<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="heb+10:19-25">Hebrews 10:19-25</span></span></p><p>Yesterday we ended with the thought that the very first thing we ought to do when seeking to break out of the vicious circle of doubt is to go to the house of God. The psalmist has been prevented from falling by considering the consequences of his actions upon his brethren, so now his next step is to go and meet with them in the sanctuary. Whether it be in a cathedral or a cottage, how wonderful it is to join with Christian brothers and sisters. It is not so much the place that is important as the redeeming and healing fellowship we find there. Oftentimes people find release just by sitting down among their brothers and sisters and feeling the healing power of their warmth and love. One famous preacher said: "The house of God has delivered me from 'the mumps and measles of the soul' a thousand times and more - merely by entering its doors." What is it about being among our fellow believers that is so helpful and encouraging? One thing is the very fact that our fellow believers are there. You see, in our private misery and perplexity we could easily run away with the idea that there is nothing very much in the Christian faith after all, and that it is not worth our going on. But when we enter into the Lord's house and see our fellow believers coming together, often our doubts disappear. We say to ourselves, albeit unconsciously: "Here are people who think the Christian life is worth continuing with. My uncertainties must be wrong - there must be something in it after all." </p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">O Father, help me see the power that flows towards me through Christian fellowship. Just as I am encouraged by it, help me to encourage others. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.</p><div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="ac+12:12-17">Acts 12:12-17</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="ac+16:12-13">Acts 16:12-13</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="ps+84:10">Psalm 84:10</span></li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What was the pattern of the early Church?</li><li>How did the psalmist view God's house?</li></ul></div></div>

Let a little light into your soul every day with this wonderful devotional from English pastor Selwyn Hughes.

Every Day Light with Selwyn Hughes

"Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another " (v. 25) 

<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="ps+42:1-11">Psalm 42:1-11</span></span></p><p>Over the past few days we have seen how the psalmist was caught in the hiatus between the moment when he stopped himself from sliding and the moment when he started to climb again. This, we said, is a very critical time - critical because it makes us inclined to accept easy answers. The perplexity did not end when the psalmist stopped himself from slipping. His thoughts still went around in circles and he continued to have great anguish of heart and mind. How, then, were his thoughts concerning the prosperity of the ungodly resolved? Not by grabbing at superficial answers, but by going into the sanctuary of God, where he could begin to see the whole situation from God's point of view. Listen to how he puts it: "When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final  destiny'"(<span class="scriptRef" ref="ps+73:16-17">Psalm 73:16-17</span>). The word "sanctuary" here literally means the physical house of God. Some translations use the phrase, "till I entered the secret of God", but that is incorrect. Read  <span class="scriptRef" ref="ps+74">Psalm 74</span> and read  <span class="scriptRef" ref="ps+76">Psalm 76</span> and you will find that they both refer to the material building where God was worshipped. Had the psalmist, I wonder, like so many of us when we are filled with doubt and uncertainty, stayed away from the sanctuary of God? How strange that the last thing we want to do when our hearts are filled with doubts and misunderstandings is meet with our fellow believers in the house of God. Yet that is the very first thing we ought to do. </p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">Gracious Father, I am so grateful that You have ordained that Your people meet together. Help me understand more clearly than ever the value and benefits that flow from being with Your people. In Jesus' Name I ask it. Amen.</p><div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="heb+10:19-25">Hebrews 10:19-25</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="mt+12:9">Matthew 12:9</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="mr+1:21">Mark 1:21</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="lu+4:16">Luke 4:16</span></li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What are we not to do?</li><li>What was Jesus' custom?</li></ul></div></div>

"These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go with the multitude  to the house of God " (v. 4) 

<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="heb+10:19-31">Hebrews 10:19-31</span></span></p><p>The Bible is a veritable mine of information on the fact of God's faithfulness. More than 4,000 years ago He said: "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease"  (<span class="scriptRef" ref="ge+8:22">Genesis 8:22</span>). Every year furnishes us with fresh evidence that He has not gone back on His Word. In  <span class="scriptRef" ref="ge+15:13-14">Genesis 15:13-14</span>God declared to Abraham: "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and ill-treated four hundred years. But  afterwards they will come out with great possessions." Did that happen?  <span class="scriptRef" ref="ex+12:41">Exodus 12:41</span> says: "At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord's divisions left Egypt." The prophet Isaiah predicted that a virgin should conceive and bear a son whose name would be Immanuel  (<span class="scriptRef" ref="isa+7:14">Isaiah 7:14</span>). Centuries later the prediction came to pass. In  <span class="scriptRef" ref="ga+4:4">Galatians 4:4</span> we read: "But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman ." I wish I had the space to take you through the pages of Scripture and show you how faithful God has been to His Word. But you have a Bible for yourself; study it. Read it to know God. It is absolutely imperative that we who live in an age when unfaithfulness abounds, should acquaint ourselves with the fact of God's faithfulness. This is the basis of our confidence in Him. And this is why the Bible fairly bulges with this great and gripping truth. The more of God's truth we pack into our souls, the better equipped we are for the road that lies ahead.</p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">Gracious and loving Father, the more I learn about Your nature and character the more I want to know. Just these glimpses I am getting set my soul on fire to know You more intimately. Take me deeper, dear Lord. In Jesus' Name. Amen.</p><div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="mal+3:7">Malachi 3:7</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="ps+103:17">Psalm 103:17</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="ps+102:27">Psalm 102:27</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="jas+1:1-17">James 1:1-17</span></li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What did the Lord declare to Israel?</li><li>How did James put it?</li></ul></div></div>

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." (v. 23)

<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="heb+10:19-25">Hebrews 10:19-25</span></span></p><p>In every religion in the world apart from Christianity there is a note of uncertainty concerning this matter of personal salvation. Many modern religious attitudes are expressed in the limerick: For as much as without Thee We are not able to doubt Thee, O grant us Thy grace To inform the whole race That we know nothing whatever about Thee. Can we be satisfied with this? St. Augustine said he wished to be as certain of things unseen as that seven and three make ten. The human heart longs for certainty - it needs to know without a shadow of doubt that the salvation of the soul is secure. The good news is that in Jesus Christ such security is found. When we turn from other religions to the Word of God, it is like stepping out of thick fog into clear and brilliant sunlight. Our text today talks not just of assurance but full assurance - the full assurance of faith. What is faith? Faith is simply taking God at His Word, accepting what He asserts and acting accordingly. Listen to just one of the many things God says concerning this matter: "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved"  (<span class="scriptRef" ref="ro+10:13">Romans 10:13</span>). Have you called on Christ and received Him into your heart? Then you have scriptural warrant for believing on that basis alone, quite apart from personal feelings, that you are a child of God, and that you are going to spend eternity with Him. What a salvation! What a Savior! </p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">My Father and my God, what a joy it is to know that You make available to me not just assurance but full assurance. Fill the cup of my heart until it is overflowing with the sense of divine assurance. And keep it full, dear Father. In Jesus' Name. Amen.</p><div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="1th+1:1-10">1 Thessalonians 1:1-10</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="1jo+2:3-6">1 John 2:3-6</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="1jo+3:16-20">1 John 3:16-20</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="1jo+4:13-16">1 John 4:13-16</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="1jo+5:10">1 John 5:10</span></li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What is a recurring theme in 1John?</li><li>Why not make the same confession to someone today?</li></ul></div></div>

"... let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith ..." (v. 22) 

<p>So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. § What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?<br><br>Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. § The world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.<br><br>Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. § Use this world as not misusing it. For the form of this world is passing away. § Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.</p>

Daily Light on the Daily Path or Daily Light is a Christian daily devotional scripture reading published by Bagster & Sons about 1875. It has been reprinted continually since then. It consists of brief groupings of scripture passages which speak to prominent Biblical themes—two themes (morning and evening) for each day of the year. It appends no commentary, but simply allows scripture to speak for itself.

Evening Daily Light

 As for man, his days are like grass;as a flower of the field, so he flourishes.For the wind passes over it, and it is gone,and its place remembers it no more. 

<p><span class="bible-text "> <sup class="verse-num ">25 </sup>not giving up meeting together,   as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another  —and all the more as you see the Day approaching.   </span></p>

not giving up meeting together,<cr>1</cr>  as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another<cr>2</cr> —and all the more as you see the Day approaching.<cr>3</cr> 

Hebrews 10:25

 25 not giving up meeting together,   as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another  —and all the more as you see the Day approaching.  

From Wikipedia: 

The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The NIV was published to meet the need for a modern translation done by Bible scholars using the earliest, highest quality manuscripts available. Of equal importance was that the Bible be expressed in broadly understood modern English.

The NIV is published by Zondervan in the United States and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK. The NIV was updated in 1984 and 2011 and has become one of the most popular and best-selling modern translations.

OT: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; additional sources;
NT: UBS Greek New Testament; Novum Testamentum Graece; additional sources;

New International Version

 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

<p><span class="bible-text ">not giving up meeting together,   as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another  —and all the more as you see the Day approaching.   </span></p>

 not giving up meeting together,   as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another  —and all the more as you see the Day approaching.  

Bible Verse of the Day

January 18, 2025

Hebrews 10:25 NIV

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