Devotions

Who told you that you are unworthy, no good, useless to God? Who keeps reminding you that you are weak, helpless, or that you will never measure up to God’s standard? 

We all know this voice comes from the devil himself. He is the one who keeps you convinced God is angry with you. You hear his lies all day long, and they come straight from the pit of hell. 

Who tells choir members they are not worthy to sing praises in God’s house? Who tells musicians they are not worthy to play instruments of worship? Who tells elders, ushers, Sunday school teachers, volunteers, people in ministry and people in the pews they are unworthy? Who reminds them of every sin and failure and accuses them of having unclean hands and an impure heart? Who tells them they have no right to touch the holy things of God? 

The devil’s hounding voice, the accuser of the brethren, tells you, “God cannot use you until you sit down and get this thing figured out. You can’t even come into his house until you have made yourself worthy.” 

The devil has convinced many of you reading this message that you are unworthy of being used by God. Perhaps you feel unworthy even to be called a child of the Lord. When you look at your spiritual life, all you see is inconsistency. The enemy keeps lying, constantly reminding you of your failures, and harassing your spirit. 

Let me stop here and confess something to you: I have never once, in all my years of ministry, felt worthy of my high calling as a preacher. Throughout my service to the Lord, I have been barraged by accusations that I am unworthy to speak for God, unworthy to preach, to teach others and to be a leader. I am not worthy to write this message, and you are not worthy to raise your hands in praise to God. Nobody is worthy, not in our own human strength and power. However, Jesus has told us, “I have made you worthy.” 

“For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19, NKJV).

The Holy Spirit has called us to be a gospel community. Today, many churches try to have community but do not have an authentic biblical community because the gospel is not functioning within their fellowship. They do not know how to truly love one another because they are trying to have a community without the Word of God. 

In the gospel of Luke, we read, “Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. And he was told, ‘Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.’ But he answered them, ‘My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it’” (Luke 8:19-21, ESV).

Nowhere in scripture will you read specifically of the gospel of fellowship, small groups, counseling or worship. So you may ask, what is a gospel community? I believe Jesus was giving us the definition of it here in Luke. 

Jesus was saying, “My community is not made up of the crowd surrounding me or just my mother and brothers. A true gospel community of my brothers and sisters are those who hear, know and invest in God’s Word. The members of my community hear the Word, and they do it.” Scripture says, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22). 

True gospel community is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. It means hearing and doing the Word of God together, loving one another, and helping others when they are not living according to the Word. It is a group of people who build their lives around scripture, understanding it, and knowing the Holy Spirit who empowers this written Word. 

Friends, Jesus is always the center, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He should be everything in our gospel community and always hold the preeminent place as we grow in him together.

One thing that I’ve said over the years as a pastor is “I have one job, and it’s to stay out of God’s way.” The caveat, of course, is that God does work through people, and I believe that there does need to be a confidence in God’s calling and gifting; but that should never be a self-based confidence. Our strength lies in the power and working of the Holy Spirit. 

Navigating through that is a lot more difficult than it sounds, though. Our hearts want to take credit, or at the very least, we want to feel like our part in the equation was really important. I think that’s just part of our flesh. 

When we put our confidence in Jesus and his work, we’re able to steer away from fixating on what part we played in it. When the church talks about itself, it is at its weakest. When we talk about Jesus and his work, we are at our strongest. We must learn to balance a great confidence in the Lord but an equal awareness of our own limitations. We have to become more like Jesus, not so we get to do cool things but because we adore God. 

I believe this is part of the command, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith…” (1 Peter 5:8-9, ESV).There’s a hunger and desperation in the land for something authentic, and what is more genuine than to acknowledge our own weakness and brokenness along with the greatness and power of God who has sovereignly chosen to work through us. 

God wants to move, but it’s really important how we live, behave and walk in order to position ourselves in a way so our hearts are open to God’s move. When we fill up with ourselves and our own power, we empty the cross of Christ’s power (see 1 Corinthians 1:17). When we’re emptied of ourselves, we become the vessels God is looking for as begins his work. We have to be vessels that are ready to be entrusted with his power. 

^{John Bailey is the Vice President of World Challenge Inc. and the Founding Pastor of The Springs Church in Jacksonville, Florida. John has been serving the Lord in pastoral ministry for 35 years, ministering the gospel in over 50 nations, particularly as a pastor and evangelist in Cork, Ireland.}

“Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him” (Matthew 5:1. ESV).

This crowd that followed Jesus up to the mountaintop was estimated to be 5,000 to 10,000 people. The previous verses describe what kind of people followed him: “They brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan” (Matthew 4:24-25).

Jesus traveled up the mountain with a crowd gathered around him. Those who followed him were paralyzed, diseased and sick. Many were suffering from great pain, and others were demon-possessed. It was a crazy and diverse crowd. People came from Judea and Samaria, Galilee, Syria, across the Jordan River, and beyond the Dead Sea. These were foreigners, many of whom did not mix well together. 

Instead of Jesus directing them with a certain religious agenda, he taught them: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3-10).

Many times, we read Jesus’s beatitude teachings as commands to follow, but I think they are the opposite of that. Jesus is not telling the crowd these things so that they can be blessed. Instead, he is saying, “Come, you who are broken, overwhelmed, and lonely, and those of you who feel overwhelmed and crushed by the world. I brought you to this beautiful mountaintop because I welcome you into my kingdom.” 

Friend, in the kingdom of God, Jesus says, “In the condition you are in, hurting and wounded, I am calling you blessed. You are my son. You are my daughter.” 

Certain elders of Israel came to the prophet Ezekiel seeking guidance from the Lord. These men were not like many of the Israelites, who openly bowed their knees to idols. You would not find them in some idol temple, offering sacrifices to the false gods there. They were the people’s leaders and wanted to appear before everyone as godly men. 

Outwardly, these elders appeared as men with a heart for God and wanting to know his word for their lives. That is how they approached Ezekiel, but God revealed to Ezekiel what was in their hearts. He told the prophet, “Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts, and put before them that which causes them to stumble into iniquity” (Ezekiel 14:3, NKJV).

The Lord was saying, “These men have come to you saying they want to hear a word from me and that they want to walk in obedience to my commands, but they are lying! They have secret sins.” 

These elders all had hidden, secret idolatry. Their hearts were in bondage to sins they indulged in behind closed doors. No one could tell this by their appearance. On the contrary, they came across not as pagans or idol worshipers but as respected men of God going about their ministries. 

A stumbling block of iniquity is any evil thing that stands between you and God. It is an enticement that robs you of a steadfast walk with him. It is any besetting sin that causes you to waver in your faith, any desire that brings shame to your heart and the name of Christ. 

You can come to God’s house, raise your hands, worship him loudly and still have a stumbling block of iniquity in your heart. 

Beloved, only by turning away from your idol in wholehearted repentance can you hear the true word of the Lord and receive clear, divine guidance. When you repent, the first thing that returns to you is your discernment. The farther behind you leave your sin, the clearer you will see and hear God’s voice. He will become distinct and sure, speaking with the authority of truth into your life.