Good morning,

This is short but packed with truth.

Christ must be all!

(Octavius Winslow)

“Christ is all!” Colossians 3:11

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith!” Hebrews 12:2

We cannot keep our eye too exclusively or too intently fixed on Jesus.
All salvation is in Him.
All salvation proceeds from Him.
All salvation leads to Him.
And for the assurance and comfort of our salvation, we are to repose believingly and entirely on Him. 

Christ the beginning–Christ the center–and Christ the end.

Oh sweet truth–to you who are sensible of your spiritual poverty, vileness, and insufficiency, and of the ten thousand flaws and failures of which, perhaps, no one is cognizant but God and your own soul! Oh, to turn and rest in Christ–a full Christ–a loving Christ–a tender Christ, whose heart’s love never chills, from whose eye darts no reproof, from whose lips breathes no sentence of condemnation! Christ must be all!

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001

Good morning,

This is an encouraging devotion for the beginning of your week.

The saints’ everlasting rest!

(Jared Waterbury)

“There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.” Hebrews 4:9

All earthly Sabbaths are not worthy to be compared with that eternal rest, where the unfettered, unpolluted soul shall worship the Lamb without interruption and without end!

The body will there not impede, but augment our happiness; for it will be a spiritual body, which can no longer be the medium of temptation, and which shall experience no fatigue.

Nor will sin, O blissful thought, be there, to dim our eye or to pollute our worship.
We shall not only see God–but see Him with unobstructed vision.
We shall not only love Him–but love Him with unwavering affections.
We shall not only praise Him–but praise Him in pure, exalted strains forever.

Glorious rest! Let us rise and hasten towards it with renewed vigor, for “Here we have no continuing city.”

PRAYER
Blessed be your name, O God, that You have prepared and reserved an everlasting rest for Your people. This poor world, You have taught us, is the scene of our toilsome pilgrimage–that we are not to expect our Heaven here. Yet O, how often are we building tabernacles on earth! We act as if this world were to be our permanent abode. Enable us, O God, to cast the eye of faith forward to the rest that remains for the people of God. Give us such views of its alluring glories, as shall make the brightest scenes of earth look dim. Let us see the enthroned Lamb! Let us see the pure company of the glorified saints and angels. Let us have a sweet foretaste of the celestial joys. Then, O God, shall we cease to desire the honors or the pleasures of this vain world. Then shall we forsake its attractions–allured by visions of so much superior luster. Amen.

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001

Good morning,

The little book of Jude is very challenging for our day. It addresses the problems that our world is dealing with.

Today we will look at our responsibilities. Jude tells us to pray, preach, and praise.

Pray, preach, praise (verses 20-25)

²⁰ But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, ²¹ Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. ²² And of some have compassion, making a difference: ²³ And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. ²⁴ Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, ²⁵ To the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

Encourage one another. Pray for the believers and the un-believers. Tell them about Jesus. Praise God because in the end WE Win!

Conclusion

False teachers will try to deceive you

Contend for the faith

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001

 

Good morning,

The little book of Jude is very challenging for our day. It addresses the problems that our world is dealing with.

Today we will look at examples of wickedness, God’s condemnation, and the acts of the false teachers.

Examples of wickedness and God’s condemnation (verses 5-7)

⁵ I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. ⁶ And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. ⁷ Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

Numbers 16:1-3, 23-35, Genesis 19:12-13, 24-28

Wickedness always results in condemnation by God!

Acts of the false teachers (verses 8-19)

⁸ Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. ⁹ Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. ¹⁰ But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. ¹¹ Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. ¹² These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; ¹³ Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. ¹⁴ And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, ¹⁵ To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. ¹⁶ These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage. ¹⁷ But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; ¹⁸ How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. ¹⁹ These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.

These are the men and women who are trying to deceive believers and non-believers today.

Now ponder the world we live in today. Jude was spot on in telling us what to expect in our current culture.

Tomorrow Jude tells what we must do.

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001

 

Good morning,

The little book of Jude is very challenging for our day. It addresses the problems that the world is dealing.

Today we will look at contending for the faith.

Contend for the faith (verses 1-4)

¹ Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: ² Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied. ³ Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. ⁴ For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jude exhorts the believers to “contend for the faith” because “ungodly men denied the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is very prevalent today. Men and women are denying Jesus Christ. We as believers in Jesus Christ must correct the errors of the false teachers. That entails knowing our Bible and using it to refute the heresies being communicated.

If we fail to act, Satan wins. If the false teachers can distract, get people to believe half truths, or just outright lies, Satan wins. WHY? Those of us who have the correct answers fail to communicate it to our friends, families, and world around us.

CONTEND FOR THE FAITH!

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001

 

Good morning,

The little book of Jude is very challenging for our day. It addresses the problems that the world is dealing.

“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” (Jude 3)

Introduction

The author Jude was the brother of James, so both were half-brothers of the Lord Jesus, sons of Mary and Joseph. Both modestly called themselves “servants (slaves) of Jesus Christ.

Jude warns Christians of false teachers and urges his readers to “contend for the faith,” reminding them that after delivering Israel, God destroyed those who had not believed that the fallen are reserved for judgment; that Sodom and Gomorrah were punished; and that judgments will come upon railers and “filthy dreamers.”  He quoted prophecy from Enoch regarding Christ’s return to reign and how He will bring judgment.

False teachers are everywhere. They are in the pulpits, on television, in schools, universities, and every community. They are trying to tear down the message of Jesus Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, and ascension up to Heaven. They deny Christ’s blood paid the penalty for our sins. They deny we are sinners. And the list goes on. If what someone tells you does not agree with the Bible, it is wrong.

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001

 

Good morning,

This is a very encouraging devotion. Please read and pass on to others.

He has done all things well!

(Octavius Winslow)

LISTEN to Audio while you read along with the quote below!

“He has done all things well!” Mark 7:37

Yes, from first to last, from our cradle to our grave, from the earliest pang of sin’s conviction, to the last thrill of sin’s forgiveness, from earth to heaven–this will be our testimony in all the way the Lord our God has led us in the wilderness: “He has done all things well!”

In providence and in grace,
in every truth of His Word,
in every lesson of His love,
in every stroke of His rod,
in every sunbeam that has shone,
in every cloud that has shaded,
in every element that has sweetened,
in every ingredient that has embittered,
in all that has been mysterious, inscrutable, painful, and humiliating,
in all that He gave,
in all that He took away,
this testimony is His just due, and this our grateful acknowledgment through time and through eternity: “He has done all things well!”

Has He converted us through grace by a way we had thought the most improbable?
Has He torn up all our earthly hopes by the roots?
Has He thwarted our schemes, frustrated our plans, disappointed our expectations?
Has He taught us in schools most trying, by a discipline most severe, and lessons most humbling to our nature?
Has He withered our strength by sickness, reduced us to poverty by loss, crushed our heart by bereavement?

And have we been tempted to exclaim, “All these things are against me!”
Ah! no! faith will yet obtain the ascendancy, and sweetly sing:
“I know in all things that befell,
My Jesus has done all things well!”

Beloved, it must be so, for Jesus can do nothing wrong!

Study the way of His providence and grace with the microscopic eye of faith–view them in every light, examine them in their minutest detail, as you would the petal of a flower, or the wing of an insect; and, oh, what wonders, what beauty, what marvelous adaptation would you observe in all the varied dealings with you, of your glorious Lord!

Pass this encouraging devotion to others.

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001

Good morning,

This week we will look at the Return of Israel to the Lord. We have been studying a book titled Target Israel, written by Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson. Today we conclude our study of the Return of Israel to the Lord. There is coming a Day of Grace.

Day of Grace

There is coming a day of grace from God Himself. He makes this promise to the people in verses 43-44: “There you shall remember your ways and all your doings with which you were defiled; and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight because of all the evils you have committed. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have dealt with you for my name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways nor according to your corrupt doings, O house of Israel.”

To those who will respond to the grace of God, He says, “I will be your Lord. I will be your God. I will save you. I will cleanse you. I will change you. I will not deal with you according to your past failures. I will deal with you by giving you a new heart and a new spirit, and then making with you a New Covenant, a New Agreement.”

Jesus, who himself was Jewish, dared to say at His Last Supper, “The cup that I am drinking represents the blood of the New Covenant. Just as the blood of the animals was shed for your sins in the Old Testament, My blood is shed for you now.” If Jesus was nothing more than a Jewish human being, He could not atone for His own sins, let alone atone for the sins of others. But He really was the Son of God, God incarnate in human flesh. He was the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies that said, “One day your God will come to you.” That comes right of Isaiah chapter 40. How else can God literally come to us unless He comes in human flesh? Jesus was God in sandals, God on foot. He walked among us, and He now lives above us and points us to the way of salvation.

The Old Testament repeatedly communicated the fact that the coming Messiah was going to die. He would be killed and cut off. That’s the message of Isaiah chapter 53. It’s the message of Daniel chapter 9. If the messiah was going to be cut off and killed, how could He reign unless He was resurrected? And how could He be resurrected unless He is the Divine Son of God Himself?

It is no mere human being who is going to establish the greatness of Israel in the future. No, it is the Son of God Himself. That is why Jesus came. He came to be the Savior, the banner, the ensign, for Jews and Gentiles alike, to call of us to faith in the Lord God of the Bible, the God Jehovah, the Creator God who made us in his own image and likeness, so that we might have a relationship with Him.” (Target Israel, page 53)

Conclusion

• God is not through with Israel
• God will return Israel to life
• God will return Israel to the land
• God will return Israel to Himself
• God sent the Messiah, Jesus, to save the souls of Jews and Gentiles

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001

 

Good morning,

This week we will look at the return of Israel to the Lord. We have been studying a book titled Target Israel, written by Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson. Today God pleads for His people. Then tomorrow we conclude with the Day of Grace.

God Pleads with His People

“As we read the Old Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures, we discover that there were times when the people of Israel loved the Lord their God and followed Him, and there were times when they did not. When they turned away from God, they came under His judgment.

Another important Bible passage that speaks of Israel’s return to the land is found in Ezekiel chapter 20. Notice what God said through the prophet Ezekiel with regard to the distant future: “I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out.” (verse 34) God was saying, “I will do this powerfully, I will do it dramatically.” Then He said, “I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead My case with you face to face.” (verse 35)

Why will God plead with His own people face-to-face? Because of His concern over their heart, their attitude, and their relationship to Him.  He goes on to say, “I will purge the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the country where they dwell, but they shall not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord.” (verse 38) In summary, Ezekiel foresaw a time when God would spiritually convert the people of Israel and change their heart, soul, and life. And when that happens, He will also purge the rebels from among them. Verse 42 goes on to describe the result: “Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for which I raised my hand in an oath to give to your fathers.” (Target Israel, pages 52-53)

God is still pleading with His children Israel and the Gentiles to believe.

Have you?

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001

 

Good morning,

This week we will look at the return of Israel to the Lord. We have been studying a book titled Target Israel, written by Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson. Today we will look at the introduction to this topic. Then how God pleads with His people and conclude with the Day of Grace.

Israel Returns to the Lord

And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. (Ezekiel 11:19-20)

Introduction

“The prophecies of the rebirth of the nation of Israel center on three elements: the people’s return to the land, their return to life, and ultimately, their return to the Lord himself. That may sound strange to Jewish people. They would respond, “We’ve always believed in the Lord God, Yahweh Himself, the God of Israel, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. “ While that is true intellectually and theologically, the real issue is, Do you really believe in Him personally, spiritually? Is He Lord and God and Savior in your life on a personal basis?” (Target Israel, pages 51-52)

This question is not just for Jewish people. It is the question that everyone needs to ask themselves. Those who profess to be believers in Jesus Christ especially need to ask themselves whether they truly believe. Do people know that you are a believer? Do you talk about Christ? Do you exemplify the Scriptural principles found in Paul’s epistles?

Ponder these things.

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001