God Is Your Deliverer

by Ronnie Hewitt
 
2 Corinthians 1:8-10 “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us.”
 
A faithful believer, living in obedient fellowship with Christ and loved by Him, may undergo experiences that involve danger, fear and despair, and may encounter circumstances that weigh one down beyond his/her power to endure. And yet, as a child of God, we are never left alone. We have a deliverer.

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Conviction of Heart

by Ronnie Hewitt

“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” (Romans 10:9-10)

The earliest confession of the NT church was not “Jesus is Savior,” but “Jesus is Lord” (cf. Ac 8:16; 19:5; 1Cor 12:3). Jesus is specifically called Savior 16 times in the NT, but He is called Lord more than 150 times. “Lord” (Gk. kyrios) means having power, dominion, authority and the right to master. Therefore, when NT Christians called Jesus “Lord,” this was not just an outward profession, but an inward sincere attitude of heart by which they made Christ and His Word Lord over their life.


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The Pharisee Within

by Ronnie Hewitt

It is very difficult at times for religious people to be friends of sinners. Religion apart from relationship is more concerned with outward behavior than inward change. It values performance and perfection. The Pharisees were the standard of holiness in Jesus’ day. They were also arrogant and mean. Instead of showing mercy and leading people to God, they condemned and discouraged people. Jesus regularly called them out for their judgmental attitudes, usually using terms like “blind fools,” “snakes,” and “hypocrites” (Matt 26:16-33). The crazy thing is they believed they were pleasing God. They believed they were working hard to eradicate sin in themselves and those around them. Unfortunately, they were missing the message of Jesus entirely.


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