greatest honor and glory to God?” Marriage is a witness to the honor and glory of God. Marriage is a window in time through which the world gasps a glimpse of eternity.
Most of us know the antiphonal chant between the pastor and the congregation that goes like this: Pastor: God is good. Congregation: All the time. Pastor: And all the time. Congregation: God is good. Somewhere I read that that chant started in the churches of Nigeria. When I mentioned that in one of my sermon emails, I got a note the next week from a lady in Lagos, Nigeria who said, “It’s true. We do say that in our churches. But we add something. After we say that chant, everyone then says in unison: ‘I am a witness.’” That’s good. That’s powerful. That’s biblical. Maybe you should stop right now and say those words out loud: God is good . . . all the time. And all the time . . . God is good. I am a witness!
"Unguarded strength is actually a double weakness, because that is where the least likely temptations will be effective in sapping strength. The Bible characters stumbled over their strong points, never their weak ones." Oswald Chambers
"Let your good deeds shine out for all to see" (Matthew 5:16 NLT). It is no great thing if you retire to your closet or go live in some corner of the desert where you are away from the world and then say, "I will live for Christ here." Likewise, you accomplish nothing if you adopt the world's standards. God bless those believers who can mix and mingle with the men and women of the world and still say, "I will live for Christ." That is true Christian greatness.
The Christian is a person who thinks not of his rights but of his debts. We owe Jesus everything. He bought us with the cost of his own life. We are no longer free to do what we want, but only what he wants. He bought us, he paid for us, we belong only to him.
How long are you going to allow your future to be defined by your past? How long will you choose to stay in your disappointment? Don’t despise your present because it’s not what you wanted it to be or because it’s not what your past used to be. Lay your disappointments at the foot of the cross. Let Jesus have them. Take your burdens to the Lord and leave them there. Give thanks for all your blessings. Then by God’s grace, move forward with your life, determined to serve the Lord.
"Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people" (Ephesians 5:3). Somewhere I read a comment by Billy Graham that we now laugh at things that would have made us blush with embarrassment a generation ago. No doubt he is correct. What once was a red flag, we now ignore or even laugh at. If someone dares to raise a voice of concern, he is derided as a legalist or a bore or a narrow-minded fundamentalist. Why should the world have all the fun? Why can’t we go along with the crowd? We don’t have to do what they do, but we can enjoy watching them do it. I don’t think Paul would be impressed with that argument.
"If you really wanna be a rebel, read your Bible. Cause no one is doing that. That's rebellion. That's the only rebellion left." Lecrae
Waiting is good for the soul, especially if you are waiting on the Lord. As you wait, remember that God has not forgotten you. You are on his mind right now. He sees you in your confusion, your fear, and your distress. Do not despair, but as you wait, rest your weary soul on this mighty promise from God: “They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).
"What I give him, he takes. What he takes, he cleanses. What he cleanses, he fills. What he fills, he uses." J. Sidlow Baxter
"All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth" (Hebrews 11:13). Dallas Police Officer Michael Krol was one of five officers killed in an ambush in downtown Dallas on July 7. After his death, family members reported that one of his favorite songs was "Where I Belong" by Building 429. Here's the chorus: "All I know is I'm not home yet This is not where I belong Take this world and give me Jesus This is not where I belong."
"Jesus, I my cross have taken, All to leave and follow Thee; Destitute, despised, forsaken, Thou from hence my All shalt be. Perish every fond ambition, All I've sought or hoped or known; Yet how rich is my condition! God and heaven are still my own." Henry Francis Lyte, 1825
It’s a grand thing to be a Christian when you die. If you know Jesus, the best is yet to come.
"No man has any right to indulge in a pleasure or to demand a liberty which may be the ruination of someone else. . . . An indulgence which may be the ruin of someone else is not a pleasure but a sin." William Barclay
If we believe that salvation is a supernatural miracle wrought by the Holy Spirit in the heart of the unbeliever, then before we witness, and while we witness, and after we witness, our greatest act of kindness will be to pray for those who do not know the Lord. Prayer frees us from anger because it brings God into the equation. When we pray, we recognize that unless God works in the heart, our words will be ineffective.
Don't get angry when you witness. I’m thinking about those occasions when we witness to someone and they reject not only our witness, but they seem to reject us as well. Perhaps they ridicule us or patronize us or do something that makes us want to smack them in the face. I recommend that you not do that. Few people come to Christ after being smacked in the face. If we get angry when we witness, it means that we don’t understand how God works to bring people to faith. Our anger testifies to our lack of faith in God. Far better to walk away without getting into an argument. It is better yet to pray as we walk away—for ourselves and for the other person, that God will reveal himself to them through the Holy Spirit.
Apart from God’s grace, we are all lost, dead, blind, deaf, and so far gone in sin that if someone doesn’t rescue us we will be lost for all eternity. As Paul puts it in Ephesians 2:1-3, we are all dead apart from God’s grace. We aren’t “partly dead” or “mostly dead.” We are truly dead and utterly separated from the God who created us. That’s why unbelief is the natural human condition. Paul was never surprised by unbelief, and we should not be surprised either. None of us starts in a “neutral” position relative to God. We’re all born on the “negative” side and that’s where we stay until we are rescued by grace.
Twenty years ago Dr. E. V. Hill preached a powerful sermon at a Promise Keepers gathering in Chicago. In his own unforgettable style, he preached for 40 minutes on just two words: “God is.” He said it over and over again. He whispered it and he shouted it. He illustrated it, declared it, proclaimed it, and dared anyone to deny it. It wouldn’t seem likely that you could preach that long on just two words, but he did, and when you think about it, you could preach a lot longer when your topic is as profound as “God is.” Once you get it settled in your heart that “God is,” a lot of other problems will be solved as well.
When P. T. Forsyth wrote "Positive Preaching and the Modern Mind," he began with this sentence: "‘It is, perhaps, an overbold beginning, but I will venture to say that with its preaching Christianity stands or falls.” He's right, of course. The pulpit leads the church, and the church leads the world. When the pulpit is strong, the church will be strong, and the world will be blessed. Have you prayed for your pastor today?
“For the Lord is righteous; He loves righteous deeds. The upright will see His face” (Psalm 11: 7). The Lord stands up for those who stand up for him. He takes the side of those who side with him. David stands on the peak of faith and says, “Though the battle may be hot and we may be surrounded, God will win in the end.” This is the true position of those who believe God and his Word.
"If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask God for it" (James 1:5). The hardest part is not asking for wisdom. That's the easy part. The hardest part is knowing you need to ask in the first place. If you don't know, that's okay. If you know that you don't know, that's better. If you don't know that you don't know, you're in trouble. Never be ashamed to admit you don't know. Never hesitate to ask for God's help. He loves to help his children. Just say, "Lord, I'm in trouble--again!" He already knows. He won't turn you away. That's what grace is all about.
"There in the ground His body lay, Light of the world by darkness slain; Then bursting forth in glorious day, Up from the grave He rose again! And as He stands in victory, Sin's curse has lost its grip on me; For I am His and He is mine— Bought with the precious blood of Christ." From "In Christ Alone" by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend
Lord, give me wisdom in my personal decisions, knowing that others are influenced by the choices I make. Amen.
What a relief to realize that God is God and you’re not. Now you can rip that big “G” off your sweatshirt. You don’t have to play God anymore and you don’t have to try to control everything around you. You can sleep well when you realize that God is God and you are not. Corrie Ten Boom was having trouble going to sleep one night because she was so worried about the affairs of her life. She tried praying but it didn’t help. Finally, the Lord said to her, “Go to sleep, Corrie. I’m going to be up all night anyway.”
We don’t have to ask, “What will America be like in a hundred years?” The great good news is, I don’t have to stay alive for another hundred years because I serve a God who is eternal. He will still be on the job long after I go down to the grave. Those who know and love the Lord will see his face. We will behold the Lord in the most personal way possible. Today we walk by faith. Today we stumble along through this life. Today we struggle. But today is not the last day. There is a better day coming for the people of God when all will be made right. Between now and then we will have many days when the foundations seem to be crumbling around us and the wicked rise up and threaten us. But the wicked will not have the last word. Those who scoff at the Lord and his Word will be consumed with the fire of God’s judgment. Between now and then we move forward by faith. Take the long view because we’re in this for the long haul.