A Second Chance

“I came to give life—life in all its fullness.”
John 10:10

Not many second chances exist in the world today. Just ask the kid who didn’t make the little league team or the fellow who got the pink slip or the mother of three who got dumped for a “pretty little thing.”

Not many second chances. Nowadays it’s more like, “It’s now or never.” “Around here we don’t tolerate incompetence.” “Gotta get tough to get along.” “Not much room at the top.” “Three strikes and you’re out.” “It’s a dog-eat-dog world!”

Jesus…would say. “Then don’t live with the dogs.” That makes sense doesn’t it? Why let a bunch of other failures tell you how much of a failure you are?...

It’s not every day that you find someone who will give you a second chance—much less someone who will give you a second chance every day. But in Jesus, you find both.


From: Max Lucado

Arguments or Obedience

. . . the simplicity that is in Christ — 2 Corinthians 11:3

Simplicity is the secret to seeing things clearly. A saint does not think clearly until a long time passes, but a saint ought to see clearly without any difficulty. You cannot think through spiritual confusion to make things clear; to make things clear, you must obey. In intellectual matters you can think things out, but in spiritual matters you will only think yourself into further wandering thoughts and more confusion. If there is something in your life upon which God has put His pressure, then obey Him in that matter. Bring all your "arguments and . . . every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" regarding the matter, and everything will become as clear as daylight to you ( 2 Corinthians 10:5 ). Your reasoning capacity will come later, but reasoning is not how we see. We see like children, and when we try to be wise we see nothing (see Matthew 11:25 ).

Even the very smallest thing that we allow in our lives that is not under the control of the Holy Spirit is completely sufficient to account for spiritual confusion, and spending all of our time thinking about it will still never make it clear. Spiritual confusion can only be conquered through obedience. As soon as we obey, we have discernment. This is humiliating, because when we are confused we know that the reason lies in the state of our mind. But when our natural power of sight is devoted and submitted in obedience to the Holy Spirit, it becomes the very power by which we perceive God’s will, and our entire life is kept in simplicity.



From: RBC - Utmost For His Highest

Ambassador Of....

2 Corinthians 5:20
Now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us, we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.

“Ambassador” means to be a representative of a ruling authority.

We often hear about our nation’s ambassadors to other countries. They present petitions to the United Nations and try to help our citizens who find themselves in trouble in a foreign land. They represent our government and our citizens before the ruling authorities in countries around the world.

“Many of us are unaware of it, but we are ambassadors of whatever we allow to control our lives. We might find ourselves controlled by drugs, alcohol, lust, and lying. On the other hand, we could also be controlled by the Lord, with characteristics such as kindness, righteousness, goodness, and love.” (Dr. Edwin Louis Cole)

A person’s life is formed by his decisions and constructed by his words. We can either choose to be ambassadors of the Lord or ambassadors of Satan. If we choose to represent Satan, we are choosing death. Every temptation given in to, every sin, every act of rebellion will ultimately lead to destruction, given enough time and enough repetition. Every temptation resisted, every sin abandoned, every act of rebellion will lead to life, peace, and ultimate joy.

So ask yourself this question today: “What ruling authority do I represent? Who is controlling my life?” If you choose to rebel against God’s standards you are Satan’s faithful ambassador. But, if you determine to make obedience to God your trademark, you can represent him as a powerful representative. You can proclaim his good news and act in his authority wherever you go in the world.

Today’s Prayer:

Precious Jesus, I come before you right now asking that you would cleanse me inside and out. I ask that you would make me an ambassador of love and your goodness. I want to be a representative of your ruling authority. Thank you for your grace and love. In your name I pray, Amen.


From: New Wine Skin - Written by Lindsey Tenpenny

Created in God’s Image

The Bible of course indicates that before the Flood man did have a high degree of culture and technology. He was able to build cities (Genesis 4:17), practice agriculture (4:2) and animal husbandry (4:20), fabricate and play musical instruments (4:21) and work in brass and iron (4:22). These few references would certainly imply that he also could read and write and had a system of weights and measures, as well as accomplish many other things (e.g., build a gigantic vessel capable of withstanding the violence of a worldwide flood for a whole year).

All the world that existed before the Flood, The Lost World, perished (2 Peter 3:6) in the Deluge. When the eight ancestors of all post-Flood men emerged from the Ark, they of course had to face a drastically changed environment with only the knowledge they had learned and retained in their own minds, along with whatever records and equipment they may have been able to store on the Ark. It is no wonder that they were forced for some little time to make use of stone and wooden implements, at least until they could discover veins of metallic ores in the rocks of newly formed lands of the world. Many naturally made use of caves for shelter, until they could find time and materials with which to build more suitable dwellings. No doubt a considerable part of their time had to be devoted to the essential task of providing food for their sustenance. It is remarkable that they could survive at all, let alone set about to develop great civilizations once again. No doubt a great many of the evidences of the so-called Paleolithic and Neolithic cultures of early man, when rightly interpreted, are merely commentaries on the difficult struggle to survive by small tribes of post-Flood men in the early centuries following the great Flood.

We Live in the Brave New World That Was Founded by Noah After the World that Perished in the Genesis Flood

Now ponder the remarkable[4] antiquity of the Bible you hold in your hands this morning. What this book records is seldom appreciated as it should be.

· Modern historians often refer back to the Greek writer Herodotus as the “father of history.” So when did he live and write? His writings are actually only contemporary with those of Nehemiah and Malachi, the very last of the 27 Old Testament[5] writers!

· The supposed ancient writer of the Illiad and Odessy, Homer, whose works are quite a mixture of mythology and history. Yet they date from the same period as the sober and archaeologically reliable histories of Samuel.

· Most of the other great historians of antiquity—Manetho, Berosus, Josephus and others—all date from much more recent periods. In their writings it is essentially impossible to discern where history ends and legend begins.

And yet the Bible records detailed and accurate histories as far back as Abraham and beyond. Abraham’s time was at least a thousand years earlier even than Homer! In all the world, there is no other book like this. The sacred books and the ancient records of other nations fade into dim tradition and sheer mythology only a few hundred years before Christ, but the Hebrew Scriptures incorporate great sections of sober history stretching back to the days before Abraham and, for that matter, back to the very Creation itself! No other writing of such antiquity is at all comparable as a book of history, entirely apart from the question of its divine inspiration.

There is every reason to believe, and no reason to doubt (except for evolutionary bias), that the traditional dates and authors were correct and that we have in the Scriptures what amounts to first-hand, eye-witness, accounts of all these great events at the dawn of human history. Yet from digs across the world come bone fragments, teeth and strange pictures depicting apelike creatures fabricated from a few fragments. Where did modern man come from? Where do cave dwellers, fossils, and cave drawings fit into all this? We can learn of the Descent of Mankind from Genesis 9 and Romans 1.

Conclusion: There is no fossil evidence that man is the product of evolution. The missing links are still missing because they simply do not exist. The Bible clearly states, "then the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being." (Genesis 2:7).

Evolutionary Thought Misses the Purpose

We are even here today! In no other historical book do we find so many and such valuable statements of purpose for man as in the Bible. For example:

1. Man was God's target in creation Gen. 1:27-28 And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. And God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

2. Man was God's target in redemption Isaiah 53:5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.

3. Man was God's target in the mission of God's Son 1 John 4:9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

4. Man was God's target of God's inheritance. Titus 3:7 that being justified by His grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

5. Man was God's target for Heaven's wonders 1 Peter 1:4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.

God Made ALL OF THE Universe:

· John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.2 He was in the beginning with God.3 All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

· Acts 14:15 and saying, "Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, (NKJV)

· Acts 17:24 “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;

· Colossians 1:16-17 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created by Him and for Him.17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

· Hebrews 1:10 And: "You, LORD, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. (NKJV)

· Hebrews 11:3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. (NKJV)

· Revelation 14:7 and he said with a loud voice, “Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters.”



From: CrossWalk Devotionals - Discover The Book