Month: November 2023

What Child Is This? #2

Thursday, November 30, 2023

“And they [the shepherds] came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds” (Luke 2:16-18 KJV).

The second verse of the classic Christmas carol highlights today’s Scripture.

“Why lies He in such mean estate,
Where ox and ass are feeding?
Good Christians, fear, for sinners here
The silent Word is pleading.
Nails, spears shall pierce Him through,
The cross He bore for me, for you.
Hail, hail the Word made flesh,
The Babe, the Son of Mary.”

It was just as the angel of the Lord had told them. The Saviour, Christ the Lord, the King of Israel, was indeed born in Bethlehem, but not in a palace. The shepherds found Him lying in a trough, a structure out of which farm animals ate! How odd!

There were just so many things about Jesus’ nativity that did not make sense in the human mind. Firstly, a virgin had conceived and borne a child. Secondly, the God of creation had confined Himself to a tiny body that could be held in human hands. Thirdly, that the King of Israel had been born in a stinky, dirty barn and His crib was literally a trough. Lastly, that Someone so important did not have thousands of people flocking to His crib. Strange!

As the shepherds left Joseph, Mary, and Baby Jesus, they spread the news about what they had heard and seen. The Bible says that this audience “wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.” They could not fathom how it was possible, either. Even today, the natural (lost) mind of man not only struggles with, but outright refuses, to believe the simple truths of the Bible. They rather rail against and reject that which they do not understand, than acknowledge that they do not know everything and the God of the Bible is wiser than they are. To accept those truths would mean validating how Jesus Christ came to live that He would die for us sinners.

Yet, some hearers believed!

What Child Is This? #1

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

“And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1:30-33 KJV).

The first verse of the classic Christmas carol highlights today’s Scripture.

“What child is this, who, laid to rest,
On Mary’s lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet,
While shepherds watch are keeping?
This, this is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing:
Haste, haste to bring Him laud,
The Babe, the Son of Mary.”

Such an event had never before happened in human history. God had promised “the seed of the woman” to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:15), but it was 4,000 years later that Mary was identified as that “woman.” That the Creator God would take upon Himself the flesh of sinful man, though Himself never being defiled by sin (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:22). Unheard of in pagan religions!

The angels understood the Old Testament prophecies about God’s Son being born of a human mother. She was a “virgin,” a young woman (perhaps in her teens) who had never had any sexual relations with a man (Luke 1:34). On the night of Baby Jesus’ birth into the human race—the culmination of humanity added to His deity—the angels appeared in the sky and sang, to encourage the shepherds in the nearby fields to hurry to Bethlehem to see a little Baby wrapped in swaddling clothes (Luke 2:8-14).

“[15] And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.”

Once the shepherds came to Bethlehem, and found Baby Jesus, they beheld such a strange sight!

Deceptions and Distractions #5

Tuesday, November 28, 2023

“Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law” (Romans 2:17-20 KJV).

May we have eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to believe a lesson from Israel’s ancient history….

Like the phony pregnant female beggar distracting us from helping people who truly are underprivileged, so the fakers in religion use “sleight of men and cunning craftiness” (Ephesians 4:14) to divert our attention from what is really going on, what actually matters, what in fact is valuable. Counterfeits captivate our concentration.

There are multiplied alleged “aids to worship”—prayer beads, prayer wheels, icons, images, statues, and the like. There are so many “mediators to God”—intercessory saints and angels, a sinless perpetual virgin, and so on. There are multiplied supposed “teachers”—priests, “scholars,” church fathers, professors, and authors. Is it any wonder why the professing church is so greatly disoriented, deceived, and disabled? The primary factor is willful ignorance. We need to quit depending on people and start reading our King James Bible ourselves. We should start rightly dividing the Word of Truth (2 Timothy 2:15) and stop making everything in Scripture the same.

Saints, let us be careful not to merely possess the rightly divided Scriptures, but to study them, and most importantly, believe them in our heart (not just our head). If we truly and consistently walk by faith in Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon, we will be right in the center of God’s will. The indwelling Holy Spirit will take those principles of grace and put them on display in our life. It will be the very life of the Lord Jesus Christ. We will be neither deceived nor distracted! 🙂

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:1,2).

NOTE: Brethren, this is our final original devotional for 2023, as our classic Christmas studies will now run the rest of the year.

Deceptions and Distractions #4

Monday, November 27, 2023

“Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law” (Romans 2:17-20 KJV).

May we have eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to believe a lesson from Israel’s ancient history….

Any serious Bible student is aware of the disaster in Genesis chapter 3: “[1] Now the serpent was more subtil [sneaky, crafty] than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? [2] And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: [3] But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. [4] And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: [5] For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. [6] And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”

Satan convinced Eve to be dissatisfied with the identity that God gave her (and be ungrateful for His words in Genesis 2:16,17). She was led to believe she and her husband could be more than what they were, that “generous” Satan knew and would share the secret to true fulfillment and happiness (what “unfriendly” God had allegedly deprived them of!). Again, such deceptions and distractions are all around us now….

Deceptions and Distractions #3

Sunday, November 26, 2023

“Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law” (Romans 2:17-20 KJV).

May we have eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to believe a lesson from Israel’s ancient history….

Satan exploited sin and peer pressure from the neighboring Gentiles to lead Israel away from the LORD God (for example, see 2 Kings 17:6-23, Jeremiah 3:1-25, Daniel 9:3-20, and Acts 7:37-43). Instead of learning the lesson of the Law—that they were sinners like everyone else—Israel paid attention to all kinds of foreign, wrong ideas. As opposed to reaching the point where they could share the Word of God with the nations, Israel grew haughty and self-righteous—“We have the Bible but you do not!” True, the Jews possessed the Old Testament Scriptures and knew the will of God. Still, did they esteem and do the will of God? Of course not! Read today’s Scripture, plus the rest of Romans chapter 2.

Regrettably, today’s professing church finds itself in Israel’s spiritual trap. Church members everywhere are at least partly familiar with Scripture—although tending to value religious tradition above the Word of God, waste large amounts of time learning the ways of the world, promote fear and ignorance because of their spiritual immaturity, and countless other tragedies. By means of his evil world system, Satan has been “waving his hand,” and nearly everyone has whiplash from looking from side to side. They are not concentrating on the Word of God rightly divided!

Our minds and hearts are designed to think about and value something. If we fail to ponder what is good, then what is bad will become the center of our attention and affection. Satan knows precisely how to use this to his advantage; he has had thousands of years of practice (!). If we can major on the minors, and minor on the majors, then he has us fighting his battles for him….

Deceptions and Distractions #2

Saturday, November 25, 2023

“Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law” (Romans 2:17-20 KJV).

May we have eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to believe a lesson from Israel’s ancient history….

Consider Deuteronomy chapter 4: “[5] Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. [6] Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. [7] For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for? [8] And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?”

As the Gentiles watched, Israel was to demonstrate the values and life of the one true God (see today’s Scripture). The Jews held the codified record of what the LORD believed and did. If they walked by faith in that Divine revelation, Satan’s policy of evil in the Earth would be limited. Satan is no dummy. While he could not eliminate the Hebrew Bible, he could—and did!—use assorted methods to sidetrack Israel from it.

Go to a student listening to a teacher. Wave your hand so he or she looks toward your direction. No longer focused on the teacher, the person stares at you, and you exclaim, “Made you look!” This is Satan’s primary tactic: using distractions or counterfeits to get our eyes and minds off God’s words to us. This led to the downfall of Adam and Eve in Genesis chapter 3, the spiritual destruction of Israel, and the debilitation of the Church the Body of Christ….

Deceptions and Distractions #1

Friday, November 24, 2023

“Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law” (Romans 2:17-20 KJV).

May we have eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to believe a lesson from Israel’s ancient history….

Long ago, a female driver noticed a pregnant lady and a little boy begging at a major intersection. Their sign carried a tragic message, basically describing their extreme financial difficulties. Passersby gave the pregnant lady donations because they felt sorry for her. Later, the driver returned to the scene to see the lady and the boy getting into an exotic car. The male driver of this expensive car was laughing with the pregnant lady as they counted the money. In other words, it was a clever scam! The pregnant woman was not poor at all. By the time the car’s license-plate number was traced, the people had vacated their upscale apartment and disappeared altogether. Sadly, such thieves take resources from truly needy souls.

Would it not be nice if everyone just got along? There would be no war or violent loss of human life. What if everyone told the truth? We could trust everyone without hesitation. Would it not be wonderful if all people actually cared for one another? There would be no malice, greed, poverty, laziness, stealing, adultery, or coveting. Our prisons would be totally empty, our morgues would be less busy, and our cemeteries would be much smaller. It would be like living on another planet, a place completely unrecognizable. Unfortunately, (as you might have noticed!) we do not live in a perfect world. We cannot always believe everything we hear. Everyone does not seek our wellbeing. A person is not necessarily our friend. What appears harmless or good, may, in fact, not be. We have not been promised a problem-free, deception-free, distraction-free earthly life.

Still, like He did with Israel in today’s Scripture, God has prepared us to survive this crazy world….

In Every Thing Give Thanks

Thursday, November 23, 2023

“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18 KJV).

Dear saints, take a moment this Thanksgiving to learn a valuable lesson from the Holy Scriptures!

God wants “all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:3,4). To be “saved” here means you have been rescued from the penalty of sin (hell and the lake of fire), and that you have a home in heaven, because you have trusted the death, shed blood, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as sufficient payment for your sins. To “come unto the knowledge of the truth” is when a person who has trusted Christ, begins to understand why God saved him or her, and how God will use him or her for His glory. Although soul salvation is instantaneous, spiritual maturity is a life-long process (that is especially true regarding handling difficulties, the grace way!).

It is human nature to avoid difficulties and stress, to flee them, rather than confront them. This self-preservation is advantageous, particularly in “life or death” situations. However, running from troubling circumstances is not the way God has designed our life in Christ to function. Today’s Scripture says, “In every thing give thanks,” not “For every thing give thanks.” We do not thank God for our troubles; we thank God while we are enduring those troubles. This is tough, I know, but it takes time for us to learn it. Even the Apostle Paul had to learn this.

“Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:11-13).

Be thankful in every thing. God’s grace is sufficient for you, dear saint, in all of life’s circumstances. When you learn this, you are “[coming] unto the knowledge of the truth.”

*Excerpted from our Thanksgiving 2012 Bible study with the same name. That study can be read here or watched here.

You may also see, “What are our spiritual blessings in Christ?”

Your Right to Eat Meat

Wednesday, November 22, 2023

“For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer” (1 Timothy 4:4,5 KJV).

Before we advocate animal rights, let us understand that we have a God-given right to eat them!

An animal rights activist once appeared on television to complain about the consumption of turkeys on Thanksgiving. He argued that turkeys “feel pain” when they are slaughtered, and thus we should not eat them. His line of reasoning was, “If we would not eat our pet dog, then we should not eat turkey.” Such people, despite their sincerity, are ignorant of today’s Scripture.

Originally, all people and animals were herbivores; they only ate vegetation. “And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so” (Genesis 1:29,30).

Then, sin entered, and God incorporated meat into the human diet: “Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat” (Genesis 9:3,4).

When we ignore the fact that God gave us animals to eat, and we demand that others must also abstain from meat for religious (nature-worshipping) purposes, that is a “doctrine of devils” in this dispensation (1 Timothy 4:1-5). The creature should not be worshipped; only the Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ, should be worshipped (Romans 1:25). As long as we thank the Lord for whatever creatures we eat, consuming animal flesh is acceptable and godly. It does not sit well with the pantheists—who exalt nature as God—but it is approved of the living God, and that alone ultimately matters.

Ignorance Preferred—and Granted!

Tuesday, November 21, 2023

“But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant” (1 Corinthians 14:38 KJV).

If ignorance is preferred, it must be granted!

Recently, a Christian coworker in ministry told me how he has been reaching a long-time friend with the Gospel of Grace. For nearly three years now, he has shared Bible verses with her—to no avail. She maintains she does not understand what he is trying to teach her. Also, she relentlessly expresses her desire to stay in her works-religion cult. He asked me why the Holy Spirit is not working to open her eyes and cause her to see her need for Jesus Christ. In fact, he is frustrated with the whole matter, even contemplating breaking off contact with her.

The Scriptures are very simple, friends. If we have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour, the Holy Spirit lives in us. “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19). We carry the Holy Ghost around with us, and, as we walk by faith in God’s words to us (Romans through Philemon), He Himself works in us. How silly we are if we wonder if God ever “opens the eyes” of those we reach!

Furthermore, when we share His inspired words with others—the Scriptures the Holy Spirit wrote—He will illuminate those souls. “Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ” (Ephesians 3:4). “Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things” (2 Timothy 2:7). If we want to know the truth, we will know it. The Holy Spirit gives us light and comprehension through His words, but we must be willing to let our eyes be opened and be willing to keep them opened. If the will to learn is absent, if the desire to be corrected is lacking, what is left is willful ignorance. It is not that the Holy Spirit failed to work, but rather the audience consciously refused His work. We must (!!!) respect free will!