Aug 3

“... to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;” Colossians 2:2

The apostle desires the hearts of the saints to be comforted, knit together in love and reassured in the understanding they have been imparted of the truths of God. In particular he points here to the doctrinal truth, the ‘mystery’ of God, now revealed. This has to do with the powerful truth that God is One. Some would divide God into three separate, distinct persons rather than to see He is but One God, who manifests Himself in multiple ways. This is in part the truth over which Paul wanted the saints at Colossi to rejoice and be assured in. He also instructs them, later in the same chapter, not to be deterred from this truth by traditions, deceptions, philosophies or man’s reasoning. He reminds them that in Jesus dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and that they and all believers are complete in Him! This powerful and liberating truth identifies God and focuses all the glory, the honour, the power and the worship to the One to Whom it belongs! Hearing from, obeying and following the ways of the Holy One of Israel, was and remains core doctrine among the Hebrews and should be so among all Christians also. All of deity, the fullness of it, is in Christ Jesus! It is all in Him! Scholars agree that ‘and’ (kai, in the Greek) may be rendered to mean ‘even’, or ‘that is’, and does not always imply a ‘copulative’ (addition) action. Thus the mystery of God ‘and’ of the Father, ‘and’ of Christ, in our verse, is not a mystery involving three beings, persons or gods. It is the mystery of God, now revealed to man through His word involving God, that is, the Father that is, Christ! We are told in 1Timothy 3 that the great mystery of the Godhead is how that God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory! Jesus fits all of that description! Paul confirms that the fullness of the Godhead bodily dwelt in Jesus, not just a portion, a second person, a third or a partial aspect! The same One God, who was the Father in eternity, took on the form of man and became known as the Son of God in redemption, died on the cross for our sins, rose again from the dead, and now abides as the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers! This is a great assurance, a cause of great comfort, and an establishing, stabilising truth to all the faithful - that we may personally know the God we have believed in and trusted for our salvation! 

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

July 21

“And hath raised us up together…” Ephesians 2:6

Our status as to our spiritual condition was officially ‘dead’! The wages of sin is death, and there is no human who is not affected by this tenebrous influence. The Bible proclaims that ‘..all have sinned and have come short of the glory of God”. This makes our human destiny a dark one indeed, were it not for the light of God’s love and grace! God has made a way to raise us from the dead! When we come to the salvation He has provided, that is, we accept the sacrifice of Christ at Calvary, and participate in His death, burial and resurrection, we pass from death to life! We are raised together with Christ! In His victory over sin and death, we find our victory also! We overcome death, sin and the world, because He overcame them. It is the only solution to the sin/death problem which plagues the human family.  This is the ‘good’ news of the gospel, that while in our natural state, we are the inheritors of death, Jesus made a way to give us life, and that more abundantly! It is strange how so few comparatively, choose to have life instead of settling for eternal death. Logic and wisdom would seem to make it a simple choice, but because it requires faith to believe that God means what He says (and for many to believe He even exists in the first place!), not so many choose life. Those who do believe and accept in faith what God has given discover the wonder and blessing of His truth! They become alive where they were spiritually dead, and awake to the reality of all that God has in store for His followers. Maybe some stumble at the simplicity of the gospel. They might feel that if God had demanded some difficult task, such as climbing a high mountain or killing a beast with their bare hands, in order to obtain salvation, it may be more credible. They miss the point that God wants to make salvation available to all, and that means all must be able to come to salvation the same way. The one thing that all humans can do, regardless of age, opportunity, ability or background, is believe! God has put in all humans ‘the measure of faith’, that is, the ability to believe. Ultimately man could not do anything of his own anyway, no matter how great the exploit, to purchase his personal salvation. Only Christ’s sinless life was an apt sacrifice for sin. Jesus gave His life freely; He did it for all humanity, and that is why faith and not our own provision, is essential! Why should we remain dead in trespasses and sins, when Jesus has made a way to resurrect us and give us life eternal? Let us allow God to work in us, and through the faith He has given us, accept the loving gift of salvation, that we may be born again, resurrected and inheritors with Christ of eternity.

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

July 15

“…Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3

The Lord’s stipulation is clear a man cannot inherit heaven in his sinful condition. There has to be a rebirth, a birth from above, a spiritual regeneration. Our sin creates a barrier between us and God, and bars our entrance into the kingdom of heaven. Human efforts cannot produce an adequate solution to the sin problem. Jesus made the only right way for salvation at Calvary, and we participate in His effort and solution by being born again, this second time spiritually. Verse 5 of this chapter tells us it is a new birth of water and Spirit, pointing us clearly to the necessity of being baptised in the name of Jesus, which is the name of salvation, and being baptised in the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of regeneration! It may seem a narrow way into heaven and indeed it is, but God has made that clear from the beginning. Our gospel should take nothing away from what Jesus taught here. It should present the way as He did without compromise or adjustments. The message of the new birth is interwoven with the message of the death, the burial and the resurrection of Christ, and subsistent upon it. When we have preached Christ and His atoning, substitutionary death for us on the cross, we must along with that preach the necessity of being born again of water and of the Spirit, by which we identify and partake of Christ’s sacrifice. This is not some optional extra, or a mere tag to suffix the term Christian, it is a real, discernible experience in God; a revolutionary change of life, which renews and renovates our thinking, desire, purpose and manner of living; a way of life in which we must grow and continue in faithfully until the end! That end, for born again believers, will actually be the beginning of eternity in heaven with Jesus!

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

July 12

“The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light:…” Isaiah 9:2

The Messianic Prophet Isaiah, speaks here of the great light which was to come to the world, in Christ Jesus. Both the people of Israel who had fallen in spiritual darkness through sin, and those nations who had never known anything but the darkness of their lost spiritual condition, would soon see the Great Light. God’s personal expression, the image of His person, would be revealed on earth as the promised Messiah, to bring spiritual deliverance to the lost and dying. The term ‘walked’ refers to living life, continuing in this case, in spiritual murkiness. Such is the condition of every man, woman and child, before they ‘see’ and receive the light of God’s love and grace! Christ’s coming to earth, to save the lost, was the brightest star to ever light mankind’s tenebrous sky! The darkness of sin is dark indeed. No glimpse of hope or clarity exists there. The destiny of man without Jesus is to grow, live and die in that spiritual gloom! God understood the self-inflicted plight of man, and loving us beyond our most vivid imaginations, He made a way to remove the darkness from us! He came as the Son, in the human form of a servant, lived a sinless life, and died to give great light to all those who would receive it. The light that God shone for man is undeniably great! Many purposefully hide from this light, placing barriers to shield themselves from it, as they would from sunlight. Yet God has made certain that anyone who wants to, can and will ‘see’ it, receive it and benefit from its benevolent, magnificent influence. Viewed from a carnal standpoint, Jesus’ life and death may be dismissed as some miniscule ‘candle’ lit for a short while, in some remote corner of the earth, insignificant or at least no more momentous, than the life of many other individuals. From a spiritual standpoint however, the life Jesus lived, and what He did at Calvary, is the singular, most significant event in the history of humanity! It shines brighter, more permanent and more powerful, than the brightness of the noon-day sun! God’s light is still available today even for those who have lived in the darkest, darkness of sin, and have not to date recognised or accepted this divine gift! If allowed to shine into our souls, the warmth, healing and blessing of God’s Great Light, will fill us, renew us and forever chase away the deepest, thickest, most resistant darkness!

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

June 28

“…The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon thee.” Ezekiel 32:11

In the narrative of Holy Scripture we find God’s involvement in the rise and fall of nations. Far from being the indifferent, remote and disinterested God that some would have Him to be, Yahwah is clearly close to the events of history that seem to have shaped the destiny of nations, peoples and civilizations. In these passages from the book of Ezekiel, we have the prophecies concerning the fall of Egypt, at the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. Though in due course Babylon too would find retribution for its violations and pride against the Almighty, at this time the great kingdom would be used as a tool to bring judgment upon the sin and idolatry of Egypt. Two things we must keep in mind as we read these passages. Firstly, the Lord is in authority over all and any kingdom of man, even those who by their laws show they have no regard or consideration of Him. As the Supreme Potentate, He is capable of using and directing the events, and the ultimate outcome of all human affairs, to suit and fit His own purpose and will, if He so chooses. In our modern world so aloof and self-sufficient in its technology and scientific advancements, little care or place is given to the power and majesty of God. He is not glorified in the dealings of the present nations of this world as a whole. Actually quite the opposite is true, most of the world’s powers and governments are antagonistic to God, His law and His ways. They promote immoral and sinful lifestyles which deny and defy God’s power and authority. They mock, decry and belittle the ways of the Almighty as old-fashioned, archaic, out of touch or inapplicable, mere myth. History has clearly shown that when God has had enough of man’s pride and foolish boasting, He will come in judgment and will make quick work of all man’s self-aggrandizing and self-glorification. Secondly, we must remember that the Lord is longsuffering and patient, and as believers, we must be like Him. Even when we might think that the wicked is ‘getting away with it’, and that nothing is happening to bring about justice and righteousness, we must remain patient and leave the timing and call of action to God. He has the knowledge and wisdom necessary to bring about justice in the right way and at the right time. His longsuffering is bound up in His love for mankind, for in spite of man’s sin and self-destructive nature, He is not willing that any should die, but desires that all should come to repentance. Nevertheless the time will come when He will close down the opportunity for mankind to choose His righteousness. Then will come the judgment, and like that which fell on Egypt and many other great nations, it will fall upon the whole world, it will be sudden and it will be final. It won’t be the power of one nation pitched against another at God’s bidding, but a judgment conducted by His own personal power and presence, for “..in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords!” Our task is not to complain about the conditions of the world, worry about God’s timetable, or suggest what He should do, but to stay faithful and pure till the end; to continue to trust, love and believe in Jesus and His Word; and to reach out to as many as we can with the gospel of salvation while there is yet time!

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

June 27

“…Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her?...” Nahum 3:7

Nineveh again becomes the centre of God’s attention and the recipient of His judgment, because of its gross immorality and wickedness. Once before, God had sent the reluctant prophet Jonah to this same city, with a message of impending doom. In those days, this great city was so large that it took three days to walk it from one side to the other. It has been estimated that it had a population of around one million inhabitants, a particularly large city for those days. Only upon their swift repentance with sackcloth and ashes, did God avert the judgment which was about to be poured upon it. Now again under the ministry of the prophet Nahum, Nineveh’s sin, idolatry, witchcraft and immorality is brought into focus and its destruction is prophesied. With the accuracy of detail that can come only from the Omniscient Yahwah, Nahum tells of how its ruin will happen, and the manner of its fall. History shows the events took place in this very way, to the last minute detail! Nineveh had become such a scourge and pollution of many nations, and where in the past God’s mercy had covered, the time had come, where no such healing could be promoted any longer. Nineveh would be destroyed, laid waste and there would be no one to weep over her! No one that would not agree, this was a just and correct judgment upon her! The patience and longsuffering of God is remarkable and sets us in awe of His greatness, when we consider how much room He allows, and how long He deals with the human family, in an effort to bring us to repentance. There is however in God’s economy an end to His striving with man. There comes a time when for God to continue striving, would mean having to bend man’s will, or allow him to violate His holiness - and the Lord will not do either. He has allowed man a free will by which he can make his own choices, for or against God. Yet the Lord will also tenaciously defend His holiness and protect it from allowing man to go beyond his allowed scope. There is therefore a time limit which God sets for all men, nations and people. That time is known of the Lord alone, and when it comes, there is no holding back on the judgment of God! It is a time of reckoning, a time of judgment, destruction, cleansing and restoration of righteousness. Time then will have run out, it will be time ‘no more’, in regards to possible repentance and change. Nineveh and all the civilizations that have gone before, teach us the great lesson that there is a limit and boundary to the longsuffering and mercy of God. It is wise for us to repent quickly while there is yet time, and while God is near and calling. If we insist on remaining in sin, violating God’s law and repudiating His love, the time will come when the opportunity to make it right will no longer be available. Wise are the words of the prophet Isaiah when he exhorted the people saying “seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:”! 

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

June 10

“Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world…” Galatians 1:4

What an amazing thought! Jesus who as the Eternal God needs nothing, and is Supreme above all His created work, didn’t merely spend out of His treasury to rescue our lost human race. He didn’t just trade some other property in exchange for our freedom, but rather gave Himself! This is the loftiest and most incomprehensible view of God’s love for mankind! We who had nothing, were without hope of ever be free from the slavery of our sin, and were enemies of God, would even merit the least of His attention, never mind His personal sacrifice! It is truth sublime and without parallel! This is the love of God, which He has freely shown to each of us, and which merits our hearts’ greatest gratitude and praise. Our best response to such love is to live the life for which He made such sacrifice. He did it so that we could be delivered, saved, rescued and made free from ‘this present evil world’. Creation itself, the physical world God made is not evil, but the sin which is perpetrated by the human race in this world, makes this present world wicked and evil beyond imagination! It is out of this spiritual darkness that Jesus desires to save and deliver us. Even the casual observer would agree that the condition of our world is becoming more desperately wicked and increasingly vacuous of the values and morals of God. Sin reigns in our world’s societies, and all efforts made by human government to police and curb, malicious and evil behaviour, overall fail, and are met with progressively less manageable challenges. There seems to be no end to the wickedness, and no answer to the sin problem, except in Christ! Jesus gave Himself for just such purpose. He Who had no sin, gave Himself for our sins! He made this deliverance open to all who will receive it and available to people of all ages, background or nationality. There may be many things that we cannot do as individuals, but we can all learn to love Jesus! To love God, means to believe in Him, partake of the salvation He has provided, and obey His commands and words so that we may live the kind of life He has always intended us to live! A life that testifies of His goodness and reflects His love to others; a life blessed and fulfilled by His purposes and lived for His glory! Like all things made and conceived for a specific purpose, we too function best and are happiest when we live the kind of life He created us for and made us capable of. Jesus gave Himself for us, it is only fitting we should give ourselves to Him!

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

May 30

“Who will have all men to be saved…” 1 Timothy 2:4

God is love! This is the basic and prominent feature of His character and it is reflected in His will. Two aspects of His love can be readily seen in the way we understand the will of God from this portion of scripture. Firstly, God does not desire anyone to remain unsaved. This means that God’s choice is for every human being to inherit eternal life and undying joy. To that end He has made provision through the atoning death of Jesus the Messiah on the cross of Calvary, for just such salvation to be made available to everyone, without preference or restriction. The great theme of God’s love can be found summarised in one verse, in John 3:16. Here we read that ‘God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son’ so that without leaving anyone out, ‘whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life’! We can set aside any notion of partiality or preferential treatment with God. When it comes to salvation, God who is no respecter of persons, places no difference between one or another, and will have all men to be saved! Secondly, we see God’s love identified in scripture from the fact that while He wills for all humanity to be saved, He does NOT enforce His will upon all humanity to be saved! God loves us enough to allow each of us to decide for ourselves whether we will accept the extended hand He offers in eternal salvation, or whether we will reject it! This amplifies the magnificence and perfection of God’s love! He will not impose His will upon us as humans, though He could, and will not force on us what His will is, even though it is the best possible thing we could do for ourselves! Such love surpasses all we know in the world and in the manner and workings of human behaviour. This is divine kind of love! It is a love we should learn to imitate and make ours in our dealings one with another. It is also the reason why so many, not understanding, seeing or accepting the love that God gives, will inevitably end up in a place of eternal torment and suffering. Let us be clear, God is love, but He is also Holy and Just! He is not willing that any should perish or die, but when a man makes that choice for himself, then provision has been made for that choice also! The notion that a person can do what they like, live as they please, sin and offend in any and all aspect of godliness, and yet still ‘go to heaven’ when they die, is simply wishful thinking and pie-in-the-sky belief! God, who IS love, has made provision so that no one has to die, but when we turn our backs on His love grace and gift of eternal life, we reap what we choose for ourselves - and the only alternative to eternal life, is eternal death! 

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

May 29

“The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty…” Psalms 93:1

The Lord Jesus Christ, Yahwah, reigns! The verb here is in the continuing form, signifying an ongoing status that has not, and will not cease. He is King over all. This is a truth affirmed time and again is scripture. Many Psalms begin with this declaration, and in many other portions of the Bible we find the same statement of truth asserted. It is therefore a fact we must remember and keep present on our minds, while as weary pilgrims we travel these tumultuous times of life, through a troubled world, to our heavenly home. When we see the ugliness of much that is taking place in our world today, it may be sometimes difficult to reconcile in our minds the fact that God still reigns. In fact many use this very evidence to excuse themselves from believing in God. They say something like “if God existed, He would not cause such and such things to happen”! They fail to see the bigger picture, or understand how God works. God does not ‘rule’ or reign as we imagine in our carnal and limited minds. His ways are far above ours and His power beyond our understanding. He reigns from a platform of love and longsuffering towards us, His creation, not willing than any of us should perish, but that all should come to repentance! With this in mind, we should consider briefly why then we can without fear believe that our Lord reigneth. Firstly, the reign of God is seen in the fact that He continues to employ the nature He has created, to function, sustain and maintain life on this planet. All things depend upon Him and consist by Him, and without the upholding of His Almighty hand, nothing would function or remain in place as it is. Secondly, we can verify He still reigns by the testimony of the millions of faithful, those individuals who desire and allow for His presence and His will to be carried out in their lives. This experiential evidence is too large a body of proof, and too enduring an empirical factor to be ignored. It includes humans from all nations, all walks of life, all backgrounds and varied upbringing, all of whom are willing to bow a knew to the King of Kings, and even by itself this is compelling evidence that He still reigns! Thirdly, we acknowledge that as supreme ruler, God allows for man to impose his own will, at least to a certain point, and to a degree. This proves His supremacy and demonstrates that He still reigns, because He is not influenced, changed or derailed by man’s evil or iniquity. He has demonstrated in the past, and will do so again in His own time, that when He, as supreme ruler deems it enough, He will bring judgment upon all those who have disregarded His authority and violated His laws. Man may think himself powerful and in control, but Jesus made it clear to Pilate, who at the time appeared to have control over Him, that he would have no such power except it was given him from above. This means that above and beyond what appears to be man’s power and autonomy, is a greater Power, a Supreme Ruler who yet reigns over all! For those who accept the reign, control and power of God as King and ruler of all, there is an added blessing! They can see and appreciate the majesty with which He is clothed! It is unlike anything any human king or ruler has ever even remotely approached to or imagined! It is breathtaking Majesty, awe inspiring Majesty! In glory, power and wonder, His Majesty is something truly and literally ‘out of this world’! One day every eye shall see it and behold it, and every knee shall bow to His Majesty, and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord! Some will do so to their everlasting destruction, and some to their eternal salvation! 

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

May 23

“But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:” 2 Corinthians 4:3

The gospel is described here as ‘our gospel’, not because it belongs to us alone, but because it is entrusted by the Lord to all who believe. This message of God’s salvation has been made available and open for all. It is not hidden by God, nor should it ever be hidden by those who believe and have benefited from it. It has been given freely as an endowment of all mankind. The only limitation on it being appropriated as ‘ours’, is our own will and desire as individuals. We might say similarly that the sun shines and all can see it, unless they close their eyes to it and choose not to. The flow of a river is there for all to benefit and satisfy their thirst, unless they select not to drink from it. In context then, the gospel is not hid by divine mandate. If it remains hidden to some, the fault is not with God or with the gospel He has given, but rather with those that through their own pride, sinfulness, indulgence and self-centredness, remain blinded to the sight, beauty and power of it and therefore are deemed ‘lost’, without hope and without Christ. This however, is not a condition which must inevitably remain, as can be seen by so many of us who were indeed lost and yet are now found. What corrects our lost-ness is as simple as making a change in our will to ‘see’, give place to and accept that it is we who are blinded to the beauty of God’s gospel, and in need of spiritual surgery! Once that admission is made in our personal hearts and minds, we begin to find that which had been ‘hidden’ by our own doing or lack of! It is probably for this reason that many, when referring to their conversion say something like ‘when I found God’, as if God had been somehow lost! In reality what we mean by such statements, is that though God was in plain sight, like the light of the sun, we had our blinders on and could not see Him! We were the ones who were lost, and only when we finally and willingly removed the impediments from our eyes, did we begin to see God! In that sense then, we ‘found Him’. It was from that moment onwards that we became conscious and aware of Him, His plan for our lives, His salvation, His beauty and Majesty and at that point, we ceased to be lost and by accepting Jesus, we became found in Him! The glorious message of salvation, which powerfully presents the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the way by which we can identify with and make ours what He did for us, is plain and manifest; but if it remains veiled, hidden and out of sight, then it is so to those who are among the countless lost, and who so desperately and in spite of themselves need to found! The task and commission is left to those who believe, to make every effort and try every means, by which we may help someone else who may be willing, to see what is yet hidden to them!

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

Apr 28

“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour…” 1 Timothy 2:3

It is a good and acceptable practice for those who are saved to pray and make supplication unto God for all men, in every walk of life. God desires the salvation of all people, regardless of their walk of life. It is our task to pray with the same determination, sincerity and passion for those who are friends or enemies and for those who may be peers or in authority over us. The spiritual need of a person is constant regardless of his or her position in life. We are directed to live peaceably with all men and to show forth a quality of life which reflects the godliness we have found in Christ. Our task in this world includes the action of prayer for all men. This is a personal engagement in the need of the souls around us, for there in no one exempted from our attention in prayer. The individual that mocked us, requires our prayer to God. The person who has chosen to be difficult or antagonistic is in need of our pleading to the Lord. The stranger we meet, the friend we have known a while, or the family member we grew up with, all are candidates for our supplication to the Lord. The apostle indicates we should not fall short in our prayer for all men, even when we think of what we might regard as ‘important’ or ‘popular’ individuals, those in our society and government who carry responsibility and the power of decision making. It is an ineffable joy to think that while I may never have a personal say in the establishing of law, or in determining some practice in society, yet greater and well above that, I have been given authority to pray and potentially bring about change and help effect the salvation of a soul! The ability by prayer to influence a positive outcome of the eternal destiny of a fellow human being is a deputation of great honour, which deserves equally great appreciation. In all our doing of ‘good and acceptable’ things to improve the physical or temporal condition of any other human beings, nothing could equal the importance and urgency of praying for their souls! God desires that all people everywhere be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. How many might be snatched from the grasp of hell, saved and live to fulfil God’s desire, simply because you and I were faithful to pray?

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

Apr 14

“His own hands shall bring the offerings of the LORD…” Leviticus 7:30

Under Old Testament ceremonial law, offerings and sacrifices were to be made unto Yahwah for various reasons. Some of these were animal sacrifices, brought to the priests to be slaughtered, and offered as sin offerings unto the Lord. The priest placed certain portions of the offering, into the hands of the individual whose offering it was, and in turn he would ‘wave’ them before the Lord. This was significant of relinquishing the gift unto God and of abandoning the sin associated with the sacrifice. Portions were then burned, and other portions became food for the priests and their families. The entire sacrificial system was set up by God for Israel, to foreshadow the ultimate sacrifice of Christ at Calvary. It was in a type, to represent the offering of the ‘Lamb of God’, which takes away the sin of the world. As we come to the cross, inspect its horror and yet admire its glory, we recognise that it is through Jesus alone that our sins can be forgiven, covered and taken away! Like the offering giver of old, we must relinquish, not so much the offering, for that has been given by God, on our behalf, but ourselves.  It is in this willing abandonment of our desires, preferences and self to God that we are able to take upon us the salvation, the Saviour has supplied for us. This giving over is known as repentance in the Bible. It is a willing turning away from our sin and ways and accepting the path God has set for us. Repentance is the surrender of the reins of our lives to God, and turning away from the sins which have beset us. By this action we are saying that we will no longer insist on our wants or the desires of our flesh, but that from here on we will observe and obey the law of God and do His will. No one else can do this for us, we must come before the Lord ourselves and ‘with our own hands’ so to speak, bring this offering of self, unto the Lord. Repentance precedes the forgiveness of our sins in the waters of baptism, and the regeneration and new life we are imparted through the infilling of the Spirit of God!

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

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

Mar 31

 “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God…” 2 Thessalonians 1:8

Many have constructed an erroneous image of God in their minds. They have believed that because God is love, He cannot therefore be a party to distributing judgement, which may cause the suffering of anyone, regardless how sinful or guilty they may be. This could not be further from the truth of the essential and righteous nature of Yahwah. That God is love is a fact of scripture, but that this fact precludes and disqualifies Him from being a righteous judge of sin, is gross error! It is in fact His love that will demand justice be brought on those who have not ‘known’ Him. God’s love is not a fickle, fluffy, cover-all-without-righteous-process, kind of love. Calvary is the evidence that His love demands justice. Those who believe in Jesus have their sins remitted and paid for by Christ’s sacrifice at Golgotha, but their sin WAS PAID FOR! The love and righteousness of God, demanded that sin be judged! Through the atonement at Calvary, He has already given mankind the way ‘out’ of future judgment and death, by judging sin on the cross, in the death of Jesus. When humans refuse to ‘know’ God, that is, to acknowledge Him, His love and what He has done for them, they are placing themselves in line for the judgement, which is coming on this earth. They are saying by their actions, they do not want the salvation from death, which God has provided. They are despising God’s provision, and turning away from the only hope of escape. They are stating, they are not accountable for their actions to God and that He has no claim or authority over them. They are denying the fact that as the Creator of all things, including humans, He is our God and King! In spite of this wilful ignorance of God, disregard of His laws, choice to live in sin, and give their life’s allegiance to the devil and their own fleshly desires, many will still claim that ‘because God is love’, He will not judge them or punish them with an eternal retribution! This is simply wishful thinking! The kind of judgement which God has already purposed and revealed in His Word, which He will visit on sinful humanity, is intense with the purity of His Holiness and the indignation of His righteousness! Described as a ‘flaming fire’, the vengeance or judgement of God, is not going to be comparable in devastation, destruction and permanence, to anything man has ever known before! Sin demands and merits such reckoning. God has given man plenty of time and warning to evade, get out of the way and escape such judgement. The real question is why does most of humanity not heed to the loving wooing of the Saviour? Let us make every effort to warn those around us of the impending danger they are facing outside of Christ!

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

Mar 15

“…behold, now is the day of salvation.” 2 Corinthians 6:2

We see that in human life there is a time for everything. When it comes to the spiritual realm, there is not in the present, a God-ordained time to be or remain unsaved, and separated from the grace of the Lord! This is why we find the prompt and urgent exhortation to partake and benefit from the salvation Jesus has supplied, expressed by the very pressing term ‘now’. It was relevant at the time the Apostle Paul wrote it to the Corinthians, and it is still pertinent today. The ‘now’ spoken of here, is not so much a time of the clock, as it is a dispensation, a period during which God’s salvation is still available to mankind. In the past this glorious condition in Christ, could only be alluded to, by types and shadows, but was not yet accessible. In the future again, there will be an end to the possibility of finding safety and redemption in Christ. In the present however, it is a real and obtainable spiritual condition. ‘Now’ – we can be born again and be free from our past; now – we can know the joy of forgiveness and the resurrected life; now – we can live with Christ in heavenly places and prepare for eternity with Him! There is another way to consider this expression of present urgency and opportunity. No human being has a guarantee of tomorrow. For each of us, part of life is the very present, and without-regard-of-person, reality of death. Young or old, rich or poor, healthy or ailing, we could suddenly and without notice, cease to exist in this physical realm. The exhortation of our text, takes on the meaning of urgency for us personally, as individuals. While salvation maybe yet available tomorrow, and others may have the opportunity to participate still, there is no surety of another day for any of us. Today, now, therefore, is the most relevant and appropriate time to respond to God’s call, and make our soul right with Him. Too many have thought of acting upon the good will and grace of God another day, but never lived to see it. There are some things we cannot afford to put off, and salvation is the primary item in that category, the first entry on the list of ‘to dos’! All else is dispensable, but not this! Today, now - while God is near, while His salvation is available; while the heart is pumping, the lungs breathing and life is yet coursing through our bodies; while our minds are exercised and challenged, by the reality and possibility of such great salvation; while our souls are being drawn to the Saviour, let us answer with wholehearted and positive acceptance, to the plan and gift of salvation, Jesus extends – right now – to each of us!

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

Feb 25

“Who gave himself a ransom for all…” 1 Timothy 2:6

In order to free a slave from his captivity, a redemption price or ransom had to be paid. Clearly from his enslaved position, the slave himself would never be able to pay such a price. To free such a man then, someone else would have to pay the price of his freedom, on his behalf. Such is the picture painted in our text. Like poor and hopeless captives, we too were all slaves to sin, under the hand of the tyrannical and wicked master, the devil, who cared nothing if we died. Our situation was so beyond repair because the price for our liberty could not be paid by any other human being. Everyone else was in the same condition as us, for all have sinned and as such, were in the same chains and bondage that defined and restrained us. How could such a situation be remedied? What price could possibly be paid, as a ransom for all of humanity? Jesus is the answer! This is the motto some have puzzled over. They wonder if Jesus is the answer then what was the question! The question was they, me, us, all of humanity, our sin and lost condition and the how we could ever be delivered from our slavery and the captivity of Satan – that is the question to which only Jesus is the answer! He is the True Redeemer, who didn’t just give in order to ransom, but gave Himself, His precious sinless blood, as the price and full payment for our freedom from slavery! To further expound the dimension of Christ’s redemption, consider this: He became the ransom price for ALL! Yes - all of humanity; all who have been enslaved by sin and iniquity; all who are in captivity and spiritual chains! This is a remarkable thought! The price of delivering on slave from his slavery was considerable but the price of delivering humanity from its slavery is incalculable! The praises and hymns of thanks should continually flow from the mouths and hearts of every human being on earth! Yet what is obvious is that so many remain in the bondage of their sin and enslaved by satan - why is this the case? The single and simple requirement for receiving this freedom is accepting the salvation Jesus has provided! So many remain in spiritual slavery, for several reasons. Firstly because they do not know about the Saviour and the price He paid on their behalf, and therefore cannot in faith act and partake of His salvation. This is why the task of those who are saved, is to share the ‘good news’ of the gospel of salvation and help others receive their freedom! Let’s remember that every effort is made by the powers of darkness which enslave the souls of men, to stop this process of evangelism, quench the passion and vision of Christians to share the gospel, and to adulterate the message of salvation, minimise it, compromise it or alter it, in any way possible to lessen the chances of a slave becoming free from sin. The second reason why so many are yet in chains of spiritual slavery, is that the salvation and ransom given freely on their behalf, astonishingly is rejected by them! Although it may seem unthinkable, illogical and unlikely, that a slave would reject the only means of his liberty, yet this is exactly what is happening on the spiritual plane! Either deceived in believing that is not really their spiritual condition, or that there is some other way to freedom, or worse unwilling to make Jesus their new Master and Lord and serve Him for the love He has shown to them, they reject ‘The Ransom’, and choose rather to remain in spiritual bondage and slavery, where they will die eternally for their sin! Through all this, the grand plan and message of God continues to sound out for all who will hear it, and His salvation is still available to all who will receive it – Jesus – The Ransom for all! Jesus is still the Answer!

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