Virtual Devotions

"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' " – Luke 16:6

Dear Friends,

I read an interesting statistic not long ago about people’s perceptions of the supernatural.  The research found that 70% of unchurched people do not believe that Satan exists.  However, of those same people, 70% do believe that angels exist.   I believe this statistic shows the natural bias of people.  They are willing to accept something supernatural if it is good, but not willing to accept something supernatural if it is bad.

Nowhere, do I believe is this bias stronger than in the acceptance of heaven and hell.  While everyone wants to believe that there is a heaven and that they are going there, few want to believe there is a hell and no one certainly wants to admit that they are going there.

In the Gospel of Luke, we read the parable of the rich man and the poor man, Lazarus.  At death, the rich man goes to hell and Lazarus goes to be with Abraham in heaven.  From across a great chasm, the rich man begs for relief and then entreats Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his five brothers so that they might not end up in hell like him.  But Abraham tells him, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”

Within the parable we find a truth of mankind’s nature.  The truth that people will reject the supernatural if it is bad.  If Lazarus had come back to tell the five brothers their deceased brother was in heaven, they would have rejoiced, but to warn them of hell, they would have rejected his words.

The same is true of Christ.  He died and rose from the dead, not as a ghost or apparition, but as a glorified, resurrected body and His resurrection was the proof of His divinity, thus making all of His sayings true. Jesus spoke of heaven and hell.  He made it clear that there are two eternal destinations and contrary to common belief, Jesus taught that many will go to hell and few will enter heaven.

So it is not surprising that people reject Christ.  After all, to accept Him is to accept that there is a heaven and hell and that the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ.  Thus, they reject His supernatural, divine being in the same way the brothers would have rejected Lazarus.  And in doing so, they remain lost.

In Christ,

David

Dear Friends,

There is an ongoing discussion throughout the church in America asking whom the church is for, the saint or the sinner?

For some, the church is for the saint, the believer.  It is a place of worship and praise.  It is place where a believer can come to be with other believers and bask in the presence of the Lord.  And it is where we join with Christ in the sacrament of baptism and gather at the Lord’s Table in communion.  For these believers, evangelism is supposed to occur outside of the four walls of the church.  But what if they don’t go out and evangelize?  What happens to the church?

Others believe that church is for the sinner. When a sinner is brought into the church, the community of believers can have a positive influence him.  But more importantly, when the Gospel is preached, the Spirit can work in the heart of the sinner, convicting him and turning him to the only One who can save him, Jesus Christ.  But what about worship and preaching to the faithful?  What happens to the church without it?

I believe there must be a middle ground.  Certainly, church is for worship and praise of our Lord God.  It is a place where the sacraments can be administered to the faithful.  It is a place where the preacher can explain God’s word and build up the congregation in the word of the Lord.

But it is also a place where souls are saved.  Every week all across America, souls are being turned to Christ through the faithful preaching of the Gospel – sin and salvation.  In churches every week, people turn to Christ in altar calls or in the quiet of their own heart.

When I read Jesus’ words in Matthew 16:18, I put the emphasis on the word “my.”  Who is the church for?  The Church is for Christ.  The Church is His Church, His Bride, and like a Bride, she being prepared for the Wedding Day and for an eternity with the Bridegroom.

The preparation of a bride is a monumental endeavor.  There is not just on point of focus, but many tasks that need to be accomplished before the bride is truly ready.  Such is true for the church as well.  The church needs to be about all of the business of the bride, inviting, receiving, washing, instructing, encouraging, preparing and waiting for the day that the Bridegroom return because the Church is for Him alone.

In Christ,

David

Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" – Luke 17:17-18

Dear Friends,

This morning, I sat down to write the weekly devotional, but I couldn’t come up with anything that was satisfactory, so I decided to leave it and wait for the Lord to impress something upon me.  He did.  As I walked into the church this morning, one of our members immediately met me and said that there was a man there looking for financial assistance.

Now, we often get calls from people asking for assistance, but I have never known anyone to come to the church on Sunday morning to ask.  I took him into the pastor’s office and heard his story.  I am one who is willing to treat each individual as sent from God and if it seems the right thing to do, to give the person some assistance.

In the past, my wife and I have delivered groceries to people who didn’t even bother to get up off of the couch to answer the door.  They just left it opened and pointed us to the kitchen, not even taking the time to stop watching television while we brought them food.  And many others have taken the assistance we give them and never returned a simple thank you.

In the Gospel of Luke, we read of ten lepers who cried out to Jesus for pity.  Jesus sent them to the priests to be inspected and on their way they were healed.  But only one of the ten returned to say thank you to our Lord.

How did this effect Jesus’ attitude toward ministry?  Did he throw in the towel and say the heck with all of this?  Of course not.  In the next chapter, we read that Jesus cured a blind beggar.  Jesus did not allow himself to be dissuaded from his acts of kindness just because some recipients were ungrateful.

The same must be true for us today.  When we reach out to help someone, we need to do so without expectations.  We may pray that the Lord uses our act of kindness to plant a seed in the person or to water a seed previously planted, but any response, especially one of an opening of the heart to the Gospel, comes by the grace of God.

Remember the words of the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians, “And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is right.”

In Christ,

David

"Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me."   But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. – Jonah 1:2-3

Dear Friends,

In the first year that I became a Christian, I decided to go on an overseas mission trip with my church.  I was fortunate that I was a part of a very large church and they offered many international missions.  After considering my schedule and places that I would like to visit, I decided on Israel, but I didn’t realize what I had signed up for.

I have always thought of missions as building something like a church or a school or digging a well.  But the mission trip to Israel was a VBS.  At first, I didn’t know what VBS was, but then I found out it was Vacation Bible School.  I have two children and I enjoy being with them, but going overseas to teach vacation Bible school wasn’t really what I had planned, but it was what God had planned.

As one of two men on the mission, I was assigned the job of physical education teacher.  When it was all said and done, I had a great time introducing the kids to baseball and having them introduce me to soccer.   When I returned home, I was faced with an opportunity to coach soccer for children at a local church.  After two years, I became the commissioner and as the “coach to the coaches” I began writing a weekly devotional.  And by God’s will I am still doing it today.

Jonah didn’t want to preach to the Ninevites.  He knew that if they repented and turn to God in faith, He would save them.  But that was God’s plan for Jonah and the Ninevites.  And this is the lesson that I have learned.  When it comes to my mission, God knows better than I do.

I didn’t think I would enjoy working with children, but the VBS turned out to be one of the best times of my life and it led to even more mission opportunity at home.  This weekend, we had a Blessing of the Animals outreach event at the church.   If you know me, you know that I am not much of an animal person, especially animals in the house.   But God placed it on my heart to do this event and we had over 50 visitors with their pets come to see our church.  A number of them said they would come back to visit us for Sunday service.

f you are doing something you want to do for God, but it isn’t working out, maybe it isn’t what God wants for you.  However, if God is leading you to do something you aren’t comfortable doing very possibly you should listen to Him and do it.  And when it all works out for good, you will know that it wasn’t your efforts that succeeded, but instead it was God working through you who succeeded.

In Christ,

David