Category Archives: Daily Devotions

Daily Devotions

The Word of our God Stands Forever

Isaiah 40:6-8, “A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. 7 The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”
 
Life doesn’t last long. Or beauty. Youth. Energy. Teeth. Taste buds. Life and it’s joys are all stolen by time as surely and, in the grand scheme of things, as quickly as a flower in the field. We do well to keep this in mind especially in the midst of a world which, having rejected the true God, searches frantically for something else. One of the most common these days is life. “Seize the day” they say. And I’m not saying you shouldn’t. But far more you should seize Christ and His Word. For unlike fragile flowers, Christ’s Word is written in stone, it can never been changed, never fade, never be unsure. And this is the Word which was preached to you. The Word of comfort. The tender Word, “Your sins are forgiven. You are God’s child. You will never die.”
 
In Christ
Pastor Ude
Daily Devotions

The Glory of The Lord

Isaiah 40:3-5 A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

When someone important comes to town, you pull out all the stops. When someone you care about comes to your house, you clean it up, make your best meal, put your best foot forward. When God Himself comes to earth, and reveals His glory in the face of a human babe, let every heart prepare him room! Clean up the sewage of sin and clean out the guilt garbage. Let pride be turned into sorrow and despair into joy! Let complacency give way to fervor and despondency to exultation. He is coming. He has come. He comes again. And He brings glory. The glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. The glory of the sun. The gory glory of the cross and of a cross-free eternity beyond. The voice is still crying. The mouth of the Lord has still spoken. Prepare His ways!

In Christ
Pastor Ude

Daily Devotions

Ending The War

Isaiah 40:1-2, “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.”

Often human wars drag on and on because both sides are so outraged at all the things done by the other that they refuse to give up. They feel like they need to make them “pay.” The war which Isaiah speaks of in our text was the war which we had with God. It was a war which was entirely one sided in three ways. First, we were the only wrongdoers. Usually in war there is plenty of blame to go around. Not so in our case. God made us perfect, we sinned! God was patient with us, we despised Him! Second, we have no chance of winning. When God comes in judgment then all evildoers will be burnt in judgment. Third, God offers a very different, but still entirely one-sided ending to this war. In grace he poured out his righteous wrath against sin down on Jesus Christ instead of on you and me. This is what Isaiah means when he says “her inquity is pardoned.” Literally he says “Her guilt sacrifice has been accepted.” The sacrifice which was paid for our sin was Jesus Christ the lamb of God. As a result we have received from the Lord double for all our sins. That is to say, the forgiveness He worked so entirely one-sidedly was far more than enough to pay for all the sins of the world. This means there is sure comfort you. You don’t have to wonder whether this or that sin is covered. You don’t have to wonder whether God is still angry with you. “Comfort, my people” says your God!

In Christ
Pastor Ude

Daily Devotions

Talk Nicely To Me

Isaiah 40:1-2

“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.”

“Talk nicely to me!” Is a phrase that I hear routinely from my oldest daughter these days. She learned it from me of course but she doesn’t exactly use it in the same way. I say it to her when she is being sassy or rude or when she is screaming. She says it to me whenever I, regardless of my tone of voice, tell her not to do something or that she isn’t allowed to do something or that something she did was naughty. She thinks, as many these days do, that it’s not nice to tell someone they are wrong or that they can’t have something.

In these opening verse of the second half of Isaiah’s prophecy, God speaks “Nicely”, tenderly really, to us. But his nice talk does not consist of telling us whatever we want to hear. Rather, in telling us that our sins are forgiven! Even the hebrew words which begin this section emphasizes the tender speech God has for us. In hebrew “comfort, comfort” sounds somewhat like a mother cooing comforting noises at her baby. So God is doing here. He makes it well known here what the goal of His Word and therefore of His preachers is to be – to comfort, to tell the people of God that He has ended the war we began with our sin and rebellion. For He has sent His Son and He speaks tenderly to you “Your sins are forgiven.”

In Christ
Pastor Ude

Daily Devotions

Sons of the Free

Galatians 4:19-31
My little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you! 20 I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you. 21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. 23 But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. 24 Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written, “Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.” 28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. 30 But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” 31 So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.
Paul is masterfully using “the Law” in the sense of what was called “the book of the law” also known as “the pentateuch” that is, the first 5 books of the bible, against the false teachers who were so dependent on quoting from those books.
He uses the example of Isaac and Ishmael. God had promised Abraham that he was going to have a son by Sarah his wife even though both of them were very old and had never been able to have children. Abraham believed God. But there was a period where Abraham, in weakness, perhaps despairing because God was taking so long, listened to Sarah his wife and went in to Sarah’s servant Hagar. Hagar conceived and bore a son named Ishmael. This was the son “of the flesh” as Paul says because it was the son whom Abraham had conceived through the manipulation and “works” of the sinful nature. But Isaac, whom God later gave to Abraham and Sarah was the Son of promise because his birth was not according to the works of man but to the miraculous, gracious, work of God.
So it is with all who believe in Christ. They are justified, not because of their manipulations, not because of anything they do to try to get God to like them but only through the gracious, miraculous work of God in sending Jesus, THE Child of promise and working faith in our hearts to make us heirs with Christ and children of Abraham.
In Christ
Pastor Ude
Daily Devotions

Flatterers Kills

Galatians 4:16-18, “Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? 17 They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. 18 It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you.”

Have you ever been flattered? Did you realize it at the time or were you suckered into thinking that the flatterer was being serious? People who flatter never have good motives do they? A guy on a date who is just trying to “get some.” A businessmen who only wants to pad his bottom line.

False teachers are perennial flatterers. It was one of the tactics being used by the false teachers in Galatia. Paul warns that you should be very wary of religious teachers who only tell you what you like, what you want to hear. Paul warned in 2 Timothy 4:3 about having “itching ears” and finding teachers who will simply tell you what you want to hear. If you go to a church that doesn’t talk about sin, doesn’t confront you with the law, that is false-teaching flattery. If you go to a church that just goes along with whatever the world says about sexuality, marriage, abortion, and things like that, that is a false teaching flattery.

The true Word of God does not flatter because it’s purpose is not to tell us what we want to hear but what we need to hear, it’s purpose is to tell the truth, even if that is hard. We need to hear about our sins in order to hear about our Savior Jesus. Beware of flatterers, listen only to Jesus!

In Christ
Pastor Ude

Daily Devotions

What Happened To Us?

Galatians 4:12-15 Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong. 13 You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first, 14 and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. 15 What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me.

Have you ever lost a relationship with someone you once greatly valued? Do you ever remember that friend or family member, the closeness you had and just wonder “what happened?”

Paul’s anguish is palpable. His tone in this letter is harsh at times, the reason is love. He remembers the faith the Galatians had, the way they had shown that faith in their love toward him. The way they had welcomed and loved the gospel message he had proclaimed. His sickness hadn’t bothered them. They hadn’t viewed him as a problem or a burden. So how has it come to this? How can it be that they are listening to false teachers who are saying the opposite of what Paul preached? Never underestimate the power of the lies of Satan. Remember that to keep faith requires attention just as keeping a close relationship does. You can’t leave your bible sitting on the shelf, leave your car parked at home on sunday morning and expect that Satan will not take advantage. Like Paul does for the Galatians, eagerly and earnestly take up the Word of God for yourself and for those you love – Fathers for your wife and children, wives too, teachers for your students. Any day spent without hearing God’s voice in the Word saying “You are a great sinner but Jesus is a greater savior” is a day wasted. Don’t waste another day and end up wondering “What happened to us?”

In Christ
Pastor Ude

Daily Devotions

Christ Saves, Everything Else Damns

Galatians 4:8-11
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? 10 You observe days and months and seasons and years! 11 I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.

We pick up where our sermon text left off on Sunday. Paul makes a few important points here:

1. All religions (except true Christianity) are the same. They all have the common “ABC’s” or “elementary principles” which rule them. As Paul explains in Colossians 2:20-21, these are regulations about how to appease God. Every religion of the world is a religion of law, enslaved by the law and doomed for failure. For every such attempt to draw near to God is “weak and worthless.” Whether it’s Islam, or Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, or Mormonism, each is a weak and worthless attempt to do something to earn God’s favor or attain some goal. This is why Paul mentions “seasons and days and months and years.” He’s pointing out that keeping the mosaic law (which included all kinds of mandatory observances of days like not working on the Sabbath and feasts at certain times of the year) as a means for salvation is exactly like the paganism the Galatians had been called out of. It’s exactly like every other human religion – enslaved to these elementary principles and weak and worthless. But Christianity is the opposite…

2. Being a Christian isn’t about what you do, or even about your choosing God, it’s about (as Paul emphasizes) “Being known by God.” He chooses you. He saves you. He forgives you. He gives you faith. God in Christ is the only actor in the salvation of a Christian from beginning to end. The Christian doesn’t do a thing. For the things that we do are and can only be damning. But the things Christ does, these save us. Christ’s perfect life. His doing. His dying. His rising. These save and these alone.

In Christ
Pastor Ude

Daily Devotions

The Law Imprisons, the Gospel Frees!

Galatians 3:19-22 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. 20 Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. 21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

Here Paul proves that the law was always intended to be a servant to the gospel and not an equal.

1. It was given be an intermediary (Moses and angels who presumably gave it to Moses). But the gospel was fulfilled and preached by Jesus Christ who is Himself the true eternal God!

2. The law can’t give life or righteousness. No law can. Instead the law’s purpose was to imprison all people so that we might receive the promise by faith in Christ! If your salvation is by promise, it is not by law. There is nothing for you to do, nothing for you to add! That means you don’t need to look at your feelings or your life to determine if you are really a Christian. You need look only to the promise of God in Christ – “Your sins are forgiven!”

“My soul no more attempt to draw thy life and comfort from the law. Fly to the hope the gospel gives, the man who trusts the promise lives!”

Daily Devotions

Galatians 3:14-18

Galatians 3:14-18
“So that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. 15 To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. 16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. 17 This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. 18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.”

We’ve been preaching through the book of Galatians in our lectionary series of late, but we can’t cover every verse. Sunday we will take up Galatians 3:23-4:7. Devotions today and tomorrow will look at the verses between where we left off a few sunday ago and 3:23.

“No takebacks!” You said to your friend after making a trade. You might find the same sign at garage sales “No refunds” “All sales final.” Or consider a will. If your father leaves you all he owns in his will and then dies, nothing can change that. It can’t be taken back.

So Paul says with the gospel and the law. Sometimes perhaps, we forget that the Gospel is older than the law. The gospel is the covenant of promise that God gave to Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:15), to Noah (Genesis 6-9) and also to Abraham (Genesis 12). It was the promise of a savior to come and die to forgive sins. It was a totally one sided covenant. It had nothing to do with the law. The law of Moses came after. Therefore, Paul says, it is clear that the law was never intended to supersede the gospel, or to change that covenant. For any tiny bit of law introduced into the gospel, causes the gospel to cease being the gospel. The gospel is lawless! And it is never changed. “No takebacks!” We could say to God, and He would agree. He has promised free salvation in His Son. Nothing changes that.

In Christ
Pastor Ude