Devotionary

Latest Episodes:

Ep 583 – Ephesians 4:1-16 Jul 22, 2018

Show notes

Unity. It's a lofty ideal, but is it really achievable in this life? Can we really experience unity – the kind of unity that Jesus prayed for in the garden? Is it really possible for us to be one as He and the Father are one? I find it hard to believe that Jesus would have asked God to do something that was impossible. And we know from the Scriptures that, with God, all things are possible. God called us to Himself, but He didn't leave us individual free-agents who operate independently and in isolation. He placed us in His family, the Church. And Paul reminds us that, as God's children, we are to walk in a manner worthy of our calling. We are sons and daughters of God and our lives should reflect that reality. In Ephesians 4:1-16, Paul is going to stress the need for unity. We are one. That doesn't mean we are all the same. In fact, Paul will emphasize that each of us has a different Spirit-given gift that allows us to minister to the rest of the body. We have been equipped by God to bless those around us in the church. That is our calling, and it is a high calling. One that should result in spiritual maturity for the entire family of God. We are to grow – together. We are to reflect Christ – together. All in a spirit of unity.

Ep 582 – Ephesians 3:14-21 Jul 21, 2018

Show notes

The love of God. We've all heard about it. And most of us believe in it and are counting on it. But it is amazing how easily and quickly we can begin to doubt His love for us. As soon as something goes wrong in our lives, we tend to jump to the conclusion that God has fallen out of love with us. We assume He is angry with us. But Paul wanted the believers in Ephesus to grasp just how much God loved them. So, he prayed that God would somehow expose them to the greatness of His matchless love. It's interesting that he prayed that God would give them strength to comprehend. But the love of God isn't always easy to recognize. Oftentimes, it comes across to us as punishment or displeasure. But Scripture tells us that God disciplines those He loves. He loves us enough not to let us do those things that could harm our relationship with Him. So, He brings loving discipline into our lives. God uses the extremes of life – the good and the bad – to draw us closer to Him. His goal is our godliness. He loved us enough to redeem us and is in the process of radically transforming us.

Ep 581 – Epheisans 3:1-13 Jul 20, 2018

Show notes

Paul wrote this letter while a prisoner in Rome, and he was unashamed to admit that his imprisonment was due to his sharing of the Gospel. He had been faithful to the commission Jesus had given to him, and had taken the good news regarding salvation to the Gentiles. And he makes it clear that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. No one saw it coming. The ancient prophets had predicted it, but had failed to recognize the significance of their own Spirit-inspired words. God had done something remarkable and totally unexpected. He had opened up the door to the Gentiles, allowing them to become part of His family. And in Ephesians 3:1-13, Paul lets the Ephesian believers know that he had been given the privilege and responsibility of sharing the unsearchable riches of Christ to the Gentile world. Their salvation had been God's doing. It had all been part of His divine plan, from the very beginning. And the church, made up of believers from all walks of life, every nationality and despite language and cultural barriers, was to be an example of God's manifold wisdom.

Ep 580 – Ephesians 2:19-22 Jul 19, 2018

Show notes

Membership in the family of God. Have you ever really stopped to think about the magnitude of that idea? We have become so used to hearing it that we risk taking it for granted. But Paul wanted the believers in Ephesus to understand just how radical a change had taken place in their lives. They were once enemies of God, deserving of His judgment, which included the death penalty. They had lived in open rebellion against Him and yet, now they enjoyed intimate fellowship with Him as His adopted sons and daughters. Rather than being strangers and aliens, they were members of the household of God. And they had done nothing to earn or deserve it. Their dramatic transformation had been the work of God, and it had been made possible through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, His Son. Ephesians 2:19-22 contains Paul's inspiring reminder to the Ephesian believers that they are now citizens of God's Kingdom. They, along with all the other saints who make up the body of Christ around the world, form a holy temple in the Lord. And Paul doesn't want them to take their newfound status for granted.

Ep 579 – Ephesians 2:11-18 Jul 18, 2018

Show notes

Nobody who has experienced a positive transformation in their life likes to think about how by they used to be. Dwelling on the negative seems like a non-productive pursuit. But in Ephesians 2:11-18, Paul is going to remind the believers in Ephesus to remember what they were like before they came to faith in Christ. He is particularly addressing the Gentiles in the church and encouraging them to recall their pre-salvation condition. This little exercise seems counter-productive, but Paul knew that a healthy awareness of our condition before Christ is essential to grasping the incredible nature of the gift we have received. Paul describes them as having been uncircumcised, separated from Christ, alienated from the people of God, without hope and without God. Not exactly a description that brings a smile to your face – unless you consider that, in spite of all those things, God saved you. He brought those who were far off near. He did for the Jews and the Gentiles what they could not do for themselves. And he formed from both groups one single body – the body of Christ. God created something remarkable and completely unattainable without His love, power, grace, and mercy. The Church.

Ep 578 – Ephesians 2:1-10 Jul 17, 2018

Show notes

For anyone who has experienced salvation in Christ, the knowledge that it is a wonderful gift goes without saying. We have been taught to understand that it is something we could never have earned and in no way deserved. But Paul knew that even the most grateful believer was capable of taking the gift provided by God for granted. Not only that, he knew that each of us is fully capable of thinking we somehow deserved to be saved – at least just a little. So, he goes out of his way to warn the believers in Ephesus just exactly how bad off they were when God called them. He pulls no punches and doesn't attempt to sugarcoat the fact that they were in a bad place when God extended His grace by offering His Son as the payment for their sins. Prior to their salvation, the Ephesian believers were in a really bad place – condemned by their sin and fully deserving of God's judgment. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loves them … made them alive together with Christ. God showed mercy. He extended grace. He provided the free gift of His Son, and no one has any right to brag about their right standing with God, because no one did anything to deserve it.

Ep 577 – Ephesians 1:15-23 Jul 16, 2018

Show notes

The church at Ephesus was filled with people from all walks of life. Not only did it feature a seemingly toxic blend of Jews and Gentiles, there were slaves and masters, rich and poor, religious-minded do-gooders and former prostitutes – all thrown together into this mysterious thing called the body of Christ. And Paul knew full-well that this motley group of diverse individuals, while called by God, were also a potential time bomb. Their differences could easily become cause for dissension and disunity. So, Paul prayed. And he asked God to give them what he knew they were going to need to survive and thrive as a community: The Spirit of Wisdom and a knowledge of God. Paul was ecstatic that they had been chosen by God and had experienced the wonderful gift of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. But he knew God expected more. They were to grow spiritually. They were to experience the full measure of the power made available to them through the Holy Spirit. And he wanted them to understand that they were under the direct supervision of Jesus Christ Himself, as the head of the body – the church. This small, fledgling congregation located in the heart of a spiritually dark city, had all that they needed to live in unity and love. God hadn't just called them. He had fully equipped them with all that they would need to live as His children on this planet.

Ep 576 – Ephesians 1:1-14 Jul 15, 2018

Show notes

Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus is part of what has come to be known as his prison epistles – a collection of correspondence he wrote to various churches while under house arrest in Rome. This particular letter, written to the believers living in Ephesus is filled with references to love, unity and mystery. Located in a prominent pagan city, the Ephesian church was comprised of both Jews and Gentiles, a remarkable distinction that Paul describes as "This mystery … that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel" (Ephesians 3:6 ESV). This blending of Jews and Gentiles into a single entity which Paul refers to as the body of Christ, was unexpected by the Hebrews and unimaginable to those outside the Jewish faith. But God was doing a new thing. Through His Son's death on the cross, He was redeeming for Himself a remnant from among sinful mankind and adopting them as His sons and daughters. Through a common faith in Jesus Christ, this diverse group of individuals found themselves bound together by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit and the unmerited love of God. This letter provides a powerful reminder of the mysterious, yet glorious plan of God to redeem a people for His own. He did for them what they could not have done for themselves, and Paul wants them to live in a manner that reflects their calling by God.

Ep 575 – Joshua 24:29-39 Jul 14, 2018

Show notes

And so, the story of Joshua ends. The closing verses of chapter 24 chronicles the death of Joshua, but it is far from the end of the people of Israel. Their leader was gone, but they had just begun their possession of the land. There was much work to be done. The Canaanites had not yet been eliminated, but God was still prepared to help them finish what they had begun. The real question would be whether they would remain faithful to God and trust Him as they continued to possess the land. But with Joshua's death, a change began to take place within the people of Israel. Their leader was gone. The motivation and direction he had provided for years was no longer available. And as the rest of Joshua's generation died off, a new generation rose up that didn't know the Lord. They had not been trained in the ways of God. They had not been told the stories of God's miraculous interventions. And as the book of Judges reveals, the people of God failed to follow God faithfully. And they suffered the consequences.

Ep 574 – Joshua 24:14-28 Jul 13, 2018

Show notes

Will you remain faithful? That was what Joshua wanted to know. As he tried to prepare the people of Israel for his eventual death and the leadership vacuum it would leave, he called them to serve God faithfully. And the people seemed to offer their enthusiastic agreement to do just that. They appeared to be sincere. Their declarations of allegiance came across as legitimate and heartfelt and, yet, Joshua seemed to recognize that there was something missing. He was aware that the people did not have what it took to keep the commitments they were making. In Joshua 24:14-28, the God-appointed leader of Israel is trying to prepare them for the future, by calling them to a wholehearted, unwavering commitment to God. The key to their future blessing by God is tied directly to their present faithfulness to God. Before he passed from the scene, Joshua wanted to make sure the people took their relationship with God seriously and his call to faithfulness literally.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected