Presbyterian devotions: Read the Bible

Genesis 25:1   Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. 

Luke 4:29       They got up, drove Jesus out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. 

Okay, hands up all of you out there who knew that a) Abraham married again after Sarah died and b) that Jesus was almost thrown off a cliff to His death by his own neighbors?

I’m thinking that there may not be many hands up out there and that you are probably surprised by these events. Not many pastors preach on those topics and I can’t ever remember a Sunday school class ever tackling these passages. And yet, these events are written and described in the Bible, so why don’t we know about them?

We’ve stopped reading the Bible, plain and simple. We’ve all the time in the world for a best-selling novel, or checking our emails, or reading our tweets and texts, but when it comes to actually reading God’s best seller, God’s text message – the Bible, we’ve grown careless and inconsistent, making ourselves biblically weak and scripturally ignorant.

That’s why the church in Western society is encountering so much inner turmoil. Mainstream Christians believe that their own life experiences and personal feelings, their own ideas and individual opinions outweigh God’s Word. They want their faith to be relevant, but they don’t want to read the scriptures. They want their culture to be accepted, but they don’t want to accept Christ’s Gospel. In fact, when faced with the audacity of the New Testament message, they want to throw the uncompromising Christ and His First followers, like Peter and Paul, over a cultural cliff. In other words, they want the church to catch up with the world and alter its Christian ways, rather than face up to the world and challenge it to change.

I firmly believe that if people want their churches to grow, they have to re-invest their time in God’s Word. It’s no use hoping for the best and wishing things were different; if Christians really want to be effective and influential in the world, they honestly need to know God’s Book from beginning to end. Anything else will just be superficially experiential and grossly inauthentic.

Questions for personal reflection

How often do I read the scriptures? How can I make this a daily practice?

Prayer:                        Lord Jesus, our generation of church going people is guilty of setting aside scripture reading. We may pray to You several times a day especially in times of crisis and trouble, but we are forgetting or failing to read, meditate, and study Your Word.

Forgive our foolishness and keep us from becoming ignorant of Your Ways. Help us to make the time to read the Bible, as well as continually praying. In Your Holy Name, we humbly ask. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Today’s image is John’s latest “Bonnie Scotland” drawing. It’s a winter scene of the beautiful Eilean Donan castle which has been used in many movies. If you would like to view a larger version, then please click on the following link: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8160/7532542862_5b7b31bd43_b.jpg

Presbyterian Devotions: Knowing - Isaiah 40:14

Today’s Bible readings are Isaiah 40:12-17 and Matthew 19:13-15

Isaiah 40:14    Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten Him, and who taught Him the right way? Who was it that taught Him knowledge or showed Him the path of understanding?

I have a simple mantra for my life: God knows what He is doing. As far as I can remember, even in my bleakest of moments, God has always been in control. I’ve suffered from addiction and heartaches; I’ve experienced the death of loved ones and tragedies; I’ve known what it’s like to be hungry and poor, cast aside and ignored. And yet through all of that, God has always known what is best for me.

My approach to the Bible is just as simple: God knows what He has accomplished. And if God says that Jesus is His beloved Son, I simply believe it. And if Jesus says that God can only be known through Him, I simply accept it. God knows everything, so therefore when God sent His Son into the world to die for us, God knew that this was the best possible way to restore us to Him forever.

I don’t question God. I don’t question Jesus. I simply believe and totally accept all that God did through Christ. If someone were to ask me, “How can I live forever”, I will simply say, “Believe in Jesus Christ.” If  I am asked, “Is there life after death”, I will say, “Of course, through Jesus alone.” And if someone were inquire, “Is Jesus the only way to salvation”, I would have to answer, “Yes, because God knew what needed to be done and Jesus was the only person who ever accomplished it completely.”

God knows everything; the question we have to ask ourselves is this: are we willing to trust Him and simply accept what He did through Jesus?

Prayer:                        Lord Jesus, You are the Savior of our souls because You alone completed all that God expected You to do on Earth. You fulfilled the mission that God knew was necessary to restore humanity forever. We praise You for being our Advocate, our Redeemer, and King. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Today’s image is John’s latest Psalm drawing for children. It’s from Psalm 112 and you can view a larger version at the following link: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7035/6651134643_e5a34e5fe7_b.jpg

Presbyterian Devotions: Clean Water

Proverbs 11:25 A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.

Our church has a team of four people traveling to Guatemala tomorrow. They’re going on a special mission to find a site in a small village where a clean water well can be established. The team has been in training for months and they’re all excited about providing such a wonderful source of refreshment and health for the local community.

A couple of years ago, we would never have attempted such a mission, but we had a family who came into our church that had been supporting a Guatemalan school in the same region. Their enthusiasm and knowledge became a touchstone of interest for our church people. We started to support the school on a regular basis and then helped to finance sending a college student team for a week’s mission with the village kids.

These were great projects but we also wanted to do something that would have a lasting effect on the whole community. That’s when someone on our mission team was inspired by the Holy Spirit to suggest training an engineering team to build the water well. It would mean that the kids at the school and in the village would have access to clean water, which would diminish the amount of parasites they suffer from, increasing their health, and lengthening their lives.

So the Word of God is fulfilled in a beautiful way. The original church family, who generously gave of their time, talents, and resources to the Guatemalan school, has now refreshed the mission life of our church, which in turn is now refreshing the lives of an entire village. God truly works in mysterious ways!

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we give You thanks for the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in lives of church people. We thank You for motivating generosity and concern, compassion and goodness which helps and saves other people in far off lands. May we always look for opportunities to refresh others in our community and across the world. And may we also know of the life changing refreshment of the Holy Spirit in our congregation. In Your Holy Name, we pray.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Presbyterian Devotions: Faithful Foundations

Psalm 11:3 When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?"

Our modern Western Church is facing a dilemma and we are at a turning point in our history. For centuries, Western Christianity has been one of the most dominant forces on the planet. Much of history has been shaped by the ideas, beliefs, and teaching of the Western Church, and our modern civilization would not exist today without it.

The crossroads that we have come to has a lot to do with our foundational beliefs. People no longer apply them in their everyday lives. In fact, we have so “dumbed down” the teachings of the Church that many of our own people would find it difficult to recite the Lord’s Prayer, list the Ten Commandments, or even name all the Twelve Disciples of Jesus. It’s almost as if we’ve given the importance of those sort of things over to the church professionals and so long as they don’t meddle with our individual rights, opinions, or beliefs, we can all live in harmony.

Sadly, that was the condition of the Church before the Reformation. People let their priests hold the keys to salvation and biblical knowledge. Church people tolerated ignorance and illiteracy, placing too much authority into the hierarchy of the church, rather than paying attention to the substance and foundations of the Christian faith.

I have been a pastor for almost 25 years and I would love to say that Christians have become more dedicated, influential, and effective. Sadly, the reverse is more often true: people talk the talk, but really don’t care to walk the talk.

If God allows me to pastor for the next 25 years, then I think I’ve got to work on establishing foundations of faith in the lives of the people I serve. It may not be as exciting as being innovative or creative, but it will have a lasting effect. After all, if the foundations of our faith are being so easily destroyed through our desire to be accepted by the world, then what is the point of being a Christian? To make a difference in the world, we’ve got to be different.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, help us to focus on the foundations of our faith. Give us the grit and determination to follow through on applying our beliefs in our everyday encounters and circumstances. Re-teach us the merits of our faith and put us back on the right track. In Your Holy Name, we earnestly pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment about today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Presbyterian Devotions: Spiritual Downpour

How the outpouring of the Spirit in a church in Knoxville is helping a village in Guatemala get clean water.

Isaiah 32:15 …till the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest.

Podcast version here:

In a couple of weeks, a small team from our church will be visiting a village in Guatemala. The group is on a mission to begin the process of providing a clean water well for the town. It will be based in a school that our church has been supporting for several years. The team members have been specially trained for the project and hopefully within a short time, the villagers will soon be able to drink and wash with clean water.

Clean water will help the children and their families live longer and better lives. It will enable the school to gain extra funds, for the locals will pay, just like ourselves, for clean water. It should have a remarkable social, medical, and economic impact on the whole community. Not only will the well save lives, it will positively change them.

At the same time as the Guatemalan villagers receive and enjoy their well, our own congregation will be looking for a similar spiritual experience. Our building and campus needs to be renovated, so our people will be called upon in this generation to sacrificially give in order to build a well of God’s Word that will influence, attract, and encourage new Christians in our community for years to come.

We await the coming of the Spirit amongst us with the same excitement and enthusiasm as the men, women, and children of that little Guatemalan village. As they receive the blessings of water, we hope to simultaneously receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to make our church a fertile field of faith for the future.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are the Water of Life and we thank You for allowing us the resources with which we can help a far away village receive the blessing of clean water. At the same time, we praise You for our own challenges and ask that You help us to focus on the spiritual future of our community. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Presbyterian Devotions: A New Love

Is love at first sight predestined by God? A story from Scotland.

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Podcast version click here:

On top of my church computer, I keep my old KJV Red Lettered edition Bible. It was given to me by my parents way back in 1977. Throughout the years I’ve kept special cards, poems, and bookmarks within its pages. Every now and then I like to open it up and be nostalgically reminded of people, places, and programs from the past.

Today was no exception and as I looked through the Bible, I came across an old type written invitation to a Social dinner sent by my minister. It reads:

Dear Fellow Members,

So happy and successful was our Congregational Dinner last year that the Woman’s Guild had no hesitation in planning another one this session. Again we ask for your support for this Social Occasion of our congregation which is to be held Tuesday 27^th February, 1979 at 7:30p.m. We celebrate 25 years of the united Guild at this time, so this will be an Anniversary Dinner.

That means nothing to you, but it was the genesis of something that changed my life forever. You see at that Social Dinner, the minister introduced me to Miss Evelyn Smith and as I looked into her gorgeous blue eyes for the first time in my life, I instantly fell in love. I knew then that Evelyn would become my wife.

Thirty years have passed and I still cherish that invitation, which is why I keep it in my old Bible. It was the beginning of a new life for me. Without that encounter, I would not be here writing this devotion today. My life would have been so vastly different, so I am thankful that God created something new at that Anniversary Dinner. Whilst everyone else was celebrating 25 years of a Church Guild Union, God was planning an entirely different union.

Perhaps you need something new to begin in your life. Maybe you yearn for a new start, a new place, or a new career. I firmly believe that God loves to create new things in our lives, so this could be the day that a new and rewarding journey begins for you.

Prayer: Lord God, You are the Creator of all things and the Maker of New Life. Your ways are amazing and we are blessed by Your love, guidance, and grace. Thank You for creating new events, new opportunities, and new experiences in our lives. In Jesus’ Name, we expectantly wait and pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Presbyterian Devotions: A Great Savior

Hosea 14:4 I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them.

Podcast Version here:

Sometimes when I make mean mistakes or selfishly sin, I think that God is deeply disappointed and angry with me. I find it difficult to approach Him with the right contrition and sincerity, so I end up wondering if I will be forgiven. I don’t feel worthy enough to be saved or good enough to be pardoned, and sometimes a darkness overwhelms my soul. It’s a frightening thing to fear God and to think that He will harshly judge me.

And then, just as I need it most, the Spirit leads me to a biblical verse which turns out to be a wonderful promise of God’s grace in action. Even as a pastor, I need to hear God speak to my soul. And He does today through these wonderful words of Hosea. It’s as if God is saying to me: “I will heal your waywardness and love you freely, for my anger has turned away from you.”

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the movie, ‘Amazing Grace.’ It’s all about William Wilberforce, the great anti-slave trade opponent who gave his life seeking to abolish slavery throughout Britain and her colonies. In one scene from the movie, Wilberforce is seen talking to John Newton, the slave trader turned preacher. Newton is agonizing over his sinful past and despairingly expresses his deep regrets. At one moment, he is almost overwhelmed with his past wickedness. Then he boldly declares: “I know two things – I am a great sinner and that Christ is a Great Savior.”

We all carry burdens of past mistakes and each of us have moments when we feel our guilt before God. But His grace through Jesus Christ is so almighty and complete, that all our sins can be forgiven, our past burdens can be relieved, and our future hopes can be restored. We just need to come to Christ in prayer to receive these wonderful blessings.

Prayer: Father God, we know that we offend, disappoint, and anger You with our sinful ways and selfish choices. We confess to doing stupid things and making serious mistakes. We seek Your mercy and forgiveness through Christ’s sacrifice and grace. In His Name, we humbly pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor at Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Presbyterian Devotions: Soldier-Servant

Acts 10:2 Cornelius and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly.

I think when I get to heaven, I’d like to meet Cornelius. His story fascinates me and I love the fact that God uses him as a vehicle to spread the Christian faith throughout the mighty Roman militia. He is chosen by God because of his faithfulness and generosity. He walks the talk and makes himself not only acceptable to the Jews around him, but more importantly to God Himself.

In the scripture we are told that Cornelius is a centurion in the Italian regiment. That means that he is an officer in one of Caesar’s finest troops. His loyalty to the Emperor must have been strong, and yet he is also a follower of the God of the Jews.

I like the fact that God is willing to use an outsider like Cornelius to accomplish an important part of Christ’s ministry. God is favoring the centurion because of his devotion and charitable contributions. Cornelius just isn’t a person who says he believes; he puts his faith into practice by giving to and providing for the poor in his community. Usually, a Roman centurion couldn’t care less about the Jews or those living in poverty. Cornelius is an exception to the rule and because of this, God uses him in an extraordinary way.

I think what the passage is teaching us is this: Cornelius was a Christian even before he knew about Christ. His devotion to God, regular praying, and giving to the poor were very Christ-like. He was an honest soldier with noble characteristics. He was a man of God who would soon become a servant of God’s Son. Cornelius provides for all of us a trustworthy example of a faithful devotee of God.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we thank You for people like Cornelius, whose lives are filled with faith and honesty, loyalty and charity, commitment and compassion. Help us to receive his example of faith with love and grace. Empower and enable us to try to do much of the same. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Presbyterian Devotions: Just Another Belief?

2 Corinthians 6:15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?

One of the major battles that Christianity is currently fighting within itself, is a creeping form of universalism. Universalism is a belief that no matter what people believe, God will forgive them, accept them, and bestow all of His eternal blessings upon them. Therefore universalists believe that if you’re Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, or of any other religion on the planet, it’s all the same thing in God’s eyes.

This happens because the world is a much smaller place these days and a cross-fertilization of cultures, beliefs, and traditions is happening all of the time. Rather than accepting Christianity as the absolutely true religion, people want to believe in tolerance, acceptance, and respect. It makes the world a whole lot easier and religion becomes a private pursuit.

The trouble with this is twofold: firstly, it causes people to lose their faith altogether in God, and replaces it with a faith in themselves. Secondly, we forget that Christianity emerged in a world where there were countless Roman, Greek, and Egyptian gods and goddesses. If Christianity was meant to be universalist, its first followers and devotees would never have undergone persecution and death. Rather than profess their sole allegiance to Christ, they would have gladly accepted Caesar as a god, too.

We tend to arrogantly think that just because we want it to be so, then God grants us a divine exemption from following the foundational beliefs in the Christian church. The temptation to be Christian universalists in the past is no different from today’s multi-cultural world. However, Christianity is an absolutist faith, whether we like it or not. Jesus is Lord absolutely, and not co-equally with any other religious leader, figurehead, or deity.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are the King of all Creation and the Ruler of the Universe. Whenever we forget that, we are in danger of falling down a slippery slope that will take us away from You and into the morass of a world gone wrong. Remind us constantly of the courage of the First Christians, and help us to avoid the same old temptations of secularism, syncretism, and universalism. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.