Evaluating True Riches ~~
By: Adrian Rogers

'Do you want to know how rich you are? Add up everything you own that money cannot buy, that neither death nor disaster can take away, and then you'll know just how rich you are. What did you discover? Hopefully, you discovered that it's time you started laying up true riches, because all the rest will burn away. If you are putting all of your labor in this world, it's like rearranging deck chairs on a sinking ship.'
---
ACTION POINT: Read/ Matthew 6:19-21 Where is your heart? Where is your treasure?

Bible Meditation: 1 John 2:17-"And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." -

Meaning of everything....

Do you want to know the meaning of everything? It is Jesus only. You may think that is an overstatement. We live in a great big universe, billions of light years in expanse. And the Bible tells us that “all things were created by Him, and for Him” (Colossians 1:16). There is nothing made that was not made by the Lord Jesus. The answer to creation is Jesus only. People say the world needs saving. But what the world really needs is redemption. And where is redemption going to come from? Not from a creed, code, or cause, but Jesus only. The entire universe, the plans of God, and the sweep of all the ages comes down to two words - Jesus only.
- Adrian Rogers

--GIVING~

-For years we lived in a small town with one bank and three churches. Early one Monday morning, the bank called all three churches with the same request: "Could you bring in Sunday's collection right away? We're out of $1 bills."

--Clara Null

--Grace~

Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out, and your dog would go in.

--Mark Twain

--GREED-

At a birthday party, it came time to serve the cake. A little boy named Brian blurted out, "I want the biggest piece!"

His mother quickly scolded him. "Brian, it's not polite to ask for the biggest piece."

The little guy looked at her in confusion, and asked, "Well then, how do you get it?"

--Olive Freeman

--Merciful God

--BIBLE MEDITATION:
"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9

-DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
Did you know Methuselah lived to be 969 years old? And God had a very good reason for letting him live to be that old. The reason Methuselah lived so long was not that he had good genes but that God had great mercy. Why?

The name "Methuselah" means "When he is gone, it will come." The "it" refers to The Flood. And according to the Word of God, The Flood came exactly the day that Methuselah died. God kept letting him live and live because God didn't want anybody to perish in that flood. God kept giving one more opportunity and one more chance. He is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."

-ACTION POINT:
Reflect upon your life--are there times you can name when God intervened with mercy when He might have sent judgment instead? Perhaps there were times when He spared you from something, and later you look back upon that time and say, "God was so merciful." Remember His mercy today and thank Him specifically for how He has covered your life with His garment of mercy.
--Adrian Rogers

--GOING FOR THE PRIZE!
--1 Corinthians 9:24-27
----
Everyone who
competes for the
prize...[does] it to
obtain a perishable
crown, but we for an
imperishable crown.
--1 Corinthians 9:25
--
EVERY March, the Iditarod Trail Race is held in Alaska. Sled dogs and their drivers, "mushers," race across a 1,049-mile route from Anchorage to Nome. The competing teams cover this great distance in anywhere from 8 to 15 days. In 2011, a record time was set by musher John Baker who covered the entire route in 8 days, 19 hours, 46 minutes, and 39 seconds. The teamwork between dogs and driver is remarkable, and those who compete are tenacious in the efforts to win.

The first-place winner receives a cash prize and a new pickup truck. But after so much perseverance in extreme weather conditions, the accolades and prizes may seem insignificant and transcient.

The excitement of a race was a familiar concept to the apostle Paul, but he used competition to illustrate something eternal. He wrote, "Everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown" (1 Cor. 9:25).

Sometimes we are tempted to place our emphasis on temporal rewards, which perish with the passing of time. The Scriptures, however, encourage us to focus on something more permanent. We honor God by seeking spiritual impact that will be rewarded in eternity.
---
-RUN THE RACE WITH ETERNITY IN VIEW!
--ODB/DF

--The Fire of Affliction ~

--BIBLE MEDITATION:
--“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
---(Romans 8:18)

--DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
--God wants to build spiritual steel and rock-solid faith into you. And the way He will do this is through the fire of affliction. Why? To test you. The faith that can’t be tested, can’t be trusted.

The times I have grown the most were not when everything was going fine. The times when we go through sorrow, pressure, and trouble are the growing pains of our lives with Christ. Isn’t that true? Someone wrote these lines,

“I walked a mile with pleasure, she chatted all the way.
But left me none the wiser, for all she had to say.
I walked a mile with sorrow and not a word said she.
But oh the things I learned from her, when sorrow walked with me.”

--ACTION POINT:
-Are you in the fire of affliction? Trust that He will see you through and make you stronger when the test is over.

--Adrian Rogers~
------
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight."
--(Proverbs 3:5-6)

--One Body in Christ

--BIBLE MEDITATION:
“So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” Romans 12:5

--DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
My left hand is a member of my body. So is my right hand. The right hand cannot direct the left hand and vice versa. But both hands can receive instruction from the head. If one hand is connected to the head and the other hand is connected to the head, then it simply follows that our hands are going to submit one to another. They’re not going to fight one another.

It’s the same way in the Body of Christ—the church. Who is the head of the body? The Lord Jesus Christ. Who are the members of the body? You and I. God put us in the church together that we might have a spirit of submission in the fear of the Lord.--

--ACTION POINT:
Is there someone in the church with whom you’re having difficulties? Submit yourself to the Lord and allow Him to give you grace to submit one to another.
--Adrian Rogers~~

--WHO WILL YOU BE?

“And He said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.”
---- Luke 18:29-30

God has given you abilities and God wants you to take those abilities and invest them in Him. Friend, it is a sin for you to be less than what God called you to be.

Sure, you may not be the next Einstein, Babe Ruth, Betty Crocker, or Billy Graham. But that’s not the point. The danger is that you will not do what you can do.

-There are three people inside you...who you are right now, who you could be for evil if you allowed the devil to get a hold of you, and who you could be for God.
I pray you will let go of this world with both hands and give your all to God for Him to use you.
---Adrian Rogers~~

~~'Whatever Things Were Gain To Me, ...Now a loss for Christ.'

--"I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ"--[Philippians 3:7-8]--

--"See what great love the Father has lavished on us."
~~[1 John 3:1]

~~“I’m not who I once was. I’m a new person.”

~~Those simple words from my son, spoken to students at a school assembly, describe the change God made in his life. Once addicted to heroin, Geoffrey previously saw himself through his sins and mistakes. But now he sees himself as a child of God.

The Bible encourages us with this promise: “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). No matter who we’ve been or what we’ve done in our past, when we trust Jesus for our salvation and receive the forgiveness offered through His cross, we become someone new. Since the garden of Eden, the guilt of our sins separated us from God, but He has now “reconciled us to himself through Christ,” “not counting” our sins against us (vv. 18–19). We are His dearly loved children (1 John 3:1–2), washed clean and made new in the likeness of His Son.

Jesus is innocence found. He liberates us from sin and its dominating power, and restores us to a new relationship with God—where we are free to no longer live for ourselves but “for him who died for [us] and was raised again” (2 Corinthians 5:15). As with Geoffrey, Christ’s transforming love gave him a new identity and purpose to point others to the Savior. And He does the same for us!

--ODB/JB
REFLECT & PRAY
~~"Abba, Father, thank You for sending Your Son to save me, so that I could be Your child. Please send me to someone who needs to come home to You today!"