As He Did Afortime

Posted on by josiahkagin

BibleIn the wake of the ruling that has been passed down from the highest court in our land, I want to point attention to a biblical character that gives an excellent pattern for Bible believing Christians. Daniel was unashamedly a follower of the one true God. He openly loved Him and sought His guidance daily. Daniel was so open, that those who worked closely with him knew his habits of prayer. When the new law was handed down from the king saying that the citizen could only pray to the king and no other god, Daniel’s co-workers knew that he would continue to pray to the God of Heaven.

Daniel 6:10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.

Before we look at today’s ruling from the Supreme Court and bunker down, lets remember what Daniel did. He continued walking with God and seeking Him daily as he did aforetime. What do Bible believing Christ followers need to do today?

  1. Seek God
    Don’t react publicly until you have sought God privately. Take time to pray today. Pray for God’s grace to stand and shine for Him. Pray for other believers to remain steadfast. Pray for our leaders to come to trust and follow Jesus. Pray for a revival of the fear of God in our country. You cannot go wrong in seeking the Supreme Ruler of All first.
  2. Share Jesus
    Continue to witness for Christ. If you have not been an open witness, seek God’s forgiveness and begin right away. Jesus needs you to stand and shine for Him in the midst of spiritual darkness. Don’t allow fear and cultural trends to mute your witness for Jesus. He is the answer to all the chaos!
  3. Show Christ’s Love
    As you witness, remember to speak the truth in love. Christ always showed compassion to those that were against Him. Let the love of Christ be most evident in your voice and eyes as you proclaim Jesus Christ. Remember, there is not a single person alive on planet earth that is beyond the reach of His love. Let Jesus love them through you.

Weekday Worship

Posted on by josiahkagin

  

John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. 

We know about Sunday worship, but what about weekday worship?

Worship means to ascribe worth to. The idea is that you show someone or something that they are of value to you. Everyday we ascribe worth to many things and people in our lives. You may ascribe worth to your wife by taking time to listen to her share her heart or to your job and employer by being excellent in all that you do. Many ascribe worth to public opinion and to the philosophies of this world by allowing them to sway their thought and action . However, above everything else in our lives, the God of Heaven must receive our worship!

If you had a friend to whom you were only worth something once a week, how healthy do you think that relationship would be? Yet, many times the only time we deliberately worship God is when we assemble for church on Sunday morning. Truthfully, our Heavenly Father deserves so much more than that!

Let’s pause for a moment and ponder the question, how can I ascribe worth to my God everyday of the week?

  1. Conversation—When someone is special to you, you talk to them. You might call several times a day, text, Facebook or FaceTime them. You crave communication with them. God has told us that we are to pray without ceasing. We are to be in constant, open communication with our Heavenly Father. Remember, conversation is two-way. We must talk to God in prayer and listen to Him through His Word. Test yourself today. How much of the day are you conversing with God? You worship God when you talk to Him and when you hear Him talk to you.
  2. Adoration—Is there anyone or anything on earth that deserves our adoration like our God? The resounding answer is “No!” He alone is worthy to be praised! He personally sacrificed he beloved Son so that we could have a relationship with Him. Do you tell Him how much you love Him? Do you revel in who He is to you? When we adore Him we worship Him.
  3. Declaration—Nobody illustrates this like grandmothers. I have rarely met one that did not have a picture of her grandchildren and a speech ready for anyone that asks. They love to talk about their grandchildren. Do you love to talk about your God? Are you just waiting for the opportunity to declare all His wondrous works? When we talk about Him we worship Him.
  4. Prioritization—Time is precious and what gets prioritized gets done. If a person were to look at your “To do” list, would they be able to see that God is worth a lot to you. I am not just talking about church attendance. I am talking about God being worth so much to you that your daily priorities are all centered around pleasing Him. When we prioritize God and His will for our daily lives we worship Him.

Will you take the time to evaluate your weekday worship of God? While worship has been trivialized in many minds and places to forty minutes of praise and worship music once a week, will you choose to worship the God of your salvation in spirit and in truth. Show Him His worth!

Think About It!

Posted on by josiahkagin

IMG_2410You have heard that humans are creatures of habit. What is habitual often takes place with little thought or at least fresh thought. It is very easy to allow this to happen in our church attendance. Whether it is the weekly services or a special set of revival meetings, we can go, sit and listen with little thought of preparing ourselves to receive with meekness the engrafted Word. Before you rush off to church this morning, would you take a moment to think about what you are doing. Think about what God wants to do in your heart. Think about what you want God to do in your heart. As you think about it, consider doing the following.

  1. Pray—give God permission to work in your heart by the power of His Word.
  2. Expect—anticipate that God will give you something awesome from His Word.
  3. Commit—resolve to respond in obedience to all that God shows you in His Word.
  4. Act—choose to immediately practice what you have been taught from His Word.

Remember, every time you walk into church and hear biblical preaching, it is a blessing and a gift from God. Don’t take it for granted. Think about it!

My Stay

Posted on by josiahkagin

Untitled design-4I remember back when I was working construction having an especially startling moment.  There was one winter night we were trying to finish covering a freshly sheeted roof with tar paper. The snow was beginning to blow in and it was miserable! This was a very steep roof and so we were standing on roof jacks. One of the guys had put just one nail in the roof jack and when I went to step on it, the jack came loose. I thought I was going to fall and I am sure my heart stopped for a moment. There is nothing more assuring than a firm footing!

In our lives, we often find ourselves in unstable situations. We are unsure of the future outcome. As a result, fear and anxiety often overwhelm our souls. You are probably thinking of a situation now. It is in those times that we can be assured that our God is our stay.

Psalm 18:18 They prevented me in the day of my calamity: But the Lord was my stay.

At this point, David was running for his life. Saul was bound and determined to murder David. How was it then that David was able to be calm and declare, “The Lord was my stay”? The word stay has the idea of a support or staff. David certainly had much experience with a staff as a shepherd and the support that it gave. Notice at the beginning of Psalm 18 three reasons David was able to make this statement.

  1. Love God (Psalm 18:1)
    He had found the comfort and blessing of loving God. There was nothing more important to David than pleasing God and putting His will first. When you love God with all your heart, you will be able to find all the support you need in Him.
    Mark 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
  2. Find Your Security in God (Psalm 18:2)
    Relationships, support groups, doctrinal positions, family ties, wealth, success or popularity will not give lasting security. Everyone, whether known or not, is looking for security, a sense of safety and stability. Those who run to God will have to look no further!
    Psalm 61:2 From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
  3. Seek God (Psalm 18:3)
    Nothing will hush the anxiety of your heart quicker than bending the knee before the God of Heaven, our Heavenly Father. David knew he could not turn to anyone on earth for help. Even the band of men could not ultimately help, but God could. Oh that we would learn to seek God first. How we could then live lives marked by stability.
    Psalm 63:1 O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: My soul thirsteth for thee, My flesh longeth for thee, In a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;

The disciples of Christ must be able to truthfully say, “The Lord was my stay.” You can make that declaration if you will follow these points from this powerful Psalm of testimony.

Someone Cared

Posted on by josiahkagin

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Can you think back to the day you accepted Jesus as your personal Savior from sin? Can you remember the person God used to point you to Christ? Maybe it was your mom or dad, your pastor, a faithful soul winner at your door or maybe it was an unknown person who left a tract in a public place. Whoever it was, they cared for you!

Today, you and I will have opportunities to connect with people. People who are doomed to spend eternity in the fires of hell. Would you care enough to give the truth to them? Would you care enough to tell them of what Jesus did for you? Would you care enough to invite them to attend church with you?

Would you be someone who cares?

John 5:7  The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.

No Bible!

Posted on by josiahkagin

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Recently my wife and I attended the Outreach Conference at Faith Baptist Church in Avon, Indiana. We both were blessed and invigorated. One of the sessions that I attended was by Dr. Ken Fielder. He is the president and director of WorldView Ministries. They are “committed to both the training of Bible translators and to Bible translating and publishing for the unreached people groups of the world.”

He posed a very probing question that I have been thinking about and believe it would do us all good to pause and consider.

What would your life be like without the Bible?

Think about the questions you would have. Think of the confusion you would experience when going through trials and injustices. You would wonder who to worship. You could not know where you came from. There would be no value to life. Without the Bible and the knowledge of the one true God you would be completely heathen. You would be lost and on your way to hell.

There are 4,000 plus languages that do not yet have a copy of God’s Word in their hands. While we in America have multiple copies, they have none. I believe it is time that we begin to spend time in prayer and financially support this great need! We must do our part as individual people and churches to give the heathen God’s Word in their own language so that they can know Him.