Tag: christianity

Are your feet beautiful?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn DevotionalsLeave a comment

“And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”” (Rom 10:15)

As Christians we have been sent out to make disciple-making disciples. We are to make these disciples “as we are going” about our day. We don’t have to travel half way around the world to be “on mission” for Jesus. We can live “on mission” for Him right here in our own community.

Paul reveals in this section of his letter to Romans that we are sent to preach the good news. It is a beautiful thing. Beautiful can be translated as “the appropriate time; timely” or it can be translated as beautiful in the sense that it is an appropriate action or a lovely action.

If we translate the word timely, which it seems many commentators lean towards, the idea links more to God’s plan being worked out in His time. The preaching of the gospel as the message of hope to both Jews and Gentiles has come at the appropriate time in God’s plan of salvation.

While at the same time, the feet of those who come with the good news of the gospel are beautiful, they are lovely. It is a beautiful action for someone to preach the good news of Jesus to others.

We are to be those beautiful feet who in God’s timing are bringing a message of hope and light to those who live in darkness. Are your feet beautiful?

Unity is a blessing from the Lord

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn DevotionalsLeave a comment

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” (Ps 133:1)

Because of God’s presence and provision, we are able to dwell together in unity with one another. Unity in community is a blessing showered down on us by God. God is the One who transforms our hearts — our will, wants, desires — so that we can live in unity with one another.

Unity requires self-sacrifice and forbearance. Only a heart that has been transformed by the Lord will be willing to sacrifice and forbear with another.

Where there is unity, there is the Lord’s blessing, His provision. When we experience unity with another, we should praise the Lord. If we desire unity, we should seek the Lord. Out of our relationship with the Lord, our growth in Christ, we experience unity with one another.

If you desire unity, turn to the Lord, seek Him, grow in Him, and you will experience the unity you desire with other brother’s and sister’s in Christ.

For indeed, unity is a blessing from the Lord. May we praise Him when it is present in our community.

Advent proves God’s promise is a reality

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Devotionals, Uncategorized2 Comments

“The LORD swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back: “One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne.” (Ps 132:11)

Our God is a promise keeping God. He made a covenant with Abraham and reaffirmed that same covenant with his sons. He also made a covenant with the nation of Israel when Moses led them. Then again with David, promising that He would always have a son on his throne.

The covenants were unconditional and conditional at the same time. The next verse says,

“If your sons keep my covenant and my testimonies that I shall teach them, their sons also forever shall sit on your throne.” (Ps 132:12)

Many of us know the story of the kings. Incase you have forgotten or are reading about them for the first time, they did not obey the Lord. They didn’t keep His laws. Sure, some of them led the nation to repentance. But one good apple among a sea of bad ones will not do. The overall trajectory of the nation was bent toward’s idolatry and injustice.

The Lord, however, had made a covenant with His people. He promised to be their God. He promised one of David’s sons would sit on the throne. God fulfilled that promise Himself.

During Advent we are anticipating Jesus’ coming. He is the Son of God who did what Israel and the kings could not. He perfectly fulfilled God’s law, living for the Father’s glory and according to His will. He never sinned against the Father. As a result, He was granted the right to sit on the throne of David forever.

Advent anticipates His first coming and it points to His second coming where He will bring the kingdom in all its glory. To be sure, Jesus reigns and rules now. But in the future His reign and rule will be consummated. His kingdom will come and those who oppose Him will be cast out of the city gates, so that those who align themselves with God’s will can live securely inside the city of God for all eternity.

Will you be a citizen of the kingdom to come? Do you hope in Jesus’ second Advent? Will you celebrate His first Advent this year, worshipping and praising Him as the shepherds in the field did that glorious night? Would you travel half-way around the world like the wise men to lay gifts at His feet? Do you know the Savior? Do you have a love for Him? Do you bow to your King, recognizing that Jesus indeed is Lord?

There is hope after this life has ended

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn DevotionalsLeave a comment

“Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?” (Acts 26:8)

In Paul’s defense before King Agrippa he asks the question posed in verse 8. Why is it incredible to believe that God raises the dead? God is the all-sovereign, all-powerful, ruler and creator of the universe. Why is it so difficult to believe that He has the power to raise the dead.

Not only does God have the power to raise the dead, but it also fits His purpose. He promised we would experience life in a new heavens and new earth. One free from sickness and death. One where we worship King Jesus for all eternity for His glory and our blessing. For millennia, God has been calling a people to Himself to give to His Son. His Son, God Himself, came to die for these people. He will raise those who have died so that they might join Him in His kingdom one day to worship and serve Him for all eternity.

Why is it so difficult to believe God can raise man from the grave. It is within in His power and it fits His purpose. The resurrection is a reality. It is our only hope. Death is not the end. There is hope after this life has ended. But only for those who believe Jesus was raised from the dead as the first fruits of a new creation.

Do you believe in Jesus’ resurrection?

Our inadequacies don’t limit the Spirit

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Devotionals, EvangelismLeave a comment

“But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” (Acts 20:24)

These were not just words spoken. Paul lived these words out each and every single day. Plots were concocted against him. He was slandered, beaten, arrested, and chased out of cities. He left good friends behind to continue his mission. He followed the urging of the Holy Spirit knowing that afflictions and imprisonments awaited him in every city (Acts 20:23). Paul was determined and a unique man.

But his determination and dedication to the gospel was not due his personality. He was captivated by Jesus. Paul wanted others to be captivated by Him as well. To experience the same hope, joy, love, and blessings he experienced. He traveled around the known world sharing the good news of Jesus with all who would listen despite the difficulties he faced daily.

Admittedly, Paul’s love of Jesus is convicting. When I look at my life, I don’t risk as much as Paul did. I don’t risk relationships, comfort, bodily harm, or even my life for Jesus. That doesn’t mean Paul was super human. He wasn’t super human, instead He was empowered by the Holy Spirit.

The same Holy Spirit that empowered Paul empowers us as well. Though we might feel inadequate for the task of making disciple-making disciples, we aren’t inadequate. The Spirit empowers us for the task at hand just as He empowered Paul. While we all might not travel around the world sharing the gospel, starting and strengthening churches, we can accomplish what God has planned for us. We can be used by Him to accomplish His will, despite our felt inadequacies because the Spirit empowers us to do the work of ministry.

God is doing an amazing work in our day!

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn DevotionalsLeave a comment

“‘Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish; for I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.'” (Acts 13:41)

Paul, preaching to the synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia, tells the Jews that they should expect the Lord to do a work that they would not believe. The work is that their wise men will perish (Is 29:14). In other words, God will do something among the people that will astound them – He will save the Gentiles. He bring those who they thought could not experience salvation to Himself. He will do it through their belief in a crucified Messiah. While at the same time, He will give the Jews over to their enemies (Hab 1:5-6).

After the Jews rejected their teaching, Paul explicitly tells them the work God is dong in verse 47 when he says,

“For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.'” (Acts 13:47)

Again quoting from the prophet Isaiah to show that this has always been God’s plan. A plan that was hidden but is now revealed (Col 1:26-27). Salvation has come to the Gentiles. God’s plan has always been to unite them as one man in Christ (Eph 2:11-22).

Through Jesus we are all united to one another – Jew and Gentile, poor and rich, slave and free. In Christ, we are all equal. We are all brothers and sisters. We are adopted into the same family through the death of Jesus for our sins and the forgiveness extended by the Father and the work done by the Spirit to draw and regenerate. Because of the Work of God, an amazing work we cannot even fathom, we all experience salvation in Jesus alone.

God is doing a work in our day. A work no one would believe if told beforehand. God is uniting us all in Christ. He breaks down divisions. If we want to experience unity, we must turn to Christ. We must recognize that at the foot of the cross all men and women are equal. No one is greater than another. No one is loved by God more than another. We are all one, a new humanity, a new people in Christ.