July 25, 2024 by StopAndPrayTV
Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Acts 4:12
In his bookJesus: The Only Way to GodJohn Piper wrote, “It seems to me that the very people who have historically been the most joyfully and sacrificially aggressive in world evangelism are losing their nerve. In our shrinking, pluralistic world, the belief that Jesus is the only way of salvation is increasingly called arrogant and even hateful. In the face of this criticism, many shrink back from affirming the global necessity of knowing and believing in Jesus.”1
The apostle Peter didn’t hesitate to proclaim to his critics that there was no salvation in anyone other than Jesus. Jesus said that no one could come to God except through Him (John 14:6). He alone is both God and human, born of a virgin, resurrected from the dead, ascended to heaven, and coming again. He alone is Savior.
Keep John 14:6 and Acts 4:12 at the forefront of your mind, and don’t be intimidated in sharing this Good News with the world. Through Jesus Christ we can know God, experience peace, and enjoy eternal life.
Jesus alone can offer eternal life because He is the only one who lived a sinless life and provided the perfect sacrifice for our sins by His death on the cross.
Billy Graham
- John Piper, Jesus: The Only Way to God (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2010), 7.
Persecuted for Truth’s Sake, Part 1 (Acts 4:1–12)
July 25, 2024 by StopAndPrayTV
Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. Hebrews 13:5
Thousands of people prayed for pastor Ed Dobson when he was diagnosed with ALS in 2000. Many believed that when they prayed in faith for healing, God would answer immediately. After twelve years of struggling with the disease that caused Ed’s muscles to atrophy little by little (and three years before he died), someone askedhim why he thought God hadn’t healed him yet. “There’s no good answer, so I don’t ask,” he replied. His wife, Lorna, added, “If you’re always obsessed about having to have answers, you can’t really live.”
Can you hear the respect for God in Ed and Lorna’s words? They knew that His wisdom is above their own. Yet Ed admitted, “I find it nearly impossible not to worry about tomorrow.” He understood that the disease would cause increasing disability, and he didn’t know what new problem the next day might bring.
To help himself focus on the present, Ed placed these verses in his car, on the bathroom mirror, and next to his bed: “God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid’ ” (Hebrews 13:5-6). Whenever he started to worry, he would repeat the verses to help him refocus his thoughts on the truth.
No one knows what the next day will bring. Maybe Ed’s practice could help us turn our worries into opportunities to trust.
By:Anne Cetas
Reflect & Pray
What Scriptures help you to focus on today and not worry about tomorrow? Where might you place them to help your faith grow?
Help me to remember, Father, that You’re God, and I am not. Please teach me to trust You.
July 25, 2024 by StopAndPrayTV
Spend time in the Word to discover who God is and how He operates Matthew 21:21
If we believe God is who He says He is and will do what He has promised, why do so many of us habitually waver in our prayers? Instead of exercising bold faith, we come to GodhopingHe will hear us and answer our requests.
Perhaps one reason we are so prone to doubt is that we fail to discern God at work in our circ*mstances. We asked, and it seems as if nothing has happened. But the Lord sees the past, present, and future and knows the right time for every answer. His invisible hand is already at work on our behalf—arranging situations, opening hearts, and preparing us to receive what He wants to give.
Another cause for uncertainty may be that we don’t adequately know God’s ways. Then His response might disappoint us. Our prayers are often accompanied by expectations of how He’ll work. So when He fails to intervene according to the method we anticipate, doubt can set in. But knowing God and trusting in His perfect ways will give us stability as we wait for His answer.
To overcome doubts, spend time in the Word to learn God’s principles and ways. Then you’ll begin to grasp what He wants to achieve in your life and how He goes about it. Examine your past from a biblical perspective—faith will grow as you see the unexpected ways He’s answered your prayers.
July 25, 2024 by StopAndPrayTV
“And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD commanded to Israel.” (Nehemiah 8:1)
That was an amazing congregation there in the street of Jerusalem that came together that day just to hear Ezra read the Bible and explain its teachings. Nehemiah’s previous chapter had just enumerated over 42,000 people who had returned from Babylon to rebuild the city.
Even if “all the people” is not meant to be understood literally but representatively, this was still a very large assemblage. It even included all but the smallest children (Nehemiah 8:2), and they allstood up(!) throughout the reading and exposition (Nehemiah 8:5-7), from morning to noon (Nehemiah 8:3).
Presumably all they had was the Pentateuch (tradition says that Ezra, who was doing the reading, eventually compiled the rest of the books with it into the Old Testament canon), but this was enough, and “all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law” (Nehemiah 8:9). Ezra not only read the actual words but also “gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading” (Nehemiah 8:8). He further explained that, although they had been guilty in breaking God’s laws, they had been redeemed, and God was fulfilling all His gracious promises in restoring them to their land. Thus, they had joy as well as grief over their sins.
So should it be today. That is, when God’s Word is simply read and explained, that should be enough to generate both sadness and repentance over sin and also true joy in salvation. Then, as it was to the returning Jewish exiles long ago, “the joy of the LORD” becomes our “strength” for true worship and obedience (Nehemiah 8:10). HMM
July 25, 2024 by StopAndPrayTV
“But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.” Dan. 12:13
We cannot understand all the prophecies, but yet we regard them with pleasure, and not with dismay. There can be nothing in the Father’s decree which should justly alarm His child. Though the abomination of desolation be set up, yet the true believer shall not be defiled; rather shall he be purified, and made white, and tried. Though the earth be burned up, no smell of fire shall come upon the chosen. Amid the crash of matter, and the wreck of worlds, the Lord Jehovah will preserve His own.
Calmly resolute in duty, brave in conflict, patient in suffering, let us go our way, keeping to our road, and neither swerving from it nor loitering in it. The end will come; let us go our way till it does.
Rest will be ours. All other things swing to and fro, but our foundation standeth sure. God rests in His love, and, therefore, we rest in it. Our peace is, and ever shall be, like a river. A lot in the heavenly Canaan is ours, and we shall stand in it, come what may. The God of Daniel will give a worthy portion to all who dare to be decided for truth and holiness as Daniel was. No den of lions shall deprive us of our sure inheritance.
July 25, 2024 by StopAndPrayTV
Luke 23:5-16
It was vain for Pilate to attempt to appease the Jews; they were bent on the death of Jesus, and nothing else would satisfy them.
He hoped by this means to rid himself of this troublesome affair. He knew the Lord to be innocent, and he ought to have set him free, but had not the moral courage to do so; he, therefore, welcomed the chance of transferring the case to other hands. How wretched is that man who is afraid to do right.
It was no part of our Lord’s business to gratify idle curiosity, neither could it be of any avail to explain his doctrine to a man of Herod’s character, and, therefore, his wisdom was seen in his silence.
As they saw that Herod was not bitter against him, they grew more violent in their charges, hoping that our Lord’s silence would enrage him, and so they might procure his death.
Herod saw that Jesus could not be guilty in the manner laid to his charge, but the silence of the Lord excited his angry contempt, and he therefore ridiculed his claims to be the Messiah.
A compromise, but a very wicked one. If guilty the prisoner ought not to be released, if innocent he ought not to be chastised. Attempts to compromise between right and wrong are always failures and should be shunned by all honest men.
Matthew 27:19, 20, 24, 25
This was a warning to him. Heathens paid much respect to dreams, and, therefore, this must have greatly moved him, yet he dared not oppose the priests.
The washing availed him nothing, the blood of Jesus lay at his door, for had he been just he would have released the innocent.
A terrible imprecation, which has doomed Israel to her long sorrows. The blood of Jesus will either be upon us to cleanse, or on us to condemn. Which will it be?
Power and dominion are his due
Who stood condemn’d at Pilate’s bar;
Wisdom belongs to Jesus too,
Though he was charged with madness here.
Honour immortal must be paid,
Instead of scandal and of scorn;
While glory shines around his head,
And a bright crown without a thorn.
July 25, 2024 by StopAndPrayTV
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth… neither was any deceit in his mouth. (Isaiah 53:7, 9)
Christians who understand the true meaning of Christ’s cross will never whine about being treated unfairly. Whether or not they are given fair treatment will never enter their heads. They know they have been called to follow Christ, and certainly the Savior did not receive anything approaching fair treatment from mankind.
In language the word “unfair” seems altogether innocent but it indicates an inner attitude that has no place among Christians.
The man who cries “Unfair!” is not a victorious man. He is inwardly defeated and in self-defense appeals to the referee to note that he has been fouled. This gives him an alibi when they carry him out on a stretcher and saves his face while his bruises heal.
It is a certainty that Christians will suffer wrongs; but if they take them in good spirit and without complaint, they have conquered their enemy. They remember that Jesus was reviled—but any thought of His shouting for fair play simply cannot be entertained by the reverent heart!
