"According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him" (Ephesians 3:11–12). God's children have one of the greatest privileges ever bestowed on humankind. We have the right, the boldness and the freedom to break in on our Lord at any time.
On the day of Pentecost, the apostle Peter declared to the crowds in Jerusalem, "Jesus of Nazareth being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain" (Acts 2:22-23).
What did Peter mean by saying this? One Greek dictionary translates his words this way: "Jesus was handed over to enemies, given over to death according to the determined plan of God."
There has been a lot of talk in recent years about great conspiracies - schemes purportedly aimed at destroying both democracy in America and Christianity. These stratagems have included the Trilateral Commission, Communism, the New Age movement, Secular Humanism, the Illuminati and cults. Yet I believe none of these conspiracies has ever troubled the heart of God. With just one tiny whiff of his divine breath, he could blow them all into oblivion!
The Psalmist writes, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes" (Psalm 119:71). You may wonder, as I have — what kind of theology is this? Is it actually good for me to be afflicted?
"Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe..." (1 Thessalonians 2:10).
That's a pretty powerful statement to make — to call on God as a witness to your holiness! Yet, without flinching, Paul boasted to the believers in Thessalonica:
"I and my co-workers lived blamelessly before you and before God. Our conduct was righteous and pure. God is witness to our holy behavior — yet you also are witnesses. You saw that we walked holy and blameless before God and men!"
"Help, Lord: for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men" (Psalm 12:1).
A seventy-five-year-old retired official of a large Pentecostal denomination was arrested recently in Houston, Texas. He was charged with soliciting a prostitute. He confessed he had been doing this for nearly forty years; yet in all that time he had never shed a tear of grief. At one time he had been a faithful servant of God — but for the past forty years, he had lived a lie. He failed God, ceasing to be godly.
[This message was delivered in the seventeenth century by Thomas Manton. We have paraphrased it in modern English, and its message is just as potent today as then. Composed Christians are those who have learned to rejoice in any and all circumstances.]
Phillips Brooks, a great preacher of the 19th century, said, "Sinners have no right to condemn Christianity - because it hasn't been tried yet...."
I agree! I don't think any human on earth has yet discovered the power and glory that is available in Christ, here and now!
There is a media blitz aimed at the destruction of the Christian home. Satan is out to wreck every marriage, to break up every Christian couple and destroy the God-ordained concept of "faithful...till death do us part."
“O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?” (Galatians 3:1, KJV). If you’re a devoted servant of Jesus, there’s something you need to be absolutely sure of. It’s that Satan tries to bewitch everyone who sets his heart to go deeper with the Lord. The enemy of our souls is constantly setting demonic traps for all who are desperate to know more of Christ.
