“Our Daily Bread”     http://odb.org/

The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie                                  

http://www.harvest.org/devotional/daily-devotions/home.ht   

“Homily Grits Devotional”  http://www.homilygrits.com/

Acts 4:18-20… So they called them and commanded them not to speak at allnor teach in the name of Jesus. ¹⁹ But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. ²⁰ For wecannotbutspeak the things which we have seen and heard.”  (NKJV)

In my last days writing, I wrote about the importance for the Christian to share the message of the cross, because anyone who dies before they become a Christian in God’s eyes will perish in hell for an eternity…  You can find this writing at www.Godsmanforever.wordpress.com by typing 10/30/2013 into the search window…

The apostle Paul used this word perishing, to describe those who were not yet one of God’s redeemed children, in…1 Corinthians 1:18… For the message of the crossisfoolishness to those who areperishing, but to us who are being saveditis the power of God.  (NKJV)

I had heard Alistair Begg preach before… But after becoming acquainted with www.800followme.com after hearing Dan Allen’s powerful preaching at my church…I started trying to listen to Alistair Begg (with his Scottish accent) almost every day…  The Bible-Teaching Ministry of Alistair Begg can be found at www.truthforlife.org, with a wealth of Christian teaching…  His radio broadcast can be viewed by clicking on “View Archives” on the lower left of the home page…  You can also find an app for your smart phone, by searching “Truth for Life”…

I must tell you, that listening to 4 days of sermons by Alistair Begg on “the message of the cross”, especially the second day’s preaching, titled…“Preaching of the Cross – Part 2 of 2”…really struck a nerve in my soul…  You would not hurt my feelings at all, if you stopped reading right now, and listened to at least this one most moving sermon, dated October 22, 2013, found @  http://www.truthforlife.org/broadcasts/2013/10/22/preaching-of-the-cross-part-2-of-2-/

Alistair Begg was preaching at a pastors conference…where he explained that the message of the cross was at the very heart of what the Bible is all about…  He said the Old Testament predicted Christ, the Messiah…  The Gospels revealed Christ…  Acts preached Christ…  The Epistles explained Christ…  And Revelations revealed the expected return of Christ…   The message of the cross (Christ crucified so that sins could be forgiven), is a message that seems to be preached less and less in today’s churches…while the ways of the sinful world seem to be dominating even the lives of many professed Christians…

When the message of the cross truly grips the life of a redeemed child of God…Alister Begg gave some changes which should take place in the life of the Christian… 

The Christian should now truly understand that they are only a sinner who has been saved by grace… And when this mystery of God’s grace takes hold of one’s life…snobbery that he called intellectual, social, theological, racial, and financial snobbery…should be eliminated from the life of the Christian who is living for Christ…

All that the Christian does should be done in the name of, and for the glory of the Lord…  And there should be nothing…no sacrifice…that is too great for Christ…

The tongue of the Christian should be loosened to the point that they just can’t help but share what Christ has done in their own lives…and the message of the cross becomes an urgentpriority to be shared with those around them in need of hearing the truth from God’s Word, that will set a sinner free from Satan’s bonds of sin and shame…John 8:32…

In the opening scripture, we see the apostles Peter and John being ordered to keep quiet about Christ, and this message of the cross, by the Sanhedrin…the Jews’ national ruling body and supreme court…  But we can see in the opening scripture, that no matter what threats were made in Acts chapter 4, this was impossible…because the apostles were gripped (as we should be as God’s redeemed children), by the gospel message of Christ, which could not be contained…

I don’t know about you…but I am no where’s near where I should be, in living every minute for the Lord…  But when I finally submitted my life to the leading of the Holy Spirit (after over 7 years of rebellion and self-control, after my salvation)…life finally made sense; and the supernatural peace, and the joy, and the supernatural love of Christ that passes our mortal knowledge (Ephesians 3:16-20), finally flooded my life at a critical turning point, after almost 60 years of living for myself…  Praise the Lord for His longsuffering…and the grace and the mercy He finally gave to a poor wretch like me !!

I believe there will be many Christians that will be going to heaven…but who will never reach this point of living and breathing for the Lord Jesus Christ, like Alistair Begg speaks about in his powerful sermon…  I hope each and every one of you spends the time to listen to this man of God…to glean areas in your own life where you may be falling short of the kind of living for the Lord, which will be pleasing in His sight…

Heavenly Father, I pray that Your Word, and those of Your humble servant Alistair Begg about the message of the cross, (if listened to)…would urge us through the power and the conviction of the Holy Spirit, to see how important it is share the love of Christ and this message of the cross, as Christians living a Christ centered life…  I pray Lord, that You would cut right to the very core like a two-edged sword, of the soul of those in need of making You the priority in their lives…Hebrews 4:12-13… I pray for this fullness of Christ in all of our lives, in Jesus’ most precious name and for His sake…Amen…

Blessings in Christ,  bruce r mills