Promised Return

PROMISED RETURN

John 14:1-3

John 14:2-3:  “In My Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I am going to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you with Me that you also may be where I am.”

            “I can’t wait!” ten year old Cassie beamed to her friend Missy as they talked on the phone after Christmas.  “My grandma is coming to visit!  I haven’t seen her in-like-forever.”

            “Maybe she’ll bring you a gift,” Missy suggested, smiling when hearing her friend’s delight.  “I know you’re excited to see her again.  I’d really miss my grandma if I didn’t see her often.”

            Family.  What would we do without family?  When there are too many miles separating our homes, visiting family on holidays is very special.  We do enjoy looking forward to having a good time once we’re together again.  The same is true for the believers of Christ who are looking forward to being together one day.

            Perhaps Jesus is just as excited as we are to have all His family in one place.  His family is His church—all who believe in Him around the world.  Jesus talked more about His coming back to earth than about His death.

            And Christians know the significance of Jesus’ death.  Jesus knew that He was born so that He could die.  It was Jesus’ sacrificial death that paid for human sin.  We’ve seen from the previous devotions that Jesus was never sorry for having to suffer and die in order to offer people eternal life.  Our living together with God was always His plan when He created us in His image (Genesis 1:27).

            Searching Old Testament Scripture reveals that more passages talk about Jesus’ second coming than His first.  Consider God’s excitement for having all His children “under one roof.”  Since people were created in God’s image, our excitement for family reunions must be inherited from our Creator! 

            Our excitement for being with God eternally need not die as we suffer trials on earth.  Jesus is still coming back.  Prophets, apostles and teachers remind people to remain faithful to God throughout the Bible.  For He is faithful, even when we’re not.  Jesus urges in John 14:1:  “Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God; trust also in Me.”

            Can you resolve to Be Faithful to God in 2015?

Take Home Nugget

            Just as excited as we are to welcome Jesus’ return, the devil knows that his end is near.  For Jesus’ coming back is the devil’s final defeat, sealing his fate forever.    

“Behold, I am coming soon!” Jesus promises in Revelation 22:12

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

                                                                                                                       J.D. Griffith

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Relate to Messiah

RELATE TO MESSIAH

Luke 4:16-21

Luke 4:18-19:  “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent Me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

            Jesus read this one Sabbath at the synagogue in Nazareth, where He had grown up.  After Jesus rolled up the scroll and returned it to the attendant,   Luke says that everyone’s eyes were on Him.  How uncomfortable! 

            Then Jesus said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”  Was Jesus teasing?

            Jesus knew the people’s minds.  What do we guess they were thinking?  Were they wondering IF Jesus could be The One? 

            Nah!  “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they reminded one another. 

            Even before Jesus came to earth as a baby, He knew that this day was coming when His homies would turn against Him.  “No prophet is accepted in His hometown.” He commented in Luke 4:24.

            Would you have tried to console Jesus after He escaped their murderous rage in Luke 4:28-30? They wanted to throw Him off a cliff!

            Those who accept Jesus as Lord, and believe that He’s God’s Son AND anointed One, (Messiah, Christ), are adopted as children into God’s family.  (This is what it means in John 3:5-7 to be born again from above by God’s Spirit).  Now the very nature of our relationship with God is Him as a loving Father and we as loving obedient children.

            Hebrews 7:25 says that Jesus intercedes for us to the Father—making us look good to Dad.   

            When our siblings are under attack, we want to help.  Jesus does not need our help, though, like an earthly brother might.  What Jesus wants from His brothers and sisters is obedience (John 14:15). Jesus didn’t go around bragging that He is Messiah, flaunting His power. 

            That’s our job.

            His purpose was the opening Scripture’s job description.  But when necessary, He’d own up to being the Messiah.  See the lesson linked below for Jesus’ relating to a Samaritan woman, and she to Him.

            The opening Scripture ends with, “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”  This is not a calendar year—but the period of time when salvation will be proclaimed—the Messianic Age. 

Take Home Nugget

            After people are (re)born into God’s family, nothing can destroy our relationship with God; although sin can disrupt fellowship.  The Bible is how God relates to people.  Prayer is how people relate to God.     

Holy Jesus, my King and Messiah, thank You for making it possible for me, a sinful person, to build a relationship with God!

                                                                                                                       J.D. Griffith

Click here for Interactive-Online-Lesson for Relate to Messiah

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God's Son

GOD’S SON

Matthew 16:13-16, John 3:16

Matthew 16:13:  “Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’

Matthew 16:16:  “Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’”

What difference does it make who Jesus is?

            Is Christmas only the glitz of gifting, the dazzle of lights and cheery tunes…or does anyone even admit how God rescues humans from eternal death through His Son Jesus?

            How people contemplate Christmas determines where they will spend eternity.  Is Christmas a party season where getting drunk with friends is the goal?  Is anyone serious about the impact Jesus has on their lives?  Does knowing Jesus shock core beliefs, affect behavior or influence lifestyles?

            Jesus testifies about Himself in Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Jesus knew that He’d give up His glory and be the fullness of God stuffed inside human flesh.  (Incarnation).  He lived a life of obedience, understanding that people would ridicule and challenge Him (Matthew 15:1-9).

            Jesus knew that He’d fall in love all over again with the creation that He came to rescue from certain eternal death.  And He was never sorry.  He grew up (Luke 2:52), got baptized (Luke 3:21), and faced temptation (Luke 4:1-13).  Then He called His disciples (Matthew 4:18-22) and began preaching.  He made friends.  He healed the sick.

            Meeting people and introducing us to the Father was the only way that we could ever understand how to have a relationship with God.  His birth wasn’t the reason Jesus came to earth, but His death.  But, His birth was the only way that Jesus could fulfill the Father’s will and die for the many.

            Jesus’ life shows us the Father (John 10:30).  Watching Him interact with friends and foes, shows us how to live (John 10:30).  Copying Jesus’ prayer life (Mark 1:35), service and obedience to the Father (John 14:31) shows us submission—even to death (Matthew 26:39).  Following Jesus prepares believers for our heavenly home.

            See the lesson linked below that shows commitment to follow Jesus.

Take Home Nugget

            Hearing Jesus say in Matthew 28:18, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth,” should urge us to surrender our lives to Him.  For God promises that “whoever believes in His Son should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). 

            The best gift of all!      

            May this Christmas mark when you become God’s son or daughter. 

Merry Christmas, Holy Father!  Thank You for sending Your Son into our lives so that we might believe in Him and become Your children!

J.D. Griffith

Click here for Interactive-Online-Lesson for God’s Son

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God Who Relates

GOD WHO RELATES

John 15:14-17

John 15:14:  “You are My friends, if you do what I command you.”

            By the time kids graduate from high school in the USA, they’ve known other kids for about twelve years.  They’ve grown up together.  They have many friends.  Friends come in different packages, on different levels, though. 

            Some friends love you unconditionally.  Some love you because they love what you can do for them.  Jesus is a friend on both of these levels.  Jesus is a package that we can unwrap daily for His love to wrap around us, and lead us by His Spirit to reach our life’s best for His glory.

            Every year, Christians honor God by celebrating the birth of His Son Jesus at Christmas time.  The story of Mary and Joseph coming to Bethlehem only to find that all inns are full fills believers with traditional joy of Jesus being born, then laid in a feeding trough called a manger.

            Jesus lying in a manger is fitting.  He came to earth as the Lamb of God.  John the Baptist tells us in John 1:29 that Jesus came to take away the sins of the world. 

            Jesus did that by willingly laying Himself on the cross to be crucified to death for human sin.  He was perfect.  He lived a perfect sinless life (Hebrews 4:15).  He showed people God the Father.  He came as a human—but fully God—to show us how God relates to humans.  He came as a man to show us how to relate to God the Father through Him. 

            God the Father can relate to sinful people after His perfect Son paid our sin debt with His life.  Only a perfect sacrifice would do.  Only a sinless sacrifice could pay for sin through His blood (Exodus 12:5, Leviticus 17:11).  Perfect and blood are two conditions the Father places on forgiving sins.

            Jesus also died and paid for our sins—how else?—perfectly!

            Now humans can approach the Father boldly, confident that He hears   us (Hebrews 4:16) and accepts us as His children (Galatians 3:25).   God created people in His image so to relate to us…and us to Him (Genesis 1:26).

            Does it surprise you that the word relationship comes from the word relate?  Check out the lesson linked below for more ways Jesus relates to His believers.

Take Home Nugget

            Jesus’ disciples had the awesome privilege to hang out together for three years.  Their relationship wasn’t unique.  Today, right now, God is reaching out to relate to you!  If Jesus calls you “friend,” our heavenly Father can call you, “son or daughter.” 

            Does this WOW you this Christmas season? 

                              

Holy Christmas gift of Jesus can be unwrapped daily for people to relate to God.

J.D. Griffith

Click here for Interactive-Online-Lesson for God Who Relates

     

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God Reveals Himself

GOD REVEALS HIMSELF

Hebrews 1:1-4

Hebrews 1:2-3:  “but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom He created the world.  And He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power.  After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

            Loving Unbeliever devotion breaks the hearts of Christians who know really great people who haven’t yet come to believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior.   We know they’ll perish, or spend eternity in hell (for their disbelief in God’s Son) after they die (John 3:16).

            For them, believers hope there’s someplace like hell lite …. 

            For them, we pray that God will lead them by His Spirit to Christ very soon.  We’ve done all we can to lead them to Jesus.  We’ve “preached” God’s Word to them.  We invited them to church.  We pray for their eternal life.  We’ve failed them.  We ask You, Father, to reveal Yourself to them.  We ask for Your Spirit to lead them to Your Son, Jesus!

            For You have revealed Yourself to everyone on earth.  If people don’t understand that the rainbow in the sky is Your promise to never destroy the earth by water again (Genesis 9:13), they won’t believe us.  

            Believers see God’s handprint everywhere.  We praise Your creativity with weird and wondrous animals.  We thank You for the perfect world we live in.  We apologize for being lousy stewards of earth.  Global climate change and extinct animals broadcast our being terrible caretakers of this awesome planet.  And we confess our stubborn burning of fossil fuels for our own comfort and pleasure.

            You, Father, chose to reveal Yourself through people’s conscience. Unbelievers instinctively obey God’s laws that are written on their hearts, knowing right from wrong (Romans 2:15).  Even atheists don’t lie, steal or kill.  Moral sensibility comes from God!

            What’s scary is that unbelief of God—or His Son Jesus—does not cancel people’s accountability to Him.  That means that everyone gives account of himself to Jesus (Romans 14:12). 

Take Home Nugget

            Check out the lesson linked below to learn some Biblical passages that reveal God.  Maybe God’s spirit would awaken your unbelieving friends through Hs Word.     

   

Holy Father, I lift up to you my dear friend (s) named here______________________.  Please lead him or her to Your Son Jesus.  I pray in His precious Name that he and she be filed with Your Spirit to believe that Jesus is Your Son.  He died for forgiveness of our sins, and He offers us eternal life when we believe in Him.  Amen. 

J.D. Griffith

Click here for Interactive-Online-Lesson for God Reveals Himself

     

     

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Loving Unbeliever

LOVING UNBELIEVER

Ephesians 2:1-5

Ephesians 2:1-3:  “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you   once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

            Your Choice devotion challenges believers in Christ to grow spiritually after salvation.  While many think their work is done after believing in Jesus as Lord and Savior, becoming a new self with the renewing of our minds, (Ephesians 4:21-24), is how Christians grow up in their salvation.

            Choice is the key.  God never forces anyone to accept His Son as Lord.  Nor does He abandon those who reject His Son…but He does grieve for their choice of eternal death.  (John 3:16 say that whoever does notbelieve in Jesus will perish, never seeing eternal life).

            You see, God loves every person.  He knits us together in our mother’s womb (Psalm 139:15-16).  Some parents force their children to study hard in school, attend church regularly and cultivate the “right” friends to reach success in life. 

            But as our heavenly Father, God teaches His kids through the Bible.  

            That’s why daily reading and meditating on Scripture is so important.  Whenever His kids disobey, we can expect God’s discipline—specific for each person.  God knows the heart and gets our attention.  He disciplines those He loves, and punishes those He accepts as His child (Hebrews 12:6).

            But consider how God sees the unbeliever:  1) Dead in trespasses and sin (See opening Scripture), 2) Clueless to spiritual things (1 Corinthians 2:14), 3) Not His child, not sibling and co-heir to Jesus (John 1:12), and 4) Under wrath (Opening Scripture).  See lesson linked below.

            Even loving unbelievers fall under God’s wrath.  Because Romans 6:23 says, “But the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  God is eternally true to His Word.

Take Home Nugget

            Unbelievers choose not to believe in Jesus.  Many times though, they don’t admit that they haven’t chosen to not believe in Jesus.  They figure that they’ll make up their minds before they die.  While alive, people rarely acknowledge when they’re in “grave danger.”  That’s aptly named as critical to and opposite of life. 

            If you know loving—but as yet unsaved people, how long will you wait to tell them about Christ?

Some of the best “Christians” I know don’t serve Christ.   They love and serve others, but don’t have peace and joy knowing they’re secure for eternal life.

J.D. Griffith

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Your Choice

YOUR CHOICE

Ephesians 4:14-16

Ephesians 4:14-15:  “That we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, But, speaking truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the  head—Christ—"

             Because it’s so important that people grow in their faith, this devotion presents a choice.  Believers have the responsibility to grow up in Christ after salvation, if they choose to do so.  It’s cool to grow up spiritually.

            It’s mysterious. 

                                                                 

            It’s relationship building with Jesus and His Spirit.

            It’s totally your choice.

            Growing spiritually is believer’s cooperating with the Holy Spirit’s transforming us into Christlikeness from the inside out.  We don’t just listen passively to a sermon every week, agreeing that’s good stuff.  We take action!

            This takes time, attention (meditation) and commitment.  God—Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross, the Father’s forgiveness of all sin, past, present and future, and Holy Spirit’s transforming work—does the heavy lifting.  The rest of the work is your choice. 

            The quickest and surest way to spiritual growth is enduring hard times.   No one wants hardship.  But when we see difficulties as a chance for personal growth, we can thank God for seeing us thorough them—instead of complaining.

            God gives us His Spirit and new life after salvation; we are responsible to renew old outdated minds.  Learning and adopting Spiritual thinking is done by reading God’s Word and considering what the message means to us (meditation).  Then DO what it says.

            Confessing sin immediately after the Holy Spirit prodding is action.  Repentance is turning the opposite way the sin led us (about face).  We should never need to re-confess sin that we’ve already repented.  How can we make the same mistake when we’ve already turned away from it?  Or…were you just joking the first time?

            Believers need to believe an honest objective view of ourselves through accountability partner’s eyes.  Ask a fellow believer to tell you about yourself.  “Yeah, you really DO yell when someone disagrees with your opinion,” is honest feedback from an accountability partner.  How else would you correct an action you’re constantly repeating if no one tells you?

Take Home Nugget

            The second part of the opening scripture is vital:  “speaking the truth in love.”  Pointing out another’s faults is confrontational.  It takes courage.  It often leads to arguments.  So accountability partners must agree to listen, and not respond or defend words or deeds.

            Love does not criticize.  Love is spoken softly with best intentions for growth. Believers must value accountability partner’s advice.

The Holy Spirit is the best accountability partner.  He’s honest and loving.  Just stop doing it!  Your choice.

J.D. Griffith

Click here for Interactive-Online-Lesson for Your Choice

   

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