FROM TODAY’S READING…
“There are none so blind as those who will not see. The most deluded people are those who choose to ignore what they already know.”
John Heywood (1497–1580)
Psalms 119:18 (NLT) Open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in your instructions.
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FROM TODAY’S READING…
“To be sure, men will abuse and misuse the institution of the State just as men because of sin have abused and misused every other institution in history including the Church of Jesus Christ; but this does not mean that the institution is bad or that it should be forsaken. It simply means that men are sinners and rebels in God’s world, and this is the way they behave with good institutions. As a matter of fact, it is because of this very sin that there must be human government to maintain order in history until the final and ultimate rule of Jesus Christ is established. Human government is better than anarchy, and the Christian must recognize the ‘divine right’ of the State.”
Richard Halverson (1916-1995)
Chaplain of US Senate (1981-1995)
Romans 13:1-7 (NLT) Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished. For the authorities do not strike fear in people who are doing right, but in those who are doing wrong. Would you like to live without fear of the authorities? Do what is right, and they will honor you. The authorities are God’s servants, sent for your good. But if you are doing wrong, of course you should be afraid, for they have the power to punish you. They are God’s servants, sent for the very purpose of punishing those who do what is wrong. So you must submit to them, not only to avoid punishment, but also to keep a clear conscience. Pay your taxes, too, for these same reasons. For government workers need to be paid. They are serving God in what they do. Give to everyone what you owe them: Pay your taxes and government fees to those who collect them, and give respect and honor to those who are in authority.
1 Timothy 2:1-2 (NLT) I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.
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FROM TODAY’S READING…
“In order for us to walk day by day in fellowship with God and with our fellow believers, we must confess our sins: sins of commission, sins of omission, sins of thought, sins of act, secret sins, and public sins. We must drag them out into the open before God, call them by their names, take sides with God against them, and forsake them. Yes, true confession involves forsaking of sins…”
William MacDonald
Bible Believer’s Commentary
1 John 1:5-10 (NLT) This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 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. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.
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FROM TODAY’S READING…
“…all the letters before and after a name are like the tale on a pig. It has nothing to do with the quality of the bacon.”
Claude (a farmer friend of John C. Maxwell)
Romans 12:3 (NLT) Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.
Proverbs 29:23 (NLT) Pride ends in humiliation, while humility brings honor.
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FROM TODAY’S READING…
“We cannot say, ‘I am who I am.’ We do not have an independent existence. But we alone in the order of things, created in the image of God, can and do say, ‘I am’-something no other earthly creature has ever thought, much less said. No turtle has ever said, ‘I am.’ No golden retriever has such a self-awareness.”
R. Kent Hughes
Exodus 3:13-15 (NLT) But Moses protested, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?” God replied to Moses, “I Am Who I Am. Say this to the people of Israel: I Am has sent me to you.” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. This is my eternal name, my name to remember for all generations.”
Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NLT) Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. 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.
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FROM TODAY’S READING…
“It seems…that the flowers stand there and make us blush and become our teachers. Thank you, flowers, you who are to be devoured by the cows! God has exalted you very highly, that you become our masters and teachers.”
Martin Luther (1483-1546)
German theologian, professor, pastor, and church reformer
Luke 12:27-28 (NLT) Look at the lilies and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
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FROM TODAY’S READING…
“No man ever sank under the burden of the day. It is when tomorrow’s burden is added to the burden of today, that the weight is more than a man can bear.”
George MacDonald (1824-1905)
Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister
Luke 12:22-26 (NLT) Then, turning to his disciples, Jesus said, “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food to eat or enough clothes to wear. For life is more than food, and your body more than clothing. Look at the ravens. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for God feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than any birds! Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And if worry can’t accomplish a little thing like that, what’s the use of worrying over bigger things?”
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FROM TODAY’S READING…
“If sheep do not have the constant care of a shepherd, they will go the wrong way, unaware of the dangers at hand. They have been known to nibble themselves right off the side of a mountain. And so, because sheep are sheep, they need shepherds to care for them. The welfare of sheep depends solely upon the care they get from their shepherd. Therefore, the better the shepherd, the healthier the sheep.”
Kay Arthur
International Bible teacher and author
Psalms 100:3 (NLT) Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Psalms 23:1-6 (NLT) The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings. Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.
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FROM TODAY’S READING…
“…man is in a position somewhere between the angels above and the beasts below. Angels are spirits without bodies. (Sometimes they take on bodies, but they are spirit beings.) Animals are bodies without spirits. Man is in between because he is body and spirit… It has always been man’s prerogative to move upward toward the spiritual or downward toward the animal, and we become like that upon which we focus… All sin moves us downhill individually, nationally, and culturally.”
Thomas Aquinas/R. Kent Hughes
Romans, Righteousness from Heaven (1991)
Psalms 8:3-5 (NIV) When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.
Romans 1:28-31 (NLT) Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy.
FROM TODAY’S READING…
“Without God as the explanation for all there is, humanity is left on their own to figure it out. Unfortunately, without God in the equation, we can never come to the correct conclusion about life and the origin of humankind. God is the only true source of light and truth… Therefore, when disconnected from him, people are left in total darkness. And in the darkness, cut off from any light source, they have only their own darkened minds to use in trying to make sense of the world.”
Mark Hitchcock and Jeff Kinley
“Global Reset,” (2022)
Romans 1:21 (NLT) Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.
John 1:4, 10 (NLT) The Word (Jesus) gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone…He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him.
1 John 1:5 (NLT) This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.
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