My dad, however, was not enthusiastic. The event fell on Thanksgiving Day, designated as a special time for our family to enjoy the day together and celebrate traditions. I didn’t appreciate the importance of it, especially since it was squashing my chance of getting “discovered.” Now that I’m an adult, I understand what my dad was trying to instill in me. He was willing to go against the ambient culture in order to maintain family time.

The Los Angeles Times recently reported on the decline of “the family hour,” a traditional set of TV programming made to appeal to the whole family. What was once a coveted and heavily marketed hour is now becoming increasingly mainstream and adult in its broadcasting. As the article states, network heads simply do not feel the need to cater to the once-popular “family hour,” because today’s families don’t really watch shows together. Instead, most family members use personal computers or smartphones to catch up on their favorite shows; the average U.S. household has about 20 digital devices. It’s probable that on any given night, a family of five can watch five separate shows in different rooms of the house, or even in the same room, never once having to look up from their individual screens.

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It was a meager offering when the young boy brought his lunch of five loaves and two fish to Jesus. Even Andrew said, “But what are they among so many?” (John 6:9). But Jesus took it, blessed it, and multiplied it—and thousands were impacted.

God can take your meager offering and do a lot with a little. A. W. Tozer said, “The world is waiting to hear an authentic voice, a voice from God—not an echo of what others are doing and saying, but an authentic voice.” What the world needs to see today is an authentic Christian, not a perfect voice, not a flawless person (because there is no such individual), but authenticity. That is what people need to see.

John Wesley said, “Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergymen or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven upon Earth.”

Imagine what would happen if just 100 believers took this to heart. What if 200 did? How about 400? How about 500? What about 800? What about 1,000? What about 2,000 or more? What would happen in our cities? What would happen in our states? What would happen in the United States? What would happen in the world? A lot.

Sure, all of us are flawed. All of us fall short. None of us are qualified in and of ourselves. But God can do His work through imperfect people. In fact, it seems as though He goes out of His way to find imperfect people to work through. What God is looking for today is not ability as much as availability. Are you willing to be someone who will shake your world?

Have Pastor Greg’s devotionals blessed you? Write to let him know at Greg@harvest.org!

©2011 Harvest Ministries; All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions, P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214-1000

Identifying With Those In Need

“Remember the prisoners, as though in prison
with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you
yourselves also are in the body.” – Hebrews 13:2

Because we too are human beings, God makes it possible for us to empathize with others who might be enduring hardship.

The Apostolic Confession, an ancient church confession, says, “If any Christian is condemned for Christ’s sake to the mines by the ungodly, do not overlook him, but from the proceeds of your toil and sweat, send him something to support himself, and to reward the soldier of Christ.” You can see from this quote that the early church took seriously its responsibility to help people who were suffering persecution. To obtain money to free a fellow believer, some early Christians even sold themselves into slavery.

It’s unlikely we’ll ever have to face such extreme measures. But we can definitely learn from the heart attitude that prompted such an action. The point is, we should do whatever we can to understand what others are going through. We don’t necessarily have to experience the same starvation, imprisonment, or harsh treatment that they are enduring in order to sympathize. Being human—“in the body,” as today’s verse says—and suffering our own hurts and hungers should be enough incentive for us to help others.

You can have loving empathy for someone in at least three ways. First, you can simply “be there” as a friend to encourage the other person when he is in trouble. A second way to show empathy is by giving direct help. The Philippians shared with the apostle Paul in his affliction by financially supporting his ministry in other places (Phil. 4:14-16). In this way they also encouraged him spiritually. Third, you can give empathy through prayer. Paul’s closing words to the Colossians, “Remember my imprisonment” (Col. 4:18), were an appeal for prayer. It was the only means remaining by which the church could effectively support him.

If we have Christ’s example, who is not “a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses” (Heb. 4:15), how can we possibly ignore the hurts of others, especially those of fellow believers? Instead, sincere empathy should be a regular part of our service for the Lord.

Suggestions for Prayer:
Pray for a greater alertness and sensitivity to those you know who might be hurting.

For Further Study:

Based on the Good Samaritan story in Luke 10:29-37, what are the essential attitudes and actions of a good neighbor?

From Strength for Today by John MacArthur Copyright © 1997. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.com.

Additional Resources

• Free Sermon Downloads
• Strength for Today
• NAS MacArthur Study Bible (Hardcover)

We have often provided evidence for the full humanity of the unborn child right from conception (i.e. fertilization of egg by sperm). And while still in the womb, children develop the ability to feel pain and even to plan their future, and are considered to be patients. Individual life is a continuum from conception to natural death. Birth changes nothing intrinsically about the nature of that life, just location and mode of respiration (from placenta to lungs).

This is one vital matter on which to decide the abortion issue, because murder applies only to human victims, not to the removal of a tumor or wart. The evidence for the humanity of the unborn has thus convinced many that abortion is wrong, since they disapprove of murder.¹ For the same reason, most pro-abortion politicians don’t even dare to admit that the baby is human; they lie about it being a ‘blob of cells’, or obfuscate about it with feigned ignorance about the nature of the unborn, and quips that the question of where life begins is ‘above my pay grade.’ Never mind that the onus of proof is on the pro-abortionists to show that it’s nothuman life. If we didn’t know whether a body was live or dead, we would never bury it—we would give the benefit of the doubt to life.

But the reason many people still oppose murder is ultimately due to God’s command, “Do not murder.” Even many people who disbelieve in God have still been influenced by the Judeo-Christian world view of the culture they were raised in, and oppose murder. That is, while their atheistic world view can’t provide a basis for ethics, they hijack what is to them a foreign world view….Read More

Beneath the Republicans’ regional split is Romney’s failure in states where the Republican base is made up of socially conservative evangelical voters. In New England and other states where evangelicals are in the minority, Romney has been able to win over the lion share of the evangelical vote. The result is a double-whammy for Romney: in states where the GOP is made up of more evangelicals, evangelicals are less likely to vote for Romney.

In Vermont, Romney received four out of every 10 evangelical votes and performed similarly among evangelicals in Nevada. In both cases, evangelicals make up less than a third of Republican voters. In New Hampshire, where there were many more candidates, Romney received about a third of evangelical voters, equal to Santorum’s share. However, in states like South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Oklahoma, where evangelicals make up a majority of GOP voters, Romney received less than 30 percent of votes from evangelicals.

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Every now and again, the biblical writers were so lifted up in spirit as they contemplated the glory of God and His great works of creation and redemption that they could sense the very creation itself singing out in happy praises.

“The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1) is one of the most familiar of these divinely inspired figures of speech, but there are many others. “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: . . . Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof. . . . Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together before the LORD; for he cometh to judge the earth” (Psalm 98:4, 7-9).

Often these praises are in contemplation of God’s final return to complete and fulfill all His primeval purposes in creation, as in the above passage.

This better time is also in view in our text, which looks forward to a time when “instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off” (Isaiah 55:13). God has triumphed over evil!

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