Seek First the Kingdom

“These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs.” (Matthew 6:32)

If I had the opportunity to speak to my younger self, here’s what I would say: Put God first in your life. Of course, this starts with asking Christ to come into your life. Then it means following Him. Jesus summed it up this way: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

Now, what did Jesus mean by “all these things”? We find the answer in the earlier verses, where He said, “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs” (verses 31–32).

We’re obsessed with what we’ll eat, drink, and wear. These are not necessarily bad things to think about, but Jesus is saying that we shouldn’t make them the focus of our lives. Instead, we should put God first. We should seek first the kingdom of God: the rule and reign of Christ in our lives.

One day, we will go to Heaven and enter the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of God will come to Earth. But when the Bible tells us to seek the kingdom of God first, that means simply putting Jesus first in our lives.

Think about God’s will when you make decisions. Don’t put money first, career first, politics first, or even ministry first. Put God first in your life, and the rest will be blessed. This doesn’t mean that God will make you incredibly wealthy. What it means is that God will “supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). So put Him first.

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Made for Something More

Jesus replied, “But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.” (Luke 11:28)

Some people spend their entire lives chasing happiness, trying to find the ultimate pleasure, the ultimate experience. But the Bible says this about God: “For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased” (Revelation 4:11). God created us for His pleasure. And how do we give God pleasure? We enter into a relationship with Him, a friendship with Him.

When we begin to communicate with God and hear from Him, we will find the pleasure we’ve been looking for—not from seeking it but from seeking God Himself.

Psalm 19:8 tells us, “The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart”. Jesus said, “Blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice” (Luke 11:28). Keeping the word of God will make us happy.

So, if we want to be happy, we must study the Bible and memorize and obey God’s word. This can help us have happy lives without sin, such as drugs, alcohol, or sex outside of marriage.

God is not out to ruin our lives. The happiness that God gives doesn’t stop when the party’s over. It’s an entirely different approach to life. In fact, the Bible tells us the meaning of life: to know the God who created us. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, “He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end”.

Deep inside, we know we’re made for something more and what we’re really longing for is not a new possession or a new experience. Even a relationship with another human being can’t fill the void within us. What we’re longing for is a relationship with God Himself.

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The Right Path to Follow

The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living. (Psalm 19:8)

You will sometimes come across Scripture passages that you don’t fully understand. In such cases, talking to a pastor or a mature Christian can probably help you. But what about those times when you encounter a verse in the Bible that you don’t agree with? In such cases, you have to change your opinion. We don’t adapt the Bible to the way we think because the Bible is always right, and we aren’t.

Sometimes, people make statements such as “My God would never judge a person” or “I believe in a God who . . .” and start describing their own made-up god. However, there is only one God, and He is revealed in the Bible. We don’t make God conform to us; we make ourselves conform to God.

Psalm 19:7 says, “The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple”. In the original language, the word translated into “simple” comes from a word meaning “an open door.” This describes people with a mind like that. Everything comes in and goes out. They don’t know what to take in or what to keep out and are thus naïve. They are open to everything and closed to nothing. However, the Bible says that when simple-minded people, who are too open-minded, immerse themselves in Scripture, they can become biblically grounded and develop a biblical worldview.

The next verse tells us, “The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living” (verse 8).

The Bible has set up the right path for us to follow. We don’t have to lose our bearings in the fog of human opinion. As we read the Scriptures, we can know they’re reliable.

God’s Word gives us incredible wisdom, so let’s devote ourselves to its study.

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Distorting God’s Word

“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Has God indeed said, “You shall not eat of every tree of the garden”?’” (Genesis 3:1).

A story is told of the comedian W. C. Fields and how, shortly before he died, he was flipping through the pages of a Bible. When asked what he was doing, Fields replied, “Looking for loopholes.”

In the same way, I think the Devil has been reading the Bible for a long time, looking for loopholes. In the Garden of Eden, he twisted the Scriptures. He took God’s words to Adam, which invited him to eat from every tree in the Garden (with one exception), and he twisted them into a prohibition designed to cast doubt on God’s goodness.

He said to Eve, in effect, “If God really loved you, He would let you eat from any tree you want. But because He is saying that you can’t eat from that tree, He clearly doesn’t love you.”

The Devil’s first words to Eve ended in a question mark, designed to cast doubt on God’s love: Has God indeed said . . . ? He was quoting God, yet he completely twisted what God said.

The same was true of Satan’s temptation of Jesus, where he said, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down [from the temple]. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone’” (Matthew 4:6). How interesting. The Devil was quoting the Scriptures, though he left out part of the original text.

Notice that with Eve, he questioned God’s Word. He didn’t deny that God had spoken; he simply questioned whether God had really said what Eve thought He had said. That is what the Devil will do with God’s Word. He will misquote it. He will mischaracterize it. And he will distort it.

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Hearing His Voice

“To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out” (John 10:3).

As you get to know your Shepherd, you will come to realize that when He calls you, it is always worth obeying. When He says something, it is for your benefit. If He says, “Go this way,” it’s because He has green pastures and still waters for you. If He says, “Stop! Don’t do that,” it’s because He is trying to protect you from potential danger, possibly something that is even life-threatening.

The fact that God speaks to us is clear throughout the pages of Scripture. To some, like Moses, God spoke audibly. To others, like the prophet Elijah, He spoke quietly on at least one occasion.

Often we look for the big events, the earth-shaking circumstances in which God speaks. And many times He is speaking to us, but it is in a still, small voice. We should try turning off the television, the radio, and the telephone and just listen. With all the noise in our world, with all the information that bombards us, we can hear all those voices but miss the most important voice of all.

Maybe one reason we don’t hear Him is because we never stop and listen. We should heed the words of Psalm 46:10, which says, “Be still, and know that I am God.”

Once we have heard the voice of God, we need to follow. Jesus said, “The sheep follow him, for they know his voice” (John 10:4). The word follow means to deliberately decide to comply with instruction. It is a deliberate choice for sheep to follow the shepherd. We need to deliberately decide to follow our Shepherd, to do what He tells us to do.

When God Almighty speaks to you in that still, small voice, will you listen? Will you follow Him?

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Hearing God

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105).

There are a lot of people today who say they hear the voice of God telling them to do this or that. But what we must remember is that God never will contradict His Word. He always will lead us according to what the Bible says.

Some people come up with some lame concepts, such as “We’re not married, but God has told us it’s okay to have sex.” I could assure them that God didn’t say that because in His Word, He says, “You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14). God won’t contradict His Word.

Let’s say you were hoping for a letter from someone. You stand at the window, waiting for what seems like an eternity for the mail carrier to come by. Finally, he drives up, and you bolt over to your mailbox. You’re looking for that letter. Maybe it’s from someone you’re in love with. Maybe it’s an answer to a job application. Maybe it’s something you ordered in the mail. Maybe you’ve won the sweepstakes.

But imagine this. What if you had a handwritten note sent to you from God? Would you carry it around in your pocket for a couple of weeks and open it when you got around to it? I doubt it. You probably would tear it open as you’re thinking, Wow, God spoke to me! What does He have to say?

The Bible is a written letter from God. A lot of us carry it. We have it in different colors and sizes. We have it in different translations. Some of us even have it on our smartphones or tablets. But we never read it. Yet it’s a letter from God to us. If you want God to speak to you, then open up His Word.

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Removing the Sting

“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55).

Have you ever been stung by a bee? It’s not a fun experience. But although it’s painful for the person being stung, it’s fatal for the bee.

When a honeybee stings a person, it can’t pull its little barbed stinger back out. This is a one-time experience for them. They had better think carefully about who they are going to sting, because once they do it, they are not going to survive.

When a bee stings you, not only is the bee’s stinger left in you but also part of its abdomen and digestive tract, as well as nerves and muscles. This massive abdominal rupture kills the bee shortly after it stings.

That is what happened when Jesus died on the cross. In his enduring hatred for God’s Son, Satan thought it would be a great idea to have Jesus betrayed, arrested, beaten within an inch of His life, and then crucified and put to death on a Roman cross. The devil said, “This is my moment. I am going to sting Him. I will have a role in His death. When He dies, that is the end of Him.” Everything went according to Satan’s plan, and like a bee, he flew off thinking he had succeeded.

But everything went according to God’s plan as well, and the sting of death was its own defeat. As 1 Corinthians 15:54-55 says, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

Where is the sting of death for the believer? It is ripped out, because at the cross, Jesus took the stinger out of death. This is a great truth. As Christians, we no longer need to fear death because our souls will live on forever with Christ.

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Angelic Protection

“The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them” (Psalm 34:7).

John G. Patton was a missionary based in the New Hebrides Islands with his wife and children. One night, hostile natives surrounded the mission station, determined to murder him and his family. First they planned to burn them out, and then they intended to kill them. Throughout that terror-filled night, Patton and his wife prayed that God would deliver them. And when daylight came, they were surprised to find their attackers had left.

A year later, the chief of the tribe that had intended to kill the Pattons became a Christian. So Patton asked the chief what happened on the night they had planned on killing them and why they turned back.

The chief said, “Who were all those men you had with you there?”

Patton knew of no men who were with him. The chief went on to explain how they saw hundreds of big men in shining garments around the mission station, so they were afraid to attack.

Could this be a modern-day example of angelic protection in the life of a Christian? Quite possibly. Certainly the Bible teaches that angels were involved in the lives of God’s people and continue to be involved to this present day.

Psalm 34:7 gives us this great promise: “The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them.” And Hebrews 1:14, describing angels, says, “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?”

In other words, God is saying that He has sent His angels to minister to us as believers. He has sent them to protect us and, when we are in a difficult situation, to even deliver us. And when that day comes for us to go and meet the Lord, they will usher us into the presence of God.

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A Warped Concept of God

“And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours’” (Matthew 25:25).

I think somewhere in our minds as believers, we expect serving the Lord or using what God has given us to be drudgery . . . hard . . . difficult . . . unpleasant . . . no fun.

In the parable of the talents, that is what the third servant thought. He had a warped concept of his master. He said to him, “I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours” (Matthew 25:24-25).

So essentially the master said, “All right. You say that I am a hard man, harvesting crops that don’t belong to me. If that is so, then why didn’t you invest my money?”

You see, this man’s concept of his master was wrong. He thought his master was something he was not. In the same way, some people have a warped concept of God. They are afraid to say to Him, “Here is my life, Lord. Here is my future. Here are my resources. Here is my time. It is now dedicated to Your glory.”

They would never say that because they think God would make their lives miserable. That was the problem with this third servant. He had a false concept of his master.

Many of us are afraid of God, but that fear is not a godly reverence for Him. We are afraid of what He will do to us, afraid that He will ruin our lives. It’s time for us to realize that the greatest joy in life is serving the Lord. It is not drudgery; it’s joy. It is life as it’s meant to be lived.

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Righteous Judgment

“Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment” (John 7:24).

Years ago, I was out sharing the gospel and had a younger guy with me who was sharing his faith for the first time. We were talking to a big, burly biker with giant arms and tattoos everywhere. The biker told us, “Get out of here and leave me alone.”

I said, “Let’s go.”

But my friend said, “Okay, fine. We’re not going to cast our pearls before swine.”

That is not the verse to quote to someone when you’re sharing the gospel. That is the verse you may think of, but it isn’t the one you quote.

We do have to make an evaluation as Christians. We have to determine who the people are who don’t regard the things of God. There’s a place for judging. Judgment is the exercise of critical thinking, and judgment is needed on occasion.

John 7:24 tells us, “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” The Bible has told us to judge, but we are to judge by what is right. We are not to condemn, and we are not to be judgmental. Rather, we should make evaluations. We should be discerning. We should express our opinions on right and wrong, truth and lies, good and evil. In fact, the Bible tells us, “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?” (1 Corinthians 6:2).

The opposite extreme of being judgmental is the naïve acceptance of anything. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine” (Matthew 7:6). In other words, “Don’t take the holy things of God and offer them to someone who has no interest in them whatsoever.” We need to make those evaluations. It isn’t violating the Scriptures when we do.

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A Watered-Down Gospel

“You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Timothy 2:3).

Without question the greatest life to live is the Christian life, because God takes a life that was empty, aimless, and, worst of all, headed for a certain judgment and then turns it around and transforms it. He forgives all our sin, removes our guilt, and literally takes residence inside of us through the Holy Spirit.

Most importantly, He changes our eternal address from a place called hell to a place called heaven. This all comes about as a result of the power of the gospel proclaimed and believed.

Yet some have believed what I would describe as a watered-down version of the gospel, a gospel that promises forgiveness but rarely mentions the need to repent of your sin, a gospel that promises peace but never warns of persecution, a gospel that says God wants you to be healthy and wealthy and never have any problems to speak of, a gospel that says you will so find the favor of God that a parking space always will be available for you. But that is not the gospel of the New Testament.

The Christian life is not a playground, but a battleground. Not only is there a God who loves you and has a plan for your life, but there is also a devil who hates you and opposes God’s plan.

I am not suggesting that once you become a Christian, you will be sick, poor, and miserable. But the essence of the Christian life is knowing and walking with God. It is about sticking with Him when the sky is blue and also when it is filled with clouds. It is about pressing on. Jesus made it clear that storms will enter every life. But as we seek to know and follow Christ, we will find happiness as a fringe benefit.

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Hardship and Trust

“Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God. . . . Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery” (Deuteronomy 8:11-14).

As they were (at long last) poised to enter the Promised Land, God warned the Israelites that the real danger to their lives had just begun.

Prior to this point, Israel had wandered in a desolate wilderness for forty years, completely dependent on God for everything. Every day they would step outside their little tents, and there would be manna waiting for them, just like the morning paper. God gave them fresh water to drink, a cloud to guide and shade them by day, and a pillar of fire to light their camp by night.

Yes, wilderness living came with plenty of hardships. But those very difficulties compelled them to look to the Lord every day, depending on Him for everything.

But then He brought them to the brink of the Promised Land, and they could look across the Jordan and see lush green hills, rippling fields of wheat, flowing rivers, and trees loaded with fruit. They could hardly wait to get in! But God was saying, “Be careful! Watch out, or you’ll get fat and sassy and forget all about Me. Then your troubles will really begin.”

We’ve all experienced it: when our lives are hit with uncertainty, danger, or pain, we fall to our knees and cry out to God. God can use adversity to bring us closer to Him — which is actually where we will experience the greatest blessings of life.

C. S. Lewis wrote, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”8

The psalmist said, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey Your word. . . . It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees” (Psalm 119:67,71).

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Small Things Become Big Things

“If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities” (Luke 16:10).

I read about a study that a business group conducted on infidelity in the workplace. Not surprisingly, they concluded that extramarital affairs in the workplace ultimately led to breakdowns in other areas of life.

In other words, if people were being unfaithful to their spouses, they also would pad their business expenses and cut corners in other areas of their jobs. It makes sense, doesn’t it? If someone is willing to take down one wall, then why not kick down other walls too?

Small things become big things. If you’re willing to cheat on a test in school, then will you also lie on your résumé? And if you’re willing to cheat in school and lie on your résumé, then in what other areas will you be willing to cheat?

Little compromises turn into big problems. Little things turn into big things.

We don’t think about this sometimes. We’ll say, “It’s all right. This is just a minor infraction.” But we’re not thinking about the repercussions yet.

In the Bible we find story after story of lifelong repercussions that came as a result of a single decision. Adam ate of the forbidden fruit, and it cost him paradise. Esau compromised for a single meal and lost his birthright. Samson’s sexual compromises cost him his strength, his eyes, and ultimately his life.

Are there some small areas where you’re making compromises now?

Deal with those, because the Lord is revealing them for your own good. Little compromises turn into big problems. Jesus said, “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities” (Luke 16:10).

In a single moment in time, you can make a decision that affects your entire life.

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The God Who Suffers

“He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief . . . Surely He has borne our grief and carried our sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3-4).

When we think of God, we usually consider the fact that He is righteous, holy, loving, and good. But here is something else to consider about God: He is the God who has suffered. We don’t tend to think that a perfect Creator would experience such a human trait as human pain and suffering. After all, why would you suffer if you did not have to?

But God has suffered, and more deeply than any of us could ever imagine. In his book The Cross of Christ, John Stott said, “Our God is a suffering God.” And I think he is right.

Listen to Isaiah’s description of what Jesus (who was God) went through at Calvary:

“He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief . . . Surely He has borne our grief and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:3-5)

“A man of suffering.” That was Jesus. But why did God suffer? Because He loved and loves. That means He also enters into our suffering as well.

Hebrews 2:17-18 tells us:

“Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people. Since he himself has gone through suffering and temptation, he is able to help us when we are being tempted”.

You are not alone in your suffering today. Jesus has been there and walked in your shoes and He is here for you right now. Call out to Him.

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Three Ways Sin Will Destroy Your Life

“But if you do not do so, then take note, you have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23).

When people get caught up in sin, they think everyone is against them. “No one understands,” they say. “Everyone’s judging me. You don’t get it. I’m different.”

No, you’re not different. We’re all vulnerable. And we all are capable of doing foolish things. We have to know that about ourselves. We can come under the sway and influence and intoxicating effects of sin if we’re not careful.

That is what happened to Samson. He thought he could shake himself free of his enemies, just as he had done on other occasions. Instead, the Philistines took Samson, gouged out his eyes, bound him with bronze chains, and made him grind grain in the prison. Sin blinds you. Sin finds you. And sin grinds you.

First it blinds you. You end up doing irrational things. Men walk away from their wives and children who love them to go have some stupid fling. Women abandon their families to go “find” themselves. Sin blinds you to the truth. It seems so appealing at first, but then suddenly you realize that you’re trapped.

That’s when sin finds you. The Bible says, “And be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23). You may be getting away with something right now, but it will catch up with you sooner or later.

The Bible speaks of “the passing pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25). It’s passing . . . for a season . . . for a time. And then sin grinds you. The repercussions, like a ton of bricks, come crashing down on you: broken families, betrayed trust, a damaged witness and reputation, and devastated children with deep wounds, which they may carry for the rest of their lives.

Sin blinds you, sin finds you, and sin grinds you—that’s what sin can do.

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Breaking the Cycle of Sin

“Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’” (Hebrews 13:5).

People talk about generational curses, about how there’s a curse on their family and there’s no way to break the curse. They say things like, “It’s too late for me. I’ve made so many mistakes, and I’m in this messed-up family. I know that I’m going to do the same bad things that my mom and dad did, and then my kids are going to do them. There’s no way to break the cycle of sin.”

Nonsense.

When Jesus died on the cross, all curses—all sins—were broken. And when you put your faith in Christ, you’re free from it. Jesus can change your story.

If statistics went their natural direction, I would have been divorced multiple times by now, because my mom was married and divorced seven times. If statistics went their natural direction, I’d probably be a drunk, because my mom was an alcoholic. But God interrupted my story. And He can do the same for you.

The Bible says that Samson “didn’t realize the Lord had left him” (Judges 16:20). In the Old Testament, we read of the Spirit of God coming upon someone or speaking to someone. But in Samson’s case, the Lord left him.

The good news is that Jesus has promised believers that He will never leave us or forsake us. Ever. God will never leave you, no matter what you have done. God won’t leave you, but you can leave Him. God won’t abandon you, but you can abandon Him. And maybe you’ve done that.

Maybe you’ve made the worst decisions . . . and the worst decisions on top of that. Own it. Admit it. Repent. Ask God to help. Call out to Him. The Lord will answer your prayer, and He will change your story. You can come back to Him today.

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Protecting Storms

“Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. . . . But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary” (Matthew 14:22, 24).

Trouble was brewing. Jesus had just fed the five thousand with five loaves and two fish. Then the Bible tells us that Jesus “perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king” (John 6:15). In effect the people were saying, “You’re going to be our king whether you like it or not, because you’re the kind of king we want. Raising the dead? That’s nice. Restoration of sight to the blind? That’s good. A free meal? Now we’re talking!”

Essentially they were using God. So Jesus commanded His disciples to get into a boat, and then He sent them away. Why? Jesus knew this would destroy them. On more than one occasion the disciples had argued about who among them would be the greatest in the kingdom. These guys would have been propelled from rags to riches. They would have gone from being ostracized to being men of great influence. And it would have destroyed them. For their own protection, Jesus wanted to get them out of there as soon as possible.

So off they went, and they hit a storm. That is exactly what the disciples needed, because it was a protecting storm.

Sometimes a storm comes into our lives that is protecting us from something worse. That is difficult for us to wrap our minds around. Is it possible that a hardship could ever be better than a success? Sometimes a hardship can be better than success, because there are things we learn through hardships that we would not have learned otherwise.

The One who stirs up the storm is the hiding place in it. And sometimes the things we dread most in life can be the best things for us. God will allow calamity to show us His power.

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The Key to Resisting Temptation

Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. (James 1:12)

I often overfill the hard drive on my computer because I never throw a photograph away. I have so many pictures of my family, especially my grandkids. I keep them all. Every now and then when I’m trying to open a document, a little message pops up on the screen saying the hard drive is full. I have to empty the trash and delete a few things.

Wouldn’t it be great if our minds were so full of the Word of God that when the Devil comes with his enticements, he would see a little sign that says the hard drive is full?

Temptation generally comes to us in the mind. It comes as a thought. It sort of knocks on the door of the imagination. It has been said that you can’t stop a bird from flying over your head, but you can stop him from building a nest in your hair.

The key is to know the Word of God. In fact, it’s a great thing to memorize the Word of God. The psalmist said, “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You” (Psalm 119:11).

When the devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness, Jesus responded by quoting Scripture. He occupied ground that every Christian can occupy. Jesus shows us how to resist temptation—and yes, temptation can be resisted.

The Bible says, “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him” (James 1:12). Temptation can be resisted. The word blessed used in this verse means “happy.” If you want to be a happy person, then guard your mind. Say no to temptation, and say yes to God.

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Don’t Underestimate the Enemy

“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life” (John 10:10).

A story is told of a boxer who was being badly beaten in a match. He leaned over to his trainer and yelled, “Throw in the towel! This guy is killing me!”

His trainer yelled back, “He is not! He’s not even hitting you! He hasn’t even laid a glove on you!”

The dazed boxer said, “Then I wish you would watch that referee, because someone sure is hitting me!”

In the same way, our culture is getting hit. Our kids are being hit. And they don’t even know who is hitting them.

One of the most brilliant strategies Satan has managed to pull off is convincing people he doesn’t exist while he manipulates their lives. He is active. And really, this is the only plausible explanation for the horrible, depraved wickedness that mankind is capable of.

If you believe the premise that people are basically good, then you have more faith than I do—or maybe you’re a bigger fool. People are basically bad. And the devil works through the fallen nature of people, getting them to do evil.

God gives everyone a choice in life called free will, the ability to say yes or no. Romans 6:16 says, “Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.”

Jesus summed it up succinctly when He said, “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life” (John 10:10). There is your choice in life: God or the devil.

Don’t underestimate the devil. He’s a sly and skillful foe. And he has had many years of experience in honing his craft.

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When Failure Is Good

“But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless—like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere” (Ecclesiastes 2:11).

Is success the most important thing in life? It depends on how we define success. Many people achieve their goals, but what cost did they pay to achieve them? Was it through deception and betrayal? Was it by abandoning their principles and sacrificing their integrity? Was it by neglecting their family and friends and even forgetting about and, in some cases, outright abandoning God? They may be successful. But ultimately, they are failures. Success can be a form of failure.

King Solomon, who went on a sinful binge, of sorts, said, “Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure. I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labors. But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless—like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere” (Ecclesiastes 2:10-11). He had seen it all and done it all, and it didn’t satisfy him.

We can do worse than fail. We can succeed and be personally proud of our successes. We can succeed and worship the accomplishment rather than the One who helped us reach it.

Sometimes failure can be good because we can learn from our mistakes. And failure can be good even when we do something that is wrong—if we learn from it and if we learn to fail forward.

That means after we have done something wrong and have tasted the bitter results of it, we say, “I really don’t want to do that again.” So we put safeguards around our lives, taking precautionary steps to never fall into the same trap. If that is the case, then we have learned something from our failures.

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Hurricane Grace

“Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep” (Matthew 8:23–24).

The film The Perfect Storm tells the story of an actual storm off the coast of Massachusetts in 1991, which was the strongest storm in recorded history. This so-called perfect storm was the result of three storms that combined into one, creating an almost apocalyptic situation in the Atlantic Ocean. Two existing storms were hit by a hurricane, ironically dubbed Hurricane Grace. The combination of these three weather elements produced a monstrous, two-thousand-mile-wide hurricane that produced one-hundred-foot waves.

In Matthew 8 we find a story of Jesus’ disciples facing what could be described as a Hurricane Grace of their own. We are told that “when [Jesus] got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep” (verses 23–24).

Notice that verse 23 says, “His disciples followed Him.” And where did that lead? Right into a storm. This storm came because the disciples obeyed the Lord, not because they disobeyed Him. Sometimes when troubles come, we say that it’s a result of disobedience. But the fact may be that the storm is actually a result of obedience.

God can use the storms in our lives to accomplish His purposes. As the saying goes, the same hammer that shatters glass also forges steel. Sometimes it seems as though it would be better if we never went through a storm. We think life always should be easy. But there are things we learn in storms. There are things we learn in hardships and crises that we don’t learn anywhere else.

Where there are no trials in life, there are no triumphs. God has His purposes in the storms. And just as Jesus was with His disciples, He will be with us, too.

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Give Comfort, Get Comfort

“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us” (2 Corinthians 1:3).

Men and women of God, wherever we find them in the Scriptures, seem to be masters of whatever situation in which they find themselves. For example, when Paul and Silas were thrown into a Roman prison for preaching the gospel, they sang praises at midnight. The walls shook, and the Lord freed them. The jailer was about to commit suicide, but Paul told him not to harm himself because all the prisoners were still there. The next thing you know, Paul was at the jailer’s house, having dinner. The jailer washed the stripes on Paul’s back, and Paul led the man’s household to the Lord (see Acts 16:25-34). Paul entered the place as a prisoner and left the place in charge.

Then there was Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his brothers. There was no hope of any kind for him. But through a turn of events, he became the second-most powerful man in the entire kingdom of Egypt. Effectively he was running the country.

In the midst of adversity, Paul and Joseph helped other people. They always seemed to rise above the circumstances and be the ones who led. And believers today can do the same thing.

One of the best things we can do when we are suffering is to help someone else. Maybe that doesn’t seem to make sense. But it actually makes all the sense in the world. It can be very easy to have a pity party, to draw back into our little cocoons and isolate ourselves from everyone else. But if we will go out and help other people, we will find comfort as we are distributing it. We will be the beneficiaries of what we are giving to others. Do you know someone who is in need of God’s comfort today?

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All Is Vanity

“I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind” (Ecclesiastes 1:14).

After his futile search for the meaning of life, Solomon concluded, “‘Vanity of vanities,’ . . . ‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.’ What profit has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 1:2-3).

The word vanity Solomon used didn’t mean the same thing it means to us today. When we think of vanity, we think of people who’ve never met a mirror they didn’t like. But the vanity Solomon spoke of could just as easily be translated “emptiness,” “futility,” “meaningless,” or “nothingness.” Solomon was saying, “There is nothing on this earth that will satisfy us completely: no thing, no pleasure, or no relationship.”

It’s not unlike riding a stationary bike. You see on the little video screen that you’re going uphill, so it gets a little more difficult to pedal. Then you go downhill, and it becomes a little easier. But the reality is that you haven’t moved an inch. You’ve spun your wheels without going anywhere. That is the idea Solomon was conveying. He was describing a life without God.

Have you ever wondered why the super rich or super famous often have substance abuse issues or other problems? I think it’s because they get to do what others only dream of. They accomplish a certain thing, and then they move on to the next thing. They experience another success, and then they move on to something else. They can’t keep that high they were on, so they turn to the next thing.

You might say that Solomon tried it all, and he realized that it all was meaningless. He was saying, “I’m a seasoned pro. I know what I’m talking about here. If you take God out of the picture, your life will be empty, meaningless, and futile.”

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In Spite of Sickness

“God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

God can work in spite of sickness. He still answers prayer and heals people today, and He still does miracles. In sickness and in hardships, He can work in a person’s life. Even if a person still has the sickness or problem, God can work in spite of it and give them a special strength. And no matter what happens to our physical bodies here on earth, we have the promise of heaven and ultimate healing in heaven. At that time, God says He will wipe away all our tears. There will be no more death, sorrows, crying, or pain (see Revelation 21:4).

What a glorious promise! There is more — so much more! — beyond this life on earth. Whatever our limitations, whatever our problems, God promises us that we will one day receive a new body that won’t have the shortcomings we experience today.

And God can also use sickness to bring a person to Himself, can’t He? I know of many people who have come to the Lord in the hospital or when facing death. Suddenly they reevaluate their lives. They wonder, What am I living for? What’s really important in my life? What’s going to happen to me when I die? And they begin to think about eternity.

As the psalmist said, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word” (Psalm 119:67). God can work in spite of sickness, and He can work through sickness. Nothing is impossible for Him.

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Looking unto Jesus

“We also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:1-2).

In the ancient Greek games, a judge would stand at the finish line holding, in plain sight, the laurel leaves that would be rewarded to the victor. As runners came down the final stretch, they were exhausted, perhaps in agony, and feeling as though they couldn’t go another step. But suddenly there was the prize in sight, and a new burst of energy would kick in.

This is the picture behind the phrase looking unto Jesus in Hebrews 12:2. We have to keep our eyes on Jesus Christ. And our prize is the privilege of standing before Him and receiving the crown of righteousness that He will give us.

That is why we try to live godly lives and why we try to reach people for Him. It isn’t for brownie points. It isn’t for applause. It isn’t for notoriety. It’s so we can hear Jesus say to us on that final day, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” No, we can’t earn our salvation because He has already provided it. But we want to please the One who laid down His life for us. Ultimately, we want to be able to say, “Lord, I took the life You gave me and tried to make a difference. Here it is. I offer it to you.”

Looking unto Jesus. . . . That keeps you going, doesn’t it? After all, you can get discouraged at times. People will let you down. They will disappoint you. They won’t appreciate your hard work or notice your efforts. Not bothering to understand your real motives, they’ll criticize that which they don’t (or won’t) understand. And that is when you need to remind yourself, I am not running my race for this person or that person. I am running for You, Lord. And I will keep running . . . with my eyes fixed on You.

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God’s Safety Net

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Visitors to San Francisco can’t help but be amazed at that architectural wonder called the Golden Gate Bridge. During its initial phases of construction, a number of workers lost their grip and fell to their deaths in the San Francisco Bay.

Needless to say, this slowed down the construction process quite dramatically. The builders were trying to think of a way to remedy this, so they did something that had never been done before.

A giant net was installed under the construction area. The workers knew that if they did fall, the net would catch them. It wouldn’t be a pleasant experience, but they would live to tell about it. The result was they could work without the fear of dying. They were able to move quickly and finish the project.

Did you know that God has put a safety net under you? By that I mean, when you slip, when you fall, when you make a mistake, it doesn’t mean that your name has been blotted out of the Book of Life and that you are now persona non grata with God. Because He came into your heart, forgave you, and committed Himself to you, He now protects you, sealed you, and justified you as a result of that commitment.

The fact is that we as Christians will sin and fall short. The Scriptures, as well as our own experiences in life, tell us this is true. According to 1 John 1:8, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” This is not an excuse for ungodly living. Nor is it a license for sin. It is a simple acknowledgment of reality.

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Science and the Bible

“I have made the earth, and created man on it. I—My hands—stretched out the heavens, and all their host I have commanded” (Isaiah 45:12).

Some people believe that science and the Bible contradict each other, but that is not necessarily true. Over the years, people have scoffed at the Bible, claiming it wasn’t scientific. They’ve said that people who believe the Bible are fools.

However, it was the Bible that told us the Earth is round, not flat, which many of the experts believed at one stage in human history. Isaiah 40:22 says, “It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.”.

The Bible also told us the stars in the sky were innumerable (see Hebrews 11:12) when astronomers said that was ridiculous. They claimed they could count the stars. Yet as they acquired more powerful telescopes, they had to keep adding to their numbers.

The Bible tells us that God stretched out the heavens into a limitless expanse, which we can never measure, and He filled it with stars as numerous as sands on the seashore. And modern science confirms this is true.

The Bible says that “by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible” (Hebrews 11:3). Everything we look at consists of protons and neutrons and electrons. So, it was the Bible that told us the things we see are made of things we don’t see.

In many ways, the Bible has been ahead of science. However, the Bible is not a scientific textbook. The objective of Scripture is not to tell us how the heavens go but how to go to Heaven and how to know God.

I believe the Bible is the Word of God and that it’s true because science confirms it.

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Proven

“As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him” (Psalm 18:30 NKJV).

How do I know the Bible is the Word of God? Because it gave me the experience it claimed it would. I believe it because everything the Bible promised me has been true. Everything.

For example, the Bible says that God would forgive my sin: “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness” (1 John 1:9).

When I first read that verse, I prayed, “Lord, cleanse me of my sin.” And one of the first things I remember experiencing as a brand-new Christian was the sensation of having a massive weight removed from me.

When I prayed and asked Jesus into my life at the age of seventeen, I didn’t know what I had just done. I hadn’t read, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you” (1 Peter 5:7 NLT). I hadn’t read any Bible verses yet, but I do remember feeling that a burden had been lifted from me. That was God forgiving my sins.

The Bible also says, “Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). I became a different person after I gave my life to Christ. I recognized a change inside, and I knew it was real.

I had tried to be a better person before. I wanted to be a more caring person and be different than I was, but I couldn’t change myself. Then suddenly with Christ living in me, and as I read the Word of God, I saw these things happen for me just as the Bible said they would.

That’s why I believe the Bible is the Word of God. It has given me the experience it promised.

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Always Relevant

“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever” (Isaiah 40:8).

Have you ever noticed how strange most people’s photos look in their high school yearbook? It seems as though we all collectively decided to have the weirdest hairstyle of all time. Hairstyles come and go, and other styles come and go. But the Word of God is always current and always relevant.

Psalm 19:7-9 tells us, “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether”.

The Word of God is perfect. There are no flaws in it. Everything we need to know about God is found in the Bible.

I love what Lamentations 3:22-23 says: “The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning” (NLT).

Have you ever had a time when you read a familiar passage of Scripture, and suddenly that passage seemed to jump off the page because it was so relevant to your life at the time?

Sometimes we wonder why life is going so poorly. Why are we making so many bad decisions? We need to open the Word of God.

Doctors know that a healthy appetite indicates good health, while a loss of appetite may indicate there is something wrong. In the same way, healthy Christians are hungry Christians, and they are hungry for the Word of God (see 1 Peter 2:2).

We can find everything we need to know about life in the Bible, and it never goes out of date. We can trust the Word of God.

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What Are You Thinking?

“Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do” (Joshua 1:8).

As the Israelites were preparing to enter the Promised Land, God told them that if they wanted to succeed spiritually, they needed to be constantly looking at His Word.

God said, “Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do” (Joshua 1:8).

What does it mean to meditate? In the Bible it means to contemplate. The idea given in Scripture is that of chewing your food carefully. Eastern meditation is emptying your mind. But biblical meditation is filling your mind with the Word of God.

And as you memorize, know, and understand Scripture, it will be a weapon to use as you share your faith and also to defend yourself when you’re being attacked.

In the Garden of Eden, Satan came to Adam and Eve and basically challenged them to doubt the Word of God. He said, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” (Genesis 3:1). In other words, “Did God really say what you think He said?”

This is one of the first things that happens to someone who becomes a Christian. They have doubts about what they believe. But Jesus showed us how to handle this during His temptation in the wilderness. In each instance, He began by saying, “It is written.” He came back to the Word of God, which the Bible refers to as the sword of the Spirit.

Psalm 1, describing the happy person, says, “But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do” (verses 2–3).

A growing Christian will delight in and love the Word of God

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Build on Bedrock

“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock” (Matthew 7:24).

Surfers know when they “go over the falls” and don’t know which way is up, their surfboard always will float to the top. If they have a leash on their ankle that’s attached to their board, they can follow it to the surface.

In the same way, the Word of God pulls us to the surface, where we can fix our eyes on Jesus and get ourselves back into alignment with God. I can think of so many times in my life when my mind was going in the wrong direction, and I found that simply quoting Scripture righted me.

At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gave this summary: “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock” (Matthew 7:24-25).

Then Jesus went on to say, “But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash” (verses 26–27).

We all will face storms in life as followers of Jesus. So make sure you build on the right foundation of a relationship with Jesus and God’s Word. Don’t build your faith on experience or fickle emotions.

How important is the Word of God in our lives? Success or failure in the Christian life depends on how much of God’s Word you get into your life on a regular basis and how obedient you are to it.

The Word of God restores us. It refreshes us. It transforms us. Build your life as a Christian on Christ and His Word.

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Live It and Share It

“Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe” (1 Corinthians 1:21).

When it comes to evangelism, some Christians say, “I’ll just be a good example. I’ll be a model of what it means to be a Christian, and that will be my form of evangelism.”

By all means, be a model. Be a good example because that, in effect, earns you the right to articulate your faith. (And if you can’t be a good example, then I would prefer that you don’t preach the gospel.)

However, the primary way God brings people into the kingdom is through others verbally sharing the gospel with them. Paul wrote, “Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe” (1 Corinthians 1:21).

God’s primary way of reaching people is through people, and the primary way we do that is through the verbal articulation of the gospel. The Bible tells us, “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season” (2 Timothy 4:2).

I remember a time when God called me to share the gospel at a very unusual moment. I was in a department store restroom when someone in the next stall thought I was his drug dealer. It turns out that at one time he had accepted Christ and attended Harvest Christian Fellowship.

“God must really love you,” I told him. “He sent your pastor into the bathroom where you were trying to make a drug buy.” Then I asked him to meet me in the department store so we could continue our conversation. I prayed with him, and he recommitted his life to Jesus Christ.

Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). Go into all your world and preach the gospel. Go into your sphere of influence with the message of Jesus Christ.

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The Greatest Sacrifice of All

“Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8).

Telling your story, or sharing your testimony, is a powerful bridge for the gospel message. Your story is also known as your testimony. You tell people how you came to faith, because sometimes, nonbelievers don’t realize we weren’t born this way.

When you share your personal story, however, don’t glorify or exaggerate the past. The testimonies of some people get more dramatic with the telling. Don’t make your past sound better than your present. Someone might be listening to you and thinking, “I want your old life, not your new one.”

I love the perspective that the apostle Paul had on his past. He was a very intelligent, accomplished individual, yet he dismissed all of it. He said, “Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8).

Paul was effectively saying, “I’ve dumped it all in the trash so I could embrace Christ and be embraced by Him.”

Don’t talk about what you gave up for Jesus. Talk about what Jesus gave up for you. Whatever you gave up is nothing compared to what God has done for you. So talk about how Jesus died on the cross for your sin and made the greatest sacrifice of all.

Here’s an acronym to remember for sharing your faith: BLAST. B is for build. When you’re talking to people about Jesus, start building a bridge. L is a reminder to lovingly enter their world. Take an interest in them. A is for ask. Ask questions, and then listen. S is for share. Share your testimony. That brings us to T. Tell them how to come to Jesus.

Remember, it is not about you; it’s about Him. Tell your story to build a bridge to His story, the greatest story ever told.

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Behind the Façade

“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 3:19).

As a 17-year-old kid, I was searching for God. I had tried to find truth through alcohol and partying, but I knew that wasn’t the answer. I tried to find it through drug use, and I knew that wasn’t the answer either. But I was searching.

I would hang around Newport Beach at night, leaning against a wall, and I would watch as Christians walked around handing out religious literature. They looked at me and kept walking. Occasionally they gave me something to read, but they wouldn’t engage me.

I remember thinking, “Why won’t you talk to me?” They bought my façade, the appearance that I didn’t care. But I did care. And I was waiting for someone to enter my world and show me the way.

That is what Jesus did with the woman at the well in Samaria. He said, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again” (John 4:13). He was using the well as a metaphor for life. You’ll be thirsty again if you drink this water.

We could write that over the well of materialism or over the well of fame. We could write it over the well of so many things.

The woman, however, wasn’t getting what Jesus was saying, so she started to argue with Him. But Jesus called her out. He engaged her and told her what she needed to do.

When we’re sharing the gospel, we need to appeal to a person’s spiritual thirst, but we also need to tell the truth about sin. They need to know that sin separates them from God, and the solution is a relationship with Jesus Christ. The problem is sin. The solution is Jesus.

People are hiding behind their façades, but they’re really waiting for someone to show them the way. Will you be that person?

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Your Local Mission Field

“But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?” (Romans 10:14).

I have a friend named Steve, who is also a pastor. Steve is very effective at sharing the gospel both in the pulpit and out of it. Whenever you’re around Steve, you can be sure it’s only a matter of time until he asks someone this question: “Has anyone ever told you there’s a God in Heaven who loves you?”

I’ve watched him ask a coffee shop barista that question, with ten people in line behind us. I’ve been with him in restaurants where he did the same thing. He’s posed that question to random people on the street. And I’ve witnessed a variety of reactions.

Some people say no. Others don’t know what to say.

One day we were in a restaurant with two other pastors, and we were getting ready to order. The other pastors were having a theological discussion when Steve turned to the server and said, “Has anyone ever told you that God loves you?”

The server was genuinely touched by Steve’s question. He said, “No, no one’s ever told me that.”

“Well,” Steve said, “There is a God in Heaven who loves you.” And then he shared the gospel with him. Meanwhile, our friends were still discussing theology, oblivious to what was going on. A few more minutes went by, and Steve led the server to the Lord.

It reminded me a little of the church today. We’re busy with our discussions and our political debates, but it’s time to lift our heads and look around us. Jesus said, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few” (Matthew 9:37).

Sometimes we think we’d like to go to the mission field in another country to tell people about Jesus. But why don’t we just start by just crossing the street? There are opportunities in front of us every day. We simply need to be looking for them.

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An Appointment in the Desert

“On the next day we who were Paul’s companions departed and came to Caesarea, and entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him” (Acts 21:8).

There’s only one person whom the Bible identifies as an evangelist, and his name is Philip. Chapter 8 of the book of Acts tells us that he was having great meetings where people were coming to Christ and miracles were taking place.

But then an angel of the Lord said to him, “Go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza” (Acts 8:26).

How easily Philip could have said, “No, thank you. I’ll stay right here.”

But Philip went to the desert. And there he saw a caravan coming his way. Not only that, but he could see they were important people. What Philip was seeing was a foreign dignitary, the treasurer of Ethiopia. He was returning from Jerusalem and happened to be reading from the scroll of Isaiah.

Apparently, this dignitary had gone to Jerusalem searching for God, but he didn’t find what he was looking for.

Philip ran up to him and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” (verse 30).

“How can I, unless someone instructs me?” (verse 31). And then he invited Philip into his chariot. Philip joined him and explained what the text means. The man had been reading this passage from Isaiah 53: “He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth” (verse 7).

This is speaking of the death of Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

I love the way the story ends. The Ethiopian dignitary from Ethiopia “went on his way rejoicing” (verse 39).

In most cases, people aren’t going to say, “Show me the way to come to Jesus.” Instead, they are waiting for you to start the conversation. They are waiting for you to talk to them about God.

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How to Be Spiritually Refreshed

“Then He said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men’” (Matthew 4:19).

I’m not much of a fisherman, but years ago I was in Alaska and went with some friends on a fishing trip for king salmon. I was with very seasoned fishermen who knew what they were doing, but I didn’t even know how to bait my hook.

I asked our guide, “How will you know when you get a real bite?”

“You’ll know,” he said.

It wasn’t long until my pole moved and I had a king salmon on my line. I reeled away until finally we had the fish next to the boat. And then it broke away. We talk about the one that got away, but in my case it really happened.

Jesus said to Simon Peter and Andrew, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). A literal translation of this is “catch men alive.”

There’s a certain happiness that comes from sharing the gospel. Proverbs 11:25 says, “The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed”. When we reach out to others, when we put our focus on someone else, it spiritually refreshes us.

Jesus said, “Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back” (Luke 6:38). He also said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35 NKJV).

Who, then, has God called to preach the gospel? All of us. In the original language, Jesus addressed the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19–20 to everyone, not just preachers, pastors, and missionaries.

God has called all of us to go into all the world and preach the gospel.

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