Blessed is the man who endures temptation;
for when he has been approved,
he will receive the crown of life
which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. (James 1:12)

Happy Monday! If you served God, His people, or a needy world this last weekend in Jesus’ name, I pray today God will find several ways to recharge and refresh you.

We love the Beatitudes – those wonderful sayings of Jesus in Matthew 5 about those who are blessed. Yet the New Testament gives us a few more beatitudes beyond the Sermon on the Mount. Here, God pronounces a blessing on the one who endures temptation.

I think there are several kinds of temptation that are common to pastors, preachers, and Bible teachers. We are tempted to discouragement and tempted to pride. We tempted to self-reliance and to carelessness. We are tempted to make an idol out of the ministry or to lose heart with it.

Friend, please know – as you endure these temptations, God promises the crown of life to you. It’s worth it to keep going, to keep trusting in Jesus, and to keep receiving His strength.

Enduring through temptation, there is a promise for us: The crown of life which the Lord has promised. With this, James reminds us that it really is worth it to endure under the temptations we face.

The idea of our coming crown is amazing – almost more than we can take in. Spurgeon said this about our coming crown: “O you dear Christian people that live in poverty and obscurity, I have a reverence for your heads which are already anointed with grace, for your heads that are yet to be crowned with glory. You run – often run better than the greatest and most observed of your fellow Christians; and you shall not miss your reward. There is a crown laid up, not only for Paul, but ‘for all them that love our Lord’s appearing.’”

I don’t know what temptations face you on a Monday following a weekend serving God. Whatever they are, be encouraged. Endure through them. Look forward to the promised crown.

Blessings to You in Jesus’ Name – David Guzik

Click Here to Receive Email from David for Pastors, Preachers, and Bible Teachers

And the king commanded them to quarry large stones,
costly stones, and hewn stones,
to lay the foundation of the temple. (1 Kings 5:17)

It was one of the most amazing building projects of the ancient world. Thousands of men worked together to make the temple God inspired David and his son Solomon to build. In fact, a few verses before it says that were 70,000 men who carried burdens and quarried stones on this job site.

1 Kings 5:17 tells us that Solomon used costly stones. This is literally “quality stones,” showing that Solomon used high quality materials even in the foundation where the stones could not be seen.

The Bible says that we are like a temple being built by God. Ephesians 2:19-21 tells us that God’s people are being built up like a temple, with Jesus Christ as the chief corner stone and God’s apostles and prophets as the rest of the foundation. Then God keeps building with all of God’s people, in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord (Ephesians 2:21).

Even closer to the point, 1 Peter 2:5 speaks to God’s people and says, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house. The picture is of God building a building, and we are the “bricks” or the “stones” that God builds with.

So, what might it say to you that Solomon used only costly stones in building the temple?

This speaks to the way you should work for God. We don’t work for appearance only, but also to excel in the deep and hidden things. All of our work for God should be done thoroughly – perhaps especially the work that is like a foundation, lying low and hidden, and not commonly seen by others.

This speaks to the way God works in you. He works in the deep and hidden things when others are concerned with mere appearances. You probably know this from your own life – how God has done a lot of unseen, underground work in your life.

This speaks to the way God builds the church. He wants to do a work of deep, strong foundations instead of a work a mile wide but an inch deep. If we want to see a solid work of God in our churches, it will be built upon His solid people.

Best of all, never forget who paid the price for every one of those costly stones: Jesus our redeemer. It is His temple and all the materials in it are His purchased possession. Thank Jesus for buying, building, and for letting you serve in His temple!

Blessings to You in Jesus’ Name – David Guzik

Click Here to Receive Email from David for Pastors, Preachers, and Bible Teachers

For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. (Hebrews 6:10)

I don’t know how your weekend was. Maybe you are exhausted from a busy weekend and long hours. Maybe you are pleased because God really seemed to do some wonderful things through your service to Him and His people. Maybe you’re frustrated, confused, or anxious.

I don’t know how your weekend of serving God and His people was, but I do know this: God is a just God. He will always be fair and do what is right. And, as it says here in Hebrews 6:10: if God forgot what you did for Him, He would be unjust. Since God can never be unjust, He will never forget!

We can look at this verse and make some good prayers out of it:

– He remembers your work: “Lord, help me to keep working!”
– He remembers your labor of love: “Lord, help me to keep loving!”
– He remembers what you do in His name: “Lord, I want to work to give glory to Your name, not mine.”
– He remembers that you have ministered to the saints: “Lord, make me a servant to Your people, Your holy ones.”
– He remembers that you continually do minister: “Lord, help me to keep going in my service to You and Your people.”

People may forget. The community may not care. You yourself might even forget. But we have God’s word on it: He will never forget what you have done and keep doing for His glory and His people.

So, with God helping you – give Him more to remember!

Blessings to You in Jesus’ Name – David Guzik

Click Here to Receive Email from David for Pastors, Preachers, and Bible Teachers

God helping me, I hope to:

First, Stop trusting in my vows and resolutions and put my focus on Jesus Himself.

2. More and more let God’s word tell its own story. I won’t try to make sermons; I will present the message the Bible itself gives.
3. Put more prayer into my preaching preparation.
4. Pray more after the sermon is preached.
5. Preach with more clarity and simplicity.
6. Not allow any sermon to be longer than it really needs to be.
7. Preach with more of a broken heart to the brokenhearted.
8. Be more persuasive in my preaching; instead of just getting “amens” from those who already agree, I want to preach so as to persuade those who don’t fully agree yet.
9. Put away the fear of man and performance anxiety, enjoying the work of preaching more than before.

Finally, Stop trusting in my vows and resolutions and put my focus on Jesus Himself.

How about you? As a pastor, preacher, or Bible teacher – what’s on your mind as you start a new year?

Blessings to You in Jesus’ Name – David Guzik

Click Here to Receive Email from David for Pastors, Preachers, and Bible Teachers

We have thought, O God, on Your lovingkindness,
In the midst of Your temple.
(Psalm 48:9)

I think this line from Psalm 48 is a great prayer for a preacher to pray. It’s good for us as Bible preachers and teachers to say, “We have thought, O God, on Your lovingkindness.”

Lovingkindness here translates the great Hebrew word hesed. The ESV has “steadfast love,” the NASB has “lovingkindness,” and the NLT has “unfailing love.” Maybe it’s best to see it as “loyal love” or “covenant love.”

This is what we as preachers and teachers should think more about: the wonderful, amazing, loyal love of God.

Charles Spurgeon preached a sermon on this verse, titled A Worthy Theme for Thought. In the sermon Spurgeon thought of three different people in the church and how they should each think and speak more of the lovingkindness of the Lord.

Spurgeon thought of a sister who thought and spoke all the time about her bodily aches and pains. He said, “suppose you tell your next visitor about the lovingkindness of the Lord to you.”

Spurgeon thought of a brother who was having trouble in business, and always thought and spoke about it. “Well, we know that old story; could you not change your note just a little, and talk about the lovingkindness of the Lord?”

Then he thought of a Christian who complained that there was little love in the church. “Now, henceforward, instead of always harping on the faults and failing of God’s people, — which, certainly, are numerous enough, but have not become any fewer since you talked so much about them; — would it not be better to think and talk of the lovingkindness of the Lord?”

How about us as Bible preachers and teachers? Shouldn’t we pray to think more and speak more about the great love of God? We can be consumed with our worries and comparison and fears; isn’t it better for us to think more and speak more about God’s great love?

He really loves you, and He has called you to be messenger of His love.

Blessings to You in Jesus’ Name – David Guzik

Click Here to Receive Email from David for Pastors, Preachers, and Bible Teachers