Posts with the category “pastor-devotional”

Ephesians 6:16-18,“In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.” Over the last f...  Read More

In Psalm 34, there are several verses in which we find a great encouragement for us as God's people, encouragement for us to come to God in prayer, to pray to Him in times when we are fearful or when we are in trouble. Psalm 34:4, “I sought the Lord and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears.” I think like most people, we all experience times in which we are fearful, things that come in...  Read More

Matthew 14:25-33,And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” And Peter answered Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” He said, “Co...  Read More

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Hebrews 12:1-4,“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne ...  Read More

Psalm 118:1-7,Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. For His steadfast love endures forever! Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” Let the house of Aaron say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” Let those who fear the Lord say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is on my side; I will ...  Read More

Romans 12:1-2,“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”I think if you did a survey of all th...  Read More

Acts 2:37-42,Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, e...  Read More

Jeremiah 9:23, 24, Jeremiah says, “But let him that boasts, boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord.”Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.”John 17:3, “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”If I were to ask you the most important question you could ever ask, I think most of us would say, “The mos...  Read More

I just want to begin by saying one thing about prayer. I think we could argue, could we not, that the second to one or second to two clearest mandates and activities in the book of Acts are preaching and praying. Preaching and praying. And when the church prays, if you look at the book of Acts, the church is growing and evangelizing. And someone has said this, And that word prayer, praying is used...  Read More

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Psalm 119:36, 37,“Incline my heart to Your testimonies and not to selfish gain. Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things and give me life in Your ways.”This psalm is written by a man who obviously loves his Bible. I think only five of the 176 verses doesn't explicitly mention the word of God; whether he uses the word statutes, commandments, precepts. But really, it's someone who has a love af...  Read More

Matthew 7:24-27,“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand....  Read More

Mark 10:46-52,And they came to Jericho. And as He was leaving Jericho with His disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, ha...  Read More

Isaiah 40:10-15,“Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and His arm rules for Him; behold, His reward is with Him and His recompense before Him. He will tend His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs in His arms; He will carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclose...  Read More

Jeremiah 29:10-14,“For thus says the Lord, “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you My promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will hear you. You will seek Me and ...  Read More

Matthew 5:1-11,Seeing the crowds, He went up on the mountain, and when He sat down, His disciples came to him. And He opened His mouth and taught them, saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousnes...  Read More

Matthew 6:9,“Pray then like this: Our Father in heaven hallowed be your name.”(And I don't think He's telling us that we always have to pray exactly like this, but these should be the principles that shape our prayer. It doesn't mean we can't pray like this, but we don't have to feel obligated to always pray word for word.)I heard Alistair Begg say, That's true. Every Christian, every Christian ca...  Read More

Revelation 4:9-11,“And whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the one seated on the throne, the one who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before the one seated on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever. They cast crowns before the throne and say, ‘Our Lord and God, you are worthy to receive glory and honor and power because you have...  Read More

Psalm 1,“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but ...  Read More

Nehemiah 1:4-11,“As soon as I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days. And I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. And I said, “O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love Him and keep His commandments, let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, to hear the prayer of Your servant that I now pray ...  Read More

1 Peter 2:2,“Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation - if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”2 Peter 3:18,“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” Peter reminds us, in a good way, that there are no perfect disciples. We are all imperf...  Read More

Philippians 4:8,“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable; if there is any excellence, if there's anything worthy of praise, think or meditate upon these things.”I think if we all did a careful check over people who were the most influential in our lives, we would find that they were Christians, and ...  Read More

Colossians 2:6, 7,“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving."As those who have received Christ Jesus the Lord, those that have been united to Christ, those who have been saved through faith in Christ, as we walk in Christ, we should always abound in thanksgiving. Of ...  Read More

Romans 5:5-8,“And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die, but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sin...  Read More

Luke 23:46, “He breathed His last.”Breathing. It is something that everyone understands. It's something everybody realizes is a necessity. We are dependent on breathing to live. As I was thinking about breathing, some of the things we know about breathing, we know that we breathe continually, we breathe every moment of every day. It's not something that we just do occasionally. It's not something ...  Read More

2 Peter 1:3, 4,“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence, by which He has granted to us His precious and very great (some translations read exceedingly great) promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in t...  Read More

Matthew 6:5-15,And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites.  For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret, will reward you. And when you p...  Read More

Matthew 22:35,And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question to test Him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.”Jesus is asked a question by a lawyer, and it wasn't a sincere question, but an attempt to trap Him or stir u...  Read More

Matthew 6:9-13,“Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’”Luke chapter 11:1,2,Now, Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of ...  Read More

Matthew 24:3-14,As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See...  Read More

Romans 8: It's sometimes called the greatest chapter, or certainly the greatest epistle. But even this chapter is probably the high point of Romans, the greatest chapter in the world. It begins on a blessed negative, you could say, and ends on a blessed negative. And in terms of our identity, there are two great doctrines that are highlighted here in Romans chapter 8. The doctrine of our justifica...  Read More

I am going to ask you to turn to Acts 17 to begin our time and prime us as we think about going to prayer. Acts 17 is where the Apostle Paul is in that place called Mars Hill. He's been invited there, and engages in what you could call an apologetic defense of the faith. These are intellectuals of his day, the philosophers, the Stoic and the Epicurean philosophers.  But notice, he doesn't begin pr...  Read More

Exodus 20:1-17,And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or s...  Read More

Good evening, Brethren, this is our Wednesday night Zoom prayer meeting. One of the purposes, not the only purpose, but certainly one purpose to come to a prayer meeting, a corporate prayer meeting, is to learn how to pray. We learn by way of principles and precepts, but we also learn from one another and we also learn from men in the Bible who prayed and we're going to focus on Elijah.1 Kings 18:...  Read More

Psalm 90. A prayer of Moses, the Man of God.Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth, and the world, from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. You return man to dust and say, “Return, O children of man!” (or children of Adam.) For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is passed, or...  Read More

Matthew 5:1-12,Seeing the crowds, He went up on the mountain, and when He had sat down, His disciples came to him. And He opened His mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteou...  Read More

Exodus 34:6,7,The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and sin…”This was probably one of the most exciting and thrilling, never-forget moments in Moses’ life. In the previous chapter, Exodus 33, remember...  Read More

Psalm 90:1-12,A prayer of Moses, the man of God. Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. You return man to dust and say, “Return, O children of man!” For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the ni...  Read More

Matthew 16:13-18Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Bless...  Read More