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A daily word of encouragement
Dirty Little Hands.
What my toddler taught me with his dirty little hands.
By: Allison Hawkins
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
Aired on
Apr 16, 2024
Day by Day - 1 Samuel
You Have His Song To Sing
God uses His people, the church, to spread the good word of His salvation.
~~~
We are to be cultivating our joy in God, with God’s people, to God’s world. The mission is spreading the message of God’s mercy to the world. We live in a world of misery and distress at every turn, people enslaved by their own sin, being abused by other’s sin…in every part of the world. There is not a part of this globe that hasn’t been touched and tortured by this. And yet, God is in process of executing His unstoppable plan and mission of gathering up His children, from far and wide, and He does it through His church—People who are trophies of his mercy and grace. You have a song to sing, a message to spread, a God of mercy to worship, and a King of glory to proclaim.
Last week I asked you to think about two people to pray for during the week. I encouraged you to let them know that you were praying for them and for you to ask them how you could pray specifically for them. Maybe some of them let you know some type of misery and distress they were suffering under. What a great opportunity to let them know of the mercy of God that He extends to His children in all sorts of surprising ways. Maybe it will open up conversations about whether they are God’s child, who has Jesus as their Savior/king.
By: Clif Johnson
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
Aired on
Apr 19, 2024
Show
Day by Day
Day by Day - 1 Samuel
The Plan Is Still In Effect
God has a plan that cannot be thwarted by any human being.
~~~
We do see God extending mercy in David’s time of distress and misery, but remember, there is something bigger going on than just God working in David’s life. God was working for the future of Israel and for us. 1 Samuel is all about having the right type of King over your life. Saul was not the right type of King, but he was exactly what the people had asked for.
In fact, there is an eerie comparison between Saul and Achish. Both kings benefitted from David’s military might. Both kings brought David close into their ranks. But Saul did not trust David, and was paranoid about him, when he had no reason to be. Achish, on the other hand, was fond of David and trusted David, when he had no reason to do such. And what we see from this comparison is that Saul is like the other kings of the nations, in that neither of them had any spiritual insight at all.
But David was a man after God’s own heart. And God is able to provide Israel with what they needed—not a king like the other nations, but a king sensitive to God and His word.
The Philistines could not thwart God’s mission of providing the right type of King for Israel. They could not keep David from being King of Israel, because God’s providence protected David and delivered David.
So we see that there is a plan, and God owns the plan, and runs the plan, and executes the plan, which should cause us, today, to be eager to join in God’s plan. God’s plan didn’t end with providing Israel a king. That was only part of it. God’s plan was to have His kingdom proclaimed throughout all the earth, to all peoples, in all times.
And that plan is still in effect.
By: Clif Johnson
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
Aired on
Apr 18, 2024
Show
Day by Day
Day by Day - 1 Samuel
Heartbreaks And Hallelujahs
The Christian life is full of highs and lows, victories and defeats, but God is with us through it all.
~~~
What is the difference between David and Saul? Why does David receive mercy, and Saul receive judgment? The answer is a simple one—David’s relationship with God. David’s heart was soft and tender towards God. Saul’s heart was hardened against God. One was an apostate. The other was a backslider, who repented and was saved by the grace and mercy of God.
We are learning that the life of the Christian is not one of a continual rise to new spiritual heights, is it? The life of a Christian is full mountain peaks and valley dips, bumps and bruises, peace and storms, heartbreak and hallelujahs. And through it all, God’s mercy carries us.
By: Clif Johnson
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
Aired on
Apr 17, 2024
Show
Day by Day
Doc Talks
"Knowing Your Kids" - ft. Brian Pulley
Church members sometimes have trouble expressing difficult topics.
By: Brian Sheppard
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
Aired on
Apr 15, 2024
A daily word of encouragement
Are you missing Gods voice?
By: Allison Hawkins
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
Aired on
Apr 12, 2024
Day by Day Hacks
At War With Yourself
We often seek comfort and refuge in the things of the world instead of in God.
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The last time we saw David, at the very beginning verses of chapter 28, he had been told that he would fight with the Philistine army against the Israelites, and he had just been promoted to be the bodyguard of Achish, ruler of a region of the Philistines. In chapter 29, we are snapped back to the scene with David. The location is Aphek, which, if you remember from chapter 4, is the location where the Philistines were camped when they captured the ark from the Israelites, which brought about the death of Eli, which leads the people of Israel to cry out, “Give us a king like the nations.”
All five of the Philistine rulers have gathered at Aphek to mobilize their troops and get ready to march for battle. What will David do? David has been in the Philistine camp for 16 months. He had navigated the situation pretty deftly, convincing the Philistines that he was on their side by saying he was raiding Israelite areas, but all the while actually raiding and destroying other people. And now, because of his deviousness, David is forced into a decision he does not want to make. David was being asked to fight against his kinsmen; against Jonathan, his best friend.
Isn’t that just the way we sometimes work, and isn’t that the temptation of sin? We oftentimes seek refuge and comfort and rest in the world, in sin, and then become friendly with it. “Hey, this isn’t so bad. This provides some relief, some comfort. My family is doing better. We are happier. Until you get to the point to where the world calls upon you to forsake your God. You realize you need to be rescued from your sin, but you are in so deep with it, that you don’t know what to do.
What is the old saying? Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to give. This is the case with David and his duplicitous life. He sought temporal salvation and safety from the world. He compromised.
He is like the Christian today who says he believes in Christ and generosity, but also wants the comforts of this life so he hoards his money.
David is like the mom who says she finds her identity in Christ, but spends her time comparing herself and trying to live up to all the virtual supermoms on social media.
What could possibly go wrong in this type of lifestyle? Well, what goes wrong is exactly what we see on this page of scripture. The two are at war with one another. So there are very real, down to earth, nitty gritty decisions to be made. What does it profit a man if he gains the world, and forfeits his life (Matthew 16:26)?
By: Clif Johnson
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
Aired on
Apr 16, 2024
Show
Day by Day
Day by Day Hacks
Day By Day Hacks
Reading the Bible as a group is a good way to gain a deeper understanding.
By: Clif Johnson
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
Aired on
Apr 15, 2024
Show
Day by Day
Doc Talks
"Free in Love" - ft. Brian Pulley
Men need a place where they can be vulnerable and real.
By: Brian Sheppard
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
Aired on
Apr 12, 2024
A daily word of encouragement
Why are you still living in the past!?
By: Allison Hawkins
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
Aired on
Apr 10, 2024