Devotional on Romans 14:13-19
A video devotional on Romans 14:13-19 delivered on July 29, 2020 for Christ Our Savior Baptist Church by Geo Haines.
Devotional on Romans 12:9-12
A devotional on Romans 12:9-12 delivered on July 15, 2020 for Christ Our Savior Baptist Church by Geo Haines.
Devotional on 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
by Tim Williamson
My family and I have recently started reading through 1 Thessalonians as part of our regular devotions. This is a wonderful letter that Paul sent to the church in Thessalonica to commend them and to encourage them to continue in faith, hope, and love. Unlike other churches where he was able to spend an extended amount of time planting and teaching (e. g., Ephesus), Paul was only able to spend a few weeks with the Thessalonian believers before he was forced to flee due to the outrage of the Jewish religious leaders in the local synagogue (Acts 17:1-8). His letters to this church reflect a desire to affirm them both in their doctrine and in their practice.
Devotional on Mark 15:6-16
by Tim Williamson
Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas. And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. And he answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” And Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. Mark 15:6 – 15 (ESV)
This portion of the narrative of Good Friday is familiar to most of us. Jesus, an innocent man, is condemned by Pilot to be crucified due to the incessant protests of the crowds outside his palace. These crowds had been gathered and whipped up by the Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem who believed Jesus to both be guilty of blasphemy (that is, claiming to be God) and saw him as a threat to their positions of power and their attempts to justify themselves before God through their outward obedience to the law. Pilot was a fairly shrewd man and had correctly, “perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered [Jesus] up.”
Devotional on 1 Peter 1:1-2, Part 1
by John Young
I was blessed by a phone call from Pastor Geo yesterday and we talked about how we are struggling in the midst of the lack of contact and the cares of this world and he mentioned in passing how we are dispersed throughout the area and my mind immediately turned to this passage:
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:
May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
Obviously, the thing that drew me here was the thought that Peter is writing to the elect exiles of the Dispersion. I’d like to briefly consider those three words today and then we’ll consider the remainder of the passage tomorrow. Let’s take these words in reverse: