Sunday, January 5
Ministry of the Word
Listen to this devotional
Ephesians 5:14–21 NKJV
Therefore He [God] says: “AWAKE, YOU WHO SLEEP, ARISE FROM THE DEAD, AND CHRIST WILL GIVE YOU LIGHT.” See then that you WALK CIRCUMSPECTLY,not as fools but as wise, REDEEMING THE TIME, because the days are evil. THEREFORE DO NOT BE UNWISE, BUT UNDERSTAND WHAT THE WILL OF THE LORD IS. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.
Romans 13:11–14 NLT
THIS IS ALL THE MORE URGENT, FOR YOU KNOW HOW LATE IT IS; TIME IS RUNNING OUT. WAKE UP, FOR OUR SALVATION IS NEARER NOW THAN WHEN WE FIRST BELIEVED. The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living. Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy. INSTEAD, CLOTHE YOURSELF WITH THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires.
Revelation 3:1–6 NLT
Write this letter to the angel of the church in Sardis. This is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars: “I know all the things you do, and that YOU HAVE A REPUTATION FOR BEING ALIVE—BUT YOU ARE DEAD. WAKE UP!Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of My God. Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to Me again. If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief. Yet there are some in the church in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes with evil. They will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before My Father and His angels that they are Mine. Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what He is saying to the churches.”
1 Thessalonians 5:1–11 NKJV
But concerning the TIMES AND THE SEASONS, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. YOU ARE ALL SONS OF LIGHT AND SONS OF THE DAY. WE ARE NOT OF THE NIGHT NOR OF DARKNESS. THEREFORE LET US NOT SLEEP, AS OTHERS DO, BUT LET US WATCH AND BE SOBER. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.