October 21, 2020
Revelation 3:19-20
Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.  Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.
New International Version (NIV)
                My temperature is 90.6 degrees.  How about yours?  We spent good money on this device and it says I am dead.  Have we ever had our temperature taken more often than these days?  I go to see my orthodontist and the ladies at the desk point the device at my head, read the numbers and say, “O.K. you can come in”.  I’ve never seen them turn anyone away, but I suppose they would. 
                What is your spiritual temperature these days?  Are we on fire for God?  Or perhaps would we admit we are as cold as ice, having lost our fervor for the Lord.  I suspect most of us are somewhere in between.  We are not as enthusiastic in our love for Christ as we once were, but we are not at the low point of our love either.
                In his letter to the Laodiceans, John reminds us that Jesus loves us too much to leave us lukewarm.  We may see ourselves as “just fine” spiritually.  We are certainly not like those bad people doing bad things.  We can be a bit self-sufficient spiritually seeing ourselves as rich and not needing a thing.  Would God see the church today as he saw the believers in Laodicea, “poor, wretched, miserable, naked and blind”?  Not us.  No way.
                The Lord disciplines those he loves.  God’s discipline is not punitive but redemptive.  Relentlessly he rebukes until we repent and receive his redeeming love.  If you hear a knock at the door of the church these days, rest assured, it is Jesus. He would love to come in and fellowship with us.  We don’t need to take his temperature, but he is accurately taking ours.  Are we alive?  Will we open the door to our Lord?  It is a matter of life and death.  
Pray with me:         
Heavenly Father, help us to see ourselves as you see us.  At all costs, bring your people to repentance so that we may be redeemed from our arrogant self-sufficiency.  Change our minds God.  Make us earnest to do what you tell us to do.  Restore us to the sweetness of fellowship with you that we once knew.  Welcome into your church which you bought with your own blood.  Set us on fire, we pray.   In Jesus’ name.  Amen.  
Join us in memorizing the Word.  Scripture for this week:    
Matthew 7:9-10
Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?
Our 2020 Every Day with Jesus readings will follow the Foundations New Testament reading plan.  Copies of the reading plan are available at Tallowood Baptist Church, or download your copy at REPLICATE.ORG 
We would love for you to join us as we read the New Testament through this year, five chapters a week.  In addition I will continue my long-standing practice of reading one Psalm a day through the year.  Use Robby Gallaty’s H. E. A. R. plan to study each chapter (also found at REPLICATE.ORG). Highlight verses which speak to you, explain what they mean in your own words in a journal, apply them to your own life, then respond by doing what God tells you to do.  
Joyfully, 
Duane 
About Duane Archives
 Copyright 2020. All Rights Reserved.
Manage your preferences | Opt out using TrueRemove™
Got this as a forward? Sign up to receive our future emails.
View this email online.
555 Tallowood Road
Houston, TX | 77024 US
This email was sent to .
To continue receiving our emails, add us to your address book.
Subscribe to our email list.