Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video with images and lyrics from The Gettys singing their song … Speak, O Lord … Poignantly and powerfully singing of reality of living our lives in accord with God’s truth from His word.
=============
Highlight Verse[s]: John 5:39-40 [NLT] … 39 “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to Me! 40 Yet you refuse to come to Me to receive this life. ..."
… Jesus couldn’t be any clearer in declaring that He was The Christ, The Son of God, … The Messiah.
==============
Highlight Passage [context]: John 5:31-40 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus openly declares to all, including the Jewish religious leaders that He is the Son of God.
=============
Reference Passage : … Numbers 23:19 [NLT] … 19 God is not a man, so He does not lie. He is not human, so He does not change his mind. Has He ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?
… God ALWAYS speaks truth thru His word.
Reference Passage : … John 1:1-17 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus was/is the LIVING WORD.
Reference Passage : … John 8:31-32 [NLT] … 31 Jesus said to the people who believed in Him, ”You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. 32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
… We become His disciples and are freed from our sin nature when we are true and follow His teachings (in His word).
Reference Passage : … 2 Timothy 3:16-17 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Scripture - i.e., God’s word - gives Christians EVERYTHING WE NEED to follow and serve our Lord.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Tim Gustafson, points out that many who are considered “experts” so often get things wrong. The ODB author wrote: Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby writes of the “uncanny ability of experts to get things hopelessly, cataclysmically wrong.” A quick glance at recent history shows he’s right. The great inventor Thomas Edison, for instance, once declared that talking movies would never replace silent films. And in 1928, Henry Ford declared, “People are becoming too intelligent ever to have another war.” Countless other predictions by “experts” have missed the mark badly. Genius obviously has its limits.
This week many football gurus will be spouting their predictions on who will win the NCAA national football title and why. And some may get it right; but MANY will not. In Jesus’ day, the the Pharisees were the religious “experts.” And when it came to being able to identify Jesus as the Messiah, they really got it wrong, didn’t they?
Jesus clearly told them (see the highlight passage) that He was the Son of God, … their Messiah; but in spite of knowing the Old Testament and declaring to believe in it as absolute truth, almost all of these religious leaders were seemingly blind to the FACT that Jesus fulfilled over 300 of the Old Testament prophesies about the Messiah. And even today, many orthodox Jewish leaders with all the facts about Jesus’ life, get it wrong and are still looking for “their messiah” to come.
My friends, our Messiah has come; and He will come again to rule His kingdom forever. And He has given us His New Covenant (the New Testament), along with the Old Testament to be our ultimate guide book for life until He comes again. And as the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy [and us in 2Tim. 3:16-17], God’s word is absolute truth and provides us, as Jesus said [John 8:31-32], with all we need to be free from our selves and to follow Him.
And that’s why you find me here DAILY, investing time to be in God’s word, searching out more of His truth; … so that I can be free and follow Him out of myself and into His plan for my life. He is, as He declared, the “Living Word,” my friends. So, let’s follow Him into His truth every day and live according to His precepts.
=============
My THANKFULNESS: Oh Lord, thank You for Your word, which is Your absolutely accurate “GPS” for my life.
=============
My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … Precious Spirit … Help me to stay true to Your living precepts from Your word so that I can do all I can to avoid myself and to serve You. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
No comments:
Post a Comment