Studying the Bible Keeps us Strong

Scripture Reading: Psalm 119:9-24

Focus Verse: Psalm 119:9 "How can young people keep their lives pure?
    By obeying your commands."

God has given us an instruction manual for life.  It is called the Bible.  As Christians in this world we cannot overcome the enemy in our own strength.  "How can a man cleanse his ways?"  Not on his own.  On our own, we would struggle and fail.  We need help, and that help is available to us through the Bible.  Our focus verse ask a question.  How can we stay pure?  Verse 11 gives us the answer, by hiding God's Word in our hearts.  I wish I had memorized more scripture when I was young, because it is harder to do now that I am older.  In verse 24 he calls God's "testimonies" his counselor.  God will always show us and teach us as we read the Bible.

The study and application of God's Word will keep us from sin, even though we live in a sinful world.  When Jesus was tempted by the devil in Luke 4 we see Jesus quoting scripture with every temptation.  If you are a Christian and you don't have peace and joy in your life, you might have unrepentant sin and/or there may be a lack of Bible study and scripture memorization in your life. 

Some people view God's laws as a list of "DON'Ts", but these are really a shelter to protect us.  God gives us plenty of things we should "DO".   Take some time today to evaluate your spiritual strength.  Make a plan to increase the strength through God's Holy Word.


"Either God's Word will keep us from sin, or sin will keep us from God's word." ~Unknown

Bobby Johnson
Interlocking Ministries

Our Hope Is Not In This World

Scripture Reading: John 14:1-11

Focus Verses: John 14:1 “Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in Me.

We are going through the worst pandemic the world has seen since 1918.  Not to mention all the other problems the world has right now.  I actually found myself looking at photos on the computer from years past, and think to myself, "Would it have been better for me to be born 50 years earlier?"  But really every time period has problems of its own.  I know God has me here in 2021 for a reason.  Even Jesus told us in the Bible, “in this world you will have trouble”.  Everyday that goes by I see less and less in this world that we can hope for.  Everything in this world will at some point let you down.  Governments let us down.  Products we buy let us down.  Our husband or wife will let us down.  Our children let us down.  Even our church can let us down.  All of this is because all of these things or people are not perfect.  I’m not perfect, and you’re not perfect, but we do serve a perfect God. 

John chapter 14 is a really interesting passage in scripture.  Jesus makes several statements at the beginning of the chapter that  gives us great comfort.  He tells us “let not your heart be troubled”.  Yes, there are a lot of bad things going on around us.  But Jesus says, “don’t let these things trouble you.  He also says he is preparing a special place for those who have faith in Him. The worse this world gets the more I look forward to heaven.  Then Jesus makes another statement in verse 6 that is probably the most controversial verse in the Bible. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” There are billions of people in this world that think they can get to heaven by doing something to earn it. They are hoping they are good enough, better than most people or that something in this world can get them to heaven.  According to Jesus, none of these things get you to heaven.  Jesus is the only way.  We must put our pride aside, submit, repent and put our faith and trust in Jesus alone.  That is the only way you will ever have a relationship with God and live eternally with Him in heaven.  Our hope is not in this world, but is in Jesus our Savior and Lord.

Bobby Johnson

Interlocking Ministries

Act Like A Christian

Scripture Reading: Romans 12:9-21

Focus Verse: Romans 12:14  “Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse.”

Bless those who do wrong to us.  What does that look like?  There was a police officer who stopped a woman from driving because she was breaking a law.  As soon as she put her window down, she began to insult the officer and call him horrible names.  The officer remained calm and seemed unaffected by the name calling.  He told the lady where she had broken the law as calmly as a person could...and she began saying that the officer was going to kill her, and her son and called him a murderer.  The officer continued to remain calm and brought another officer to come beside him as they were so kind and gentle with the woman.  The woman never stopped insulting him, never stopped yelling, and the officer only stayed with a soft voice and firmly handed her the paper notice of her ticket of her traffic offense. Then he ended with "have a good day."  This is a true story and it was on video.

Maybe you have a boss that makes things hard for you at work.  Or maybe your teacher is unreasonable in the classroom.  Or your husband or wife makes unrealistic demands of you. When we experience abuse from others, our natural response is to strike back.  Human pride causes us to hurt those who hurt us and insult those who insult.  What should we do as Christians in these situations?  Paul tells us in Romans chapter 12.  He says “bless those who persecute you.”  Wow, that’s the opposite of what we feel like doing to that person.  Some of the early Bible was written in the Greek language.  The Greek word for bless is “to speak well of”.  In English we use the word eulogy.  When someone gives a eulogy at a funeral they say nice things about the dead person.  But that’s what the Bible says we are to do.  Bless those who do wrong to us.  And maybe by our being nice to them, they will be won over to Christ for salvation. You never know what can happen when we act like a Christian.

Bobby Johnson

Interlocking Ministries

 

 

Waiting on God's Promises

Scripture: Acts 1:13-14 "And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren."

I have heard many Christians say, "I am waiting upon God's time or promise". That's sounds good. God has put many promises in His Word (Bible). We know that He has good plans for our lives and He is faithful to accomplish each promise He has made for us. No doubt about that! 

In the text we have read, Jesus had just left the disciples and ascended to heaven. Before He left them he instructed them to go and wait in Jerusalem for the promised helper. During His days with the disciples before his crucifixion, He told the disciples that He was to go to the Father but would not leave them as orphans but would send them a helper who would live with them and tell them more about the Father, John 14:16-18. Jesus didn't want the disciples to feel stranded so he made a big promise for a Helper who would bring hope to their lives, ministry for God and for the generations that would later put their trust in Christ. He now reminded the disciples that they must go to Jerusalem and wait for the Big promise. I know they were very certain that God was going to send the promise and this elevated their hope. Nonetheless, they entered Jerusalem and moved into an upper room as a team. They shut the door and jointly began to pour their hearts out to God in fervent prayers, praying in one accord. The day of Pentecost came about ten days from when they began praying. 

The Holy Spirit found them in deep prayers to God. They didn't sit in Jerusalem to merry neither did they remain lazy with their lives. They knew that for sure God will finally send the promise at His perfect time but they too had to do their part by praying. They didn't just pray for one day but they prayed and trusted God until the promise came to them. Today many believers say that they are waiting for God but they don't wait in prayers. They love God's promises in the Bible but they don't draw closer to God each day through prayer and reading His Word. Yes, God has promised it but you and I have a role to play. We must to not sit and relax but should draw to Him each day as we pray. We must learn to be patient and wait as the disciples example to us. Are you waiting for God to answer you in any requests or promise? Pray until something happens!

Pastor Eliazar Wambo, Director Bethesda Faith Ministries

Continual Habit of Sin

Scripture Reading: 1 John 3:1-9

Focus Verse: 1 John 3:8 “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning.  For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”

There’s a saying that goes like this, “there are two certainties in life, death and taxes.”  Let’s add another one, sin.  The Bible even says that we all sin.  1 John 1:8 “If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.”  This verse doesn’t give us an excuse to go out and commit sin.  

 

I believe the Bible teaches that once you have humbled yourself to repent of sin, believe God's Son Jesus was the sacrifice to pay the price for our sin and accept Christ to lead your life and are saved, then there is enough grace to cover you so you cannot lose your salvation.  Does that mean you can go out and live anyway you want?  No! That desire denies your heart for God. If you are living in a pattern of continual sin, then you don’t understand what Jesus did for you on the cross.  When you come to Christ for salvation, justification takes place.  Justified means that God sees me “just as if I had never sinned".  When you come to Christ for salvation there will be a change in your heart which will change your life choices. 

 

Someone who continues to sin WITHOUT being sorry for that sin is not in danger of loosing their salvation, but they may have never been saved to begin with.  Even as Christians, none of us are perfect, but we should have a pattern of doing what is right and not what is wrong.  A beliver has a pattern that brings internal conviction, repent and seek holy living.  God has justified the saved believer, so there should not be a continual unrepentant habit of sin in our lives.

Bobby Johnson

Interlocking Ministries

 

For more: "All of us have weaknesses and can fall into sin, even if we don’t want to. Even the apostle Paul did what he didn’t want to do because of the sin at work in his body (Romans 7:15). Like Paul, the response of the believer is to hate the sin, repent of it and ask for divine grace to overcome it (Romans 7:24-25). Although we need not fall because of God’s sufficient grace, sometimes we do because we rely upon our insufficient strength. When our faith grows weak and, like Peter, we deny our Lord in word or in life, even then there is still a chance to repent and be forgiven of our sin."  From Got Questions at https://www.gotquestions.org/forgive-same-sin.html

Steal, Kill, and Destroy

Scripture Reading:  1 Peter 5:6-11

Focus Verse:  1 Peter 5:8  “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” 

I was reading a story recently about a cow and a leopard, and how they had become friends. The leopard had lost it mother when it was very young, so the cow gave it milk.  Now the leopard is full grown, and it comes to visit the cow every night.  They even sleep together.  The leopard thinks the cow is its mother.  This is a very unusual relationship because normally the leopard would kill and eat a cow.  Could the leopard, one day, turn and devour the cow?

The Bible describes our enemy, the devil, in a similar way.  The devil walks around like a lion looking for someone to eat.  A predator usually looks for an animal that has separated from the herd.  I have been on safaris in Kenya and I see the gazelles all run together, but sometimes one or two get separated from the group.  Those are the ones that are a target for the lions.

Sometimes we as Christians get careless and get separated from our Christian friends.  We still need to pray for each other, and encourage one another to stay in God’s Word.  Satan is watching for the right time to attack.  Satan has one thing in mind to steal, kill, and destroy you. We are God’s most prized creation, so it’s no wonder that Satan would like to do away with us. So let’s not be a Christian that isolates.  Seek ways to keep in good fellowship with God and with your Christian friends.

 

~Bobby Johnson

Interlocking Ministries

Bad Days Turned to Good

Scripture Reading: Luke 23:44-56

Focus Verse: Luke 24:6  “He is not here, He has risen!”

I was planning to travel to Kenya on a missions trip in May, but now I have learned that Kenya has had a serious setback with Covid-19.  So I have had to cancel this trip.  I was really sad to hear about the increase in covid cases and the way the people are suffering.  Even in our struggles, we need to remember that God is in control, and He has a plan for this seeming setback.

We read in the book of Luke, chapter 23 that Jesus’ disciples had lost all hope when Jesus was led to the cross and put to death.  This looked like the worst day in human history.  The headline on the newspaper the next day may have read “JESUS, SON OF GOD IS DEAD”.  Satan probably thought he had won a great victory, but God had a plan.  When everyone thought it was a very bad day, it really turned out to be the best day in human history.  Because when Jesus died on that cross He died and took the punishment for the sins of the whole world, and then He came out of the grave alive!   

 

Every person in the world has the opportunity to live forever, if they will put their trust in Jesus. That sounds like a very good day to me.  So when we see things like covid taking control, just remember God is controlling this, and He’s got a plan.  One of the great promises of God is the deep love that he has for you and that he is praying for us.  Romans 8:31-34 "What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?  Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself.  Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us."  and verse 39, "No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Bobby Johnson

Interlocking Ministries