We offer two ways to be encouraged by God’s Word:
→ Pastor John Blog – Pastor John shares a little devotional, insight, or testimony and invites you to respond as well.
This week –
That God is Sovereign Matters
What does it mean to you to say that God is in control? Is that something that gives you confidence, or is it something that makes you confused? In God’s Word the sovereignty of God is the underlying assumption of every act of faith. With the exception of extreme suffering, the faithful saw God’s sovereignty…
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→ Daily Devotionals – If you like to have a devotional thought for the day, the following links will take you to a trusted Christian Bible teacher. You will find a Scripture and a devotional thought there that we hope will encourage your heart.
Devotionals from…
Charles Swindoll
Greg Laurie
Proverbs 31 Ministries
Charles Spurgeon
Tony Evans
John Piper
John MacArthur
R.C. Sproul
Our devotional highlight for this week is from R.C. Sproul. Note: all links will take you away from this site and to the the websites chosen by the devotional for Bibles and cross references).
Responding to God’s Call
We live in daily submission to a host of authorities who circumscribe our freedom: from parents to traffic police officers to dog catchers. All authorities are to be respected and, as the Bible declares, honored. But only one authority has the intrinsic right to bind the conscience. God alone imposes absolute obligation, and He does it by the power of His holy voice.
He calls the world into existence by divine imperative, by holy fiat. He calls the dead and rotting Lazarus to life again. He calls people who were no people “My people.” He calls us out of darkness and into light. He effectually calls us to redemption. He calls us to service.
Our vocation is so named because of its Latin root vocatio, “a calling.” The term vocational choice is a contradiction in terms to the Christian. To be sure, we do choose it and can, in fact, choose to disobey it. But prior to the choice and hovering with absolute power over it is the divine summons, the imposition to duty from which we dare not flee.
It was vocation that drove Jonah on his flight to Tarshish and caused his terrified shipmates to dump him in the sea to still the vengeful tempest. It was vocation that elicited the anguished cry from Paul, “Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:16). It was vocation that put a heinous cup of bitterness in the hands of Jesus.
The call of God is not always to a glamorous vocation, and its fruit in this world is often bittersweet. Yet God calls us according to our gifts and talents, and directs us to paths of the most useful service to His kingdom. How impoverished we would be if Jonah had made it to Tarshish, if Paul had refused to preach, if Jeremiah really had turned in his prophet’s card, or if Jesus had politely declined the cup.
Coram Deo
Think about it . . . what will be the tab of spiritual losses if you do not respond to God’s call?
Pastor John D Jakes 