08 November 2007 Devotion for Today "Christ, Our Peace" Ephesians 2:14-18

08 November 2007  Devotion for Today  “Christ, Our Peace”  Ephesians 2:14-18

 

            The story is told of a man went to the doctor complaining of a number of pains. After examining him the doctor said, "I can’t find anything organically wrong with you. But sometimes physical problems are the result of worry or stress. Maybe you need to find a good counselor and tell him your troubles. He might be able to advise you and make you feel better."

            "In fact," he said, "last week I had a fellow who was complaining of pains similar to yours and I couldn’t find anything wrong with him, either. But after talking a while, he told me that he was worried sick about a $5,000 debt he owed and couldn’t pay. Well, we talked about it and I was able to help him."

            The man asked, "How did you help him?" "Oh, I told him that life was too short to worry about a piece of paper that said he owed $5,000. I suggested that he tear up the paper and throw it away, and stop worrying about the debt, and get on with his life. So he did. And now he feels great!"

            “Yes, I know," said the guy. "I’m the one he owes the $5,000 to!"

Life does have its share of worries and stresses and strains. Wherever we go they are present. We have been told that ours is the age of anxiety and that worry is the pervasive emotion of our time.

            But wouldn’t it be great to be able to sit down someday and say, "I don’t have anything to worry about today. Everything in my life is in order."

That would be great, wouldn’t it? But it doesn’t happen very often. We live in the midst of crowded streets and malls and work to do. And the pressure builds continually, and there are always more deadlines than we can possibly meet.

            So it is time to look at God’s promise of peace. In Ephesians 2, Paul talks about it and says that Christ is the source of peace:

For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.”  Ephesians 2:14-18

Who is the source of your peace?  Take five minutes out of your day and reflect upon Jesus Christ, the true source and Prince of Peace, and see if you are still troubled by what was bothering you before.

Have a peaceful and blessed day

 

Rev. Jeffery C. Russell
Salem Baptist Church
Elizabeth City, NC
jefferyrussell@embarqmail.com

jcrussell@liberty.edu

 

Church website:   http://25621.lifewaylink.com
Devotion Archives: http://www.msnusers.com/DevotionforToday

 

07 November 2007 Devotion for Today "Playing Possum" Various Scriptures

07 November 2007 Devotion for Today  “Playing  Possum”   Various Scriptures

 

One of the many creatures that we have encountered here in the country is the possum.  I never know if I am supposed to call him by his formal name, opossum, or be informal- possum.  So immediately I do not know what to do with this creature who gets into my garbage cans and frightens my dog.

 

What do you feed a possum?  You don’t need to.  They are scavengers.  They get into garbage.   I also hear  they love sweet potatoes. Out in the wild they eat all types of things from persimmons to dead animals. I'm afraid some Christians are not much more discerning. Think about what we eat spiritually. Do we discern truth from error before swallowing something down (Acts 17:11)? What about the feeding frenzy taking place in front of the TV in our homes everyday.  Pretty smelly stuff, right? After all, we are what we eat. As our computer pro's say, "Garbage in---garbage out!". Could you eat a possum after it was fattened in the hollowed out carcass of a cow? Cow is cow, right? No thank you! Likewise, let's be careful what we take into our minds and hearts for these things, holy or unholy, reveal who we are (Proverbs 23:7). Some say possum is good if fixed right. Like I said, No Thank You---I'm afraid I might like it!

 

Here in North Carolina I have heard people use this word, possum, to describe someone mad who is swelled up or pouting- sull. If you've never seen a possum upset you have missed it. They hiss and carry on like the scariest thing around. Websters has the word "sullen" defined as, "show resentment, ill humor, and bitterness" We must beware lest we also take on this "possum- like" behavior. Aren't we at times too easily offended? Don't we sulk and swell up when things don't go our way? If we don't get over such foolishness soon it grows into bitterness. Friends are severed, families are broken up and God's spirit is grieved---what a loss! God's word can steer us away from such into love, mercy and forgiveness. "And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:" (Eph 4:30,31). If we are not on speaking terms with our brethren---we're not on speaking terms with God either (Matt. 25:40).

 

We've all heard the expression, "Playing Possum". Another tactic the possum may utilize is to play dead. For example, if a hound or a hunter comes upon one it will often take on a dead like appearance, as limp as a rag. You can pick it up by the tail and it's as lifeless as can be. Some in the church think this is the best way to fight the good fight. Play dead and Satan will go away. Don't do anything, don't say anything, don't be anything! In that case---we may really be dead. The church at Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead". (Rev 3:1)  And while the possums are out roaming at night at times they get run over by cars. You see, possums are nocturnal creatures, thriving at night.  They go out into the road to lick the salt off the asphalt.  The next day their carcasses swell up in the heat of the summer sun.  And when you get around them, you know the stench of decay.   Likewise, dear Christians, we cannot survive in darkness. So friends, we cannot live a possums life and live with God in eternity. "Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober" (1Thess. 5:5,6).

Let's not forget who we are and what we are here for. Yes, those little fellows were real cute hanging on limbs by their curly tails!

 

Have a blessed day!

 

 

Rev. Jeffery C. Russell
Salem Baptist Church
Elizabeth City, NC
jefferyrussell@embarqmail.com

jcrussell@liberty.edu

 

Church website:   http://25621.lifewaylink.com
Devotion Archives: http://www.msnusers.com/DevotionforToday

 

06 November 2007 Devotion for Today "Grace Through Faith" Ephesians 2:8-10

06 November 2007  Devotion for Today  “Grace Through Faith”  Ephesians 2:8-10

 

The story is told of a man who died and went to heaven. Of course, St. Peter met him at the Pearly Gates. Peter said, "Here’s how it works. You need 100 points to make it into heaven. You tell me all the good things you’ve done, and I give you a certain number of points for each item, depending on how good it was. When you reach 100 points, you get in."

"Okay," the man said, "I was married to the same woman for 50 years." "That’s wonderful," said St. Peter, "that’s worth three points!"

"Three points, is that all?" he said. He went on, "Well, I attended church all my life and supported its ministry with my tithe and service." "Terrific!" said St. Peter. "That’s certainly worth a point."

"One point?!!" He continued, "I started a soup kitchen in my city and worked in a shelter for homeless veterans." "Fantastic, that’s good for two more points," he said.

"Two points!?!!" Exasperated, the man cried out. "At this rate the only way I’ll get into heaven is by the grace of God." "Now you got it, that’s worth 100 points! Come on in!"

            Some of you might take exception to that story, because St. Peter is not going to be standing at the gates of heaven waiting for you or I- its going to be Jesus Christ himself.  But that is just how the story goes.  More and more all the time I find people who do not understand what grace is.  What is even more embarrassing is that these same people were raised up in a Southern Baptist church.  Do you know what gets us to heaven?  Ephesians 2:8-10 tells us:

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.  (Ephesians 2:8-10)

            Do you know what that means? One writer said, “When it comes to God, being good is not good enough.”

In 2001, Reader’s Digest asked Muhammad Ali what his faith meant to him. Ali replied, “[It] means [a] ticket to heaven. One day we’re all going to die, and God’s going to judge us, [our] good and bad deeds. [If the] bad outweighs the good, you go to hell; if the good outweighs the bad, you go to heaven.” That’s what many people believe. If that is the case, Mohammed Ali had better hope he’s got more than a butterfly or a bee standing on the balance with him.  But that’s not what the Bible says.  If it were just a matter of being good enough, none of us would be in heaven.  We all have transgressed God’s laws and stomped on every one of them.  And if it were based on being good enough to get to heaven, how would any of us know when we have reached that mark?  We wouldn’t.  That is why God has given us His grace.  Why would anyone do something like that?  That is where  Faith comes in as we believe what Christ did for us by grace.

            What is grace?  Someone years ago cleverly created an acrostic stating grace is God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.  That means that by grace, someone else purchased the ticket to heaven for us.  WE could never purchase it, because the price was too high.  Jesus Christ did it with the cost of His own blood.  Because of Grace, may we never cheapen it by our actions, and, by faith,  may we never take it for granted.

Have a blessed day!

 

 

Rev. Jeffery C. Russell
Salem Baptist Church
Elizabeth City, NC
jefferyrussell@embarqmail.com

jcrussell@liberty.edu

 

Church website:   http://25621.lifewaylink.com
Devotion Archives: http://www.msnusers.com/DevotionforToday

 

05 November 2007 Devotion for Today "Remember, Remember" Ephesians 2:1-6

05 November 2007  Devotion for Today  “Remember, Remember”  Ephesians 2:1-6

 

It was on this day four hundred and two years ago, when a group of catholic terrorists hired one Guido (Guy) Fawkes, a military munitions expert, to fill the cellar of the parliament building in Westminster with thirty-six large kegs of gunpowder.  He was to ignite the gunpowder just as England’s protestant King James opened the session of parliament for the year.  Through an act of betrayal, the plot was discovered just as Fawkes set to ignite the fuses.  After his arrest and excruciating torture, Fawkes and other conspirators were hanged, drawn, and quartered.   The day the conspiracy was discovered has been memorialized in Britain as Guy Fawkes’Day in which they commemorate each fifth of November with bonfires, fireworks, and the burning of Guy Fawkes in effigy. I recall as a child growing up there, that they also recited the following poem:

 

    Remember, remember the Fifth of November,

    The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,

    I know of no reason

    Why Gunpowder Treason

    Should ever be forgot.

 

God in His Providence protected the king who, a few years later, commissioned the translation of the Bible we know today as the King James Version, making God’s Word available in the common vernacular which has never ceased to spark revival and spiritual awakening since.  God is still living and active in the affairs of men, even in our politics today.  He averted catastrophe in 1605 with the discovery of gunpowder.  Who knows what evil God has spared us in spite of the terror attack of 2001 and the war on terror since that time.   God still intervenes on behalf of those who love and serve Him, and is more powerful than the deadly prince of terror which Paul names for us in the following text in Ephesians 2:

 

“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and the mind and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.  But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) and raise us up together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”  (Ephesians 2:1-6).

 

We Americans may not make much of Guy Fawkes’ Day.  Instead may the Lord help you to remember His watchcare and protection over you today, and cause you to thank Him for intervening on your behalf, and keeping you from sin and disobedience.

 

Have a blessed day.

 

Rev. Jeffery C. Russell
Salem Baptist Church
Elizabeth City, NC
jefferyrussell@embarqmail.com

jcrussell@liberty.edu

 

Church website:   http://25621.lifewaylink.com
Devotion Archives: http://www.msnusers.com/DevotionforToday

 

01 November 2007 Devotion for Today "The Heart" Ephesians 1:17-18

01 November 2007  Devotion for Today  “The Heart”  Ephesians 1:17-18

            Bruce Larson tells the story of a lady who came to see him about joining the church.  She said her doctor had sent her.  Recently, the lady had a facelift and when her doctor dismissed her he gave her this advice: “My dear, I have done an extraordinary job on your face, as you can see in the mirror.  I have charged you a great deal of money and you were happy to pay it.  But I want to give you some free advice.  Find a group of people who love God and who will love you enough to help you deal with all the negative emotions inside of you.  If you don’t, you’ll be back in my office in a very short time with your face in far worse shape than before.”  

            How true that is.  Perhaps that is why someone once said: “Beauty is only skin-deep; but ugly goes clear to the bone!”  All humor aside, negative emotions can distort our faces and create a lot of ugliness in the world.  But there is a cure for it.

            Paul writes in Ephesians 1:17-18 “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of all glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened: that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.” 

            In the original language, the word understanding is translated from the word cardia.  One does not need to know Greek to know that cardia means heart.  If I am sitting here writing and suffer a cardiac arrest, you will know that my heart has stopped beating.  Dr. John MacArthur writes that “in most modern cultures, the heart is thought of as the seat of emotions and feelings.  But most ancients- Hebrews, Greeks, and many others-considered the heart to be the center of knowledge, understanding, thinking, and wisdom.  The heart was considered to be the seat of the mind and will, and it could be taught what the brain could never know.”  (John MacArthur, Commentary on Ephesians, p. 45). 

            Metaphorically, we normally associate the heart as the center of our feelings, but ancient people also believed feelings came from the abdomen, the intestines, or the stomach.  Even today, we speak of having a “gut” feeling about something that we may not have logical evidence for, but we know it intuitively, or subjectively, nonetheless.

This is why Paul calls upon the eyes of one’s heart to be enlightened.  We don’t have to be physicians to know that the human heart does not have an eyeball sticking out of it, so we know that Paul is speaking metaphorically here.  The human heart is not the organ of the body which receives enlightenment, either.  But this is all beside the point.  Where ever we receive the enlightenment, we know that it is God who gives it when our hearts (or minds) are yielded to it.  Enlightenment sets off a spark of understanding which opens up a whole new world for us that we never believed was true before, or never knew existed before.  There is excitement and interest, and enthusiasm about what God is doing in your life.  There is a richness where emptiness had been before.  We should not play down our emotions.   Emotions play a significant part in the Christian’s life, but they are reliable only as they are guided by God’s truth, which we can understand through our minds. 

            What is your heart telling you today?  Has it been a while since you have had that sense of enlightenment which can spark a passion?  Jesus Christ not only sparks it once, but again and again.  May you have His enlightenment within you as you go about a busy and productive day, knowing that what you do makes a greater difference now that Jesus Christ is part of it.

            Have a blessed day.

 

 

 

 

Rev. Jeffery C. Russell
Salem Baptist Church
Elizabeth City, NC
jefferyrussell@embarqmail.com

jcrussell@liberty.edu

 

Church website:   http://25621.lifewaylink.com
Devotion Archives: http://www.msnusers.com/DevotionforToday