datethewordtest

Tag: January

  • Consider Your Ways

    Haggai 1:5 says, “Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: “Consider your ways!”

    The setting of Haggai finds some of God’s people have returned from captivity to Jerusalem with the assignment to REBUILD the temple.  However, after returning, God’s people made His purpose secondary as rebuilding their homes, farms, and businesses became their primary objective.  God speaks through His prophet Haggai to challenge them to consider their ways.   

    As we are still in the first week of a New Year have you truly taken time to consider your ways?   Have you paused going into the New Year to ask yourself if the things that are to be first are first?  Is the main thing the main thing?  

    In considering your ways and ordering your life, ask and answer what should be first.  
    In the Sermon on the Mount by Jesus, He tells us in Matthew 6:33, “But seek FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

    What does “seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” look like for you?  I would answer that question by saying I seek to know Him.  Psalm 27:8 says, “When You said,  Seek My face,  My heart said to You,  Your face, LORD, I will seek.”  

    I not only seek to know Him but to serve Him.  Joshua 24:15 “And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

    What does serving the Lord look like for you?   I would answer that question by saying I serve Him when I serve others. Drawing from Mathew 25:40, we learn this concept as Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it (see the previous verses about providing food, drink, and clothing) to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.”    

    Also, I love how Joshua puts in his commitment statement that not only will he serve the Lord but his family will serve the Lord.  In the list of what matters most, we begin with our faith and then with our family. 

    Speaking for God, Haggai calls on God’s people to consider their ways.  The reason for the challenge was they did not have His purpose as a priority.  Do you have God’s purposes as your top priorities?

    What adjustments need to be made so that God’s top priorities are your top priorities?

    Continue Strong considering your ways,
    And remember to DATE the Word

  • Defend What Was Delivered

    Jude 1:3 “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”

    It has been said that Christianity is one generation from extinction.  The faith that we have received is to be shared from one generation to the next generation.  As well, Christianity has to be defended as it is under constant attack.  The reason for the strong exhortation to contend earnestly for the faith in verse 3 is found in verse 4 as it says, “For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.”

    To contend earnestly for the faith, you will need to not just know what you believe but why you believe it. As Peter wrote in 1 Peter 3:15 we are to give a reason for the hope that is in us.  

    One might ask what are we to “earnestly contend for” regarding our faith.  What are the crucial doctrines to defend?  There are 5 essential doctrines that we must not compromise on.  They are traditionally called the five fundamentals.

    We believe in the Inspiration of Scripture.  
    We believe in the Virgin birth of Christ.
    We believe in the Substitutionary death of Christ.
    We believe in the Bodily resurrection of Christ.
    We believe in the Second Coming of Christ.

    These five fundamentals are non-negotiable. My discipler, Bill Crawford, told me there could be no compromise of these five doctrines.  He told me that I was to stand for the faith!  
    In a world that hates Christianity and demands tolerance and acceptance of all beliefs and behaviors you, as a believer, must be firm on your beliefs.  Without being arrogant or contentious you give solid reasons, defending, yes, contending for the faith that has been delivered to you! 

    Do you know what you believe about your Christian beliefs?  Do you know why you believe what you believe?  What areas need to be strengthened so that you can give solid reasons and defend what you believe?

    Action item: Find your church’s doctrinal statement, then read, and review it.

    Continue Strong defending the faith delivered to you,
    And remember to DATE the Word