Apr 8

“But we preach Christ crucified...” 1 Corinthians 1:23

The Apostles didn’t know or preach a stately triumphant Messiah, who would conquer their physical enemy, establish a new earthly kingdom, and retrieve for them the position and privileges they once held. This was the expectation of many of the Jews, but the crucified Christ, the Christ who suffered and allowed Himself to be humiliated, was what they were presented with! The message of the Apostles exalted the sacrifice of Jesus for the atonement of our sins. Little wonder it was a ‘stumbling block’ to them! It was the opposite of what they had expected! It was inglorious, ignominious and ignoble! How could such a slain Messiah save or even inspire! This is exactly the mentality of so many today and the error they make. They misunderstand the cross of Calvary. Without God’s revelation, His understanding and light on the plan of salvation He so lovingly made available for us, we would surely miss the mark and totally misconstrue the Divine purpose. The power of Christ crucified, is like nothing else on earth! It doesn’t depend on the grandeur and pomp, or the force and violence that the human mind expects, when strength or authority is described. It is based in, and functions from the very essence of God – His love! This is the most powerful force in the universe. It conquers in a manner otherwise unknown to man, and incomparable to anything else. This power is able to reach the heart of humans, across the boundaries of culture, language, age and education. It grips the soul and cleans it; makes inroad in the darkest places of the heart and turns the light on; devastates the devil and the sin that enslaves man, and frees him, in the most complete sense; reaches down to fallen man and lifts him from the slime pit of perdition, upon the solid rock of salvation! That is why ‘we’ – all who believe and know Jesus – preach the crucified Christ! Like the apostle Paul we want to know nothing but ‘Christ and Him crucified’, this is the core of the faith, the centre piece of exaltation, and the focus of life - there is power in the message of the cross! 

http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion

Jan 7

“…..in due time Christ died for the ungodly” Romans 5:6

Jesus found us at our weakest, most needy and vulnerable moment, when we were least able to cope with or deal with our lives. Some of us have always considered ourselves to be proficient and to have the capacity to function without external help and support. Yet even if in many aspects of life we ‘had it all together’, the problem of our sin-sick soul remained, and nothing we could do by our own means, could resolve that issue! Outside of Christ, the Bible calls us ‘the ungodly’, simply because we are without God in our lives, and thus not able to sustain any true spiritual health. We may imagine that we don’t really ‘need’ God; after all, we are managing just fine. However the record shows, that many who have come to the Lord, were not destitute, abandoned nor needy. It is not only the physically and mentally broken or emotionally distressed, who need God. Salvation is not merely for the poor, underprivileged or the person who has wrecked their lives. At the precise time in God’s plan, Christ died for the ungodly. That description applies to all levels of humanity and society, from what we may consider ‘the lowest to the highest’, wherever there is a ‘lack of God’ in our souls! Jesus paid the price for you and me, and did not care what condition we are in, or what position we fill in society. We can be as much of a sinner as the vilest person we know, though we may be dressed in the finest of clothes, live in the best home or hold an elite position or respected occupation in society. Our life-style does not in itself determine the condition of our soul – the presence or absence of God in us, does! God in His love, made provision for all ungodly humanity, and in case we think we are slightly better than the person next to us, we are told that in ourselves and by our own means and deeds, there is ‘none righteous, no, not one’! Clearly nothing we can do justifies us before the Lord, we need God and His provision for our souls! Right on time, in the plan of God, you were provided for, there remains but one requirement - to make what Jesus did, yours personally and benefit eternally!

http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion