https://www.facebook.com/108317091993531/

The Storyline Connect, 619 Plainfield Road, New York, NY (2026)

01/05/2023

WISDOM INSTEAD OF WEALTH

God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, “Ask! What shall I give you?” And Solomon said to God: “. . . Now give me wisdom and knowledge.” —2 Chronicles 1:7–10

Can someone simultaneously be a person of science and a person of God? That was true of the African American George Washington Carver (ca. 1864–1943). A man of humble origins, Carver built a successful career as a botanist and inventor. He began each day with a prayer, asking God to reveal secrets to him about plants and vegetables. The story is told that he once prayed, “Mr. Creator, what was the universe made for?” And God replied, “You want to know too much.” When Carver asked, “Mr. Creator, what is the peanut for?” God supposedly said, “That’s more like it.”

Carver discovered more than three hundred uses for the peanut, including various kinds of foods, oil, paint, ink, soap, shampoo, facial cream, and plastics; he made more than one hundred products from the sweet potato, including flour, starch, and synthetic rubber. He was a world-class expert in botany and agriculture, and many sought his advice, including Mahatma Gandhi and Joseph Stalin. Thomas Edison and Henry Ford invited him to work for them. But Carver preferred to remain in his own laboratory—which he called “God’s little workshop”—and, from there, to help his fellow human beings.

He could have become substantially wealthy by patenting his discoveries, but he decided to leave them unpatented so that poor people could make the products he discovered without paying royalties. Carver died on January 5, 1943, leaving us an example of altruistic service. The epitaph on his grave on the Tuskegee University campus says: “He could have added fortune to fame, but caring for neither, he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world.”

What is the motivation of our own lives? The same King Solomon who asked God to grant him “wisdom and knowledge” (2 Chronicles 1:7–10) also said that “a good name is to be chosen rather than great riches” (Proverbs 22:1). The unselfish examples of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37), of Dorcas (Acts 9:36–39), and of George Washington Carver should not remain as monuments of the past to merely be admired. They should motivate us to overcome our self-centered tendencies and live unselfish lives for the sake of humanity. By God’s grace, you can make a difference too! (EVERY DAY A NEW BEGINNING)

11/23/2022

When we discern that other people are not growing spiritually and allow that discernment to turn to criticism, we block our fellowship with God. God never gives us discernment so that we may criticize, but that we may intercede.

Read today’s full devotional - utmost.org

11/09/2022

High and Lifted Up

No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” John 3:13-15.

Forty years of listening to complaints and criticism would drive anyone to a fit of anger. Moses must have been worn out by the Israelites’ constant grumbling. In Numbers 21, we find that God was certainly tired of it. And so, according to the Scripture, God sent venomous snakes among the Israelites. This must have been a terrifying experience. For many, it was deadly. The Israelites did the only thing they knew to do; they begged Moses to intercede.

Before we go on, I want to confess that had I been Moses; I don’t think I would have asked God to save the Israelites from the snakes -- at least not right away. After their griping and backstabbing, I might have let them suffer a little longer. I would have at least waited until my biggest critics were swollen and in severe pain before I asked God to remove those snakes. Moses didn’t do that. He immediately prayed, asking God to rescue His people. And God did but in a most unusual way. God told Moses to “make a snake and put it on a pole.”

Weird, right? But that image has become such an enduring symbol of healing that even today, it remains the international sign for medical care. Moses then held the pole up, and anyone who had been bitten could look upon the snake and be healed.

This is an odd story. Why didn’t God respond to Moses’s prayer by simply removing the snakes and healing the people? Why all the theatrics with the snake on a pole? I believe it was because God was offering a glimpse of something still to come.

There would be another servant sent to lead His people out of slavery. This servant would also be rejected by those He came to save. This servant would be nailed to a pole and lifted up for a dying world to see. And like Moses’ snake in the desert, anyone who looked upon the Cross of Christ would be healed.

Jesus explained this to Nicodemus when He came to question Him. John was there and captured that conversation in chapter three of his Gospel. I do not believe John or Nicodemus understood Jesus’ reference to Moses and the snakes that night. Only years later, as both men stood at the foot of Jesus’ cross, would His words again flood their minds. The Son of Man lifted up for all to see the love of God and salvation for all who would believe.

Still today, Jesus' cross stands as a beacon to all affected by sin's venom. Stop running and look to Jesus. He will make you whole.

Jesus, high and lifted up.

What should be an ugly scene has become beautiful. I know I am powerless to save myself, but as I look to Your cross, I see the means of healing. Thank You for being willing to intercede for me. Thank You for dying a death that was rightfully mine. Amen. (Day by Day with the Disciple Jesus Loves)

11/07/2022

Jesus After Dark

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” John 3:1-2.

Today we read the story of a religious leader who approached Jesus after dark. The timing of his visit underscores its controversial nature. For the Jews (and most cultures of Jesus’ day) anything undertaken at night would have been considered questionable.

Perhaps Jesus' radical actions in the Temple inspired Nicodemus to come. It was undoubtedly why he chose to do so at night. After all, Jesus had not made many friends among Nicodemus’s colleagues. Maybe Nicodemus had himself questioned the religious practices in the Temple but was unwilling or unable to take the bold steps necessary to bring about reform. Whatever the case, we know by his words and the timing of his visit that Nic was earnestly searching for answers. Jesus, whom you’ll remember, “knew all people,” certainly knew the sincerity of Nicodemus’s heart. Whereas most of Jesus’ encounters with Pharisees and religious leaders are combative, Jesus' approach to Nicodemus was more instructional. Probably because Jesus knew that Nicodemus was sincere and teachable.

Speaking through the prophet Jeremiah, God told the nation of Israel, “‘You will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 29:12-14, NIV).

God responds to those who earnestly seek Him, and Nicodemus was searching for God with all his heart. The darkness did not prevent him from finding what he was looking for. After all, the Light of the World cannot be hidden.

What or whom are you earnestly seeking? If it is God, you can claim the promise of Jeremiah 29:13. It is okay to come to Him in the darkness of doubts and fears. He will meet you there with the warm light of God’s love.

Light of the World, I often come to You in the darkness of my sin and shame. Thank You for meeting me there and bringing Your light into my darkness. Thank You for understanding the sincerity of my heart and answering my call. Thank You that, like Nicodemus, I can find You if I seek earnestly. Amen. (Day by Day with the Disciple Jesus Loves)

11/03/2022

The Ideal Christian Character Profile

And he came . . . and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people . . . who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. . . . And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came forth from him and healed them all. And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” Luke 6:17-20, RSV.

Luke puts the Sermon on the Mount in context, with massive crowds thronging Jesus for healing and spiritual blessing. And here we discover a basic principle of His life and ministry. Jesus knew that hurting people do not hear well. Therefore, He did not separate the physical and the spiritual. First, He healed their bodies, and then He offered spiritual blessing.

In the Beatitudes the Lord provides His followers with the ideal Christian character. Unlike the gifts of the Spirit, of which some go to one person and others to another, each Christian will have all eight characteristics. Thus a follower of Christ is not either meek or pure in heart, but one who is both meek and pure in heart. The eight characteristics are to form the moral profile of every Christian. They are the essential traits of kingdom citizens.

The second half of each beatitude describes the eight blessings that God desires to shower upon His people. Like the kingdom itself, the blessings are partly a present experience and partly future. Thus, for example, those comforted by the gospel message in their present daily life will find exceedingly more comfort at the Second Advent. The consummation of the kingdom will bring to fullness the present foretaste of each promised blessing.

The simplest division of the Beatitudes is to separate them in the same manner as the two tables of the law. Thus we can see the first four as describing a Christian’s relationship to God, while the second four focus on a person’s attitude toward other people. Unlike some church people, Jesus never separated a healthy relationship with God from a wholesome one with people.

The last thing to note about the Beatitudes is that they are progressive. Each characteristic leads to the next. As a result, those who recognize their spiritual poverty mourn over that fact, are humbled in the process, are led to hunger after righteousness, and after being filled are sent out into their communities to be merciful and pure in heart.

Help me this day, Lord, to internalize more fully each of the characteristics You set forth in the Beatitudes. I crave Your blessings.(Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus)

10/23/2022

Have we come to the point where God can withdraw His blessings from us without our trust in Him being affected? Once we truly see God at work, we will never be concerned again about the things that happen, because we are actually trusting in our Father in heaven, whom the world cannot see.

Read today’s full devotional - utmost.org

10/19/2022

We must get rid of the plague of the spirit of this religious age in which we live. In our Lord’s life there was none of the pressure and the rushing of tremendous activity that we regard so highly today, and a disciple is to be like His Master. The central point of the kingdom of Jesus Christ is a personal relationship with Him, not public usefulness to others.

Read today’s full devotional - utmost.org

10/11/2022

In every dimension in which you are not real, you will argue or evade the issue altogether rather than come; you will go through sorrow rather than come; and you will do anything rather than come the last lap of the race of seemingly unspeakable foolishness and say, “Just as I am, I come.” As long as you have even the least bit of spiritual disrespect, it will always reveal itself in the fact that you are expecting God to tell you to do something very big, and yet all He is telling you to do is to “Come….”

Come to Me… —Matthew 11:28

Read today’s full devotional - utmost.org

The Storyline Connect

01/05/2023

11/23/2022

11/09/2022

11/07/2022

11/03/2022

10/23/2022

10/19/2022

10/11/2022

Address

Telephone

Website

Alerts

Contact The Place Of Worship

Shortcuts

Share

Category