10:30 PM Eastern Time/7:30 PM Pacific Time
Friday, March 25, 2011
Devotional by Raul Ries
Stumbling a Brother
Therefore do not let your good be spoken of as evil; for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. ~ Romans 14:16-17
Paul wrote the entire chapter of Romans 14 about eating and drinking. If you make someone stumble, you are guilty. You are guilty for what happens to the person you stumble. Wow, that is heavy stuff—eating or drinking can bring judgment.
Remember, in that culture, they used to eat meat offered to idols. They would buy it after it was offered at the temples. The meat was taken to the market to sell. Christians would buy the meat because it meant nothing to them, but if someone came to the house to eat, and they found out it was pagan meat, they would be stumbled. So, they had to check it before they bought it. Why? There were weaker brothers and sisters in the Lord.
You have to know your boundaries. Think of how many people keep away from the power of God for a little sin in their lives—smoking, drinking, watching dirty movies, whatever it is. These little things can become big things. The little sins in life can kill you as easily as the big sins.
It is really important we understand God has these things for us, so we are careful of the things we do. If you want to be used by God, you need to have holy hands and a holy life.
The secret of clean living is clear thinking.
~John R. W. Stott~
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Devotion by Raul Ries
This really spoke to me as I have throughout my walk had major times of backsliding, and I don’t want to live a life of the continual backsliding Christian. God made us brand new, and he warns us of coming sin, always makes a way out for us, and we can say no to sin through his Power. ~ Kirby Harris
Now here is Rauls Devotion:
We Cannot Continue in Sin
“There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer.”
Deuteronomy 18:10
What else did God warn the children of Israel about? He warned them against witchcraft, which also refers to drugs. In the New Testament, it is pharmakeia, referring to people who take drugs.
It is amazing. I was talking to this person the other day, and he told me he likes to get high once in a while. He is a Christian. I asked him if he had read Galatians 5 or Ephesians 5. Had he read the Book of Revelation and what it says about drugs, pharmakeia? When you come to Christ, the Bible says all things are brand new, and all things are passed away.
If you are brand new, you cannot continue to be a social drinker. You cannot continue to be a social drug user. You cannot continue to do these things, because the Bible says, in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.
You cannot be effective spiritually if there is any leaven in your life. You cannot; there is no power. You really have to be upfront with what God says in His Word. You either obey it, or you disobey it.
Be obedient even when you do not know
where obedience may lead you.
~Sinclair Ferguson~
Monday, March 14, 2011
Devotional by Raul Ries
People Follow Their Leaders
“When you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations.”
Deuteronomy 18:9
Notice the command and the warning. He spoke very specifically, very clearly. Now, God did not have to address the people after He spoke to the Levites and the priests. He gave the leaders clear instructions on how to lead the people. Why would He give a warning to the people? The leadership of Israel were the first ones to be deceived. It was not the people. The people followed the priests.
That is how it is even today. The people follow the leaders. When there is weak leadership, there are weak people. Understand that.
In your home, if you are a weak parent, your children will be weak. If you are not the leader in your place of employment, the people will be weak. They will not follow you; they will follow the trends—the world.
God was speaking through Moses. He was talking about the evil practices done by the people. Yet, He was warning His own people about the people of the land and their practices. Despite the warnings, the children of Israel would eventually be enticed by their practices of magic, astronomy and idol worship.
Here, Moses is very upfront. He says we have to be careful of the Canaanites—be careful of the abominations of the world infecting our lives.
Enemy-occupied territory—that is
what the world is.
~C. S. Lewis~
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Daily Devotion by Raul Ries
God Provides for His Own
“And this shall be the priest’s due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it is bull or sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the cheeks, and the stomach.”
Deuteronomy 18:3
What was Moses saying? God is going to provide through His people. Priests and Levites should never worry about money. The Bible says if you are really anointed of the Lord, and God really called you, then He will provide for you.
That is what Pastor Chuck Smith taught me. Never depend on anyone. Depend on the Lord. That has been my philosophy for more than 37 years.
I get blown away every Sunday morning with the offering, because we do not ask; we receive. Every time we receive, I am blown away by the Lord—how God takes care of us.
We have learned to trust in the Lord completely in this ministry. There was a time when we had no money, and our payment was due on the building. God provided the exact amount for the payment, and then He provided for all of us, but we had to have faith. We had to trust in the Lord. During this trial, do you know what God did? He moved out all the murmurers and complainers, all who lacked in faith. That is what God did here in years past.
Never, never have we ever gotten up and said, “You know what? We are going broke, and we need this amount of money.” Never— we should never do that—ever. My dependency is on the Lord. If I cannot afford this or that, then we will close the doors. We will shut down and do something else.
In your own lives, do you trust in the Lord, or do you trust in your paycheck? Jobs come and go, but God is always faithful!
Where there is no hope, there is no faith.
~William Gouge~
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
Devotional by Raul Ries
Living Examples
“Therefore they shall have no inheritance among their brethren; the LORD is their inheritance, as He said to them.”
Deuteronomy 18:2
Why were the Levites not given an inheritance? Because they were to trust God by faith. They had the greater inheritance, because they had God, and He told them, “I will take care of you.”
Isn’t that interesting? God will take care of you. God will take care of me. What do people worry about the most? Money, retirement, where they will live, what they will eat. We do not have to worry about our retirement. We do not have to worry about anything. God will take care of us.
Do you remember what God said in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6:25-34? He said, “Why are you anxious? You are to seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then all these things shall be added to you.”
This is what God is teaching. He is making the Levites and the priests depend on the Lord. The people were depending on the Lord, but when the priests became corrupt, the people became corrupt.
The priests and the Levites were supposed to be the models for the whole body of believers, so they could see their faith in God. They were to be living holy lives, so when they stood before the presence of God, to give the sacrifices of the people, the sacrifices would be accepted by God.
Think about it. Today, God wants believers to be examples of holy living. He wants you and me to be examples, to believers and nonbelievers, of people who have faith in the Lord—people who trust in the inheritance of God.
Faith is the identifying mark of the Christian.
~Ronald Dunn~
Thursday, March 03, 2011
Who rules your heart? -- Today's Devotion from Mike MacIntosh
Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, "Rule over us, both you and your son, and your grandson also; for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian." But Gideon said to them, "I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the Lord shall rule over you."
Judges 8:22-23
We should never be too caught up in any accolades that come our way. We must always remember where our gifts, abilities, intellect, and accomplishments come from, and that is only through the Hand of God.
God has given you everything you have. And when it comes to people's lives, in no way do you want to rule over anybody. You just don't want to do that. You want to be in a place where you can say, "The Lord rules over me." There are a lot of congregations that are ruled over by the elders and ruled over by the pastor. You belong to God. And I, as a pastor, don't want my fingerprints on any of the people that I serve. If you're a wolf, I'll be the first one to usher you out the door. If you're a wounded lamb, I'll do my best to pick you up, give you a hug, pat you on the back, and turn you over to the right person to help you. But as a pastor I will not rule you. The Lord is your ruler. Don't ever let a man rule over you; submit and be obedient to authority (1 Peter 2:18), but don't allow anyone but God to rule in your heart. Man demands, takes authority, and gets prideful--God doesn't! His ways are gentle and full of peace.
The people of Israel marveled at Gideon's power, but didn't have the spiritual sense to realize that it was God who allowed Gideon to succeed in battle. Had they realized this, maybe they would have worshiped God and asked Him to rule over them instead. Starting today, let God rule in you. Confess those things in your life that you've been holding on to and controlling. Let His gentle authority direct your ways.
"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful" (Colossians 3:15).
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