DAILY, WEEKEND, AND HOLIDAY INTERNET EVANGELIZE TO THE WORLD MINISTRY

  September 13: Who Can Bring Me Down? Obadiah 1:1–21 ; Acts 11:19–12:25; Job 21:17–34 “The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of a rock, the heights of its dwelling, you who say in your heart: ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’ ” ( Obad 3). Pride is a hazardous sign because it deludes us into elevating ourselves above everyone else. It can even lead us to betray or hurt other people. In this passage, Obadiah addresses the Edomites, who lived in the hills above Judah. The Edomites should have helped Judah when they were attacked, but instead, they conducted raids. They believed that they were superior to and had been wronged by the Judahites and that their actions were justified. This type of pride puts us in a precarious position. No wonder the Bible addresses it often. Pride can get the best of us when we place ourselves in the “clefts” above others. It usually emerges from one of two places: Either we believe that we’re as important as ...

  September 12: Diversity in the Church Amos 8:1–9:15; Acts 10:34–11:18 ; Job 21:1–16 In our comfortable and familiar church homes, we sometimes fail to see the Church as a community of ethnic and cultural diversity. When I returned from a year in South Korea, I was surprised when my family and friends made thoughtless generalizations about people I had come to know and love—some of them fellow believers in Christ. Most of these comments contradicted the multicultural picture of Christianity presented in the book of Acts. Peter and the Jewish Christians in the early church underwent a shift in cultural perspective. When Peter came to Jerusalem after meeting with Gentiles, the Jews were shocked that he would eat with “men who were uncircumcised” (Acts 11:3). They had associated their religion with their identity as a nation and as a people group for so long. Although they knew that God was extending this hope to the Gentiles, they needed to be reminded that Jesus was the Lord of ...

  September 11: Bad Things, Good People, and Grace Amos 6:1–7:17; Acts 10:1–33; Job 20:12–29 We often wonder why God allows bad things to happen. We’re not unique in this; people have asked this same question since the beginning of time. Job struggled with this question after he lost everything. Job’s friends strove to answer it as they sought to prove that Job had somehow sinned against God and brought his terrible fate upon himself. At one point, Job’s friend Zophar offers up the common wisdom of the time: “Did you know this from of old, since the setting of the human being on earth, that the rejoicing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless lasts only a moment?… [The wicked man] will suck the poison of horned vipers; the viper’s tongue will kill [the wicked man]” (Job 20:4–5, 16). Zophar is right about one thing: Eventually, the wicked will be punished. The rest of Zophar’s words prove his short-sightedness. The wicked are not always punished immediately. And God ...

  September 10: God Doesn’t Promise Ease or Invisibility Amos 4:6–5:27; Acts 9:20–43 ; Job 20:1–11 Although it is true that “making much of God” means making little of ourselves, we sometimes use this truth as an excuse to avoid proclaiming God’s work in our lives. As Christians, we might be tempted by the lure of invisibility—the fabled cloak or ring that gives us the power to walk undetected among our friends or enemies. Living under the radar is much more comfortable. Paul never chose the comfortable route. As a former persecutor of the Church, Paul knew the danger of preaching Christ in the open—the chief priests had once empowered him to imprison all who publically professed Christ (Acts 9:14). Yet as a new convert, Paul loudly proclaimed the name of Christ to anybody within hearing distance: “And he was going in and going out among them in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. And he was speaking and debating with the Greek-speaking Jews, but they were tryin...

  September 6: Faith for Every Moment Hosea 13:1–14:9; Acts 6:1–15 ; Job 17:1–16 Sometimes it’s tempting to imagine ourselves as the hero of a dramatic scene where we’re called upon to give an account of our faith. But in real life, every action and every moment of our lives is a witness—even the ordinary ones. Stephen, a leader in the early church, knew this to be true. Stephen was appointed by the apostles to care for widows in need because he was “full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 6:5). People recognized his witness because he was faithful when no one was watching. His devotion brought him to a place of influence and leadership in the community. But Stephen didn’t limit his witness to one area of leadership. In the next verses, we find him witnessing Christ by performing great wonders and signs. That’s when he came under fire, and his response was above reproach: “And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking” (Acts 6:10). Hi...