August 9, 2026

Judges 2: 7, 10 (NIV)

The people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel. . . . After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel.

Jesus doesn't ask us to follow others; he asks us to follow him.*

The Israelites served the Lord throughout the lifetime of their dynamic leader, Joshua, but they began to drift away after Joshua’s death. As long as there was a remnant who remembered Joshua and who had seen what the Lord had done for them, there was some semblance of faithfulness among the people, but as soon as that generation was gone, the next generation had no memory and no motivation. 

There is a scary prediction that the church is just one generation away from extinction. That could be true if the church weren’t the Lord’s church. History proves that no matter how depraved the world becomes, a remnant of God’s people has always managed to survive. From the six people on the ark to the underground churches in the oppressed nations today, God has never not had a people. 

It is beautiful to behold a body of believers that is thriving due to a dynamic leader, but what happens when that leader tires or retires? Many congregations can’t survive the loss of their chief visionary. Here are four measures I recommend churches to consider: 

1. Pursue strategies to prevent hero worship. A charismatic preacher is influential - even magnetic - but he should not be the reason people join the church. 
2. Develop a replacement strategy well in advance of the minister’s resignation. Sometimes people leave us without notice but it is still good to plan for a smooth transition. 
3. Train future leaders. You may not find your next preacher from among your current membership but you can prepare people to be the next elders and teachers and ministry team leaders. 
4. Keep the memory alive. Never let the new generation forget what God has done in the life of the generation before them. 

If you are not counted among the leaders of your church, you are still a person of influence. Pray for your ministers and your elders. Be a friend or an accountability partner. Do your part to remind others of the great things the Lord has done.

Christ’s church was designed to endure.*

August 8, 2026

Exodus 30: 20, 21 (NIV)

“Whenever they enter the Tent of Meeting, they shall wash with water so that they will not die. Also, when they approach the altar to minister by presenting an offering made to the Lord by fire, they shall wash their hands and feet so they will not die.”

Holiness is who he is and what he does.*

Whoever coined the phrase, “Cleanliness is next to godliness,” must have been thinking about this priestly ritual. Although, it might be more appropriate to say that cleanliness comes before you can get next to godliness. The priests were heading into the presence of the Most Holy God but the Almighty was not concerned about the spreading of germs, and all that washing couldn’t really make anyone clean enough to approach God. God was concerned about what their physical hygiene represented: holiness.

We don’t need priests to stand in for us today. We are our own priests – each of us must be cleansed personally before we approach God. How do we meet the requirements for ceremonial cleanliness? In Hebrews 9: 14, we read that it is the blood of Christ that cleanses us. How do we apply the blood for cleansing purposes? In Acts 22: 16, Paul says that after his conversion experience, he was instructed by Ananias to get up, be baptized and wash his sins away. And Peter writes, in I Peter 3: 21, that the water of baptism saves us – not by removing dirt from the body but as a pledge of a good conscience toward God.

Unlike the priests, we don’t have to rewash every time we approach God. Jesus entered the Most Holy Place “once for all by his own blood” (Hebrews 9: 12). Instead of offering many sacrifices, year after year, Christ’s sacrifice is the only one we need for complete forgiveness.

Are you washed in the blood?

At our baptism, God empowers us with His Holy Spirit to serve with the attitudes and character of Christ.*

August 7, 2026

Hebrews 13:8 (NIV)

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Everything else is up for grabs.*

I graduated from high school more than 50 years ago, but even though I live far away from my hometown, I am still in touch with many of my classmates. Besides our big class reunion every five years, we have mini-reunions throughout every year. I attend as many of those as I can because it’s such fun to catch up with old friends.

You expect people to be different after that many years. We gain weight, we lose hair, we brag about our grandkids more than about our own accomplishments; but with some people, there are changes in their very essence that make them almost unrecognizable. It is disconcerting to talk to someone who is nothing like the person you remember. I wonder, Have I changed that much? Am I still recognizable to my old friends?

Whether Jesus is your long-time friend or a new acquaintance, you can count on him to remain the same. He will always be available; he will never reject you because you aren’t one of the cool kids; he is always willing to forgive you. He won’t remind you of the stupid things you have done and he will never look at you and say, “Well, you’ve put on a few pounds.” He looks at us through eyes of love so he sees our essence instead of our imperfections. In a world that changes too fast for us to keep up with, we are secure in his never-changing character.

Yesterday – he has cleaned the slate for us. Today – he walks beside us. He never changes but our relationship with him will change us forever.

What a glorious paradox that He who never changes is also the one who is ever new!*

August 6, 2026

I Corinthians 15: 3-6 (NIV)

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for your sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time . . .

The death, burial, and resurrection of Christ are the very essence of the gospel. They are matters of fact and matters of faith.*

In case you didn’t know exactly what the gospel is, here is the Apostle Paul’s condensed version. In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul provides a succinct outline we can employ to increase our own knowledge of the gospel and be better prepared to share it with others. 

  I.  Who is Christ? 

       A. “According to scriptures” – prophecies 

       B. His birth and life 

 II.  He died for your sins 

       A. “According to scriptures” – prophecies 

       B. Death, burial and resurrection 

III.  He lives 

       A. Witnesses 

       B. Your testimony 

Use Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John to fill in the details. Read the eye-witness testimonies in the Book of Acts. Refer to the prophecies in the Old Testament. Seek the Lord’s will for your life and begin to live it. Now you have a testimony to share. You are a witness.

The gospel message cannot stop with reflections on the historical Jesus but must bear witness to the current reality of Christ.*

August 5, 2026

Ephesians 5: 25-27 (NIV)

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy . . . and to present her to himself as a radiant church . . . holy and blameless.

There is no trace of a pure Church anywhere on earth.*

If you had to go away and leave your fiancée for awhile, you would want her to be faithful, wouldn’t you? Even though you aren’t married yet, you have a right to expect her to maintain her commitment to you. And if you were that bride-to-be, you would take measures to arm yourself against the attentions of other men, right? 

The church is like that bride-to-be, awaiting the return of her fiancé. While she waits, she is exposed to temptations presented by the world. As the church, we need a strategy to help us remain pure in the bridegroom’s absence so that we may be presented to him as his radiant, holy, and blameless bride. Here are some scriptural behaviors and attitudes the church should adopt to protect herself from temptation and to demonstrate her faithfulness: 

1. Love one another. (John 13: 35) This is how the world will know that we love the bride groom. 
2. Don’t love the world. (I John 2: 15) You can’t love your fiancé and other men at the same time! 
3. Don’t conform to the world. (Romans 12: 2; Philippians 1: 27) Your behavior shouldn’t leave someone wondering who you belong to. 
4. Be united in mind and thought. (I Corinthians 1: 10) A united front helps keep us strong against temptation. 
5. Behave as a faithful bride should. (James 1: 27) A faithful church looks after the defenseless and keeps herself from being polluted by the world. 
6. Be devoted to the gospel. (II Timothy 2: 15; Titus 2: 1) A faithful church is faithful to the word of God. 

As a church, we should remain pure and we should behave in a manner that clearly demonstrates our faithfulness to the Lord. While the church is made up of many members over whom we have no control, each of us as individuals is responsible for choosing to remain pure in a polluted world. As Jesus said, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.” (Matthew 26: 41)

Jesus demanded total commitment to God, not outward appearance of religion.*

August 4, 2026

Leviticus 19: 9, 10  (NIV)

“‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the Lord your God.’”

The intended, beneficial consequences of social policies are routinely overwhelmed by the unintended, harmful consequences they trigger.*

God made provisions for the poor and the foreigner: the farmer was commanded to be a little lax in harvesting his crops so that the needy could come along and glean for themselves. He did not tell the farmer to harvest his crops and then give some of it to the poor. We have forgotten this practice, instituted by God, of helping the needy by allowing them to help themselves. Somewhere in history, those who have the means and the heart for charity seem to have come to the conclusion that people in need must be taken care of. We have done a disservice to those we are trying to help by allowing them to become dependent on us.

As a church, what can we do to help break the cycle of dependency? Most of us aren’t farmers so we can’t take these directions literally, but certainly we can find ways to apply the principles. The church I attend offers assistance through a variety of programs: Celebrate Recovery for those struggling with habits and addictions; Financial Peace University, which provides Bible-based strategies for getting out of debt and staying out; and a community outreach program in which those “in transition” are provided a hot meal and a sermon every Sunday – because above all, those we help need to hear about the hope they can find in Jesus.

As individuals, we also have opportunities to help change lives. Programs cost money, so don’t neglect the offering plate. And charity doesn’t have to be mass-produced to be effective. Jesus ministered to people in large groups, in small groups, and one at a time. Never underestimate the value of the one-on-one encounter, whether in witnessing or in good works.

And amid all our efforts, we should never forget that programs help but Jesus saves!

The harassed and helpless are all around us – and not easily identified.*

August 3, 2026

Genesis 9: 12, 13 (NIV)

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.”

The Creator who sternly imposed sin’s penalty became the God of the covenant.*

God made lots of covenants with people in the Old Testament. Some covenants were with individuals, some were specific to the Hebrew nation. There are a few that we like to hijack for our own personal application – II Chronicles 7: 14 and Jeremiah 29: 11-14 come to mind most readily.

Three elements of this particular covenant in Genesis set it apart from others:

1. It is unconditional. God made a promise but he didn’t require anything from the other parties involved. 
2. It applies to all living creatures – human and animal. 
3. God created a sign as a permanent reminder of the covenant.

The rainbow reminds us that God keeps his promises. Circumcision was a reminder of his covenant with Abraham. And the cross is a reminder of the new covenant he has entered into with us – a covenant that was not unconditional but which has been ratified by the blood of Jesus. When we see the cross, we are prompted to recall that though the wages of sin is death, the free gift of God is eternal life through his Son (Romans 6:23). The cross is the symbol of God’s promise that he will be our God and we will be his people (Hebrews 8: 10), and that his will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life (John 6: 40).

The rainbow and the cross are reminders that though God has the power to destroy us, he has chosen to love us and to save us.

The relationship we have with God is not an agreement between equals.*