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Romans 14:19

Build Up One Another

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
January 20, 2025

In my 26 years at Country Bible Church in Blair, Nebraska, we built two additions to our building. In 1997, we added what we call the “west wing” for educational purposes, as well as some offices for the staff. In 2001, we completed the new sanctuary. I will never forget the process involved in building the worship center! It was a difficult time for the congregation as a whole, but it was also a very exciting time. When we finally laid the new carpet and occupied the new worship center, I just knew God would rest his hand of blessing on our efforts.  Now that we had the new building, we focused on building the congregation.

The Bible is much more concerned about building people. The word “edify” is often used to refer to the process by which we build each other up in the body of Christ. One Bible Dictionary gives this definition: The building up and strengthening of the faith of believers and churches. Believers are strengthened by God and are urged to build up one another. The church is edified through God’s word, through the Holy Spirit and the proper use of spiritual gifts, through the church’s appointed ministries, and through the mutual love, support, and encouragement of its members.

Notice a couple of important things about building upon another. First, it’s through God’s word. Paul commended the Ephesian Elders when he left them for the last time in Acts 20:32. He said, “And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” Each of us has a responsibility to know God’s word, not just for the sake of knowledge but for the sake of building each other up. It’s also about serving others with the gifts that God has given us. In 1 Corinthians 14:12, Paul challenges the church to seek gifts with different motives after addressing the abuses of Spiritual Gifts. The striving should be to “strive to excel in building up the church” with the use of their spiritual gifts. Christians not only have a far-reaching responsibility to know God’s Word in order to build up others, but they are also responsible for using every talent God has blessed them with to build others up in the church as well. A Christian’s simplest objective is to go to heaven and take as many people with us as possible. Share the Gospel, teach children, build up one another, strengthen one another, encourage those who are fallen, and reach out to those who are hurting. Paul tells the Romans, “And let us work hard to build each other up.” Romans 14:19

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Ephesians 4:29

Encouraging Words

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
January 19, 2025

There are many ways to build others up, but one of the most important ways is how we speak to them. You’ve all heard that “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Well, that’s just hogwash. Words can hurt just as much as sticks and stones. Solomon argues that our speech carries a profound impact on others. In Proverbs 18:21, he says, “The tongue has the power of life and death.” Paul also reminds us that it’s our words that serve to destroy or build up. In Ephesians 4:29, he says, “ Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up.” When a nine-year-old was asked if his two-year-old brother had started to talk yet, he replied, “Why should he talk? He gets everything he wants by hollering.” There are a lot of “children” in our grown-up society who seem nowadays to get “everything they want by hollering.”

Words are powerful, but they are also accompanied by other means of expression: Body language, facial expression, tone of voice, and other means of nonverbal communication are also present and combined to make our words effective or ineffective. Sometimes it only takes a look to cripple a spirit. Sometimes, it only takes a look to make it soar. One person said that nearly two-thirds of the message is communicated by non-verbal indicators. Only a third of it comes from the words themselves.

There’s no doubt about it. Words are powerful. The power of words may be seen in recalling the impact of speeches made by Adolf Hitler and Winston Churchill. Through words inflamed with hatred and lies, Hitler whipped his nation into a frenzy to become a juggernaut of destruction. On the other hand, Churchill, armed with eloquent, measured words, lifted his nation from the ashes and debris of defeat to go on to victory. Ella Wilcox wrote, “A pat on the back is only a few vertebrae removed from a kick in the pants, but it is miles ahead in results.” Someone has said there are two kinds of people in our lives: balcony people—the great encouragers who cheer us on and lift our vision, and basement people—the folks who are never satisfied and who drag us down. Some people are like spurs, and others are like spears. “Spurs” are the helpful ones who prod you on to “love and good deeds” (Heb 10:24). “Spears” are the hurtful folks whose words stab and wound. Some people make you want to “brace” yourself when you encounter them because their words are usually negative and critical. Others make you want to “embrace” them because they are warm, loving, and a joy to be around. Which kind are you? The crowds around Jesus at the crucifixion “hurled” their words at him like one shoots an arrow. They were intended to bring harm, and they added to his suffering. Instead, we should endeavor for the opposite. Paul tells us, “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up…” 1 Thessalonians 5:11

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James 5:`6

Pray for One Another

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
January 18, 2025

One of the greatest means of encouragement God has given us is prayer. Do you know someone who is hurting? Pray for them. Do you know someone who has lost a loved one? Pray for them. Do you know someone who has lost a job? Pray for them. Do you know someone going through a divorce? Pray for them. Do you know someone who is struggling with their faith or who has no faith? Pray for them. Actually, we are exhorted to pray for others often in the scriptures. No matter how far a relationship has deteriorated there is always hope if handled biblically. James tells us that there are two things necessary for healing: confession and prayer. He says in 5:16, “…confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” As a matter of fact, Samuel thought that failure to pray for others was a sin. He said in 1 Samuel 12:23, “Far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you.”

Prayer is really at the heart of every healthy relationship. Mutual prayer for each other, based on the honest sharing of personal needs, is one way we build up the body of Christ as a whole and each other especially. Donald Grey Barnhouse wrote, “Never is a Christian more like Christ than when he is selflessly encompassing needy hearts with intercession, committing them to the Father’s love and grace. If we have been born again, we have been baptized into the intercession of Christ, and our lives must be ever-flowing fountains of prayer. This does not mean leaving the world for monastic contemplation. Rather, we pray without ceasing in the midst of the world. Our prayer may be no more than a quick glance toward God, but He sees and knows. In this way, we live His life of love and service toward others.”

It has been argued that prayer for others should be the primary kind of prayer that we offer. Paul was instructing his young disciple, Timothy, in the essentials of ministry and He begins Chapter 2 of his first letter to Timothy with the phrase, “First of all.” It might mean “our highest priority.” The verse goes on to say, “…then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people…” But we can’t miss the context of this verse. It must be understood in connection with what came at the end of chapter 1 about two men, Hymenaeus and Alexander, who made a “shipwreck” of their faith. The implication is that prayer for them may have helped prevent that. How many times do others come to our mind, and yet we fail to pray for them? “Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.” Ephesians 6:18

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Luke 40:43

Fear & the Free Gift

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
January 17, 2025

I’ve been studying the necessity of faith and what things we need to believe in order to be saved. The essential nature of faith is crucial to us all. Paul says, “It’s by grace through faith” that we are saved. It’s the content of that faith I’ve been thinking about. The first two things I must believe are about God. Hebrews 11:6 sets out those two for us. The author says, “And without faith, it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” The two things about God are 1) That He exists and 2) that he is positively disposed towards me in a general way. If I seek God, He will show Himself to me. If I draw near to God, He will draw near to me.

The thief on the cross who was saved at the last minute is instructional for us all. When the bad thief began to taunt Jesus, we read in Luke 40:43 that the good thief said, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” Don’t you fear God? Frequently, we’re taught that the beginning of wisdom is “the fear of the Lord.” It begins with the recognition of our mortality. Everyone dies, and most people harbor a fear of death. That’s why the one thief asked the other why he was acting as if he didn’t fear death. What happens after death? Is there a better place waiting for us in the hereafter? The Secular humanism and naturalism that dominates the world today simply deny any life after death. The world at large promotes a hedonistic approach because “tomorrow we die.” They do not deny death, which would be ridiculous. They deny that there is anything after death.

Both the Old Testament and the New Testament affirm a time of judgment for our time on this earth after death. Daniel 12:2 says, “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Hebrews 9:27 says, “…it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment…” Paul explains that our mortality is genetic! It’s because of our ancestry. It’s who we are related to that makes death our fate. It’s in 1 Corinthians 15:22 that Paul says, “Everyone dies because all of us are related to Adam, the first man.” But because God not only exists but is positively disposed towards us he offers us a chance to be born again into a new family with a new relationship with someone who has never sinned. The same verse goes on to say, “But all who are related to Christ, the other man, will be given new life.” “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23

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Ephesians 2:8-9

Through Faith!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
January 16, 2025

It’s a constant theme in the Bible that a saving relationship with God is one that is solely based on faith. It’s not just faith or belief in God’s existence; it’s faith in His goodness as well. I think that’s the author’s point in Hebrews 11:6. He writes, “And without faith, it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” This too is the point that James makes when he remarks that belief in the existence of God is not saving faith, even the demons believe that God exists. The demons are God’s enemies and hate him, yet they believe he IS! We must trust that He’s a loving, caring, and forgiving God who will reward those who honestly want to find Him.

This comes down to the understanding and acceptance of what He did for us in the person of His son, Jesus Christ. Christ is the most profound expression of love imaginable. To receive Christ and accept God’s grandest expression of His love is what it means to believe. A saving faith in Jesus Christ is a faith that sees Him as he was meant to be seen. This is what Paul meant when he told the Philippian Jailor in Acts 16, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.” To believe in Jesus Christ is to understand God’s attitude toward us. God’s greatest command to love Him is only possible when we grasp the truth of how much he loves us.

Faith is the conviction of God’s goodness and positive disposition towards us; after all, God “so loved” the whole world, including me, that He sent His son to die for me. Faith is a non-meritorious system of understanding the connection between God and man. Paul made it clear to us in Ephesians 2:8-9. Paul writes, “It is by grace you are saved, through faith. It is not of works, lest a man should boast. It is a gift from God.” Everyone actually has faith. Everyone believes in something and trusts in something. Everyone has faith in something—faith in some religion, faith in one’s self, faith in fate, faith in evolution, faith in mankind. Even the atheist has faith in his own reason. We have different IQs, but we all have faith. The idiot has faith; the genius has faith. There is no particular value in faith. It is the object of our faith—Jesus’ death on the cross—that saves us. Only He has the power to forgive our sins and give us eternal life. Salvation is through faith, not feeling. It is through faith, not through fiction. But there is only one real faith that works for time and eternity. True faith is faith in the one true God—the God who made us, who will judge us, and who has paid the price to save us.“It is by grace you are saved, through faith…” Ephesians 2:8

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Luke 19:1-10

No Matter How Small!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
January 15, 2025

Today is my 78th birthday! Thank you, thank you! Still, I often feel very insignificant in this world after all this time. It seems to get worse the older I get and the less that I contribute to the world. The world population has just reached about 8 billion people, and it’s very easy to feel like one doesn’t matter in this huge, complex world. Looking up at the stars is majestic for sure, but it’s also a reminder of our “smallness” in such a vast universe. Even driving in traffic can create a sense of insignificance in the world. I was stuck at a traffic light on 90th and Dodge one day. As I remember it, it took 3 light changes for me to get to make my left turn. Do I really matter in a world of so many people and in such a vast universe? I believe that’s the way Zacchaeus felt.

In Luke 19, we read the story of this “little man.” He couldn’t see over the crowds to get a glimpse of Jesus. Verse 3 says it’s “because he was too short…” The word for “too short” is actually one used for a physical disability. It’s used in non-biblical concepts for the extremely short people who have the malady of dwarfism or are called midgets. Zacchaeus had an overwhelming sense of his insignificance in a world of people who were all bigger than him. He was a little person in a huge world. It’s really easy for us all to feel that way. I can relate to Zacchaeus, can’t you?

The story goes on to tell us that this little guy climbed up into a sycamore tree with branches that arched over the spot where Jesus was going to walk in order to see what the crowds were all fascinated by. Verse 5 says, “But when Jesus got to that place, he looked up…” I imagine Jesus’ eyes meeting his eyes! What a wonder! Of all the “big” people in the crowds, Jesus noticed him. I believe God moved the writers of the Bible to give us this story to teach us one of the most important lessons about God and our insignificance in a vast world. That principle is, “No matter how small I am, or no matter how small I feel, Jesus notices me!” I love the old hymn based on Luke 12, where Jesus tells his listeners that God doesn’t overlook a single person. In verses 6 and 7, it says in the Message translation, “God never overlooks a single sparrow. And he pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail – even numbering the hairs on your head.” Jesus made this apparent to Zacchaeus, and God wants to communicate this same truth to us. The religious leaders in the crowd were disturbed that Jesus was going to be with a sinner, but Jesus explained that it was for people like Zacchaeus, the small, lost, insignificant people in the world, that he came into the world. “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:10

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Isaiah 43:1, 49:15-16

Jesus Knows Me!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
January 14, 2025

As I’ve been studying through the story of Zacchaeus, I’ve found some real encouraging principles for my life. Yesterday, I considered the fact that no matter how small I am, Jesus notices me, and God pays attention to me. Although I’m only one person out of 8 billion on the planet at this time, I’m a very important person to God.  I’m a VIP. Someone once said that if you were the only person on the earth, God would have still sent His son. And His son, Jesus, would have come and died for you all the same! God pays attention to the sparrows. His “eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me.” He not only watches and pays attention to me, but he also knows me and every part of me.

When Zacchaeus climbed up into the tree, and Jesus walked under him, the text tells us that Jesus “looked up.” He noticed him. But more importantly, he said, “Zacchaeus.” He called him by name! Now, how did Jesus know this little man’s name? I expect that the Son of God knows each of us by name. I would also expect that Jesus may have been quoting Isaiah 43:1. It says, “But now thus says the LORD, he who created you…he who formed you… Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name. You are mine.” Later in Isaiah 49:15-16, God asks a probing question. “Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for a child she has borne? Even if that were possible, I would never forget you! See, I have engraved your name on the palms of my hand.” In church, one Sunday, we had the nail-pierced hands of our lord displayed as a graphic around the worship center. It reminded me of this verse. There’s another verse in Isaiah; also, it’s the very cry of Isaiah for everyone to hear the messianic message that he brings. He says, “Listen to me…and give attention… you peoples… The LORD called me from the womb, from the body of my mother. He named my name.”

As our church grew I would often struggle to know everyone’s name. It used to be I knew everyone. But things have changed, most important of which, I’m getting older! But I know I’ve offended more than a few people by calling them by the wrong name. I hate it when I do that because I know how good I feel when people remember me and can call me by name. I hope you let God speak to you from the story of Zacchaeus. I hope you can hear him say to you, no matter what anyone says, no matter how easily we’re forgotten by others, no matter how lost and alone you might feel, God pays close attention to you. God calls you to him by name! He knows everything about you and wants you to draw close to him. Jesus said, “Come to me (Chuck, Kathy, etc), and I will give you rest.” John tells us, “The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” John 10:3

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Luke 19:1-10, Revelation 3:20

Jesus Wants Me!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
January 13, 2025

From the story of Zacchaeus, we learn that love and acceptance is what changes us. Another biblical principle that comes to us from the story of Zacchaeus is that no matter what I’ve done, Jesus wants me. I have an album by Brenda Lee in my oldies but goodies collection. The title song is “I Want to Be Wanted.” That’s a true emotion for every human being who ever walked on the face of this earth. We all want to be wanted. Zacchaeus is no different. I’m sure I don’t need to go into too much detail explaining how bad this little man was. Everyone seeks to find meaning and purpose in life. We all look for it in our relationship with others in our society in one of three ways or a combination of several ways. First, we might look at our appearance! The magazines and TV in our country broadcast the faces of the beautiful, but most of us are just normal-looking people as far as the world is concerned. I expect Zacchaeus was even less than that. If we fail in appearance, especially in our teenage years, we’ll find acceptance from others through our achievements. We might turn to affluence if we aren’t as bright as others or can’t produce in the athletic arena. Money will buy you anything, right? Our world often lives by the golden rule: he who has the gold rules! My son Chuck gave me a secular principle based on Paul’s comments about love. He said, “These four things remain: faith, hope, love, and money. But the greatest of these is money…” It will buy anything, right? Absolutely not! The great apostles of the ’60s, John, Paul, George, and Ringo, had one thing right: “Can’t buy me love!”

Zacchaeus was a wealthy man, but he was despised and hated by his community. He worked for the occupation forces of Rome. I wonder if it wasn’t his physical handicap that prevented his access to the temple courts and the religious rituals of Israel. As an outcast he was just plain “unacceptable” in oh so many ways. But He was another lost soul. He had no meaning and no purpose in life just like many in the world today. His wealth didn’t make him happy, and when Jesus came around, he wanted to check him out. Jesus stops and notices him amongst all the people in the crowds. Jesus notices you. Jesus called him by name. Jesus knows your name. Jesus then called Zacchaeus. He said, “Hurry and come down, for I must stay and dine with you at your house today…”

As simple as this little story is, I hope you let God tell you that no matter what you’ve done, he wants you! The world may reject you! You may not be the most beautiful person in the world. But Jesus wants to fellowship with you. He wants to hang around you! You might not be the greatest at any activity in the world. You may not have accomplished a whole lot in this world, but Jesus wants to hang around you. The final book in the Bible explains this. Jesus says, “I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with you and you with me.” (Revelation 3:20)

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