Sunday, June 3, 2012

Daily Devotional Thoughts for June 4-8


I am having some computer issues. I am taking my laptop into our repair man on Monday. As a result, I will NOT be writing my Scott's Thoughts Daily Devotional. If I get my laptop back early in the week, I will resume and catch everyone up. I apologize for this inconvenience.

In Christ,

Scott Tharp

Friday, June 1, 2012

As We are Unified, Expect Hope, Part 2

Scripture: John 15:26-27
"When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.  And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.

Insights:  This past weekend was Memorial Day Weekend.  It is a time in which we honor those military personnel who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom by giving their lives in service to this nation.  When I preached the sermon on Sunday and I got to this final point I referenced this particular weekend and our nation.  I stated the only hope America has is revival to fall on the Church.  Christ-followers have so long been what Paul calls carnal Christians there is very little difference between the church and a civic organization.  The point found in today’s verses is Christians have the Holy Spirit living inside them.  REvival is for the church, not for the lost.  One must first have life before one can be revived.  If authentic New Testament revival broke out in this nation the Church would rise up and fight vigorously for a change in the direction our nation is going.  The problem is we, the Church, have not been living a life under complete control of the Holy Spirit’s guidance and are too consumed with our own pleasures that we allow the course of our nation to continue to plummet.  I had a conversation with someone just this week who told me they had never contacted one of their representatives before and did not even know how to go about doing it.  Fortunately, this person desired to contact their representative in order to share their convictions regarding a specific piece of legislation, but how often do we hear of proposed bills we know do not honor God and yet do nothing about it?  This question is really the point.  America’s only hope is Christ Jesus!  The Holy Spirit prompts the believer to testify about Jesus because He Himself testifies about Jesus.  I close today with a quote from a speech delivered by John Adams on June 28, 1813 about our nation.  He said, “The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.”  Beloved, it is time for the Church to reclaim this nation for God!

Questions:
  1. Are you praying for our nation’s leaders?
  2. Have you ever considered running for public office?
Prayer: Lord, thank You for allowing me to live in a free nation.  At the same time Lord, our nation is making decisions that are in contradiction to You and Your will according to Scripture.  The only hope this nation has is for genuine biblical revival to fall on the church.  Stir us O’ Lord to passionate obedience to You.  Amen.