September 23 Lesson 4 (KJV) God Creates the Family Devotional Reading: Leviticus 19:11–18 Background Scripture: Genesis 2:18–24; 4:1, 2 Genesis 2:18–24 18 And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. 19 And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; a […]
September 22: Keep Us from Distraction Haggai 1:1–2:23; Acts 20:1–38; Job 28:1–11 It’s easy to get distracted from the good work God intends for us to do. Competing forces vie for our attention; we’re sidetracked by fear or selfishness. We start living our own stories and lose sight of the greater narrative, of which our lives are just one thread. The Jewish […]
Morning, September 22 Go To Evening Reading “Let Israel rejoice in him.” —Psalm 149:2 Be glad of heart, O believer, but take care that thy gladness has its spring in the Lord. Thou hast much cause for gladness in thy God, for thou canst sing with David, “God, my exceeding joy.” Be glad that the Lord reigneth, that Jehovah is King! Rejoice that he sits upon t […]
September 22nd The missionary’s Master Ye call Me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. John 13:13. To have a master and to be mastered is not the same thing. To have a master means that there is one who knows me better than I know myself, one who is closer than a friend, one who fathoms the remotest abyss of my heart and satisfies it, one who has b […]
September 22 When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father, which is in secret Matt. 6:6 This is faith’s stronghold; here she weapons herself for the daily conflict. Silence in that closet of prayer bespeaks death throughout all the house. When that door is suffered to rust on its hinges, and that chamber is d […]
September 21: Throwing Caution to the Flood Zephaniah 1:1–3:20; Acts 19:1–41; Job 27:1–23 Words are powerful. They can restore and heal; they can also be used as deadly weapons. When we interact with one another, we know to choose our words carefully to avoid being misinterpreted or inadvertently causing harm. But Yahweh speaks words of daunting ambiguity—pr […]
Morning, September 21 Go To Evening Reading “I will rejoice over them to do them good.” —Jeremiah 32:41 How heart-cheering to the believer is the delight which God has in his saints! We cannot see any reason in ourselves why the Lord should take pleasure in us; we cannot take delight in ourselves, for we often have to groan, being burdened; conscious of our […]
September 21st Missionary predestination And now, saith the Lord, that formed me from the womb to be His servant. Isaiah 49:5. The first thing that happens after we have realized our election to God in Christ Jesus is the destruction of our prejudices and our parochial notions and our patriotisms; we are turned into servants of God’s own purpose. The whole h […]
September 21 Serve the Lord with gladness; come before his presence with singing Ps. 100:2 God wants our life to be a song. He has written the music for us in His Word and in the duties that come to us in our places and relations in life. The things we ought to do are the notes set upon the staff. To make our life beautiful music we must be obedient and subm […]
Galileans Were Killed While Sacrificing Excerpt Galileans. Elsewhere Peter (22:59) and Jesus (23:6) are called “Galileans.” Blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. They were killed as they were sacrificing. Therefore this had to have taken place in the temple in Jerusalem, the only place sacrifices could be made. For “Pilate” see comments on 3:1. Attem […]
