All posts by 5Q

Hot Potato

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“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”1

A teenager asked me the question: “Do you think homosexuality should be legalized?”

My opinion wasn’t and still isn’t important. I shared what I believed God had to say, and that is that homosexuality is an unnatural condition.2 Lest we are tempted to be judgmental, we need to realize that God’s Word also lists it with other sins which are all destructive to human personality, and as such, are opposed by God. True, God forgives all who confess their sins, but indicates that those who willfully practice sexual immorality, idolatry, adultery, male prostitution, homosexuality, stealing, greed, drunkenness, slandering, and swindling will not inherit the kingdom of God.3 If God is opposed to all of these damaging behaviors, can we justly legalize any one of them? Many heterosexuals are “driven” to sex outside of marriage but this is not God’s plan and is also sin. Others are “driven” to acts of pedophilia; dare we justify this too because “they can’t help it”?

Actually, there are often deep psychological causes behind many external “acts of sin.” The causes often have their roots in the past and need to be faced and resolved if a person is to find wholeness—both emotional and spiritual.

If we justify and legalize any act of sin, we harm the person involved much more than we ever help him/her. It gives an excuse not to face one’s issues and resolve their problem.

As Christians we are to accept and love the sinner and not judge or condemn him or her (because we are all sinners and are probably all guilty of at least greed, gossip, or slandering which are listed with the sin of homosexuality). But this doesn’t mean that we accept or approve of sinful behavior. Very often it has been a lack of love that has driven people into acts of sin—especially sexual sins. Only love, Christ’s unconditional love through us, will ever draw these people out again.*

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, help me to be honest about my own sins and never be the ‘first one to cast a stone’ at other sinners. Also, help me to love all sinners even though I don’t approve of their behavior. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name.”

*For further information and help regarding homosexuality be sure to read Chuck Colson’s BreakPoint article, “When a Dog Says ‘Moo’” at http://tinyurl.com/yedn67.

1. Romans 6:23 (NIV).

2. Romans 1:27.

3. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.

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Man Overboard

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In speaking of Himself, Jesus said, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”1 “And then He [Jesus] told them, ‘You are to go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere.”2

“One day Hudson Taylor [the famed missionary], was traveling on a Chinese junk from Shanghai to Ningpo. He had been witnessing to a man named Peter who rejected the gospel but was under deep conviction. In the course of events, Peter fell overboard, but no one made any effort to save him.

Taylor sprang to the mast, let down the sail, and jumped overboard in hopes of finding his friend. But no one on board joined Taylor in his frantic search. Taylor saw a fishing boat nearby and yelled to them to help, but they wouldn’t do it without money. Finally, after bartering for every penny that Taylor had, the fishermen stopped their fishing and began to look for Peter. In less than a minute of dragging their net, they found him, but it was too late. They were too busy fishing to care about saving a drowning man.

“We can easily condemn the selfish indifference of those fishermen, but by indicting them, we may condemn ourselves. Are we too busy with our jobs and other activities to take the time to rescue those who are perishing without Christ?”3

If we are true followers of Jesus Christ, we will be concerned about reaching the lost for Christ with His message of forgiveness and salvation. Jesus came to seek and to save lost souls and He commissioned His followers to do likewise. If we are not doing likewise, we are not following Jesus. As another has said, “Jesus last command to His followers needs to be our first priority.”

Suggested Prayer: “Dear God, thank You that Jesus, Your Son, came to die to pay the penalty for all my sins, and to seek and save me. I am available, please make me usable and use me to be an effective witness for Jesus today and every day for the rest of my life. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

For simple, attractive, and effective tools to be a witness for Jesus Christ please prayerfully consider becoming a People Power for Jesus Partner. There is no charge. To see how go to: https://learning.actsweb.org/people_power02.php

1. Luke 19:10 (NKJV).

2. Mark 16:15 (TLB).

3. Kenneth Cole, “The Crucial Message.”

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When My Child Was Lost

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Jesus said, “You are to go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere.”1

Dr. Leighton Ford tells the story of when his young daughter got lost years ago.

“I was minding the children while my wife was shopping. Debbie Jean had returned from school and was playing with her four-year-old brother in the back yard. When I called them to come in, Debbie Jean was missing.

“I walked up and down the street calling her name—fearing the silence.

“Later (after she was found) I reflected on the incident. During the nearly two hours that Debbie Jean was missing, nothing else mattered. In my study were books to be read, letters to be answered, articles to be written, planning to be done—but it was all forgotten. I could think of only one thing: my little girl was lost.

“I had only one prayer and I prayed it a thousand times: ‘O God, help me to find her.’

“‘How often,’ I ask myself, had I felt that same terrible urgency about people who were lost from God?”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, give me a passion for those who are lost without Jesus. Please use me today and every day to be as Jesus to someone who needs the Savior and grant that they, seeing Jesus in me, will want You for themselves. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’s name, amen.”

NOTE: Learn how to be a missionary right from your own home, and have a vital part in worldwide gospel outreach by becoming an ACTS People Power for Jesus Partner. It’s very simple, non-threatening, and without cost. See how at: https://learning.actsweb.org/people_power_invite.php.

1. Mark 16:15 (TLB).

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What Is That in Your Hand?

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“Then Moses answered and said, ‘But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, “The LORD has not appeared to you.”’ So the LORD said to him, ‘What is that in your hand?’ And he said, ‘A rod.’”1

I have read how a boy who loved to listen to music was bitterly disappointed because he could neither play nor sing. But a kindly gentleman encouraged him with these words: “There are many ways of making music. What matters is the song in your heart.” That boy—Antonio Stradivarius—took the man at his word and became the world’s greatest violin maker.

I also read about “a well-dressed European woman on safari in Africa. The group stopped briefly at a hospital for lepers. The heat was intense, the flies buzzing. She noticed a nurse bending down in the dirt, tending to the pus-filled sores of a leper.

“With disdain the woman remarked, ‘Why, I wouldn’t do that for all the money in the world!”

“The nurse quietly replied, ‘Neither would I.’”2

As God asked Moses (who was feeling very inadequate) when he was calling him to lead the ancient Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, he asks the same question to you and me today, “What is that in your hand?” That is, what are your abilities and talents and how are you using these for the highest purpose? Are they to enrich your own life for your own ends or to help enrich the lives of others?

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, help me to find the most effective way to use my God-given talents and abilities to serve You by serving others in a way that will bring the most glory to Your name. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Exodus 4:1-2 (NKJV).

2. Donald L. Deffner, Seasonal Illustrations, p. 130.

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The Longing for Belonging

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“And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.”1

There is deep within the heart and soul of every one of us a need and longing to belong. The one who has no sense of belonging and being connected in relationship to at least one meaningful companion or friend, is more likely than not to become physically ill, depressed, a patient in a mental institution, or even suicidal. It may not be the most desirable but we can live without being in a romantic relationship, but we cannot live healthily without having at least one (and preferably more) healthy relationships.

Not belonging, not feeling loved and accepted and/or being rejected can be one of life’s most painful experiences. Ralph Keyes in his book Is There Life after High School? writes that Mia Farrow has never forgotten the time every girl but Mia was asked to dance. Nor did Charles Schulz of “Peanuts” cartoon fame ever forget that the yearbook staff rejected his every cartoon. Movie actress Ali McGraw confesses she doesn’t forget the fact that she never had one date in all of high school. Henry Kissinger is best remembered by his classmates as the kid nobody wanted to eat lunch with at school.”2And perhaps many of us can remember when kids were choosing teams and we were the last one to be chosen. It was pretty devastating.

As I’ve said many times, if Jesus, when on earth, needed close friendly relationships, how much more do we need them? Speaking personally, one of the best places I have found to find healthy connections and friendships is in a healthy, non-judgmental, non-legalistic, loving, God-fearing (respecting) church.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank You that you have created me for relationships. Please help me first to be a good friend and then find a few loving relationships to get legitimate needs met in healthy ways. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Hebrews 10:25 (NLT).

2. Donald B. Strobe, Collected Words. Cited on www.Sermons.com.

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Never Give Up

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“It is God himself, in his mercy, who has given us this wonderful work [of telling his Good News to others], and so we never give up.”1

A number of years ago I read the following story about Sir Winston Churchill in Our Daily Bread. Churchill attended grade school at Harrow where he was in the lower third of his class and showed no particular potential. After he graduated he went on to university and eventually became famous.

On October 29, 1941, Prime Minister Winston Churchill went back to Harrow to hear the traditional songs he had sung there when a student and to address the student body. He was introduced as one of the greatest orators of all time. The students were told to take plenty of notes.

In those sobering days of World War II included in his address Sir Winston encouraged the boys to:

“Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”2

I’m certain that none of those students ever forgot that advice.

And that is God’s advice and word to us. If we interpreted God’s message to the Hebrew Christians fully, it would be: “God said, ‘I will never, never, never, never, never [five times over] leave you or forsake you” or “I will never, not ever, not ever, leave you or forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5). This is the greatest reason why we, too, must never give up.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank You for the wonderful assurance that You will never ever leave me or forsake me. Help me to never ever leave or forsake You … not ever. Gratefully in Jesus’s name.”

1. 2 Corinthians 4:1 (TLB).

2. Click HERE for the complete text of Sir Winston’s address.

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Faithfulness

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“He [God] who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.”1

“When Robert Moffat, Scottish missionary to Africa, came back to recruit helpers in his homeland, he was greeted by the fury of a very cold British winter. Arriving at the church where he was to speak, he noted that only a small group had braved the elements to hear his appeal.

“Although no one responded to Moffat’s call for volunteers for mission service in Africa, the challenge thrilled a young boy who had come to work the bellows of the organ. Deciding that he would follow in the footsteps of this pioneer missionary, he went on to school, obtained a degree in medicine, married Moffat’s daughter, Mary, and spent the rest of his life ministering to the unreached tribes of Africa. His name: David Livingstone!”2

Whatever and whenever we do “simple acts of kindness and obedience” in Jesus’ name, we may never know until we get to heaven who and how many people will have been reached and affected for all eternity.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, I ask not for fame or fortune, but that every day for the rest of my life You will help and use me to commit simple acts of kindness in Your name in some way to every life I touch. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. 1 Thessalonians 5:24 (NKJV).
2. Doug Batchelor in Broken Chains (Pacific Press 2004). Cited on WITandWISDOM by Richard Wimer, www.witandwisdom.org

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God’s Judgment Throne

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“It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.”1

According to God’s Word, the Bible, after death, either at the judgment seat of Christ or at the Great White judgment throne of God, every one of us will be required to give an account to God regarding our life here on earth.

Those who believe in God and have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior have their names written in God’s book of life. However, they will still appear before the judgment seat of Christ—not to be judged for their sins, because Jesus paid that penalty for them when he died on the cross—but to be judged on the basis of how they served God here on earth and be rewarded accordingly. As God’s Words says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”2

On the other hand, those who have not chosen to believe in God or accept Jesus Christ as their Savior—whose names are not written in God’s book of life—will appear before God, the Judge of all the earth at the Great White Judgment throne of God. Because they never accepted Jesus’ sacrifice for their sins nor asked God for forgiveness, they will have to pay the penalty for their own sins, which is eternal death and separation from God, the author of all love and life, in the place the Bible calls Hell or the lake of fire—wherever and whatever that may be.

As God’s Word says, “Each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”3

The critical issue is: have you confessed your sinfulness to God, and do you believe that Jesus died on the cross in your place to pay the penalty for your sins and, in so doing, have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior? If not, you will be required in the end to pay the penalty for your sins yourself.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank You for giving Your Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty for all my sins. I do believe in You and confess my sinfulness and ask for Your forgiveness. Help me always to live for you. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

Note: If you prayed this simple prayer and truly meant it, please let us know by going to http://tinyurl.com/pgntm, or for further help be sure to read, “To Find and Know God … without having to be religious” at: http://tinyurl.com/8glq9.

1. Hebrews 9:27 (NKJV).

2. 2 Corinthians 5:10 (NIV).

3. Revelation 20:13-15 (NIV).

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The Choices We Make Make Us

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“But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…. But as for me [Joshua] and my household, we will serve the LORD.”1

“His lord said to him, ‘Well done good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’”2

As a teen I was fortunate to be a member of a small, but very active church. In our youth group we were very much challenged to serve God with our life. Almost half of our group ended up in full-time Christian ministry. In one family the oldest brother chose to become a missionary and faithfully served God until he retired; of his two sisters, one dropped out of church but did reasonably well in the business world; the other sister not only dropped out of church, but became involved in an illicit relationship which ended in disaster. She started drinking heavily, and sadly, today in her retirement years has become an alcoholic having made shipwreck of her life.

Three friends—three different choices! One will certainly go to a positive heavenly reward. I’m not sure how the other two will fare.

The reality is that at the end of life’s journey every person will be required to give an account of his or her life to either Jesus Christ or God. For the Christian the Bible says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”3 Not so good for the non-Christian. We will address their plight in tomorrow’s Daily Encounter.

So, if we want to receive a good report when we give a personal account to the Lord, we need to make that our choice here and now, and to make any changes that are necessary, for we become the sum total of all the choices we have made in the past—and will become the sum total of these and all the choices we make in the future. As Brian Tracy reminds us: “It’s choice, not chance that determines our destiny.”

No matter what our past, the good news is that we can choose right now to start making productive choices, and do so at the beginning of every day so these choices will determine our ultimate destiny.

Let us remember too, that, as Winston Churchill said, “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” Albert Schweitzer agrees. He said, “I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.”

For the Christian our highest service is to serve God and we serve Him by serving our fellow man. In the words of another, “Our greatest legacy will be those who live eternally in heaven because of our efforts,” and Billy Graham said, “I am convinced the greatest act of love we can ever perform for people is to tell them about God’s love for them in Christ.”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, my choice today is to love and serve You all the days of my life. Please make me usable and use me today and every day to be and effective witness for Jesus by helping me to be ‘as Jesus’ in some way to every life I touch and do this always for Your glory. So help me God. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

NOTE: Learn how to be a missionary right from your own home, and have a vital part in worldwide gospel outreach by becoming an ACTS People Power for Jesus Partner. It’s very simple, non-threatening, and without cost. See how at: https://learning.actsweb.org/people_power_invite.php.

  1. Joshua 24:15 (NIV).
  2. Matthew 25:23 (NKJV).
  3. 2 Corinthians 5:10 (NKJV).

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The Day That Changed the World

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“I [Jesus] am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades [hell].”1

I recall reading about a father who was caught with his two young daughters in a snow storm and lost his way. When night fell he wrapped his jacket around his two girls and lay on top of them to stop them from freezing to death. The next day they were found by a search party. The two girls were alive and well, but the father had frozen to death. He gave his life to save the ones he loved.

That’s exactly what Jesus did for you and me. He gave his life to pay for the consequences of our sin—death. And on Easter Sunday 2,000 years ago he arose from the grave proving that he had forever overcome the power of death and sin, and to guarantee resurrection for all who put their trust in him.

Rivas Zacharias talks about how Christ encounters us today as he did the disciples on the morning of his resurrection from the dead. “The disciples were the ones marked out for death. Those who survived Jesus were really the dead. And he, Jesus, the dead one, was really the living one.”

And because he is the Living One, the day he rose from the grave was the day that changed the world forever. And the day that you and I commit our life to him and receive his free pardon is the day that changes our life—forever!

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank You that after paying the penalty for all my sins, You arose from the grave giving me the assurance that I, too, will also arise from death because my trust, and my salvation, is in You. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Revelation 1:18 (NIV).

Note: If you have never accepted God’s forgiveness and are assured of life after death in Heaven, please read the article, “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian” at: www.actsweb.org/christian.

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