Based on “The Reality of Hell” by Pastor Mark Balmer 10/24-25/09
Message # MB394; Daily Devotional #4 - “A Matter of the Heart”
Preparing the Soil (Introduction): The sun rises each morning at different times all over the world, and it sets in the same manner; and in that one twenty-four hour period, approximately 155,520 deaths will take place. Think of it; all those people most likely saw the daybreak, but never saw another sunrise. An interesting and sad note is, of that number, 30,273 of those people starved to death. That is physical starvation, but how many suffered spiritual starvation, and died without the name of Jesus on their lips, for they never knew Him. I believe that those who truly search for truth will find it, but so many are deceived into believing that there is no heaven and no hell and what they do in this life doesn’t matter. They laugh and scorn the Word and those who follow Christ. Tomorrow, the death count will be the same, and the day after, etc. Then there is the good news, and it is a matter of the heart. The gospel is going out, the Word is alive, and souls are being “saved” and many are now bound for Heaven. People’s hearts can change. Final destinations can change the moment the Word of God touches the heart of a man. “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow, it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12
Planting and Watering the Seed (Growth): I started to watch an old Spencer Tracy movie, titled Inherit the Wind (1960 movie based on a true story). I could only go so far into watching it, as I had seen it before, and I started getting so angry with the content that I turned it off. Spencer Tracy played a lawyer that was sent to a small town to defend a teacher who had started teaching the Darwin theory to his students. It was supposed to be a “fair” trial for this teacher who had been arrested for breaking the law in this town because he was going against the Bible. Only the movie made every “Christian” look like a mindless idiot, and only the defense was presented as intelligent and not having a “head buried in the sand” type of thinking. The arguments by the prosecution were made to appear fanatical, and they, in fact, were not truly accurate portrayals of a Christ follower’s thinking and behaving. It was the perfect place for the enemy to work and inflict his lies on a large population of movie goers. And that movie is an accurate account of only one thing. Satan is working hard to take as many people to hell with him as he can; worst of all, he is doing it. The spiritual battles are heating up in this world. Hell is real, and it is a place of punishment (2 Thessalonians 1:9), but Heaven is waiting for those who are seeking truth and willing to get there on the wings of faith. No matter what Satan says to people, he doesn’t want to go to hell, but he is going. Let him go without you.
Harvesting the Crop (Action/Response): It is in the heart of man, that spiritual battles rage. There is only one way to remain victorious; know the Word of God, act on the Word of God, and trust in God’s Word as truth. Fight the enemy with the Word. Pray with other believers and stay in fellowship, and never be found drifting into the things of this world. In the movie I mentioned, the deception was slow and undetectable to those who didn’t have the word of God buried in their hearts. Heaven is real, but so is hell; the difference is a matter of the heart.
Cultivating (Additional Reading): Revelation 20:7-15
No comments:
Post a Comment