Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham.

Nearly everyday Christ astounded the people with his doctrine or with his deeds. One of the things that Christ did was to visit the lepers in their affliction.

The leper was an outcast. People were afraid of touching the leper for fear that they too might get the dreaded disease. How lonely that existence must’ve been for these dear souls condemned to live as outcasts, always watching but never enjoying the touch of others. 

Amazingly, Christ not only entered into our world, but He willingly touched the broken lives of lepers, outcasts, and harlots. He loved the unlovely. 

What a difference, the touch of God could make! The old song says,

“Something happened and now I know,

He touched me and made me whole”

Just like the leper that needed the touch of God through Christ, we need a special touch from Him today.

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham.

Have you ever thought about who is follows you?  When my children were young we would often take a hike in the woods and on the tricky parts of the trail, I would tell them to step where I step so they wouldn’t get hurt. For their safety, it was important that they would follow me.  

When Abram was called out of the Ur of the Chaldees, he took with him his nephew Lot. As Lot followed Abram, he witnessed moments of great faith and moments of fear.  Each had a lasting impact on his life.

Lot was affected by Abram’s faith, and 1 Peter records that Lot was a righteous man. Yet, there were also times that Abram acted out of fear, and this became an influence in Lot’s life as well.

Remember that others are following you as well. What we permit today will be celebrated to excess by the next generation. Let us give of ourselves to follow the Lord by faith, so that we may lead those behind us well.

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham.

When I am traveling, I often look for the shortest route to where I am headed. I also look for any short cuts so that I may arrive with time to spare. Yet, there are times when shortcuts are not really shortcuts at all and can cost you in time, energy, and money.  

Just as shortcuts in traveling can be costly, some people try to shortcut the work of God in their life. We want the blessings without the trials. We want the strength without weathering the storms.

In Acts, Simon wanted to buy the power of God in his life. And We too can be guilty of trying to manipulate God into giving His blessings in our life. But it is being faithful to God in the little things can prove to be an arduous task.  Yet, it is through a consistent life of obedience and faith that we see God’s richest blessings. 

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham.

Dwight Morrow, the father of Anne, once held a dinner party to which Calvin Coolidge had been invited. After Coolidge left, Morrow told the remaining guests that Coolidge would make a good president. The others disagreed. They felt Coolidge was too quiet, that he lacked color and personality. They stated that no one would like him.

 Anne, then age six, spoke up: “I like him,” she said. Then she displayed a finger with a small bandage around it. “He was the only one at the party who asked about my sore finger.”

Her father spoke up and said, “And that’s why he would make a good president.”

When we care for others, it is evident. In an age in which people are consumed with self, Christians are called to care for one another.

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham.

What are you afraid of? As a child, I distinctly remember being afraid of the dark. One particular night, I was walking through the field when a pack of coyotes started to howl in the creek bottom. I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up, and every shadow suddenly became an imminent threat. And I found myself running for the house!

One of the most powerful emotions is fear. It can cause us to react in ways that are not typical.

Yet, the fear of the Lord produces an awe, or reverence for God. It prevents us from blaspheming His holy name. It produces in us a desire to please Him. It leads us into His paths to follow Him completely. Instead of causing us to run, it draws us close. As you consider the Lord, may we stand in awe of Him and wonder at His might, beauty, and glory!

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham.

Years ago, a pastor stood at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and watched as a man in tears lay a wreath at the base of the memorial. He slowly fingered the name of a fallen comrade in arms, and he watched him whisper quietly, “Thank you.”

As he approached, he asked him the significance of the man he had just honored. He said, “25 years ago, he stepped into the line of fire for me. I come to say, ‘Thank you’”

Today, we say thank you for those men and women that have served our country and given their lives to preserve freedom.

Your sacrifice reminds us of Jesus’ own greater sacrifice, who took the punishment of our sins on himself so that we might have eternal life. Let us pause today and say “Thank You” to Christ for the greater sacrifice.

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham.

One of the early explorers of South Africa’s ocean waters experienced terrible storms, that were so severe that he nearly lost his ship. He called the place, the Cape of Storms.

But Vasco da Gama, who came later, changed the name to the Cape of Good Hope, because he saw ahead of him the jewels and treasures of India.

The Bible never promises that we will have smooth sailing. Rather, the Bible teaches that the storms will come. When Jesus was here, He and His disciples rode out great storms on the sea of Galilee, but Christ urged them to trust in Him, no matter the condition of the sea. It was His way of saying, “My grace is sufficient.”

When we trust in Christ for salvation, it doesn’t remove the threat of storms. Rather, Christ becomes the anchor of our soul, so that no matter the storm, we have confidence in the eternity that He has promised.

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham.

In April of 1931 work started on one of the largest construction projects ever attempted up to that time. The Hoover Dam would prevent flooding, provide water to growing communities, and produce electricity.

The Hoover Dam was completed in 1936, and it remains one of the largest dams in the world. Over the five years of its construction, more than 21,000 people worked on the project, with between 3,500 and 5,000 working on any given day. They dug tunnels, poured concrete, installed power lines—whatever assignment they were given to carry out. None of them could do everything, but as each one did his part of the job, eventually the massive task was completed.

In the body of Christ, “there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.” Each of us have a different ability so that our one calling in Christ can be accomplished in His name and power and might.

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham.

In ancient pottery making, at times a potter would have a vase that would crack when exposed to the heat of the kiln. The potter could either destroy the vessel, or try to hide the flaw. Those deceitful potters would use wax to hide the crack, then paint the vessel to hide its defect.

This led craftsmen who had vessels without flaws to put above their pottery the Latin phrase, “sine ceramic.” This is where we get our word sincere, meaning "without wax." The way to detect wax in a vessel was to hold it up against a bright light.

If we hold up our lives to the light of Christ, it will reveal what is in the recesses of our heart. As we examine our lives, the sincerity of our love for God is seen in the sincerity of our love for others. 

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham.

Daniel Whittle enlisted in the Illinois Infantry to fight in the Civil War. Yet, he had been severely wounded in the fighting at Vicksburg,, and captured by the Confederates. In his POW camp, Whittle began reading the New Testament.

One night he was awakened and asked to pray with another prisoner who was about to die. He said, “I dropped on my knees and held the boy's hand in mine. In a few broken words, I confessed my sins and asked Christ to forgive me. I believed right there that He did forgive me.”

He would later write in song a declaration of his faith:

I know not why God's wondrous grace

To me He hath made known,

Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love

Redeemed me for His own.

When Jesus said, “And I give unto them eternal life,” He speaks to us with certainty that we are safe in the arms of Jesus.