Daily Devotions

My husband and I both grew up on dead end streets, so we were thrilled to be buying a house on a road with no outlet. Traffic on a dead end is usually minimal and slower – more hospitable for children playing ball or racing scooters. Life is quieter, and the view from my porch rocker is a lush, green wall of tree line where the road ends. I love it. Consider these words: Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end. (Psalm 102:25-27) Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) Our God does not change. Today let’s settle our hearts into this familiar truth. It’s hard to name anything that isn’t constantly spinning on a merry-go-round of change. The drive from Nicholasville to Lexington shifts monthly: new stoplight, new coffee shop, new billboards. Technology is outdated almost before it’s unboxed – to say nothing of shifting cultural and social norms. Consider your own life. Many of you are walking through financial difficulty, health concerns, loss of a loved one, fear of the future, relationship struggles, job instability, or other uncertainties. Maybe your life today and your life a year ago look nothing alike -- and not in a good way. Our family experienced profound loss last year. We’ve known God’s faithfulness at every turn, but life is different. Harder. Sometimes it seems life is unfolding on a giant question mark. But that’s not true. In Christ, we live our lives on the foundation of God’s steadfast love. He is always the same and will always remain so. This should settle our hearts. The land on the other side of our dead end was recently purchased for housing. The view from my porch is now unrecognizable -- no more tree line. Increased traffic, towering homes blocking the sky. I don’t love it. But one thing hasn’t changed -- my spot in my front porch rocker. Everything feels different, but I haven’t moved. And I’m okay. Abide in the steadfast love of our unchanging, faithful God. Tell the truth about Him to your shaking heart, lean in, and find rest. I’ll be doing the same. Father, speak truth to us today. Teach us to speak it to ourselves and one another. Don’t allow us to be shaken by the changes and uncertainties around us. Instead, cause us to trust You and Your character in all things, for Your glory. Amen.  By Lori Barkley Lori and her husband, Jim, attend the Armstrong Mill campus where she serves as a deacon. Lori works in the FRC at the Jessamine Early Learning Village in Nicholasville. They have two teenage daughters, Brynn and Katy.

So Naomi returned from the country of Moab, and with her Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law. And they arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. (Ruth 1:22) Maybe you can personally connect with how Naomi must have felt as she came back home to Bethlehem after living ten years in Moab. When you came back home, maybe you found that many things had changed – new streets, unfamiliar faces, old friends busy with their new lives, trees you planted now grown tall and full, old buildings torn down and replaced by skyscrapers, farmland replaced by subdivisions. But more than all that, maybe you realized that YOU had changed. Naomi had changed too; she expressed it this way, “I went out full, but the Lord has brought me home again empty” (Ruth 1:21). When she left Bethlehem, her heart was full of family – she had a husband and two sons. Although they were leaving their homeland, they had each other, and they had hope – hope for food and survival in the land of Moab. However, after a time, the people that filled her life with joy died – first Elimelech, and then her two sons. With their deaths, Naomi changed – her hope died right along with her family members. She felt empty -- her hope was gone forever; but God, the giver of hope for the hopeless, had plans to make her hopelessness only temporary. It was the beginning of the barley harvest, and God’s perfect plan would soon unfold. Perhaps you too have come home after an extended time away – and noted how much has changed since your childhood days. Perhaps you’re reflecting on how much you’ve changed from the adventurous, dream-filled kid you once were – memorizing your VBS Bible verses but not fully understanding. Whether your youthful dreams have come true or not, I do hope YOU have changed – I hope you now delight in the vibrant truth of God’s Word and actually find it leaving you breathless. But at this moment in our story, Naomi is returning to Bethlehem – a changed woman – no longer living into the meaning of her name (pleasant), feeling empty, sad, alone, and bitter. Please join me as we go back to Bethlehem – perhaps, like Naomi, offering God only our emptiness – and let Him fill that emptiness with love, joy, peace, and hope – the hope of Jesus – the One whose name is the hope of all the world (Matthew 12:21). By Judy Shrout  Judy is the wife of Tom, mother of Heather, mother-in-law of Jim, grandmom to T.J., Ainsley, and Maggie, and grandmother-in-law to Piper.

As I prayerfully studied the book of Ruth, I encountered some interesting correlations between Ruth, the young Moabite widow, and Mary, the young mother of our Messiah. Obviously, they didn’t have all things in common, but there are some similarities: 1 – Both came to love God with all their hearts – Ruth coming to that love as a young woman because of the influence of Naomi -- Mary probably as a young child growing up in a Hebrew home and hearing of the hope for the Messiah. 2 – Both were humble and selfless – neither drawing attention to themselves – both quietly going about their lives, doing their daily tasks with willing submission. 3 – Both were led by the hand of God to accept a difficult challenge – Ruth leaving her family and her pagan land and going to a God-fearing land where she might not be welcome – Mary being pregnant by the Holy Spirit and being subjected to the unwelcome stares and gossip of her neighbors. 4 – Both beautifully let their hearts overflow in poetic statements of faith that are still used in worship today: Ruth’s words to Naomi: “Do not urge me to leave you or to turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people will be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord do the same to me [as He has done to you], and more also, if anything but death separates me from you.” (Ruth 1:16-17) Mary’s words to Elizabeth: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has looked [with loving care] on the humble state of His maidservant; for behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed. For He who is mighty has done great things for me; and holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him.” (Luke 1:46-50) I was also imagining that if these two young women asked me to pray for them, I don’t think they would have asked me to pray for God to protect them from harm. I think, instead, they would have asked me to pray that God would give them courage.  In our world, we have become fearful people. Would you consider praying the way I think Ruth and Mary would have prayed – praying, not for protection from harm, but praying for the courage to live out your calling? By Judy Shrout Judy is the wife of Tom, mother of Heather, mother-in-law of Jim, grandmom to T.J., Ainsley, and Maggie, and grandmother-in-law to Piper.

Superstition says that bad news comes in threes – happening all at once or in quick succession. Well… that’s precisely what happened with the family of Elimelech while they were living in Moab. First, Elimelech died, plunging Naomi into widowhood. Second and third, both sons, Mahlon and Chilion, died, swallowing up the hopes and dreams of their young wives, Ruth and Orpah. Things were terribly unpleasant – so much so that Naomi, the woman whose name meant “pleasant,” wanted to change her name to Mara, which meant “bitter.” After living in Moab for ten years, word arrived that there was now bread in the house of bread, Bethlehem, Naomi’s hometown. So, she decided she would sadly crawl back into town alone and live out her days there. She graciously encouraged her much-loved daughters-in-law to go back to their own parents’ home, marry again, and have their own families. When they arrived at the crossroads where a decision had to be made, Naomi entreated the young widows to stay behind in Moab: “May the Lord grant that you find rest, each one in the home of her husband.” Then she kissed them [goodbye] and they wept aloud (Ruth 1:9). Picture the scene with me: three women bawling their eyes out in the middle of the road (v.9), clinging to each other, then crying some more (v.14). Imagine with me the tear-soaked cloaks and tunics as they said their final goodbyes to Orpah, who chose to return to Moab. And perhaps Ruth had some additional tears to shed as she said goodbye to her homeland and chose to accompany Naomi to the town of Bethlehem. This was the crossroads where faith and the familiar duked it out. For Orpah, the familiar won out; she went back to Moab. For Ruth, faith won out; she went on with Naomi to the village of Bethlehem. At the time, the choices of the two young widows at the crossroads probably didn’t make any headlines. Yet at this very moment, Orpah walked off the pages of Scripture and Ruth walked right into the lineage of our Savior, Jesus Christ – and into our hearts.  But aren’t crossroads decisions like that? At the time, it may seem like any other moment. But when we invite God into our decision-making, those moments may become crossroads and turning points. What decision do you need to make today? Will the familiar win out? Or will you invite God into your moment and step out in faith – and perhaps begin a new chapter in your story? By Judy Shrout Judy is the wife of Tom, mother of Heather, mother-in-law of Jim, grandmom to T.J., Ainsley, and Maggie, and grandmother-in-law to Piper.

In his book, Love Does , Bob Goff writes about “ secretly incredible people .” These are people who “ keep what they do one of God’s best-kept secrets because the only One who needs to know, the God of the universe, already knows .” They don’t talk much about what they do; they just do things. He says that if you need a mission statement to be secretly incredible, this is it: BE AWESOME. But don’t put that statement on a bracelet or a big sweatshirt – instead write that statement on your heart – and just go about being awesome. As I’ve been lingering in the first chapter of the book of Ruth, I have decided that perhaps Naomi is one of those secretly incredible people – one that was quietly awesome. As she was loving her Moabite daughters-in-law in their homeland, mentoring them, and demonstrating her love for the one true God, she had no idea that she was pouring into one who would be included in the lineage of Jesus! She had no idea that her faith was a bright light in the dark pagan world that was her home for ten years. The Hebrew word for Naomi is “pleasant.” And for most of her life, that was an accurate description of Naomi – pleasantly loving her husband, pleasantly raising her boys, pleasantly moving with the family to Moab, pleasantly embracing her daughters-in-law. There must have been something quite engaging about Naomi that caused her daughters-in-law to love her so much that eventually they both were willing to leave their homeland to be with her. Do you think perhaps Naomi loved those young women unconditionally even though they both had worshipped pagan gods all their young lives? Do you think perhaps Naomi lived out the truth of her love for her Creator – loving Him with all her heart, soul, mind, and strength -- rather than telling the girls all the things they were doing wrong or trying to correct all the wrong-headed thinking they had embraced? Do you think perhaps her genuine compassion for the girls opened their hearts to Truth? We know that Naomi is not included in the lineage of Jesus, but that does not diminish the importance of her life. She was just going about her days both in Bethlehem and in Moab being secretly incredible – and being used mightily by the Almighty God. Are you willing to accept the same challenge to be secretly incredible? Today take advantage of one opportunity to be awesome – and don’t tell anybody – not even me! (I’ll just trust that you’re being awesome!) By Judy Shrout Judy is the wife of Tom, mother of Heather, mother-in-law of Jim, grandmom to T.J., Ainsley, and Maggie, and grandmother-in-law to Piper.

Today let’s pop in at Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus – the place where shepherds bowed down to worship the Son of God. Sometimes we forget that the Christmas story had it’s beginning in the heart of God long before Gabriel appeared to a young girl in Nazareth, so today we’re visiting Bethlehem many centuries before that event. The news reporters in the little town of Bethlehem knew the basic rules of journalism, as evidenced in this breaking news recorded in the book of Ruth: In the days when the judges governed [Israel], there was a famine in the land [of Canaan]. And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to live temporarily in the country of Moab with his wife and his two sons. The man’s name was Elimelech… (Ruth 1:1-2) Who – Elimelech with his wife and his two sons What – left Bethlehem in Judah When – in the days when judges governed Israel (sometime between 1200 and 1100 B.C) Where – went to live temporarily in the country of Moab Why – because there was a famine in the land of Canaan Good journalism – no personal opinion or judgment tucked in there – no mention of the writer’s perception of all the emotions involved in the process. Just the facts. It’s interesting to note that the name Bethlehem in Hebrew means “house of bread” – but you’ll notice from our Scripture that the house of bread had run out of bread. There was a famine in the land of Canaan, and “a certain man of Bethlehem” decided to uproot his family and journey to the pagan country of Moab where he heard there was food. Because the name Elimelech means “my God is king,” I would like to think that he sought God’s wisdom as he made this decision for his family. As head of the household, he would have felt the weighty responsibility for his family’s survival. Elimelech couldn’t have known the rest of the story or even the next events of the story, but he had to make a decision – and we now know that God’s hand was involved in that decision.  As you face decisions today, are you seeking God’s wisdom? Do you trust that the providential hand of God is moving in your world – even when you can’t see it? Do you trust God with the rest of YOUR story? That’s called faith – are you leaning into it? By Judy Shrout Judy is the wife of Tom, mother of Heather, mother-in-law of Jim, grandmom to T.J., Ainsley, and Maggie, and grandmother-in-law to Piper.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:1-2) In this powerful passage Paul lays out the keys to effective Christian living through the process of what Scripture calls “ sanctification ”. First, note that sanctification is predicated on salvation . The phrase “by the mercies of God” implies that everything said afterwards is dependent upon God’s merciful act of salvation by the blood of Christ. As Christians, we often get this point mixed up and feel our righteous living in some way brings the mercy of God. This leads to a works-based salvation and goes against everything Paul has argued up to this point in Romans. Secondly, sanctification is proclaimed by sacrificial living . God calls us to live differently – living lives “holy (set apart) and pleasing to God”. The word translated “true” is from the Greek word “logikos” from which we get the word “logical”. This is basically telling us that living out our lives in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord is the natural (logical) response to the great mercy He has shown to us – the same idea Paul brings forward in 1 Corinthians 6:20: For you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body. We don’t live differently to be saved ; rather we live differently because we are saved! Lastly, sanctification is powered by a renewed mind . Paul draws a stark contrast between the mindset of the world and the one we should have as believers. This change of mindset can only be accomplished through the transformative power of the Holy Spirit and the moment-by-moment surrender of our minds to the things of God - like studying Scripture, praying, and lovingly utilizing our spiritual gifts for building others up. This is the process of sanctification, which is referred to often in Scripture (for example, Colossians 3:9-10, Romans 6:6 and Hebrews 12:1). Reflecting on this passage, ask yourself a few key questions. Have you truly accepted God's merciful gift of salvation? If not, now is the time! Are you living to earn your salvation, or to worship and honor God who has shown you mercy? Finally, is your mind being conformed to the world or being transformed by the renewing power of God's Spirit through investing your time into understanding His Word and living it out through exhibiting the Fruit of the Spirit? By Paky Kramer Paky leads APM Paving and has been at IBC since he was 9 years old. He and his wife, Traci, have been married for 25 years and have two children, Caroline and Carver. He currently leads a Sunday morning Bible study at Immanuel Tates Creek.

After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight (Acts 1:9). The ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven, as witnessed by His disciples, marks not only the culmination of Jesus's earthly ministry but also the beginning of a new era for His followers. The ascension signifies several key truths that are foundational to our faith and understanding of God's plan for humanity. Firstly, the ascension of Jesus represents His exaltation and enthronement. In ascending to heaven, Jesus took His rightful place at the right hand of the Father, signifying His ultimate authority and dominion over heaven and earth (Ephesians 1:20-22). This act of enthronement reminds us that Christ is now reigning as King, and His Kingdom is both a present reality and a future hope. Secondly, the ascension underscores the role of Jesus as our High Priest and Intercessor. Hebrews 4:14- 16 describes Jesus as the great High Priest who has passed through the heavens. This ongoing intercessory work provides us with the assurance of our salvation and the confidence to approach God's throne of grace. Furthermore, the ascension was a necessary precursor to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The ascension, therefore, sets the stage for the coming of the Holy Spirit, who empowers the church to continue the mission of Jesus in the world. The ascension also points us toward the future return of Christ. Just as He was taken up into heaven, He will come back in the same way (Acts 1:11). This promise of Jesus's return fills us with hope and anticipation, motivating us to live faithfully as we await His coming Kingdom. How does the reality of Jesus's ascension and current reign affect your understanding of His lordship over your life and the world? In what ways are you living in anticipation of Jesus's return? How does this shape your priorities and actions? The ascension of Jesus is not an ending but a profound beginning. It marks the transition of Jesus's work on earth to His work through His body, the church, empowered by the Holy Spirit. As we reflect on this significant event, let us live with a sense of purpose and anticipation, knowing that we serve a risen and ascended King. Let's embrace our calling to be witnesses to the ends of the earth, grounded in the promise of His presence and empowered by the Spirit until the day of His return. The ascension reminds us that our faith is dynamic, forward-moving, and always anchored in the hope of Christ's ultimate victory. By Jim Connell Jim is the Founder and retired director of Lexington Rescue Mission and author of FaithAnswersPress.net and JesusIsLordBlog.com

I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high (Luke 24:49). In the unfolding narrative of Jesus's final moments with His disciples, a profound promise is extended—a promise that would not only mark the beginning of a new chapter for the disciples but for the entire course of human history. Jesus promises the Holy Spirit, the very presence of God, to empower His followers for the mission ahead. This promise, found in Luke 24:49, is a pivotal moment that transitions the disciples from learners to leaders, from followers to founders of the church. The disciples, who once cowered in fear, become bold proclaimers of the Gospel. Their transformation is a testament to the Spirit's power to change hearts and minds. This personal transformation leads to the communal transformation of societies and cultures as the message of the Gospel takes root in diverse contexts. This passage invites us to reflect on the nature of the empowerment Jesus speaks of. It's not merely about human strength, wisdom, or capability. It';s about being "clothed with power from on high." This divine empowerment enables us to go beyond our natural limitations, to witness boldly, to love radically, and to serve faithfully in the face of challenges and opposition. The promise of the Holy Spirit is not just for the disciples but for all who follow Christ. It's a reminder that we are not alone in our journey of faith and mission. The Holy Spirit guides, comforts, convicts, and empowers us to fulfill God's purposes in our lives and in the world. How do you experience the empowerment of the Holy Spirit in your life? Are there areas where you need to rely more on His strength rather than your own? Reflect on a time when you felt particularly led or empowered by the Holy Spirit. How did that experience shape your understanding of God's presence and power in your life? The promise of the Holy Spirit is one of the greatest gifts Jesus left His followers. As we ponder this incredible promise, let us be open to the ways the Spirit wants to work in and through us. Let us seek to be continually filled and empowered, not just for our own sake but so that we can be effective witnesses of Christ's love and grace in the world. The calling to follow Jesus is a calling to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, embracing our identity as God's empowered people for such a time as this. By Jim Connell Jim is the Founder and retired director of Lexington Rescue Mission and author of FaithAnswersPress.net and JesusIsLordBlog.com