Tag: bible

What Do You Treasure?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Devotionals3 Comments

Treasure Chest

What do you treasure? Is it earthly treasure or heavenly treasure? We would all like to think that we treasure the things of heaven, but that is not always true. Since that is the case, Jesus commands us not to store up earthly treasure. Instead we are to store up heavenly treasure.

In order to work against storing up earthly treasure, we need to know what we might have a tendency to treasure. I believe we can figure that out by thinking through a few questions.

What Do You Have Tendency to Treasure?

(1) What are the things you protect the most?

  • What do you keep behind lock and key at your house?
  • What do you rarely use for fear it might get messed up?

(2) What are the things you put before Godly activity?

What I mean by godly activity is: Reading your Bible, Prayer, Worship, and Christian fellowship

  • What takes the place of your Bible reading or prayer?
  • What is it that you are willing to do instead of coming to the worship service?
  • What is it that keeps you from times of fellowship with other brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the week?

(3) What do you pour the most energy and effort into?

  • Your house or yard?
  • A car you are fixing up?
  • Finding the best deal?
  • Things you create such as art, pictures, books, or blogs?

(4) What are the things that tug at your mind or emotions?

  • What are you constantly thinking about?
  • Planning to do?
  • Day-dreaming about?

Conclusion

Answering these questions honestly can help you determine what you have a tendency to treasure. Figuring that out is important so that you can guard yourself from storing up earthly treasures.

Question for Reflection

  1. Would you be willing to share what you have a tendency to treasure?

Resource

Image

Why Are We Not Doers of the Word?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Practical4 Comments

The Bible

In his epistle, James challenges us to be doers of the Word; to be people who live according to God’s commands (James 1:19-26).

After teaching through this section of James, I have been thinking, if God expects us to live according to His Word, why do some disregard this command? I thought of three responses, but I am sure there are more, so let me know what you think.

Why We Are Not Doers of the Word

(1) We are ignorant of what God’s Word says on a particular issue.

This can be corrected by studying God’s Word. To get the most out of God’s Word we must saturate ourselves in it, which we can do by:

  1. Reading it
  2. Studying it
  3. Singing it
  4. Hearing it preached

In order to learn as much as possible about God’s Word, it is important Christians be:

  1. Apart of a church.
  2. Be committed to attending that church.
  3. Get together apart from church times to study Scripture.
  4. Center their conversations around what God is teaching them through their study of God’s Word.

(2) We know the truth, but we are rebelling against God’s Word.

This can be corrected through accountability. It is the job of church members to hold each other accountable, and speak into each others’ lives when they see blatant sin.

Life changing accountability requires:

  1. Deep community.
  2. Commitment to one another.
  3. A strong desire to see God glorified.

Without deep community, commitment, and a strong desire to see God glorified, accountability will not take place.

(3) We are unbelievers who do not see a necessity to live out God’s Word.

This can only be corrected through salvation. Salvation comes through evangelism and the Holy Spirit working on our hearts.

What Are Your Thoughts?

These are three reasons I came up with regarding why we do not live according to God’s commands. After thinking through them and the questions below, let me know your thoughts.

Questions for Reflection

  1. How do you saturate yourself in God’s Word?
  2. How often is God’s Word apart of your everyday conversations?
  3. How much more do you think God would be glorified and your church act as a witness to the community, if you saw accountability as a necessary part of your church body?
  4. How are you personally attempting to reach people with the gospel in your own circle of influence?

Resource

Image

No One is Above Culture’s Influence

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Practical1 Comment

Culture's Influence

No one is above the influence of their culture. Even Samuel, the great prophet of God was not above the influence of his surroundings.

Samuel Not Above the Culture

1 Samuel 16 tells of Samuel’s journey to anoint the next king over Israel. After traveling to Bethlehem, escaping the suspicion of Saul, and convincing the elders he came in peace, Samuel calls the elders and Jesse’s family together for a sacrifice.

After they gathered, Samuel noticed Jesse’s son Eliab. He was tall and his appearance was pleasing. He stood out from the rest. Samuel thought he was God’s next king. He was not, however, the one the Lord would anoint as king. Sure, he looked the part, but his heart was not right. He was not a man after God’s own heart; that would be his brother David.

Samuel’s thoughts and the Lord’s declaration tells us something important. No man is above their culture’s influence. When Saul was installed as king, Israel praised and exalted him because he looked the part. He looked like all the surrounding kings. Samuel’s thought shows culture rubbed off on him; it influenced him.

Understand Culture’s Influence

If we are honest with ourselves, we are all influenced by our culture and traditions in one way or another. Knowing that anyone can be influenced by their culture, we must ask ourselves:

  1. How does our culture influence us?
  2. How does our traditions sway our thinking and decisions?
  3. How does God’s Word tell us we should act?

It is important we ask ourselves all these questions when approaching a decisions, especially the last question because God’s Word should be our guide in everything we do.

Question for Reflection

  1. How have you noticed your culture influencing you?
  2. How do you deal with its influence?

Resource

Image

Are You a Berean?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn PracticalLeave a comment

Berean Congregation

Week in and week out church members listen to sermons, sit in on Bible studies, and attend Sunday School. They receive teaching, but what do they do with that teaching afterward? I am afraid most members do nothing more than casually mention to their family over lunch that the sermon was good this week.

Scripture tells us that is an inadequate response. It calls us to do more than listen to the sermon on Sunday, even though that is a good start. What else should we do? Let’s look to the book of Acts and see what our friends the Berean’s did.

The Bereans as Our Example

After leaving Thessalonica, Paul and Silas came to Berea. Luke tells us after arriving Paul and Silas…

… went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so (Acts 17:10-11).

The Bereans model for us what we should do on Sunday morning. What is that?

Here are the three things they did that we should be doing:  

(1) They Eagerly Received God’s Word – They came to the synagogue hungry for the preached Word. Preaching wasn’t the part of the service they endured. It was a part of the service they eagerly anticipated.

(2) They Listened Attentively – Not only did they desire to hear God’s Word taught, but they listened attentively. Limited edition Berean Moleskine’s sat in every listener’s lap being filled with notes from the sermon. Daydreaming, counting the pews for the 100th time, or catching up on their beauty sleep was far from their mind. They listened to the exposition of God’s Word attentively.

(3) They Examined the Teaching they Heard – Not only did the Bereans receive the Word with all eagerness, listening attentively, but they went home, opened their Bibles, and examined Paul and Silas’ teaching. Was it accurate? Did it coincide with the rest of Scripture? Was it applied rightly? These are the questions they probably asked and more.

Questions for Reflection

  1. Do you hunger to hear God’s Word proclaimed?
  2. Do you listen attentively during the preaching of God’s Word?
  3. When was the last time you went home and examined the sermons content for accuracy?
  4. Are you a Berean?

Resource

Image

My 2013 New Year’s Resolutions

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Practical2 Comments

New Year's Resolution

Happy New Year! It’s official 2013. The Holidays are over and many of us are gearing up to face yet another year. As we do, resolutions will be made. Some will be kept, while others will be broken. Perusing a poll of New Year’s resolutions this morning, I find most dealing with weight loss, fitness, making more money, or quitting a habit – smoking, drinking, gambling. Instead of making a perfunctory resolution, let me offer you a few well thought out resolutions I am planning to keep, Lord willing, this year.

My New Year’s Resolutions

(1) Read the Bible – I have always wanted to finish one of those read the Bible through in a year plans, but I always lose steam. It’s not that I haven’t read the entire Bible, I have. It’s not that I don’t study the Bible in-depth, I do. I just haven’t ever finished a plan. The beginning of the year is great. All the boxes are checked, and I even make it through Leviticus and Numbers, but somewhere after that I fade off. This year is going to be different.

I recently subscribed to Table Talk Magazine, and I plan to do their daily devotionals each day, along with their read the Bible through in a year plan. If you are in the market for a solid devotional magazine, one that cuts out all the fluff, will help you deepen your understanding of God’s Word, and set you on a path to read the Bible in a year, I would recommend Table Talk.

(2) Read Calvin’s Institutes – Calvin’s Institutes represent a lifetime of thought and study. Even though they were written in the 1500’s, they are readable and useful for modern man. In order to accomplish my goal, I am participating in a Calvin’s Institutes Reading Group. A group you can participate in as well. If you have always wanted to read the Institutes, but like me, they have been sitting on your shelf for some time, join the group. We are planning on reading The Institutes in a year and discussing them along the way.

(3) Love My Wife Better – My wife is amazing! She is smart, intelligent, and funny. She loves God and our family. Even though I have great wife, I have to confess I don’t love her as well as I should. This year, I am repenting and loving my wife better. I am armed with my Bible, Tim Keller’s recent book The Meaning of Marriage, Justin Buzzard’s Date Your Wife, and Joel Beeke’s Friends and Lovers. Other than the Holy Spirit convicting me and God’s Word teaching me, I am hoping to learn much from these godly men about loving my wife better.

Final Thoughts

Those are my resolutions for this year. I share those with you in order to encourage you to think through your resolutions, and so you can pray for me and hold me accountable as the year goes on. Your prayers and a timely comment or two throughout the year asking how things are going might just be the encouragement I need to keep at it.

Resource

Image

The Intentional Father

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Devotionals2 Comments

This last Friday night I went to The Real Men of Impact Men’s Rally at Travis Avenue Baptist. It was one part of the Equip Conference. Steve Stroope, Pastor of Lakepointe Church and co-author of Tribal Church, spoke from Deuteronomy 6:1-9. He challenged men to be the spiritual leader of their families.

Two Ends of the Spectrum

When you think about leading your family spiritually, two thoughts may come to mind. On the one hand, you may believe you are leading your family spiritually by making sure they are in church on Sunday and Wednesday and by leading them in a prayer before your meal.

On the other hand, you may believe you are only leading your family spiritually if you are having a devotional every night with them. While we probably need to do more than just take our families to church and lead them in a prayer before a meal, we all may not have the time to sit down every night and walk our families through a text of Scripture. This does not mean we do not shoot for that, or seek to make it a priority in our schedule. Spending time in the Word and praying with your family is necessary and important. However, if we can’t do that one day, it doesn’t mean we have failed, and we should throw in the towel. It is possible to lead our families spiritually as we go through our everyday routine. The way we do this is by being intentional.

The Intentional Father of Deuteronomy 6

In the midst of giving the Lord’s commands to the people of Israel, Moses writes:

“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” (Dt 6:6–7)

These two verses tell us how we can be the spiritual leaders of our houses. Notice that Moses tells the men first that these commandments are to be on their heart. That means they themselves must know them. Once they know them, they are to teach them to their children diligently. Notice when Moses says they are to teach their children: When they sit in their house, when they walk by the way, when they lie down at night, and when they rise in the morning.

Here is the connection point: We all sit around our house at night, take our kids to school, put them to bed, and make breakfast for them in the morning. It is during those everyday activities that we are to speak with our children about God’s Word. In order to do that, it will take us being intentional, but working to find ways to connect God’s Word to our everyday lives is worth the effort.

Questions for Reflection

  1. How do you lead your family to have a greater understanding of God’s Word?
  2. What are some ways you connect God’s Word to your everyday activities?
  3. Do you know God’s Word well enough that you can connect its teachings to your daily routine?

Resources

Image