_*Saturday 15 February 2025*_ _*TODAY'S DEVOTION*_ _*CONTENTS*_ _• *Just A Little Laugh*_ _• *Quote Of The Day*_ _• *Today's Sermon*_ _• *New Believer's Prayer*_ _• *The Marriage After God*_ _• *‘Train A Child than Repair A Man'*_ _• *Christian News From Around The World*_ __________________________ _*JUST A LITTLE LAUGH*_ _*Is It Love*_ _Bill and Steve are discussing the possibility of love. "I thought I was in love three times," Bill says._ _"Thought?" Steve asks. "What do you mean?"_ _"Three years ago, I cared very deeply for a woman who wanted nothing to do with me," Bill says._ _"Wasn't that love?" Steve asks._ _"No, that was obsession," Bill explains. "Then two years ago, I cared very deeply for an attractive woman who didn't understand me."_ _"Wasn't that love?" asks Steve._ _"No, that was lust," Bill replies. "And just last year, I met a woman while I was on a cruise. She was gorgeous, intelligent, a great conversationalist and had a super sense of humor. Everywhere I followed her on that ship, I would get a very strange sensation in the pit of my stomach."_ _"Well, wasn't that love," asks Steve._ _"No. That was motion sickness!" Bill replies._ __________________________ _*QUOTE OF THE DAY*_ _"Don't let your hopes or fears come between you and Jesus; follow hard after Him. He will never fail you." ~ *Charles Spurgeon*_ __________________________ _*TODAY'S SERMON*_ _*A Gift for You*_ _*Greg Laurie*_ _*“Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.”* —James 4:17_ _Name a reason you might not use a gift that someone gave you. (You can imagine that you’re playing Family Feud, if it helps you think better.)_ _Maybe the gift isn’t practical—you have no use for it. Maybe it’s not your style or size. Maybe you think you don’t deserve it. Maybe you don’t have a good relationship with the gift giver._ _Now name a reason you might not use a gift that God gave you. That’s a harder one, isn’t it? It’s not a theoretical exercise. God has given you a gift. The apostle Peter wrote, “God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another” (1 Peter 4:10 NLT)._ _Since God is the One who gave it, your gift is perfectly practical. And since He created and knows everything about you, it’s exactly your size and style. It’s true you don’t deserve it—but then again, none of us deserves any good thing from God. He gives because He’s merciful and gracious. And if you want to enjoy a healthy relationship with your Gift Giver, you’ll learn how to maximize your gift._ _If that’s not motivation enough, there’s always James’ words in James 4:17: “Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.”_ _There are countless people who will benefit from your putting your spiritual gift to work. If you choose to ignore your gift, you’re choosing to ignore them. You wouldn’t dream of neglecting your spouse or your family members or the people closest to you. And you should carry that same attitude toward the people in your church._ _Romans 12:4–5 says, “Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other” (NLT). Christianity is not an individual pursuit. Everyone who trusts Christ becomes a member of His body. Biology teaches us that each part of the human body plays an important role. Your eyes, ears, fingers, toes, and internal organs all perform vital functions._ _God’s Word teaches us that each member of Christ’s body plays an important role. Your role is determined by the spiritual gift God has given you. In 1 Corinthians 12:18, the apostle Paul says, “But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it” (NLT). One verse earlier, he asks, “If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything?” (NLT)._ _His point is that God has a plan for His people to use their individual gifts to benefit the church, the body of Christ. He helps mesh believers’ different gifts so that they work together as one._ _The takeaway is that we all have a part to play in the body of Christ. God has seen to that. If God has given you a gift, it’s irresponsible to not use it. Look at the words of James 4:17 again. And then ask God to show you what your supernatural gift is so that you can begin to use it._ _*Questions for Reflection:* How can you use the gift God has given you in your church community?_ harvestdirect.org ____________________________ _*NEW BELIEVER'S PRAYER*_ _I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent." ~ *Luke 15:7*_ _Giving your life to Christ is the best decision of your life. Scripture says, only one sinner who repents at any one time, is enough to cause a joyous celebration in heaven. You are that person today. There is massive joy in heaven on account of your decision to come to Christ. The actual process of receiving a new life is very simple. Romans 10:9-10 says, "...if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved." In that respect, kindly repeat this simple prayer audibly and you are saved._ _*Prayer:* Lord Jesus, thank you for dying in my place on the cross. I truly believe in my heart that you were raised from the dead and you sit at the right hand of the Father. I confess that you are Lord and Saviour. I confess and repent of all of my sins, that I committed knowingly and unknowingly. I receive the free gift of forgiveness, even as I forgive them that wronged me. I want to live righteously from today on. I commit my life to you, to lead me in paths of righteousness. Amen._ _If you prayed that prayer, congratulations you have been saved by Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. Welcome to the new you, in Christ! What a wonder! The old has passed, and the new has come (2 Cor 5:17). Now kindly look for a Bible believing church near you, and hear more about your new found freedom in Christ._ ____________________________ _*THE MARRIAGE AFTER GOD*_ _*The Mystery of Romance*_ _*Dr James & Shirley Dobson*_ _*“Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away.”* Song of Songs 8:7_ _No matter how hard we try to define romance, it remains in part a mystery. Yet Solomon’s Song of Songs does give us several clues to its nature. In this evocative description of romantic love, we see that it means both intimacy and intense emotional excitement: “My lover is mine and I am his” (2:16); “My heart began to pound for him” (5:4). We see how deep affection inspires desire and complete appreciation for another: “How beautiful you are, my darling!” (4:1). We learn that to be romantic means to pursue the object of our affection—and to pine when he or she eludes us: “All night long on my bed I looked for the one my heart loves; I looked for him but did not find him” (3:1). And we see how powerfully a public display of affection communicates romantic love: “He has taken me to the banquet hall, and his banner over me is love” (2:4)._ _Most important of all, we learn that God intended romance to culminate in the unbreakable bond of married love. The book of Songs reaches its climax with a description of the power of love: “Love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like a blazing fire, like a mighty flame” (8:6). The Lord would not have provided us with this scriptural celebration of love and romance unless He intended it as an inspiring example for us._ _*Just between us…*_ _• How does Song of Songs demonstrate the importance of romance?_ _• How can romance encourage love “like a mighty flame”?_ _• In light of today’s reading, would you alter your definition of romance in any way?_ _Heavenly Father, thank You for the blessing of romantic attraction. May my spouse and I pursue each other joyfully and creatively all of our days. Amen._ ___________________________ _*’TRAIN THE CHILD THAN REPAIR A MAN’*_ _*Raised in a Minivan*_ _*Dr James & Shirley Dobson*_ _*”This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”* Ecclesiastes 4:4_ _Are you burning out your kids with too many scheduled activities? Are you, like Martha (Luke 10:40), allowing busyness to distract you and your family from what is truly important? These are questions worth asking. Many of today’s parents want their children to experience everything that’s available—motivated in part so that their kids will be able to “compete” with their peers when college scholarships are handed out. Those are laudable intentions. But are all the sports practices, singing lessons, and dance recitals worth the price?_ _According to recent studies, free time for kids is down to only six hours a week. Moms average more than five car trips a day running errands and chauffeuring their children. Typical of this scene, perhaps, is one Chicago-area mother of four busy children. She admitted recently that her one-year-old was practically being raised in the family minivan. “When he’s not in the van, he’s somewhat disoriented,” she said._ _When kids aren’t sure which is home, the house or the family car, something is definitely wrong. Give your children downtime to play, to wonder, to “waste some time,” and to just be kids. Solomon describes the relentless pursuit of knowledge and achievement, when not inspired by God, as “meaningless, a chasing after the wind” (Ecclesiastes 1:16–18; 4:4). We agree._ _*Before you say good night…*_ _• Do your kids have free time every day?_ _• Do they enjoy their outside activities? Do you?_ _• What activities might you consider cutting from their schedule?_ _Slow us down, dear Lord. We’ve been like Martha, worried and distracted, instead of Mary, who spent time at Your feet, enjoying and adoring You. Please change our hearts by Your indwelling Holy Spirit. Amen._ _____________________________ _*CHRISTIAN NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD*_ _*European Parliament again calls for release of Nigerian imprisoned for blasphemy in ‘rare’ move*_ _*Anugrah Kumar*_ _*Christian Post Contributor*_ _*Friday, February 14, 2025*_ _The European Parliament has again demanded the release of a young Sufi Nigerian musician imprisoned for blasphemy, with advocates calling its second resolution on the case a "rare" move. Lawmakers urged Nigeria to free him immediately and repeal the blasphemy laws underpinning his detention._ _The musician, Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, is facing the death penalty for allegedly circulating song lyrics deemed blasphemous under Kano state's blasphemy laws. Members of the European Parliament asked for his "immediate and unconditional release" in a second urgency resolution passed by an overwhelming majority, reports the legal advocacy group ADF International._ _The lawmakers' first resolution in the case occurred in April 2023, urging Nigerian officials to withdraw the charges. They have passed another measure to ensure that "no individuals, whether in Nigeria or elsewhere, should be potentially subjected to the death penalty for allegations of blasphemy."_ _They also cited the musician's upcoming Supreme Court challenge, which aims to abolish Sharia-based statutes that can lead to capital punishment for purportedly offensive religious expression. Blasphemy laws "systematically endanger religious minorities, violate fundamental freedoms and fuel sectarian violence," they said._ _“We applaud the European Parliament’s condemnation of the egregious blasphemy laws that plague religious minorities in Nigeria, as tragically exemplified by what has happened to Yahaya Sharif-Aminu," Sean Nelson, legal counsel for ADF International, said in a statement._ _"This case has unprecedented potential to eliminate Northern Nigeria’s oppressive blasphemy laws, and we will continue to seek justice for Yahaya and others who are unjustly persecuted for their faith expression. No person should be sentenced to death for peaceful religious expression, and we are thankful to Members of the European Parliament who are speaking out on Yahaya’s behalf.”_ _Sufism, a mystical form of Islam that emphasizes the inward search for God and shuns materialism, is a minority faith in Nigeria. However, people from the Sufi faith are often persecuted in Muslim-majority countries and regions._ _ADF International said this case could overturn the oppressive blasphemy laws in northern Nigeria._ _"It is plainly unjust that this young man languishes in prison merely for song lyrics," said Kola Alapinni, international human rights lawyer and lawyer for Sharif-Aminu._ _The U.K. Parliament has designated Sharif-Aminu as a prisoner of conscience for the month. The resolution referred to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which previously criticized the musician's continued imprisonment for five years._ _A member of the European Parliament, Miriam Lexmann, noted, "Nigeria has still not released him, even after multiple high-level international condemnations."_ _Yahaya was convicted without a lawyer and sentenced to death on Aug. 10, 2020, by the Hausawa Filin Hockey upper-Sharia court. He was initially sentenced to death, then granted an appeal that overturned the conviction. However, he was sent back for a retrial under the same statute, which can still impose capital punishment._ _Members of the European Parliament expressed satisfaction at a separate verdict in December 2024, when a Christian mother of five was fully acquitted of blasphemy after a prolonged legal ordeal. She had been charged for allegedly sharing a message that condemned a fatal mob attack on Deborah Emmanuel Yakubu, a Nigerian university student._ ________________________________ _*Co-Founder of Wikipedia Reveals His Journey from 'Skeptical Philosopher' to Christian*_ _*Talia Wise*_ 02-14-2025 _Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger has announced that after years of being an "agnostic" and a "skeptical philosopher," he has now converted to Christianity._ _"It is finally time for me to confess and explain, fully and publicly, that I am a Christian," the 56-year-old wrote on his blog._ _"Followers of this blog have probably guessed this, but it is past time to share my testimony properly. I am called to 'Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.' One of the most effective ways to do so is to tell your conversion story. So, here is mine," he began._ _In the detailed account, Sanger takes readers through his decades-long conversion process._ _The online encyclopedia co-founder recalled early memories of going to the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, with his parents._ _"My father was an elder in our church when I was a small child. I remember a few Bible commentaries on the bookshelves, which I found forbiddingly difficult," he wrote._ _Sanger said that he asked many questions about God and faith as a young child, but by his teen years he resolved that God did not exist and belief in Him seemed "irrational."_ _"Without realizing it, I probably stopped believing in God when I was 14 or 15: even today, I do seem to remember the belief slipping away, as I occasionally mused that I no longer prayed or went to church," he shared._ _A few years later he settled in, becoming a "philosopher and a so-called methodological skeptic," which he describes as "someone who withholds beliefs" that cannot be known "with certainty."_ _Sanger shared, "When I got serious about matters, I would say, 'I do not even know what 'God' means.' But generally, I called myself an agnostic."_ _By the time he arrived at college, Sanger knew he wanted to study philosophy and aimed to become a college professor._ _However, he quickly became disillusioned with academia because of a lack of "any sincere concern for truth" among fellow philosophers._ _Sanger said he took the most issue with modern atheists who claimed that "they simply lacked a belief that God exists, but their mocking attitude screamed that God did not exist."_ _"I was always willing to consider seriously the possibility that God exists. They were not. Nor was I very hostile to religion," he explained._ _By 2001, Sanger had started Wikipedia and also began to more seriously search out whether God existed._ _"After enough years of dealing with these 'adepts,' the thought slowly dawned on me: maybe, just maybe, I too had been indoctrinated, in a way. Perhaps I had misunderstood things I only thought I had understood," he wrote. "Perhaps I had not been exposed to the best representatives of the faith. In short, perhaps, I had not given Christianity a fair shake. And yes, I couched this in terms of 'Christianity' to myself: I never found any interest in other religions. This thought sat uncomfortably in the back of my mind for many years."_ _In 2010, he decided to crack open the Bible – not for him, but for his sons – because it is "the most influential book in the history of the world, bar none."_ _"One cannot call oneself well educated in the West if one has not read it," he expressed while admitting that reading parts of it did not "make much of an impression."_ _"It was interesting literature, to be sure. I know now that I simply did not understand what I was reading very well. I merely assumed there wasn't anything terribly deep to understand," Sanger explained._ _Sanger would not revisit the Bible until years later._ _After completing a 7,000-word essay titled "Why Be Moral," and a companion piece, "A Theory of Evil," he began to think more about the root of good and evil._ _I concluded the latter essay this way:_ _What makes humanity loveable, and what inspires the most devotion toward heroes and leaders, is the capacity for creation, the ability to invent, build, preserve, and restore whatever is good, i.e., that which supports and delights flourishing, well-ordered life. What makes evil individuals worthy of our righteous anger is their capacity for destruction of the good, due to their contempt for human life as such._ _If so, then the love for God may be understood as a perfectly natural love of the supremely creative force in the universe. For what could be greater than the creator of the universe, and what could be more loveable? And then it certainly makes sense that they would regard Satan as a force most worthy of our hatred and condemnation, since Satan is held to be an essentially destructive entity, the one most contemptuous of human life as such._ _He concluded that in both essays, he was beginning to show a change in his attitude toward Christianity._ _"Whereas before I had been merely skeptical and cool toward Christianity, I now felt warm toward it. I had come to morally approve of it – it was not just tolerable, but positively likable," he said._ _Sanger decided, this time, to read the Bible for himself._ _"I am not sure why I began to read the Bible so obsessively and carefully, as I did," he described. "When I really sought to understand it, I found the Bible far more interesting and – to my shock and consternation – coherent than I was expecting."_ _Sanger downloaded the YouVersion Bible app and used a 90-day reading plan to make "Bible study a serious hobby."_ _He began a deeper dive into theology to only realize that "despite having a Ph.D. in philosophy, I had never really understood what theology even is."_ _"Theology is, I found, an attempt to systematize, harmonize, explicate, and to a certain extent justify the many, many ideas contained in the Bible. It is what rational people do when they try to come to grips with the Bible in all its richness," Sanger explained._ _The former philosopher said at this point, he also began to "talk to God." By 2020, Sanger began reading the four Gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and told himself, "I should admit to myself that I now believe in God, and pray to God properly."_ _Sanger admits his conversion is "anti-climatic," but true and sincere._ _"I never had a mind-blowing conversion experience. I approached faith in God slowly and reluctantly—with great interest, yes, but filled with confusion and consternation," he shared._ _Sanger added that while his conversion has been "uncomfortable" at times, he is a part of "something like an orthodox Christian faith."_ _Although he has not found a church home, he encourages everyone to read the Bible daily._ ___________________________ _*"Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is ruth."* John 17:17_