Romans 3:23

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Matthew 7:21

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

Personal Challenge

Can I know the will of God? Many will say that I cannot. However, if this were true then that would make Jesus a liar and that cannot be so. So how do I know the will of God? Jesus made this clear when He told the young ruler that the will of God, the law of God, can be summed up in two expectations. They are to love the Lord my God with all of my heart, soul, spirit, mind, and body and to love my neighbor as myself. If I strive to live my life by these commandments I will see God’s will for me. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Matthew 6:31-34

“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

Personal Challenge

What do I have to be fearful of? Nothing! What do I have to worry about? Nothing! What am I lacking in my life? nothing! My loving Lord provides for my every need, even before I know that I have the need. So what else can I do with my life but seek after Him and His things, serve Him and be a blessing to His creation, live out my faith in Him in action and deed, and be thankful that I am His child. Glory be to God!

1 Corinthians 4:10

We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored!

Personal Challenge

Paul reminds us here that to be a follower of Christ is to be different from those in the world around us. If we blend into the world and become comfortable with its wisdom, strength, and honor then we have moved away from our Lord and His provision. Am I willing to live my life so in love with my Lord and so on fire for Him that those around me call me a fool? Am I willing to become weak and relinquish all that would make me strong in this world so that the strength of Christ is what sustains and protects me? Am I willing to be dishonored in the eyes and minds of those in my life so that my Lord may be the one that is distinguished above all? This is the life that I am called to live as a Christian. This is the life that the Apostles and the saints that have gone before me chose to live. This is where the love of God can be magnified in my life. Glory be to God!

Matthew 5:23-24

Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

Personal Challenge

It can be so easy to slip into a state of worship and forget that no worship, actually none of our life is strictly personal. We worship our Lord in community, within a community. And by doing this my worship cannot be full and complete if there is an unreconciled issue between my brother or sister and me. Reconciliation must be at the center of my life so that I can truly love my neighbor and love my Lord. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Romans 1:20-21

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Encouraging Words

God never hid Himself from His creation. By putting Himself into all of His creation, He made it possible for all of us to see Him and to know Him, whether or not we ever hear a sermon about Him or read a word that describes Him. Isn’t this an awesome picture of how much God loves each and every one of us? Glory be to God!

Matthew 18:12-14

What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety- nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety- nine that did not go astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

Encouraging Words

It still amazes me that there is such a wide group of people that claim that our God is a wrathful and judgmental God who rejoices in condemning lost souls to hell and damnation while at the same time proclaiming the love of Christ. How can this be when God is love, not just the God of love. Jesus so effectively uses a parable here to demonstrate to all that His Father, our Father, loves His cration so much that He will do whatever is needed and take as long as needed to rescue that last, lone sheep who has gone astray. That is the epitome of love. Shouldn’t I then, if I claim to be His child, be pursuing every lost sheep around me with His love? Should I not do this no matter what they believe, or don’t believe, because that is what He does? Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me the sinner!

Acts 28:30-31

Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him.

Personal Challenge

Paul lived through some very difficult and oppressive situations. And all of these came his way because he consistently proclaimed Jesus as his Lord and Savior of the world. I often wonder if I will run my race as strongly as Paul. Will I be willing to give up everything so that others might be saved? Will someone write about me in my last days saying that I proclaimed the kingdom of God and the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with confidence? Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

John 17:20-21

“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.”

Encouraging Words

Jesus my Lord and Savior, prayed for me and that I might be in unity with my other brothers and sisters of His family. He desired that through the teachings that He gave to His direct followers, the Apostles, that His teachings would be passed on until He returned. This is what we call Apostolic succession and why it is important to the unity of our Church. This brings unity to His followers, which in turn brings the lost to a saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. The question that I must constantly be asking myself is whether or not I am truly loving my brothers and sisters in Christ, even if they may have departed some from the full teaching of our Holy Fathers so that together we may in our unity show the love of God to the lost world? Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!