From: September 27, 2017
This is the summary of Paul’s instruction to husbands and wives. Husbands are to “love” their wives. This is the sacrificial love (Greek: “agape”) of Christ, which He expressed by laying down His life for us. Husbands are to be servant-leaders. Wives are to “respect” their husbands. A surprising command in light of the husband’s command to “love.” Shouldn’t the wife also love her husband? Yet, “respect” is the way most men receive love. So, respecting her husband is the best way to show her love. When the husband loves his wife with sacrificial love and the wife loves her husband with respectful love, then their house becomes a lighthouse, showing forth the “mystery” of Christ’s love for the church.
From: September 27, 2016
Isaiah prophesied 700 years before the Messiah’s coming of the rejection and hatred that the He would endure. Isaiah described in incredible detail the circumstances surrounding Christ’s crucifixion and even His burial (“with a rich man” v.9), yet as his prophecy predicted, He was “rejected by men.” Christ Jesus took on our sin and our sorrow. He suffered great physical pain at our hands, but perhaps His greatest pain was that of our rejection and disdain. As the gospel of John declared, “He came to his own and they did not receive him. Yet, as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:11-12).
From: September 27, 2015
Not living under the influence of alcohol, but under the Spirit’s control. Two commands are given here, with the first being illustrative to help understand and emphasize the second. They are: 1) Don’t allow your mind and senses to be dulled and dissipated under the influence of alcohol by getting drunk. 2) Instead, be continuously filled with the Spirit, so that your mind and body are always being submitted to the Spirit’s influence. This “filling” is not a once in a lifetime command or need, but a continuous, moment by moment one. Not because the Spirit leaves us, for He never leaves those He has sealed. But because we must continually drink from the Spirit as from a fountain that lives within us. Remember that Christ told the woman at the well that those who asked from Him would receive “living water” that would become in them a “fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14). The secret of living the abundant life is continuously living according to the Spirit’s filling, rather than by our own strength.
From: September 27, 2013
This Messianic prophecy was written 700 years before Christ. Chapter 53 describes in chilling detail the crucifixion of Jesus. There are two threads of prophecy in the Old Testament concerning the Messiah. One, describes him as the Suffering Servant who will take on our sin, and the second, which describes him as the coming king that will put everything right in the world. Jesus has already fulfilled the first. The second is coming soon.
From: September 27, 2012
Isaiah’s Messianic prophecy found in ch.53 never ceases to astound. God gave him such a specific preview of Christ as the Suffering Servant that takes away the sins of the world. Reading it afresh today, I would believe again were I not already believing. I would be saved again, were I not already saved. Thank you Lord Jesus for your fulfillment of Scripture and for suffering in our place!
From: September 27, 2011
700 years before Jesus’ birth, Isaiah prophesied about His crucifixion. Read Isa. 53 and consider how God’s plan for our redemption was fulfilled in Christ.