Pastor Joynt's Devotionals

Questions Week 5 Day 1

MAY 28, 2017

JOHN 14:1-6

If Christianity is true, what about other faiths? We live in a multi-faith world with neighbors and co-workers and relatives and friends who worship within different belief systems. This reality has an added intensity because some radical versions of Islam are waging war against Christianity, democracy, and the West. And many countries are wrestling with the limits of multiculturalism and national identity. Christianity has had, within its traditions and history, a variety of perspectives on other faiths, and no single view has achieved the status of universal orthodoxy. The extremes are the exclusive absolutist position and the inclusive pluralist position, and there are a variety of attitudes in between. What is your view? If you were to describe your attitude toward other religions, what words would you use (accepting, antagonistic, curious, uncertain)? What do you make of Jesus’ claim in John 14?

FAMILY TIME— See if you can pool your knowledge about the major religions of the world. Ask each other about what you know.

Questions Week 4 Day 7

DAY 28

PSALM 119:1-16

Understanding the Bible is a lifelong, joyous task. It has depths of meaning as well as simple truths. Passages you believe you’ve exhausted shine with new light when you return to them. Connections previously invisible appear. New questions you bring generate new answers and insight.

Every time I come to read the Bible, every time I work on a passage for a sermon, I feel the authority and sacred power of this book, and its claim on my life grows. Don’t read it as a duty but as a delight, expect an encounter with God, and  bring your real needs and genuine problems. The Bible has a reality no other book has, an authenticity. You will find your life laid out in its pages as you explore its characters and as you serve its center and its sovereign, Jesus Christ. Read on!

Is the Bible a lamp onto your feet and a light for your path?

FAMILY TIME—

What does Jesus mean when he says that we do not live by “bread alone—but by every word that comes from God?”