Pastors Network Devotion

“Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all.” 1 Chronicles 29:11 (ESV)  

“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,  who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.
 

When witnessing to people you have to dig deeper than merely asking, “Are you a Christian?” The term Christian means different things to different people. Many people will answer yes to this question without thinking twice. 

Be cautious of preachers and teachers who only preach topical messages, and who rarely reference the Bible. These preachers use the Scriptures as a nice garnish for the meal of wit and well-stated personal opinions that they serve up on various topics. Be very afraid of preachers who do not encourage you to read the Bible for yourselves and test the messages they deliver.
 

“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:18 (ESV) 

Christian discipleship doesn’t start with the idea that we should work at self-improvement to be better people. It starts with the supernatural idea that in conversion we have literally taken on a new nature in Christ. 

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20 (ESV) 

“A whole new generation of Christians has come up believing that it is possible to ‘accept’ Christ without forsaking the world.” –A.W. Tozer  

“Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’” John 8:12 (ESV) 

Personal holiness in our lives is evidence that the Spirit of Christ is truly living inside us. Jesus is the light of the world and in salvation through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that light lives in us. This is why Jesus said to us in Matthew chapter 5, “You are the light of the world.”

One thing that unites the church to Christ and believers to each other is the fact that, for the most part, the world will hate us. 

Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ 

“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:23-24 (ESV)