But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?[Romans 10:14]
In Acts 8 we find the story of a foreign dignitary from Ethiopia. As the queen's treasurer, he was a powerful man who would have traveled with an entourage. He went to Jerusalem in search of God, but found dead, lifeless religion instead. However, he obtained a scroll of Isaiah while he was there. And as it happened, he was traveling through the desert, reading aloud about the suffering of the Messiah, when God led Philip to go to him and share the gospel.
Philip saw him traveling along, reading from Isaiah's scroll. So Philip walked up to him and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?" (verse 30). The man said, "How can I, unless someone instructs me?" Philip climbed up into the chariot, took the scroll, told him what it meant, and pointed him to Jesus. And before the day was over, that man had become a believer and left with joy in his heart and a spring in his step. This is what people are still looking for today: someone to show them the way.
There is one thing that Christians and non-Christians have in common: both are very uptight about evangelism. Christians are uptight about evangelizing, and non-Christians are uptight about being evangelized. But I think some of us give up way too easily. When we ask someone if anyone has ever told them about Jesus, or if we invite someone to church and they say no, we give up too easily. Instead, try asking, "Well, why do you say that? Did you have a bad experience in church?"
God has primarily chosen to reach people through people. So engage them, and most importantly, keep praying for them. Give it a try, and you will discover what a joy it is to tell others about Jesus.
Share this today:
There is one thing that Christians and non-Christians have in common: both are very uptight about evangelism. Christians are uptight about evangelizing, and non-Christians are uptight about being evangelized.
Today's Bible Reading
Jeremiah 33:1 The word of Adonai came to Yirmeyahu a second time while he was still imprisoned in the guards’ quarters:
2 “Thus says Adonai the maker,
Adonai who formed [the universe]
so as to keep directing it —
Adonai is his name:
3 ‘Call out to me,
and I will answer you —
I will tell you great things,
hidden things of which you are unaware.’”
4 For here is what Adonai the God of Isra’el says concerning the houses of this city and the palaces of the kings of Y’hudah which are about to be destroyed and used as siege-works and ramparts, 5 where they will come to fight the Kasdim: “These places will eventually be filled with the corpses of people whom I am striking down in my anger and fury, everyone whose wickedness has caused me to hide my face from this city. 6 However, I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them peace and truth in plenty. 7 I will cause the captives of Y’hudah and the captives of Isra’el to return; and I will build them up as I did at first. 8 I will cleanse them from all their sins, through which they offended me; and I will pardon all their sins, through which they offended and rebelled against me. 9 Then the name of this city will bring me joy, praise and glory before all the nations of the earth that hear about all the good I am doing for them; they will be overcome with fear and trembling at all the good and peace I am securing for it.”
10 Here is what Adonai says: “You say that this place is a wasteland, with neither people nor animals in the cities of Y’hudah, and that the streets of Yerushalayim are desolate, without people or animals — no inhabitants. Yet there will again be heard here 11 the sounds of joy and gladness and the voices of bridegroom and bride, the voices of those who sing, ‘Give thanks to Adonai-Tzva’ot, for Adonai is good, for his grace continues forever,’ as they bring offerings of thanksgiving into the house of Adonai. For I will cause those captured from the land to return, as before,” says Adonai.
12 Adonai-Tzva’ot says, “In this place, which is a wasteland without people or animals, and in all its cities, there will once again be pasture-lands where shepherds can let their flocks rest. 13 In the cities of the hill-country, in the cities of the Sh’felah, in the cities of the Negev, in the territory of Binyamin, in the areas around Yerushalayim and in the cities of Y’hudah flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who counts them,” says Adonai.
14 “Here, the days are coming,” says Adonai, “when I will fulfill this good promise which I have proclaimed for the house of Isra’el and the house of Y’hudah.
15 When those days come, at that time,
I will cause to spring up for David
a Branch of Righteousness.
He will do what is just and right in the land.
16 When those days come, Y’hudah will be saved,
Yerushalayim will live in safety,
and the name given to her will be
Adonai Tzidkenu [Adonai our Righteousness].”
17 For this is what Adonai says: “There will never be cut off from David a man to occupy the throne of the house of Isra’el. 18 Nor will there ever be cut off from the cohanim who are L’vi’im a man before me to offer burnt offerings, burn grain offerings and offer sacrifices every day.”
19 This word of Adonai came to Yirmeyahu: 20 “Here is what Adonai says:
‘If you can break my covenant with the day
and my covenant with the night,
so that daytime and nighttime no longer come
when they are supposed to,
21 then my covenant with my servant David
also can be broken,
so that he will not have a descendant
to reign from his throne
or L’vi’im who are cohanim
to minister to me.
22 To the degree that the armies of heaven are past counting
and the sand by the sea past measuring,
I will increase the descendants of my servant David
and the L’vi’im ministering to me.’”
23 This word of Adonai came to Yirmeyahu: 24 “Haven’t you noticed that these people are saying, ‘Adonai has rejected the two families he chose’? Hence they despise my people and no longer look at them as a nation. 25 Here is what Adonai says: ‘If I have not established my covenant with day and night and fixed the laws for sky and earth, 26 then I will also reject the descendants of Ya‘akov and of my servant David, not choosing from his descendants people to rule over the descendants of Avraham, Yis’chak and Ya‘akov. For I will cause their captives to come back, and I will show them compassion.’”
34:1 This word came to Yirmeyahu from Adonai when N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel, his whole army, all his vassal kingdoms and all the peoples fought against Yerushalayim and all its cities: 2 “Adonai the God of Isra’el says to go and speak to Tzidkiyahu king of Y’hudah. Tell him that Adonai says: ‘I am going to hand this city over to the king of Bavel, and he will burn it to the ground. 3 You will not escape but will surely be captured and handed over to him; your eyes will see the eyes of the king of Bavel, he will speak with you face to face, and you will go to Bavel.’ 4 Nevertheless, Tzidkiyahu king of Y’hudah, hear the word of Adonai. Adonai says this about you: ‘You will not be put to the sword 5 but will die peacefully; and just as they burned spices for your ancestors, the earlier kings who preceded you, so they will burn spices for you and mourn you, “Oh! Master!” For I have spoken the word,’ says Adonai.” 6 Yirmeyahu the prophet said all these words to Tzidkiyahu king of Y’hudah in Yerushalayim 7 at the time when the king of Bavel’s army was fighting against Yerushalayim and against all the cities of Y’hudah that were left — that is, against Lakhish and ‘Azekah, since only these remained of the fortified cities of Y’hudah.
8 This word came to Yirmeyahu from Adonai after King Tzidkiyahu had made a covenant with all the people in Yerushalayim to emancipate them. 9 Everyone who had a male or female slave who was Hebrew was to let him go free; none was to keep as his slave a fellow Jew. 10 All the leaders and all the people listened who had entered into the covenant, wherein everyone was to free his male and female slaves and not keep them in bondage any longer. They listened, and they let them go. 11 But afterwards, they changed their minds; they made the male and female slaves, whom they had freed, return; and they brought them back into subjection as slaves. 12 Therefore this word of Adonai came to Yirmeyahu from Adonai: 13 “Here is what Adonai the God of Isra’el says: ‘When I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, where they lived as slaves, I made this covenant with them: 14 “At the end of seven years every one of you is to set free his brother Hebrew who has been sold to you and has served you six years. You are to let him go free from you.” But your ancestors did not listen to me or pay any attention. 15 Now you repented, you did what is right from my viewpoint when each of you proclaimed freedom to his fellow; and you made a covenant before me in the house bearing my name. 16 But then you changed your minds. You profaned my name when each of you took back his male and female slaves, whom you had set free to live as they wished, and brought them back into subjection as your slaves.’ 17 Therefore here is what Adonai says: ‘You did not heed me and proclaim freedom, each to his brother and each to his neighbor; so now I proclaim for you a freedom,’ says Adonai, ‘for sword, plague and famine. I will make you an object of horror to all the kingdoms on earth. 18 As for the men who violated my covenant by not living up to the conditions of the covenant which they made in my presence when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts — 19 the leaders of Y’hudah, the leaders of Yerushalayim, the officials, the cohanim and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf; 20 I will hand them over to their enemies, hand them over to those who seek their lives; and their corpses will become food for birds in the air and wild animals. 21 Tzidkiyahu king of Y’hudah and his officials I will hand over to their enemies, to those who seek their lives and to the army of the king of Bavel, which has withdrawn. 22 I will give the order,’ says Adonai, ‘and cause them to return to this city. They will attack it, capture it and burn it to the ground; and I will make the cities of Y’hudah desolate and uninhabited.’”
Psalm 74:(0) A maskil of Asaf:
(1) Why have you rejected us forever, God,
with your anger smoking against the sheep you once pastured?
2 Remember your community, which you acquired long ago,
the tribe you redeemed to be your very own.
Remember Mount Tziyon, where you came to live.
3 Hurry your steps to these endless ruins,
to the sanctuary devastated by the enemy.
4 The roar of your foes filled your meeting-place;
they raised their own banners as a sign of their conquest.
5 The place seemed like a thicket of trees
when lumbermen hack away with their axes.
6 With hatchet and hammer they banged away,
smashing all the carved woodwork.
7 They set your sanctuary on fire,
tore down and profaned the abode of your name.
8 They said to themselves, “We will oppress them completely.”
They have burned down all God’s meeting-places in the land.
9 We see no signs, there is no prophet any more;
none of us knows how long it will last.
10 How much longer, God, will the foe jeer at us?
Will the enemy insult your name forever?
11 Why do you hold back your hand?
Draw your right hand from your coat, and finish them off!
12 God has been my king from earliest times,
acting to save throughout all the earth.
13 By your strength you split the sea in two,
in the water you smashed sea monsters’ heads,
14 you crushed the heads of Livyatan
and gave it as food to the creatures of the desert.
15 You cut channels for springs and streams,
you dried up rivers that had never failed.
16 The day is yours, and the night is yours;
it was you who established light and sun.
17 It was you who fixed all the limits of the earth,
you made summer and winter.
18 Remember how the enemy scoffs at Adonai,
how a brutish people insults your name.
19 Don’t hand over the soul of your dove to wild beasts,
don’t forget forever the life of your poor.
20 Look to the covenant, for the land’s dark places
are full of the haunts of violence.
21 Don’t let the oppressed retreat in confusion;
let the poor and needy praise your name.
22 Arise, God, and defend your cause;
remember how brutish men insult you all day.
23 Don’t forget what your foes are saying,
the ever-rising uproar of your adversaries.
1 John 5:1 Everyone who believes that Yeshua is the Messiah has God as his father, and everyone who loves a father loves his offspring too. 2 Here is how we know that we love God’s children: when we love God, we also do what he commands. 3 For loving God means obeying his commands. Moreover, his commands are not burdensome, 4 because everything which has God as its Father overcomes the world. And this is what victoriously overcomes the world: our trust. 5 Who does overcome the world if not the person who believes that Yeshua is the Son of God?
6 He is the one who came by means of water and blood, Yeshua the Messiah — not with water only, but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit bears witness, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 There are three witnesses — 8 the Spirit, the water and the blood — and these three are in agreement. 9 If we accept human witness, God’s witness is stronger, because it is the witness which God has given about his Son. 10 Those who keep trusting in the Son of God have this witness in them. Those who do not keep trusting God have made him out to be a liar, because they have not trusted in the witness which God has given about his Son. 11 And this is the witness: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Those who have the Son have the life; those who do not have the Son of God do not have the life. 13 I have written you these things so that you may know that you have eternal life — you who keep trusting in the person and power of the Son of God.
14 This is the confidence we have in his presence: if we ask anything that accords with his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us — whatever we ask — then we know that we have what we have asked from him.
16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin that does not lead to death, he will ask; and God will give him life for those whose sinning does not lead to death. There is sin that does lead to death; I am not saying he should pray about that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.
18 We know that everyone who has God as his Father does not go on sinning; on the contrary, the Son born of God protects him, and the Evil One does not touch him.
19 We know that we are from God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the Evil One.
20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us discernment, so that we may know who is genuine; moreover, we are united with the One who is genuine, united with his Son Yeshua the Messiah. He is the genuine God and eternal life.
21 Children, guard yourselves against false gods!
____________________________
Harvest Ministries with Greg LaurieP.O. Box 4000
Riverside, California 92514-4000 United States
Phone: 1-800-821-3300
____________________________
____________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment