God's Powerful Word by Chuck Smith

God's Powerful Word

For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. —1 Thessalonians 2:13

If the Bible was the invention of man, you must confess that they had to be the smartest men who ever lived. Forty-four different authors wrote over the span of 1,500 years, and yet, it is one unified story that has stood the test of time and extreme critical analysis. No other book has had such a profound influence for good in the world than the Bible.

It has been likened unto an anvil that has been hammered upon for centuries by skeptics and doubters. The hammers wore away and have been discarded, but the Anvil still stands. The Bible is unique in its prophetic aspects, as it speaks of things years—even thousands of years, in some instances—before they take place.

Paul described the Word as that "which effectually works in you that believe." It is so beautiful to see the effect of the Word on the lives of those who were nearly destroyed by sin. Once they are cleansed, redeemed, and set free, their lives become meaningful. God's Word brings change—not only to those in the church in Thessalonica 2,000 years ago, but to those in the church today.

Father, thank You for the power of Your Word and for the way You use it to change and restore lives. And Lord, how thankful we are that You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. Help us that we might receive and then share Your truth. In Jesus' name, amen.

IT’S A MIND-SET

IT’S A MIND-SET

Teachability is an attitude, a mind-set that says, “No matter how much I know (or think I know), I can learn from this situation.” That kind of thinking can help you turn adversity into advantage. It can make you a winner even during the most difficult circumstances.

Sydney Harris sums up the elements of a teachable mind-set: “A winner knows how much he still has to learn, even when he is considered an expert by others. A loser wants to be considered an expert by others before he has learned enough to know how little he knows.”

Business author Jim Zabloski writes, Contrary to popular belief, I consider failure a necessity in business. If you’re not failing at least five times a day, you’re probably not doing enough. The more you do, the more you fail. The more you fail, the more you learn.

The more you learn, the better you get. The operative word here is learn. If you repeat the same mistake two or three times, you are not learning from it. You must learn from your own mistakes and from the mistakes of others before you.

The ability to learn from mistakes has value not just in business but in all aspects of life. If you live to learn, then you will really learn to live.

—Failing Forward by John Maxwell

The Message of the Cross by Chuck Smith

The Message of the Cross 

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. —1 Corinthians 1:18 

To the Jew, the notion of their Messiah being arrested, beaten, and crucified on a cross was utterly unthinkable. They expected their Messiah, the descendant of David, to rule over the world in righteousness and peace. 

To the Greek, the idea that one man could die for the sins of all men was pure foolishness. None of the many gods the Greeks worshiped would ever have done something that loving. Their gods were selfish. So the idea of a God who was willing to give Himself to save His people was ridiculous. 

"The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him" (1 Corinthians 2:14). Though the world considers the cross to be foolishness, we who are saved see it as the beautiful instrument of our salvation. 

We are not ashamed of the cross. It is the power of God unto salvation. Through the cross, God set us free from the bondage of sin. Through the cross, He conquered death and the grave. Through the cross, He adopted us as His own. 

Through the cross, He made an end of the war that existed between us. Through the cross, He secured our eternal future. Let the world think what it wants. We know the truth. And oh, how we love that old rugged cross.

Fun Argument for God

Fun Argument for God

This is a fun argument that I like to give to people that I witness to and to young believers that want to enjoy witnessing to others on the proof for God.

Man craves what is real.

Man does not crave what is not real.

Man craves food or water, 

he may not find it, 

he may not believe it, 

he may argue against it, but it still exist.

Man craves God, because God exists.

What other God is there?

Christianity came into existence in a polytheistic world, where belief
in the existence of many gods was commonplace. Part of the task of early
Christian writers appears to have been to distinguish the Christian God from
other gods in the religious marketplace. 

At some point, it had to be asked which god Christians were talking
about, and how this god related to the “God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” who
figures so prominently in the Old Testament. 

The doctrine of the trinity appears to have been, in part, a response
to pressure to identify the god that Christian theologians were speaking about.

As time passed, polytheism began to be regarded as outdated and rather
primitive, especially within the sophisticated intellectual culture of the
cosmopolitan city of Alexandria.

The assumption that there was only one god, and that this god was
identical to the Christian God, became so widespread that, by the early middle
ages Europe, it seems self-evident.

Thus Thomas Aquinas, in developing arguments for the existence of God
in the 13th century, did not think it worth demonstrating that the God whose
existent he had proven was the “God of the Christians,” after all, what other
God was there?

E.M. Bounds on Prayer

God wants, and must have, all that there is in man in answering his prayers. He must have wholehearted men through whom to work out His purposes and plans concerning men. God must have men in their entirely. 

No double minded man need apply. No vacillating man can be used. No man with a divided allegiance to God, and the world and self, can do the praying that is needed.