Hebrews 4:12 – For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
The Daily Nugget is a weekday devotional written by Pastor Jim Sole. We hope you find encouragement, guidance, and conviction unto holiness through the scriptures and commentary.
Numbers 11:1 – And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes, and when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp. THEME OF THE DAY. IT IS NO SMALL MATTER. Whenever we use words like “never”, “always”, and “everybody”, we…
Hebrews 13:8 – Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. THEME OF THE DAY. DEALING WITH OUR MOODINESS. Do we ever get moody? Maybe we woke up on the wrong side of the bed and just felt grouchy, not wanting to confront a single human being the whole day. How about getting a little irritated over still yet another…
Psalm 112:1 – Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments! THEME OF THE DAY. HAPPY CHRISTIANS. One of the definitions for the word “blessed” is “happiness” or “to be happy.” Isn’t that the innermost cry of every human being, Christian and non-Christian? If we went out to a mall or place of…
Are we devoted to the Lord? I know that may seem like a silly question for readers of the nugget. I would boldly assume all of us would answer “Of course. I love the Lord. I am devoted to Him.” I would say that too, but then again, I had to stop and do some real soul-searching with the words “Am I?” and just because I am a pastor doesn’t mean I am devoted or have arrived to the point of absolute surrender to the Lordship of Jesus. My vocation is what I do; my identity as a Christian is what I am. And devotion to God is to define that identity for you and me. Today, let’s look at devotion in two ways; first from God to us, then us back to Him.
I want you to be honest. Real honest. Are there ever any Sunday mornings you don’t feel like going to church? If you were to tell me, “Nope. I have never once had a Sunday I didn’t want to go to church.” If that is you, I am envious. I cannot say that . . . I’ve experienced a Sunday or two when I wasn’t too thrilled about going to church. And I think each of you would be in my camp, but before I offer the strongest motivator possible to be faithful to church, week-in and week-out, I want to identify four reasons or excuses for missing church.
How would we define Christian faith? What does genuine saving faith really look like? What would make us assured we had the right type of faith? In defining the faith of Christianity, we are given two specific objects which are to be the direction our faith takes; the Person of our God and the revelation of that God through His two means of revealing Himself; creation and His written Word. Faith involves a trust in the God prayed to and the action of praying to this trusted God. We will find the Lord repeatedly acknowledging that true faith in Him includes both trust in His Person and acts of obedience to His Word. In today’s scripture, we find Jesus telling us this truth. Let’s consider two applications from His words.