SUNDAY
We Must All Bow Before Christ
When I was in school it was a big thing for someone to be called to the Principal’s office. Then, when I was working our department was called to the conference room and told our department was being moved to another city and we were losing our jobs. Things like that can seem big in our lives at the moment, but there is something even bigger than anything we can imagine. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” (II Corinthians 5:10) There will be no excuses. There will be no time of explaining how we meant for things to be different. We won’t be able to put the blame on anyone else. We will all bow before Jesus. “For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” (Romans 14:11) I hope that you have come humbly to Christ and bowed your heart to Him now. Because after we die, we will bow to Him, but it will be too late to be saved. “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” (Hebrews 9:27-28) Please accept Him now.
MONDAY
Jesus Told Zacchaeus, “I Must Abide At Thy House.”
I always liked the story of Zacchaeus. I can remember singing the little song.
Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he.
He climbed up in a sycamore tree, for the Lord he wanted to see.
And as the Savior passed that way, He looked up in the tree,
And He said, “Zacchaeus, come down, for I’m going to your house today.
I’m going to your house today.”
Maybe it meant a lot to me because I was a small child, and Zacchaeus was small, and Jesus was going to his house. I wanted Jesus to come to my house.
“1 And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.
2 And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich.
3 And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature.
4 And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way.
5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house.
6 And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.
7 And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.
8 And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.
9 And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.
10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:1-10)
Just as Jesus told Zacchaeus, “I must abide at thy house”, the Holy Spirit abides with us when we are saved. We have this promise. He abides with us forever.
16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” (John 14:16-18)
TUESDAY
Jesus Must Gather All His Sheep
We have come to the month of April, and in a few weeks we will be celebrating Easter. Jesus is our Good Shepherd and He laid down His life for His sheep. And, did you know that we are included in these verses? “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” (John 10:16) This is me! I am one of His other sheep. Jesus said that He must bring me into His fold! What a wonderful thought!
“9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
12 But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.
13 The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.
14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.
16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.” (John 10:9-18)
WEDNESDAY
Jesus Knows The Way We Must Go
Moses, the great leader of Israel, died and Joshua was appointed by God to lead the people into the Promised Land. They had wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, and now they were finally going to receive the blessings of God in their new land. But, there were battles to be fought. There were enemies to conquer. The priests led the way, bearing the Ark of the Covenant, and the people were to follow. “And they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it. Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way heretofore.” (Joshua 3:3-4) Our message today is simple, Follow Jesus, because He knows the way we must go, for we have not passed this way before. Jesus will be with us to fight our battles. The signs of the times, as foretold in the Bible are coming to pass. It is important that we follow the Lord. We have not passed this way before. In the last few years we faced severe sicknesses, which we had not experienced before. Last year, and already this year, we are experiencing severe weather patterns that we have not had before. Earthquakes, floods, and wild fires seem to constantly fill the news. Our prayer lists are filled with family and loved ones who are going through troubles and trials, and need help from the Lord. We read in the book of John, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6) Look to Jesus. He is the way. He knows the trials we face, and He has promised never to leave us nor forsake us. Only Jesus knows the way we must go.
THURSDAY
Three Things God Requires That We Must Do
A dear friend was cleaning through some stored stuff and gave me some fabric that she no longer wanted. I showed it to Mom, who has always been a great seamstress, and she said we would make me some new clothes. I went to her house Monday morning and she cut out a skirt and started sewing it together. She has some pain when she sews, so she rested a while and let me try. I did not inherit her skill for sewing. I can’t sew a straight line… so she finished making the skirt. I went down Tuesday morning and she had cut out a dress and sewn some of the seams. I stayed through lunch, and she had almost finished the dress. I used to sew a little when I was younger, but it’s been a long time since I tried, and I’m not very good at it. We are blessed with different talents, and it’s hard when we are faced with something that we must do. It’s hard for children in school when each student is required to do the same thing. There is a verse in the Old Testament that gives us a requirement, and it’s something that we all can strive to do. “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6:8) These are things that God’s Word tells us we must do. First, we are “to do justly”. We are to do what’s right. Next, we are to love mercy. Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” (Matthew 5:7) And the final requirement in the verse is, “to walk humbly with thy God”. When we see the greatness of God Almighty, we are thankful for His mercy and grace, and forgiveness, and we can walk humbly in His sight. These are things that God requires, and we should strive to do our best.
FRIDAY
The Greatest Commandment
In the Old Testament the people were under the law. They had to obey the Ten Commandments and the other laws that were given to Moses. Jesus came to give Himself as our sacrifice and now we are under grace. We are not required to obey the law, but Jesus gives us the greatest commandment. Here is the commandment as given to Moses, and also as Jesus gave to His followers. It is our duty to teach this to our children.
“4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)
“28 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?
29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” (Mark 12:28-33)
SATURDAY
“What Must I Do To Be Saved?”
I talk quite often about being saved. Maybe someone is reading this who doesn’t know how to be saved. Paul and Silas were put in prison for preaching about Jesus. An earthquake opened the prison doors and loosed their bands. The keeper of the prison was going to kill himself because he was responsible to keep them in prison, but Paul told him they were all there. He asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
“31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.
33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.
34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.” (Acts 16:31-34)
So, what do we believe? First, we believe that everyone has done wrong, called sin. God, in heaven, is holy, and we can’t go to heaven with sin in our life. So, sin has to be punished, in order to be forgiven. God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus, to be born of a virgin, and that’s the Christmas story. He was punished for our sin and died on the cross to pay for our sin. He was buried and rose up from the grave on the third day, and that’s why we celebrate Easter. If you believe that Jesus died to save you from the punishment of your sin, then you can ask Him to forgive you, and He will save you. We can’t buy our way to heaven. We can’t do good works to overcome our bad works to get to heaven. Jesus is the only way to have forgiveness of our sin and go to heaven. “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13)
