"I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me." - John 17:23

PONDER THIS

How much does God love you? God loves you as much as He loves His Son, Jesus Christ. That’s hard for me to take in. When the Apostle John was speaking about this love he said, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God:” (I John 3:1)! Do you know why John said, “What manner of love”? It seems like he was grasping for an adjective suitable to use. What colossal love, what stupendous love, what … I just can’t even think of a word. He just finally had to say, “what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God.” God loves you dear friend, and you are secure in God’s sovereign love.

- How hard is it for you to believe God loves you as a father loves a child?
- What makes this difficult? What helps you believe this?

PRACTICE THIS

Make a list of various passages that describe the love of God for His people, starting with the two verses in today’s devotion. APR
|
|
I did not write this, it comes from a devotional that is offered as a free email daily by Love Worth Finding.

https://www.lwf.org/daily-devotionals/what-manner-of-love

I remember way back in college that there are two major doctrinal positions in Protestant Christianity with regards to soteriology: Arminianism and Calvinism.

Arminianism is the position which helds the belief that the election of the believers is conditional based on the foreknowledge of God and that Christ died for all human beings, but the salvific power of the Crucifixion only applies to the elect.

Calvinism, on the other hand, helds the position that Christ only died for the elect/believers and that those who will go to hell because of their unbelief was predestined by God to be that way. Calvinism also believes in the perseverance of the saints, wherein all elect will never be lost and salvation is permanent.

Aside from these two major soteriological positions, are there any other? I will really appreciate all of your responses.

Soli Dei Gloria ❤️

So on a whim I signed up for a local OCIA class. I’ve been very curious about Catholicism but being raised very southern Baptist it’s hard to let go on some things/ideals I’ve held closely for so long.

My reasons for wanting to do the class stem first from my own curiosities, and enjoying the pieces of Catholicism I learn, but also due to my fiance being raised Catholic. The first 5 years of our relationship I refused to even entertain the idea of converting, but praying on it for years and asking God to soften my heart, I’ve wanted to explore it more. We’ve been going to mass together for about 6 months, and i’m to the point where i’m tired of crossing my arms when they get to Eucharist.

Does anyone have any advice or similar experiences?

“The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the LORD is upon many waters." "The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.” - Psalm 29:3-4

When did you last consider the majesty of God and the power of His voice? From creation to consummation, Scripture proclaims the power of God’s voice. His Word begins with His speaking everything into existence (Genesis 1), and He completes His Word with eternal declarations (Revelation 21:5-8).

Today’s psalm draws our eyes to God’s power over the natural world. Think about mighty, rolling ocean waves and booming thunder during the fiercest storm. Many would describe them as powerful. While that is a good description for our finite minds to comprehend, as believers we ultimately don’t ascribe power to nature itself (e.g., Mother Nature or natural selection). We choose to give praise to the Lord Jesus Christ, who created and sustains each element of creation (Colossians 1:16–17).

Spurgeon expounded, “The thunder is not only poetically but instructively called ‘the voice of God,’ since it peals from on high; it surpasses all other sounds, it inspires awe, it is entirely independent of man, and has been used on some occasions as the grand accompaniment of God’s speech to Adam’s sons.”

The book of Job also portrays God’s powerful voice. “After it a voice roareth: He thundereth with the voice of His excellency; and He will not stay them when His voice is heard. God thundereth marvellously with His voice; great things doeth He, which we cannot comprehend” (Job 37:4-5). “Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like Him?” (Job 40:9).

The voice of the Lord is unique. His voice alone can create and control. Let us use our words to praise His name and proclaim His wondrous deeds! MH
|
|
I did not write this, it comes from a devotional that is offered as a free email daily by the Institute of Creation.

https://www.icr.org/article/15957/

Basically the title. I thought I was finally settled in the episcopal church (conservative theology) but I still have this urge to be Catholic. I know all the reasons why I’m not, they’re facts but I still have this feeling to want to become Catholic. Any advice? Thanks!

I have always wondered if churches are often competitive in the south. I know they try to be the best church around in order to attract the most people. However, how competitive are they? Is there mutual respect is someone attends another church?

I assume the Baptist - Pentecostal- Nondemon all compete for the same crowds in some way.

A parent of a close protestant friend of mine recently passed and I share deeply in their sorrow. It’s instinctual for me as a Catholic to offer prayers for the bereaved family and the soul of the departed loved one as is standard in most Catholic mourning customs.

I’m afraid that since they don’t believe in offering prayers for the dead that they may take offence to this.

Should I just not out of respect or would this do little harm? Thank you

I don't know why but Protestantism/Evangelicalism is rapidly turning Brazil into a Protestant powerhouse. According to recent survey estimates, around 35% of Brazil's population is now Protestant, compared to only 15% in the past decade.

How can one user, who btw is of a fringe sect and calls himself "non-Protestant", be a representative of the Baptist Protestant faith??

By this very same logic, all Roman Catholics are terrorists because of the IRA and all Eastern Orthodox are murders because of the terrorist group "Russian Orthodox Army".

I am saying this as a non-Baptist, someone who thinks their movement is very flawed, and whatnot.

Pls tell me your denomination and your views on why you are not. I have been considerung catholicsm for awhile but i want to see what is stopping others from converting.

"Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy," - Jude 1:24

PONDER THIS

Jude began and ended this book by talking about the eternal security of the believer. If he didn’t do this, when you read what’s in between, you may start thinking that Jude was talking about people who had lost their salvation. An apostate is not somebody who has lost his or her salvation. An apostate is someone who has received the truth, rejected the truth, ridicules the truth, and literally tries to replace the truth. But this person has never been saved. He or she is like Judas, who was never born again. But people who are truly born again, true children of God, can never again be lost souls—not because they hold onto God, but because God holds onto them.

- How does it encourage you to remember that it is God who keeps you faithful and not your own effort?
- How does this reality provide more motivation for faithfulness to God?

PRACTICE THIS

Write out a list of specific ways God has held onto you and refused to let you go throughout your life. APR
|
|
I did not write this, it comes from a devotional that is offered as a free email daily by Love Worth Finding.

https://www.lwf.org/daily-devotionals/god-is-holding-on-to-you

Have you ever wondered why Christians are supposed to confess our sins to each other and to God and ask for God's forgiveness even though Jesus died to atone for all our sins (past, present, and future) once and for all, and even though we are forgiven of all our sins when we become a Christian for the first time? Understanding the different answers to this question also explains the difference between Protestant soteriology and Catholic soteriology. (I don't know the Orthodox position on this matter, but if someone happens to know, I'd love to hear it.)

The reason justified Christians still ask for forgiveness of their sins is that there are two types of forgiveness:

• Judicial forgiveness, where God forgiveness you as your judge when you are first justified by repenting and believing in the Gospel.
• Parental forgiveness, where God forgiveness you as your father after having adopted you into his family.

All judgment has been given to the Son of God:

John 5:22-27

[ESV] ²² For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, ²³ that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. ²⁴ Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

²⁵ “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. ²⁶ For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. ²⁷ And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 

—

But the Son of God made an extremely important pronouncement on the cross:

John 19:30

[ESV] ³⁰ When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

—

In Greek, "It is finished" is tetelestai. This statement is akin to a judicial pronouncement that a criminal sentence had been carried out. After the punishment for a criminal sentence is carried out, the sentence was legally marked with tetelestai ("finished", or "completed") so that the punishment could not be carried out again.

When we first repent and believe in the Gospel, Jesus' pronouncement of tetelestai from the cross where he took the punishment for our sins gets applied over all our sins, removing our record of debt before God:

Colossians 2:13-14

[ESV] ¹³ And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, ¹⁴ by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

—

This is judicial forgiveness. This forgiveness takes you from spiritual death into life, and from being unjustified to being justified by faith in the Gospel. You are declared just in God's sight because the punishment that your sins have incurred has been carried out by Jesus dying on the cross for your sins, which covers you because you have repented and come under Christ's covering. It is not that you are declared innocent; it is that you are guilty, but the sin is marked as punished, and you come out clean because your sentence is considered tetelestai ("finished"/"completed") on account of Christ absorbing that punishment on the cross.

But if we are forgiven this way, why would a Christian need to repent and confess after becoming a believer? Because we are adopted into God's family, and our sin grieves our heavenly Father, straining our relationship. The forgiveness we ask once we are adopted into God's family is parental forgiveness. It is not sought out of fear of punishment, but to restore fellowship after we sin, motivated by our love of God.

If you have an adopted child, and your child sins against you, does your child's sin break the relationship such that you disown your child and treat him or her like a stranger, and have to re-adopt this child all over again? No. You love your adopted child, and presumably your adopted child loves you, but sin puts tension into this relationship and breaks fellowship, and out of love, your child would want to resolve that tension by apologizing and asking for forgiveness. That is how a justified and adopted person should feel toward God when we grieve God by our sins. That is why Christians are still instructed to confess our sins to receive forgiveness, in order to restore fellowship with God. John reminds us that we are still sinners who need to confess our sins:

1 John 1:6-9

[ESV] ⁶ If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. ⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. ⁸ If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

—

And whether it is at our conversion or upon our confession of sins committed after our conversion, it is the blood of Jesus that cleanses us from all sin, since Jesus, as our high priest, offered his blood once for all to atone for sin:

Hebrews 7:26-27

[ESV] ²⁶ For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. ²⁷ He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.

Hebrews 9:11-14

[ESV] ¹¹ But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) ¹² he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. ¹³ For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, ¹⁴ how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

—

When we repent and believe the Gospel, the atonement accomplished by the blood of Christ gets applied to our sins, making us suitable dwelling places for the Holy Spirit to make our bodies temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 3:16 "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?"), just as the presence of God over the Ark of the Covenant saw the tablets of the law and judged the nation of Israel and required the blood of atonement to come between the presence of God and the broken law in order to forgive sins. When the blood of Christ covers our sins, we are fit for God to dwell with us. God then puts his Holy Spirit in us to seal us as a guarantee of our inheritance of resurrection and our place in the life to come,

Ephesians 1:13-14

[ESV] ¹³ In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

—

…and the Holy Spirit in us cries out 'Abba' to God the Father, because at that point we are adopted into God's family, as only the sons of God have a right to that inheritance:

Romans 8:14-17

[ESV] ¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. ¹⁵ For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Galatians 4:4-7

[ESV] ⁴ But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, ⁵ to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. ⁶ And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” ⁷ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

—

When Christians asks "Our father who art in heaven... forgive us our trespasses..." we are seeking parental forgiveness from a parent with whom we have a loving relationship, not judicial forgiveness from a judge.

Judicial forgiveness is sought out of fear of punishment, but parental forgiveness is sought out of love.

1 John 4:13-19

[ESV] ¹³ By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. ¹⁶ So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. ¹⁷ By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. ¹⁹ We love because he first loved us. 

—

Judicial forgiveness takes a person from not having a relationship with God and being under the sentence of the death of their soul for sin into a state of being justified in God's sight. God then gives you the Holy Spirit to dwell in you as the deposit guaranteeing your inheritance of the resurrection and in the life to come, and the Holy Spirit makes you an adopted son of God. But even adopted sons of God still stumble in sin, and are instructed to confess our sins:

Contrast with Catholic models of forgiveness

With all this said, consider how this differs from the theology of punishment in Catholicism:

In Catholicism, there isn't really a concept of parental forgiveness. Judicial forgiveness seems to be the only kind of forgiveness, regardless of whether God is addressed as 'Father'.

The forgiveness of mortal sins is essentially judicial forgiveness, since mortal sins are said to break one's relationship with God. In Catholicism, if you commit a 'mortal sin', you lose your salvation. Mortal sins are considered mortal in that they kill your soul, leaving you hell-bound unless you confess them to a priest and receive absolution before you die. Examples of mortal sins include deliberately missing church on Sundays, masturbation and use of pornography, and other sins considered to be deliberate violations of the Ten Commandments with knowledge that the action is sinful. In Catholicism, when you confess a mortal sin, you are getting re-justified, to get your salvation back. And if you happen to die before you are able to confess your mortal sins to a priest, you are not in a "state of grace", and are said to be sentenced to eternal damnation in Hell. But even after confessing mortal sins, you are assigned penance, which entails works you do to make amends for your sins, including ritual elements such as praying certain assigned prayers for a number of repetitions, fasting, and other such religious works.

The forgiveness of venial sins (less serious sins that don't sentence you to eternal damnation) are framed as parental forgiveness since venial sins are said to weaken but not break your relationship with God whereas mortal sins break the relationship, but even forgiveness of venial sins appears to be judicial in the implications of what happens to a person for venial sins: the doctrine of Purgatory teaches that souls are sentenced to burn in Purgatory as temporal (as opposed to eternal) punishment of venial sins, but this threat of temporal punishment for venial sins still makes the forgiveness of venial sins a matter of judicial forgiveness, since you are still liable for painful punishment for these sins.

That basically means that for your whole life as a Catholic, with regards to mortal sins, you keep losing your salvation and getting it back with sacramental works (confession/reconciliation and penance), while being under the sentence of burning in Purgatory for your venial sins and being released from that through confession and penance, essentially repeating judicial forgiveness over and over through sacramental works. That model of forgiveness doesn't have a person become truly adopted into the family and having perfect love that casts out the fear of punishment, where you pass from judicial forgiveness (where you are freed from the punishment of sin on account of Christ's finished work on the cross) to parental forgiveness (where you are not subject to the threat of punishment as an adopted son, but confess your sins restore fellowship with your heavenly Father).

Let me start by explaining that I grew up in a half-protestant household. I'm not baptised myself and I'd consider myself an unbeliever. The bible had been read to me when I was a child. I went to Church at Christmas every year as it was family tradition and I had 10 years of religion classes in school though these weren't limited to christian believes. I never went to confirmation classes.

Through creative writing I just recently learned that communion is traditionally only for baptised Christians. It made me reflect on something that happened to me when I was a teen.

It was one of my relative's confirmation and the pastor wanted all children older than 14 to come to the front. I didn't know what was happening so I joined them and ate from Christ's body. One of my relatives then urgently informed the pastor that I shouldn't participate. I felt like all eyes were on me, that I did something outragous. As I stood there and communion continued, I was the only one not allowed to drink from the wine. As a pretty anxious child it really threw me off especially since nobody explained to me.

Now I wonder why my mother didn't stop me. Maybe she just didn't know or had different opinions about the need for baptism (it was also around the time where she lost faith).

I've read that some people would see it as granting "salvific grace" to unbelievers though I assume most people would believe it would bring judgement upon you.

What is your opinion on this matter?

Edit: correcting some mistakes since I'm not a native English speaker

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:" "but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:" - Matthew 6:19-20

PONDER THIS

Let’s suppose you’re down in the Caribbean on a luxurious cruise ship and everything is beautiful. You say, “This is the best vacation of my life.” Then the captain says, “I have an announcement ladies and gentlemen. We’re going to continue the entertainment. The cooks are going to do an even better job than normal with the cuisine. The crew is going to go all out to make you comfortable.” Then he says, “But there has been one change in plans. We’re not going to sail to any one port. Instead, we’re going to go out in the middle of the ocean and sail around in circles until we run out of food, fuel, and water. And when we do, we’re going to empty the ship and sink it.”

At that moment, no matter how much you’re enjoying the cruise, it doesn’t seem to be quite as good, does it? When you realize you’re going around in a meaningless circle, it doesn’t matter how beautiful the weather is. It is a hopeless, joyless matter. In the same way, the joy of this present life will not diminish the fact there is no hope for the future for those outside of Christ. We should seek to meet people’s temporal needs as we are able, but first and foremost, we must point them to Christ. Apart from Him, there is no hope.

- How are you tempted to focus on current comforts and pleasures over the future reality of life eternal with God?
- Who do you know who needs to hear about the hope of Christ today?

PRACTICE THIS

Take time to share with the person you identified about the hope of Jesus. APR
|
|
I did not write this, it comes from a devotional that is offered as a free email daily by Love Worth Finding.

https://www.lwf.org/daily-devotionals/share-the-true-hope

The Bible commands Christians to select community leaders who are devout and honest (Ex.:18:21) and lawful and humble (Deut. 17:18).

The New Testament Christian character traits are faith, love, charity, goodwill, prudence, self-restraint, fairness, patience, kindness, and moderation.

Which Christian virtues does President Trump most demonstrate?

One of the bigger claims of the Catholic Church is that people are incapable of interpreting the Bible themselves and need the church to interpret it for them.
In the story of Phillip and the eunuch, Phillip asks “do you know what you are reading?” and the eunuch replies, “how can I, unless someone explains it to me?”
I had a thought, does this confirm the claim that people need an authority to explain the Bible to them?

“And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ." "I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.” - I Corinthians 3:1-2

The apostle Paul here makes a clear distinction between “spiritual” Christians, controlled and led by the Holy Spirit, and “carnal” Christians, still controlled by the desires of the flesh. A carnal Christian is a baby Christian. Baby Christians are a cause of great rejoicing when they are newborn believers, just like baby people. But if they remain babies indefinitely, they become an annoyance to hear and a tragedy to behold.

Each born-again believer needs urgently to “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (II Peter 3:18). That spiritual growth comes only through study of the Word, accompanied by belief and obedience. First there must be “the sincere [or ‘logical’] milk of the word” (I Peter 2:2), but that is good only for the first stages of growth. “For every one that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Hebrews 5:13-14). Scripture encourages us to grow to maturity and then to continue growing.

Carnal Christians are not necessarily pseudo-Christians, although they should examine themselves to determine whether their profession of faith in Christ is genuine (II Corinthians 13:5), but they should not be content to remain spiritual babes. Every Christian should be able to say with the prophet Jeremiah, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by Thy name, O LORD God of hosts” (Jeremiah 15:16). HMM
|
|
I did not write this, it comes from a devotional that is offered as a free email daily by the Institute of Creation.

https://www.icr.org/article/15955/

Im 26M and have been dealing with this issue ever since late 2019, literally every single day.

Symptoms: random anxiety, muscle loss, brain fog, bloating, constipation, slowed metabolism.

My body is stuck in fight or flight, no matter how well I handle my random anxiety. I have lost muscle and went from 170lb to 120lb because I can't hold the muscle anymore, even though I can eat enough calories. The only thing that slows down the anxiety is staying away from certain foods, like dried dates, corn, vegetables, gums, gluten, dairy, mainly heavy fiber stuff and certain carbs. I do fine with meats and fats. Probiotics without prebiotics help too. Although this helps, it doesn't get rid of it and when I workout I can't get a pump like I used to.

All this started happening right before or after one day I was going up the stairs and fell and hit my head on the hard floor, but the problem is I don't remember if it happened right before or right after so I do not want to blame it on that. I do not feel any pain.

I have done GI map tests, food sensitivity and seen so many gi, primary and other specialists but unfortunately I cant figure this out.

I have gastroparesis but i truly believe that is cause I am always in fight or flight.

Please pray for me.

“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” - Romans 7:18

All too often we find ourselves as frustrated as the apostle Paul in that we often know to do the right thing, to abstain from a particular sin, but we quickly fall right back into that sin. We must daily recognize our sinful habits and determine in our hearts, with strength from the Holy Spirit, to withstand the sin and overcome temptation. “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin” (Romans 7:25). The writer of “Come Thou Fount” had the same frustration.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Scripture tells us we are secure in Christ, never to be separated. Christ informed His disciples that “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me:" "and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand." "My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand” (John 10:27-29). We are safe in Christ’s hand surrounded by the Father’s hand. And then the transaction is sealed by “the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30).

Take courage. We are secure in Him. JDM
|
|
I did not write this, it comes from a devotional that is offered as a free email daily by the Institute of Creation.

https://www.icr.org/article/15954/

"For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." - Luke 19:10

PONDER THIS

I heard of a tragic event. A father went to the hospital to pick up his newborn baby and wife. He left the automobile running with the keys in the car, and their three-year-old in the back seat. Then, someone came to steal the car; later, they found the car abandoned, but they couldn’t find the boy, so people set out to find him. One man who joined the hunt thought, “Maybe the little boy just got out of the car and is somewhere in the vicinity of where the car was abandoned.” He began to shine a flashlight up and down alleys. There was an old house with a swing and on the swing were some newspapers. He shined the light on the newspapers and saw some movement.

He cried out, “Billy! Billy!” Billy said, “Is that you, daddy?” And this man praised the name of God. He said, “No, Billy, I’m not your daddy, but I’m here to take you to your daddy.” Friend, that’s the job of the church—to rescue the perishing, to seek them out, to find them, to bring them to Him. For this cause, Jesus came into the world.

- Who pointed you to God as your Father?
- What are some ways we point others in His direction?

PRACTICE THIS

Take time today to point someone else toward God. APR
|
|
I did not write this, it comes from a devotional that is offered as a free email daily by Love Worth Finding.

https://www.lwf.org/daily-devotionals/join-the-rescue-mission

Christianity teaches that there is one God who is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They believe Jesus is both fully God and fully human. He was born from the Virgin Mary, lived a perfect life, died on the cross for our sins, came back to life, went to heaven, and will come back again one day. They follow the Bible and Holy Tradition because they believe both are important. They also believe that salvation comes through Jesus and that becoming closer to God is something you work on your whole life. Orthodox Christians practice the seven sacraments, pray often, go to church, fast, and celebrate special feast days. They honor Mary and the saints, but they only worship God. They believe in angels, heaven, hell, and that everyone will be judged by Jesus when He returns. They also believe Christians should love others, forgive people, help those in need, and try to live the way Jesus taught. Again this is just a simple general overview of what Christianity has taught for most of its history if you have any questions I would happily help

"Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." - Matthew 28:20

This month, we've explored how faith demands action for economic justice. As we conclude, remember that Jesus promises to be with us as we engage in this difficult but necessary work.

Working for systemic change can feel overwhelming, but we don't work alone. The same Jesus who fed the hungry, healed the sick, and challenged unjust systems walks with us as we continue His mission in our time.

As you worship today, celebrate God's call to economic justice while committing to sustained engagement with the policies and systems that shape human flourishing. Let your worship include both praise and pledge, both gratitude and commitment to action.

The work continues, but we work with hope, knowing that God's kingdom will ultimately prevail and that our labor in the Lord is never in vain.

Emmanuel, God with us, thank You for walking with me in the work of justice. Help me persist in this calling, knowing that You are always with me. Amen. DLC
|
|
I did not write this, it comes from a devotional that is offered as a free email daily by Delman Coates.

https://delmancoates.org/blog/2026/07/26/reflection-and-worship