DAILY DEVOTIONALS: 6.22.24

 Instructing in Meekness “And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves.” (2 Timothy 2:24-25) In his second epistle to young Timothy, the imprisoned Paul admonished him to instruct those who oppose biblical doctrines, especially the gospel. But in verse 16, he said to “shun profane and vain babblings.” On one hand, Timothy was supposed to shun pointless arguments, but on the other, he was to humbly engage and instruct. How are believers supposed to know when to engage and when to disengage? Paul gave answers in the intervening verses. We disengage when we see that the conversation is pointless. When we enter profane and vain babblings, arguing within their framework, then we “increase unto more ungodliness.” (2 Timothy 2:16). “But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes” (2:23). We engage, however, with those who oppose God’s truth, hoping that “God peradventure will give them repentance” (2:25b). We ready ourselves “for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work” (2:21). Once spiritually prepared, “the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all” (2:24). Paul is concerned not only that believers “rightly [divide] the word of truth” (2:15) but also with the believer’s demeanor and behavior. Why would someone’s arguments be persuasive if their statements aren’t backed by godly character (see 1 Peter 3:15-16)? Believers are to be “apt [skilled] to teach…in meekness” (our text). Meekness does not mean weakness but power under control. In the context of a conversation, meekness isn’t focused on winning an argument so much as reaching the other person with God’s truth. So, we avoid foolish babblings with some but instruct others skillfully and with meekness. BDT --------------------- Baptism in the Holy Spirit “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:13) This is a definitive verse on one of the great themes of the Bible. The preposition “by” is the Greek en, which can take many meanings (by, with, through, etc.) depending on context, but it is most frequently and most naturally rendered simply as “in.” The baptism in one Spirit is the theme of this passage, teaching us that every one of the “brethren” (v. 1)—those who “speaking by the Spirit of God” have acknowledged Jesus to be their Lord (v. 3)—has been “baptized into one body,” the body of Christ Himself. This baptism is accomplished in the Spirit for every genuine believer, Jew or Gentile, slave or master, male or female, young or old. Furthermore, the passage is actually in the past tense: “[In] one Spirit [were] we all baptized into one body.” This baptism does not take place repeatedly in one’s life, as may be true of the “filling” of the Spirit, but once, at the time of true conversion. There are only seven explicit references in the Bible to the baptism in the Holy Spirit. All except our text are referring to the initial baptizing work of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1). It deals with the ongoing work of the Spirit in all future instances of true conversion to Christ. Since His first baptism of Jewish believers (Acts 2) and then of Gentiles (Acts 11), all—both Jews and Gentiles—are baptized in the Spirit into the body of Christ. Therefore, let true Christians rejoice that the Holy Spirit has placed each of them securely in the body of Christ, united to Him and sharing His resurrection life, with all functioning together through “the same God which worketh all in all” (1 Corinthians 12:6). HMM --------------------------- The Glory of the Children “[The] glory of children are their fathers.” (Proverbs 17:6) Most Christian men are aware of the familiar exhortation to bring up their children “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4) and the warning “Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged” (Colossians 3:21). Biblical messages to fathers frequently reflect the very real societal need for family discipline and godly leadership in the home (Proverbs 22:6, 15; Genesis 18:19). Our text is a bit different. Although the message certainly implies godly leadership, the immediate focus is on the children. Children, we are told, receive “glory” from their fathers! How is this to come about? Glory, in the biblical sense, centers on the value, the worthiness, or the reputation of the person or event so recognized. For instance, the Scripture teaches that the Lord Jesus “shall come in the glory of his Father” (Matthew 16:27; Mark 8:38; etc.) and that the reputation of God the Father was conferred on Christ Jesus: “For he received from God the Father honour and glory” (2 Peter 1:17). So, fathers, please learn this critical principle. Your reputation is reflected onto your children. Your behavior in the workplace is assumed to be an indicator of your children’s potential. What you say or do in moments of unguarded or uncontrolled passion will pass on to your children—for good or ill. The common saying “like father, like son” is recognized across time and culture as an accurate measure of human existence. The Lord insists that “the iniquity of the fathers” will be passed “upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation” (Exodus 34:7). Would it not be far better that your children receive glory from your righteous life than shame (Psalm 89:45) from your iniquity? HMM III ---------------------------- The Watchers “This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.” (Daniel 4:17) Who are these mysterious “watchers” who are so concerned that we know “the powers that be are ordained of God” (Romans 13:1), sometimes even including the “basest of men”? They are mentioned in the Bible only here in the fourth chapter of Daniel (see also vv. 13, 23), all three times evidently synonymous with “the holy ones,” beings who come down from heaven. Such phrases could apply only to angels, created to serve the Lord and the “heirs of salvation” (Psalm 103:20; Hebrews 1:14). “Watchers” is used here in reference to Nebuchadnezzar’s vision and period of insanity. Although it is used nowhere else in the Bible, it occurs frequently in such apocryphal books as Jubilees and Enoch, where it refers both to God’s holy angels and to the fallen angels, who have direct interest in people on Earth as they “watch” them—even on occasion directly controlling events that affect them. In any case, the Bible does indicate that “the angels desire to look into” the outworking of the gospel in the hearts of men (1 Peter 1:12) and that “unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God” (Ephesians 3:10). Children, as well as adult believers, also seem to have guardian angels who “watch” them (Matthew 18:10; Acts 12:9-15). This is a mysterious subject because we cannot see these “watchers,” but we at least need to know they are there. In fact, we can praise God that “the angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them” (Psalm 34:7). HMM -------------------------- Every Effort Matters - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel�s hand �Zechariah 4:10 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/every-effort-matters/ - Listen Edward Kimble was a Sunday school teacher who worked in a shoe store. He had a coworker named Dwight with whom he wanted to share the gospel, but he was very reluctant to do so. Finally, he mustered up the courage, went to Dwight, and told him about his faith in Jesus Christ. And Dwight, much to Edward�s delight, put his faith in Jesus Christ that day. Dwight�s last name was Moody, and you might say that he went from selling soles to saving souls. Dwight L. Moody went on to preach around the world, and on one occasion a pastor named Frederick D. Meyer felt deeply stirred. As a result, he went into a nationwide preaching ministry. It was through his ministry that a college student named Wilbur Chapman accepted Christ, and Chapman became an evangelist. Chapman employed a young baseball player named Billy Sunday to help him, and Sunday went on to become the premier evangelist of his day. He was asked to preach in Charlotte, North Carolina, which he did. Sunday was very well-received there and was invited to return. However, Sunday had a conflict in his schedule, so a relatively unknown evangelist named Mordecai Ham came to speak instead. And on one of the final nights of the event, a lanky farm boy made his way up the aisle in response to the invitation to receive Christ. Everyone knew him simply as Billy Frank. But we know him today as Billy Graham. Kimble reached Moody, who touched Meyer, who reached Chapman, who helped Sunday, who reached businessmen in Charlotte. They invited Mordecai Ham to speak, who ultimately reached Billy Graham. Maybe God won�t use you to bring a lot of people into His kingdom. Maybe you ultimately will reach a few people in your lifetime while others reach many more. Perhaps you feel that you�re somewhat of a failure in your evangelism efforts. But the story isn�t over yet, is it? What if one of the people you reached was the next Billy Graham? What if one of the people you reached then reaches someone else? And maybe one hundred years from now, someone whose ministry is changing the world can trace their story back to your faithful efforts in approaching just one person. Every effort matters. We all have a part to play. Maybe you�re a Kimble, or maybe you�re a Moody. Just don�t allow your life to amount to zero because you did nothing with what God gave you. The truth that God has given us was not designed to be hoarded; it was designed to be shared. God has blessed you to be a blessing to others. And if you only take in and don�t give out, you are running the risk of spiritual stagnation. You have a choice before you: evangelize or fossilize. We are to take the truths of God�s Word and share them with others. Maybe you�re thinking, �Well, I just don�t know all that much.� God can do a lot with a little. --------------------------- Ananias, the Unsung Hero - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, 'Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.' �Acts 9:17 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/ananias-the-unsung-hero/ - Listen When Saul heard the voice of Jesus on the Damascus road, he fell to the ground, blinded by a searing light. Then Saul was led to the home of a man named Judas in Damascus. Enter Ananias, the unsung hero. God appeared to him in a vision and said, �Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now. I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying hands on him so he can see again� (Acts 9:11�12 NLT). Now, you can understand Ananias�s reticence. Saul was a notorious hunter of Christians. He was the man who had Stephen murdered. Yet God was saying, �Go to Saul. He is praying.� That would be like a Jew who was hiding from the Nazis hearing that Hitler had been converted. There was no way. Do you know someone whom you couldn�t imagine ever becoming a Christian? That is what it was like when Saul of Tarsus came to Jesus Christ. The Message describes Ananias�s reaction this way: �Ananias protested, �Master, you can�t be serious. Everybody�s talking about this man and the terrible things he�s been doing, his reign of terror against your people in Jerusalem! And now he�s shown up here with papers from the Chief Priest that give him license to do the same to us�� (Acts 9:13�14). Sometimes God will put a burden on our heart to talk to a certain person. It isn�t as though we have a detailed blueprint of what we are going to say and how that person will respond. But we simply have a sense that we ought to go to this person or ought to go to that place. That is how it was for Ananias. Sometimes we see opportunities, and sometimes we can make opportunities. For example, it might be as simple as initiating a conversation. God told Ananias to go, and he went. Now, if God tells us to go, can we say no to Him? Yes. Remember, God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach, but Jonah refused. So, God sent a great fish to swallow Jonah and then ultimately regurgitate him. And reluctantly, Jonah went to Nineveh. The question is, will you be a Jonah or an Ananias? When God says go, are you going to be a Jonah and argue? Or are you going to be an Ananias and take a risk? What is the worst that could happen? �Well,� you�re thinking, �I might get martyred.� That is true, but it�s unlikely. Probably, what will happen is that someone will say, �I don�t want to talk to you.� Or, they won�t even respond to you. Maybe they will argue with you, which isn�t always a bad thing. Then again, maybe they will listen to you and even believe what you are saying as you speak from the power of God�s Holy Spirit. So go. ------------------------------ Fulfilling Our Calling - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen. �Acts 8:1 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/fulfilling-our-calling/ - Listen Stephen was a young man with so much promise in his life. Because of his faithfulness, he was selected to be a deacon in the church. But it quickly became evident that Stephen had a gift for preaching. People were coming to faith when he spoke, and miracles were even taking place. Many probably thought that Stephen had a great ministry ahead of him because he was only a young man. However, because of his preaching, he was called to give an account before the Jewish Sanhedrin, which was like the Supreme Court of that day. These very powerful men didn�t like Stephen�s preaching about Jesus Christ as the Messiah, and they called him to answer for it. Now, if Stephen had been careful, he could have gone home for dinner that night. Instead, he saw the possibilities of reaching the Sanhedrin with the gospel. So, he began to preach to them. And as Stephen preached, they became so outraged that they put their hands over their ears and started to scream. It�s clear they didn�t want to hear what he had to say. But Stephen continued to preach, and they decided to execute him. They killed him by stoning, and even as Stephen�s young life was being drained, he cried out, �Lord, don�t charge them with this sin!� (Acts 7:60 NLT). We might say, �That is tragic because it seems like God could have done so much through Stephen�s life.� But here�s what we need to remember. We don�t know how long our lives will last. We all have a task to complete, a calling to fulfill. And the length of our lives is determined not by genes or statistics but by God. Our objective is to stay on course and do what God has set before us. It very well may have been the testimony of Stephen that brought Saul of Tarsus under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. How do we know that? Because right on the heels of Stephen�s martyrdom, Saul went out to hunt down Christians. He left Jerusalem and went as far as Damascus in Syria to find those who were followers of Jesus and then arrest them and execute them. But while Saul was on his way to do that, he met Jesus Himself. The Lord came to Saul on the road to Damascus and blinded him, and then Saul came to faith in Jesus Christ. From the biblical record, we don�t know of anyone who personally shared the gospel with Saul. But Saul quite possibly was a member of the Sanhedrin. As such, Stephen�s bold preaching could have put him on this road and indirectly contributed to his conversion. We can all look back on our lives as believers and identify people who contributed spiritually. God has put you where you are in that neighborhood, in that workspace, on that campus. Did you ever stop and think that maybe you are there for a reason? There are people in your world whom you need to reach out to. ----------------------------- Habitual Joy �Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.� (1 Peter 1:3-4) Does godly thankfulness characterize your heart? Sometimes apathy or complaining will creep into the believer�s soul, causing a spiritual brain fog that robs him of the rich joy of being redeemed. Peter�s words �blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ� highlight and honor Jesus, �the author and finisher of our faith� (Hebrews 12:2). He is the believer�s source of all hope and joy because it is through Jesus that we can be saved from our sin. In expressing joy in his salvation and future inheritance, Peter describes God�s �abundant [Greek polus] mercy� that has forgiven believers so they may be �begotton� (anagennesas), meaning �to cause to be born again.� God�s mercy meets our misery, and His grace meets our guilt. Because we can do nothing to merit such a magnanimous gift (Ephesians 2:8-9), godly and joyful thankfulness should be the natural consequence of recognizing the extent of this mercy and grace. Peter also rejoices in the gift of �lively hope� that is given by the physical resurrection of Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:49). �Lively,� also translated as �liveth� or �living� elsewhere, is used five times in 1 Peter (1:3, 23; 2:4-5; 4:5-6) and emphasizes the spiritual life available to us through our living Savior. The resurrected Christ is the foundation of hope for the believer in the inheritance to come�an assurance based solely on the reality of a risen Christ! Believers have joy �through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement� (Romans 5:11). Are you exulting in the joy of your salvation? CCM ------------------------- Unlikely Allies - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org So during the night, some of the other believers lowered him in a large basket through an opening in the city wall. �Acts 9:25 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/unlikely-allies/ - Listen If you want to find out who your true friends and enemies are, start talking about Jesus. You will know very quickly. It will sort itself out right before your eyes. In fact, you will have to ask yourself whether someone who turns against you for your faith in Christ is a real friend. Saul, who later became the apostle Paul, found out quickly who his true friends and enemies were. Acts 9:23�24 tells us, �After a while some of the Jews plotted together to kill him. They were watching for him day and night at the city gate so they could murder him, but Saul was told about their plot� (NLT). The writer of Acts goes on to say that some believers in Damascus came to Saul�s aid when there were threats against him: �During the night, some of the other believers lowered him in a large basket through an opening in the city wall� (verse 25 NLT). Talk about a change in events. Saul had gone to Damascus with an entourage, intent on killing Christians. And he left Damascus lowered in a basket by the very believers he had come to kill. What a difference a day makes. Afterward Saul returned to Jerusalem, the very place where he had presided over the martyrdom of Stephen. Did he receive a hero�s welcome from his fellow believers? Did they hear the news of his conversion in Damascus and say, �The notorious Christian killer, Saul, is one of us now. Let�s welcome him�? No. They didn�t even believe he was converted. Acts 9:26 says, �When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to meet with the believers, but they were all afraid of him. They did not believe he had truly become a believer� (NLT). That is where Barnabas came in. Apparently, he had some credibility with the apostles, because the next verse tells us, �Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told them how Saul had seen the Lord on the way to Damascus and how the Lord had spoken to Saul. He also told them that Saul had preached boldly in the name of Jesus in Damascus� (verse 27 NLT). When Barnabas said it, they seemed to accept it. He put it all on the line and backed Saul�s story because it was true. The name Barnabas means �son of encouragement,� and we need more people like Barnabas today. They�re always encouraging you, no matter what you�re going through. If you call or text them, they consistently have an uplifting word. Then there are others who are the sons of discouragement. They always have something negative to say. They�re always critical. Perhaps we need them in life too. But we need a lot more Barnabases, people who know how to lift us up, people who know how to comfort us, people who know how to motivate us. That is what Barnabas did for Saul. And that is what we need to do for new believers. They need someone who will stand with them and love them. ---------------------------