BibleTrekToday.com

Year: 2019

  • Not afraid of ‘bad news’!

    Scripture reading for June 5th:  Acts 23, Psalm 112, Proverbs 19

    Key Scriptures:  Acts 23:9-11  “Then a great clamor arose, and some of the scribes of the Pharisees’ party stood up and contended sharply, “We find nothing wrong in this man.  What if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?”  And when the dissension became violent, the tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from among them by force and bring him into the barracks.  the following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about Me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.”” 

    Religious folks are sometimes argumentative and violent.  Paul used the religious divide between rival factions in the Jewish ruling party to give opportunity to share the Gospel.  This also got him in prison on this occasion.  But Jesus stood by Paul and gave him a word of encouragement that helped Paul stand firm and walk through the trial.

    Faith Confession:  Thank You Lord that You are always with me to guide me and encourage me in every trial and test.  You are always working out Your plans for Your glory and my good, encouraging me.

    Psalm 112:6-7 “For the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered forever.  He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is fir, trusting in the Lord.”  

     

     

  • Opening blind eyes!

    Scripture reading for June 4th:  Acts 22, Psalm 111, Proverbs 18

    Key Scriptures: Acts 22:12-15 “And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, came to me, and standing by me said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight.’  And at that very hour I received my sight and saw him.  And he said, ‘The God of our fathers appointed you to know His will, to see the Righteous One and to hear a voice from His mouth; for you will be a witness for Him to everyone of what you have seen and heard.”  

    Paul was giving his testimony to the Jews in Jerusalem of his encounter with Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus.  He had been blinded physically and spiritually but God sent Ananias, a devout Jewish Christian, to bring him healing and a word of knowledge confirming His will.  Paul (Saul) saw Jesus and heard Him speak to Him, bringing about his conversion and understanding of God’s will for his life.

    Faith Confession:  Lord Jesus, thank You for appointing me and calling me to be a witness for You to all you put in my path.  Empower me with the Holy Spirit today for boldness and clarity, with open spiritual eyes.

    Proverbs 18:16 “A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before the great.”  

     

  • Willing to die for Christ Jesus!

    Scripture reading for June 3rd:  Acts 21, Psalm 110, Proverbs 17

    Key Scriptures:  Acts 21:10-13 “While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus come down from Judea.  And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’”  When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem.  Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart?  For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the Name of the Lord Jesus.””

    Paul had had many warnings of coming imprisonment.  God always prepares His own for what is ahead and His Presence guides them through the storms and trouble.  We naturally want to protect our loved ones from suffering or trials.  God’s people count it all joy when the trials come, knowing that the testing of their faith brings endurance and helps complete Christ’s work in others and us.

    Faith Confession:  Lord, thank You for this record of Paul’s faith confession that encourages me to stand true to You no matter what the consequences.  I trust You for grace sufficient to each trial in my life.

    Psalm 110:3 “Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of Your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours.”  

  • Declaring the whole counsel of God!

    Scripture reading for May 31st:  Acts 20, Psalm 109, Proverbs 16

    Key Scriptures: Acts 20:24-27 “But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.  And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again.  Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.”  

    As Paul met a final time with the elders of the Ephesian church, he spoke to them about his life and ministry in their midst, spending two years there preaching the gospel.  He told them of the warnings of future imprisonment and persecution that he had received.  He declared that his own life was only valuable to help him finish his mission here on earth.  He had no regrets about the Ephesians either.  He had fully preached the whole counsel of God to them and was innocent of their blood.  What a great faith confession!

    Faith Confession:  Lord, help me to declare the whole counsel of God to those in my circle of influence.  I want none to perish, but all to come to repentance and eternal life.

    Proverbs 16:20 “Whoever gives thought to the Word will discover good, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.”  

     

  • Receiving the Holy Spirit!

    Scripture reading for May 30th:  Acts 19, Psalm 108, Proverbs 15

    Key Scriptures:  Acts 19:1-6 “. . .Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus.  there he found some disciples.  And he said to them,”Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”  And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”  And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?”  They said, “Into John’s baptism.”  And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the One who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.”  On hearing this, they were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus.  And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.”  

    Paul found twelve disciples at Ephesus who had only been baptized by John the Baptist.  They had not received or heard of the gift of the Holy Spirit.  As Paul shared how John pointed all to Jesus, they believed and were baptized in Jesus’ Name.  Paul laid his hands on them and prayed and the Holy Spirit filled them with the evidence that they spoke in tongues and prophesied.  This was about 20 years after the first Pentecost.

    Faith Confession:  I believe in Jesus Christ and have been baptized in the Name of the Father, Son (Jesus) and Holy Spirit.  I have also been baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.  I believe this gift is for all who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord.

    Psalm 108:5 “Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!  Let Your glory be over all the earth!”   

  • The truthful witness saves lives!

    Scripture reading for May 29th:  Acts 18, Psalm 107, Proverbs 14

    Key Scriptures: Acts 18:5-8  “When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the Word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus.  And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads!  I am innocent.  From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”  And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of god.  His house was next door to the synagogue.  Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household.”  

    The disciples of Jesus were not always well-received.  They were often opposed and reviled and even beaten and imprisoned for sharing the Gospel.  Here, Paul shared the Word of God concerning Jesus with the Jews, his brothers.  They rejected it and Paul made a faith declaration:  “Your blood be on your own heads.”  Choices have consequences but rejecting Jesus has eternal loss and punishment as a result.

    Faith Confession:  My calling as a disciple of Jesus is to declare God’s Word concerning Jesus as the Christ.  If I faithfully declare, I am not responsible for the people’s choice to believe or reject.

    Proverbs 14:25, 27 “A truthful witness saves lives, but one who breathes out lies is deceitful.” . . . “The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death.”  

  • A day of judgment is fixed!

    Scripture reading for May 28th:  Acts 17, Psalm 106, Proverbs 13

    Key Scriptures:  Acts 17:29-31 “Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.  The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent, because He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom He has appointed; and of this He has given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead.”  

    Paul reasoned with the wise men and philosophers of Athens, proclaiming to them the One true God, Creator of all mankind and Jesus Christ, God in human flesh, crucified and risen from the dead.  He warned them that God would judge all men on a day He alone had set.  God was not an image of gold or silver or a creation of man’s imagination, but a Righteous Judge and Father who will hold all men accountable for their attitudes and actions concerning His Son.  No one will have an excuse!

    Faith Confession:  I believe in the One True God, Jesus Christ, Creator of all mankind and my Creator and Father.  I know there is a day of appointed judgment set by God for all mankind.  Without repentance and faith in Jesus no one can stand at the judgment.

    Psalm 106:48  “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting!  And let all the people say, “Amen!”  Praise the Lord!

     

  • Faith and household salvation!

    Scripture reading for May 27th:  Acts 16, Psalm 105, Proverbs 12

    Key Scriptures: Acts 16:30-34 “Then he (the Philippian jailer) brought them out and said,”Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they (Paul and Silas) said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”  And they spoke the Word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.  And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family.” 

    Paul and Silas had been beaten and put in stocks for preaching the Gospel.  About midnight, they were singing praises to God from their cell and God sent an earthquake that opened all the cell doors and released the prisoners from their bonds!  The jailer was ready to take his own life thinking all the prisoners would escape when he was stopped by Paul and Silas.  The jailer asked an amazing question:  “What must I do to be saved?”  Paul gave him a simple faith confession: “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household!”

    Faith confession:  I believe on the Lord Jesus as Savior and claim my household, children and grandchildren and generations to come, for salvation through faith in Jesus as well!  I believe this good word and am glad!

    Proverbs 12:25 “Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.”   

  • Wind and Fire!

    Scripture reading for May 24th:  Acts 15, Psalm 104, Proverbs 11

    Key Scriptures:  Acts 15:7-11 “And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the Gospel and believe.  And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as He did to us, and He made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith.  Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?  But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.””

    Jewish believers in Jesus wanted to demand that all Gentiles be circumcised in addition to faith in Jesus.  Peter refuted them with the fact that God shows no favoritism in giving the Holy Spirit to Jew and Gentile who believed by His sovereign grace.  Salvation is by grace through faith for all who believe with no strings attached.

    Faith Confession:  Lord, Thank You for Your saving Gospel and the gift of faith and the Holy Spirit.   Empower me with the ‘wind’ and ‘fire’ of Your Holy Spirit to reach out to the lost today.

    Psalm 104:4  “. . He makes His messengers winds, and His ministers a flaming fire.”  

  • Encouraging disciples!

    Scripture reading for May 23rd:  Acts 14, Psalm 103, Proverbs 10

    Key Scriptures: Acts 14:21-23 “When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.  And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.” 

    Paul had been stoned at Lystra and left for dead.  The believers gathered around Paul and he arose and went into the city.  The next day they traveled to Derbe and  preached the Gospel there with many responding for salvation.  Paul encouraged the disciples that persecution and tribulation were part of the life of a committed disciple.  Through prayer and fasting, elders were appointed to continue the pastoral work of building faith through God’s Word.

    Faith Confession:  Lord, thank You for those You send out to make disciples and encourage them.  Thank You for allowing me to be one who encourages  Your people.  Help me to pray and fast for the continuation of Your work.

    Proverbs 10:11  “The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.”