Tuesday: Our God Reigns

By James Boice

Theme: Giving Thanks

In this week’s lessons, we are reminded that God is sovereign over all things, and he will execute justice and judgment in his own time.

Scripture: Psalm 75:1-10

It is natural for the people of God to give God thanks, for there are innumerable blessings for which thanks is due. But here, in verse 1, thanks is given to God for just one thing, and that is that the “Name [of God] is near.” The “Name” stands for God himself; so “your Name is near” means that God is near. He is never far away; he is always at hand.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Monday: Our God Reigns

By James Boice

Theme: The God Who Brings Down and Lifts Up

In this week’s lessons, we are reminded that God is sovereign over all things, and he will execute justice and judgment in his own time.

Scripture: Psalm 75:1-10

Psalm 75 is also a psalm of faith in God's just rule and judgment, but it comes at this subject from an entirely different point of view. There is no questioning, chaffing, struggle or envy in this psalm. On the contrary, although the psalmist knows that God’s way of ruling the universe is often puzzling to us and that his judgments often seem delayed, God nevertheless is near, his judgments are timely, and the wicked will eventually be punished in full for the evil they have done.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Friday: Prayer amid the Ruins of Jerusalem

By James Boice

Theme: Pleading for God to Act

In this week’s lessons we see the need for continual trust and worship, even during times of trouble and uncertainty.

Scripture: Psalm 74:1-23

Because God is in charge and because he has acted in the past, why should he not also act powerfully in the present to deliver and restore his people? This is where the psalm has been heading, and it is the question with which it ends. Verses 18-23 voice this final urgent plea.

Because God is in charge and because he has acted in the past, why should he not also act powerfully in the present to deliver and restore his people? This is where the psalm has been heading, and it is the question with which it ends. Verses 18-23 voice this final urgent plea.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Thursday: Prayer amid the Ruins of Jerusalem

By James Boice

Theme: The Sovereign God

In this week’s lessons we see the need for continual trust and worship, even during times of trouble and uncertainty.

Scripture: Psalm 74:1-23

At the end of the previous stanza the psalmist addressed himself to God, protesting that the offenses he saw were directed not so much against himself and his people, but against God. In their wanton destruction of the temple, Israel's enemies were actually mocking God. This led him to think how great the God of Israel, whom they are mocking, really is (vv. 12-17), and this started him on the uphill path mentioned yesterday. Earlier he had asked God to remember Israel; here he himself remembers God.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Reforming Our Worship

Posted on Wednesday, September 19, 2018 by Todd Pruitt on 1517

Worth going to Georgia for...

 

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1517
1517
Mortification of Spin is a casual conversation of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Mortification of Spin and the mission of the Alliance.

Consumer Church

by Justin Poythress • September 19, 2018

We need more people coming to church ready to consume. We need more churches ready to give the people the product they need.

We need more people coming to church ready to consume. We need more churches ready to give the people the product they need. That's the trouble with the "hating on the consumer" mentality-- it's not always wrong. "With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation... Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come buy wine and milk without money and without price" (Is 12:3; 55:1 ESV).

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Christward Collective is a conversation of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Christward Collective and the mission of the Alliance.

Wednesday: Prayer amid the Ruins of Jerusalem

By James Boice

Theme: The Lowest Point in the Psalm

In this week’s lessons we see the need for continual trust and worship, even during times of trouble and uncertainty.

Scripture: Psalm 74:1-23

In verses 9-11, Asaph's lament reaches its lowest point in an expression of utter abandonment. Scholar Alexander Maclaren rightly calls these verses “the kernel of the psalm, the rest of which is folded round them systematically.” This is right, because the psalm seems to descend to this point and then, like Psalm 73 before it, make a turning point in these verses and begin to start back up. Asaph complains, “We are given no miraculous signs; no prophets are left, and none of us knows how long this will be.”

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

How Much Should a Drunk Teenage Boy Be Held Accountable for His Behavior?

Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2018 by Aimee Byrd on Housewife Theologian

Are you who you were when you were 17? I hope not, but I also hope you didn't sexually assault others.

 
I am ashamed of my 17-year-old behavior. By God’s grace I have matured into a 42-year-old with a godly understanding of holiness and identity. By God’s grace, I have repented of my wayward behavior and his righteousness has covered me and the sanctifying work of his Spirit is transforming me more and more into the likeness of Christ.

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is member supported and operates only by your faithful support. Thank you.

Mortification of Spin is a casual conversation of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Mortification of Spin and the mission of the Alliance.

Tuesday: Prayer amid the Ruins of Jerusalem

By James Boice

Theme: Faith in the midst of Calamity

In this week’s lessons we see the need for continual trust and worship, even during times of trouble and uncertainty.

Scripture: Psalm 74:1-23

Verses 1 and 2 form the first stanza of the psalm and at once strike the sad, wailing tone of this lament. Jerusalem has been destroyed, the temple is in ruins, and the psalmist can see no end to the wretchedness he has experienced and observed. In these verses he asks God if his rejection of his people is going to last forever (“Why have you rejected us forever, O God?''), and he asks God to remember and therefore help both his redeemed people and Jerusalem.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Guard Your Heart

by Christina Fox • September 17, 2018

In the Bible, the "heart" is the center of oneself. It is the core of who a person is. It refers to who we are, our identity, the real us. This inner self includes our thoughts, our desires, our feelings, our personality, our motives and intentions, and the choices we make. It is what drives us. “As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man” (Proverbs 27:19).

Watch any romantic drama or comedy and you are bound to hear it. It’s a phrase that inevitably comes up in conversation between characters. When a woman is torn about whether to pursue a relationship with a man, her friend (or mother) will ask, "What does your heart tell you?"

It seems like an innocent and harmless question. But its implication is significant. Such a question implies that the heart seeks what is right and true. It also reveals that the way culture defines the heart is different than how the Bible defines it.

The Heart of Man

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Christward Collective is a conversation of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Christward Collective and the mission of the Alliance.

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