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I Am Your Portion

Is fairness everyone getting an equal portion or what he or she needs?  Was it fair that Uzzah died trying to steady the ark (1 Chronicles 13-15) or should the priests have stepped up to do what was only their job?

I. Numbers 18:20-23.  God made the Levites priests and said that He would be their portion and inheritance in this life, and so as they served Him–which included carrying the ark of the Lord, He would care for them.  A treasured possession the whole nation were priests (Exodus 19:5-6, Lamentations 3:21-26), and thus in the New Testament so are Christians (1 Peter 2:4-5).  Thus, God is our portion too.

II. Joshua 21:41-42.  God scattered his priests of the Old Testament and New Testament (Acts 8:1-4) so they could capture souls and keep others connected to Him.  So, seeking and saving the lost (Luke 19:10) is our work (1 Corinthians 15:58).  When we bury the talent with which we were entrusted (Matthew 25:24-29), then the Uzzahs around us touch the ark we should be carrying and die.

III. Jonah 4:9-11.  When we don’t invest what God has entrusted us with to yield interest for Him, He tells us that even what we do have He’ll take away.  Many times we justify not investing because we’ve judged others as unworthy of salvation.  That’s what Jonah did.  Rather, we must help others (Galatians 6:1-2) out of sincere love for them (1 John 4:20).  Then we can run our race with perseverance (Hebrews 12:1).

We’ve been entrusted with the gospel message.  How many Uzzahs are steadying arks on carts around us while we remain silent?  Is the Lord your portion?

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Made Like His Brothers

If Satan wanted to destroy the gospel, how might he do it?  Since he can’t eliminate it, he would allow the story of a baby born and laid in the manger–as long as we didn’t know that baby as our Savior.  As long as Christianity is just one plate on the buffet of world religions and as long as the Word becoming flesh and making His dwelling among us is cluttered with many layers of man-made traditions, then it can exist as a lost and irrelevant relic.  But, Jesus being both fully God to be our Savior and fully man to be sacrifice is essential for the gospel and our salvation (Hebrews 2:14-18).

I.  Luke 4:3-13.  Since God is untouchable, Satan goes after those made in God’s image as we are able to choose sin (Genesis 3:1-15).  So, when God became a man, the devil had to test just how man-like He was, but Jesus remained sinless to His death on a cross.  And because He defeated the one who held the power of death through His own death, we too who are flesh and blood can share in His immortality and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15).

II.  John 8:34-38.  In doing so, Jesus delivered us who were in slavery to the fear of death because it is “Abraham’s offspring” that He helps.  Many thought they were Abraham’s offspring because of physical descent, but Jesus explains that it is those who are obedient by faith that He sets free from the slavery of sin.  It’s those who are sons of God through faith, having been clothed with Christ through baptism, who are Abraham’s offspring and heirs (Galatians 3:26-29).

III.  Romans 3:22-25.  Because He’s fully God, Jesus can be our Savior (Isaiah 43:3-11); because He’s fully man, though, He can be our sacrifice (2 Corinthians 5:21).  He had to be made like us in every way so that He can help us in eternity and here and now (Hebrews 4:14-18).  He is our righteousness and our propitiation for sin, sympathizing with our weaknesses and providing an ever-present help in our need.  And that is indeed good news!

As Satan does his best to dilute the gospel message or clutter it up with so much that is not about Jesus becoming a man to take care of our greatest need, let us uncover the light of the gospel message and let it shine forth.

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We Rely on You

2 Chronicles 14.11 (VOTD)

O Lord, only you can help the weak,
Outnumbered by the enemy’s powerful force —
Come help us! For we rely on you, we seek
Your strength. In Christ we follow this course
Of life, this field of battle. In faith we speak.
O Lord, we know you as our living source.

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New Editor

J. Randal Matheny indeed has a long reach to stretch from Brazil to snowy northern New York State along the Canadian border to twist my arm to sit in the editorial chair for sermonlines.com.  Knowing the challenges of small church ministry as I am now in my twentieth year with the Plattsburgh Church of Christ, I hope to make sermonlines a true preachers-helping-preachers site, where we create an encouraging and biblical repository for the exchanging of ideas to build the Kingdom.  Like those free lending libraries that are popping up everywhere, leave an idea or take an idea to promote the gospel locally and around the world.

God bless, Douglas Kashorek

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I need you near

When I begin my day, dear God, I need you near, to protect me from temptation, to give me power and focus, to remind me of your love, to show me the opportunities that come before me.

When I reach the half-way point of my day, heavenly Father, I need you near, to give me strength to carry through, to remain clear in my thoughts and plans, to avoid distractions from what is most important.

When I come to the end of the day, O Sovereign One, I need you near, to assure me that failures can serve the kingdom, to deliver the day’s activities in your hand, to thank for blessings and joys received, to give me rest.

I need you near, my Savior, at every hour, at every trial, at every challenge, at every celebration of success. For you, and only you, can give me meaning and life and hope. Stay near me, always, Lord and Friend.

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No Miracle in a Tube

None can help but God — to you I turn,
O Lord, for rescue. No miracle in a tube,
No counselor’s couch, no exercise or drug
Removes my fears or eases my troubled mind,
But only trust in you. I cannot climb
Or raise myself, in me no power nor strength.
Give life, O Lord, and raise me up from death.