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

James Hamilton told a story from the days before electric refrigerators. In those days, icehouses furnished the means of cooling food in the summer months. Thick blocks of ice were cut from ponds and lakes and stored in buildings with thick walls, and covered with layers of sawdust to slow the melting process.

Hamilton wrote: “One man lost a valuable watch while working in an icehouse. He searched diligently for it, carefully raking through the sawdust, but didn’t find it. … A small boy who heard about the …search slipped into the icehouse… and soon emerged with the watch. Amazed, the men asked him how he found it. [He said,] “I closed the door, …lay down in the sawdust, and kept very still. Soon I heard the watch ticking.”

God’s still, small voice can easily be drowned out by the world. Listen intently for Him, then follow his leading.

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

When John Paton, the missionary to the New Hebrides islands was working to translate the Word of God into the language of the people he served, he wanted to be sure he conveyed the meaning of the word “Faith” accurately.

As he was trying to come up with just the right word, one of the native workers came into the house after a long day of labor. Collapsing into a chair, he propped his feet up and declared how good it felt to sit down. When Paton heard him use his word that meant “lean your whole weight on,” he realized he found the best translation possible for faith.

Faith is leaning completely upon the promises and Word of God. When we do not trust in the Lord, we rob ourselves of power and blessing and the answers to prayer that we need. God has never broken a promise. We can “Lean our whole weight on” every word of promise God has ever given.

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

While Jesus was on the Mount of Transfiguration with Peter, James, and John, a distraught father brought his demon possessed son to the other disciples, but they couldn’t help. They just didn’t have the power to overcome.

Vance Havner said, “Too many of us today are shaky about what we believe but not shaken by what we believe. Too many people assemble at God’s house who don’t really believe in the power of God. … As the hymn puts it, ‘All is vain unless the Spirit of the Holy One comes down.’”

The challenges of the world that we face are too great for our own strength, that is why God calls us to tap into His strength and find all the resources we need to live victoriously in the Christian life. Rest Assured, God is able!

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

When Jesus came to Earth to be our Saviour, He did not stop being God. The entire time He was here on Earth, He was both fully human and fully divine. Yet even though He was still God, Jesus voluntarily laid aside the power and glory that was His, so that He could provide salvation for the lost.

Paul said it this way, “…took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men”

For one brief moment during Christ’s ministry, however, the true nature of Jesus was revealed as He was transfigured before Peter, James, and John. There on that Mount, the veil was drawn back, and His glory shone through.

Seeing Jesus for who He really is will make us want to serve and glorify Him more than ever!

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

In his prayer journal, the missionary martyr, Jim Elliott wrote, “Father, take my life, yea, my blood if Thou wilt, and consume it with Thine enveloping fire. I would not save it, for it is not mine to save. Have it. Lord, have it all. Pour out my life as an oblation for the world. Blood is only of value as it flows before thine altar.”

Elliott did back up this statement with his very life when he and four other missionaries were killed by the spears of the Ecuadorian tribe they were trying to reach with the gospel. Yet, their death was instrumental in helping others to see the need and surrender their lives to serve the Lord as missionaries.

Are you living for what matters most? No Christian will stand before the Lord and regret a single investment that was made into eternity.

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

The first two English missionaries to the island of New Hebrides were killed and eaten by the cannibals when they arrived. Despite knowing this, John Paton and his wife determined to risk the dangers to reach these people.

As they announced their plans to their church, one of the elder members discouraged the effort, by declaring, “You will be eaten by cannibals!”

John Paton responded, “Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms; I confess to you, that if I can live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by cannibals or by worms.”

The world tells us that we should cling to our lives and do everything possible to defend them. But God’s call for us is different. The goal of the Christian life is not to be safe, it is to invest in the eternal, and that requires sacrifice.

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

In a small village in Germany, they have been performing a play depicting the final week of the life of Jesus for nearly 400 years. Some years ago, the actor portraying Jesus fell down during the scene when he was carrying the cross to Calvary.

An onlooker was so overcome in the moment that he ran forward to help lift the cross from the actor’s back. Thinking it would be a stage prop, he only used one hand, but found he could not move the heavy wood. Afterward he met the actor who told him, “I cannot look like Jesus unless I carry a real cross.”

Salvation is freely provided by God’s grace to all who believe, but it was certainly not free. The awfulness of sin required a great price that had to be paid for salvation. Jesus came into the world, knowing the price that would be required, and He willingly paid it.

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

Many years ago in a small town in Virginia, the newspaper printed the upcoming sermon topics for the local churches. A pastor named R.I. Williams phoned the editor to share that his sermon for the upcoming Sunday would be titled, “The Lord is My Shepherd.”

The editor asked, “Is that all?” To which the pastor replied, “That is enough!” When the paper arrived at his home he opened it to find the printed topic: “The Lord is My Shepherd and That is Enough.”

Jesus is not just a good teacher, an ancient mystic, or an example for us to follow. He is not merely a man — although He was fully human. He is the very Son of God and the Messiah who had been promised through the centuries. He was sent into the world to be the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world.

In Jesus we have everything that we will ever need both for this world and the next.

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

I heard about a church that had a sign out front which read: “We care about you” Underneath in smaller letters it said: “Sundays 10:00 am only.”

When Christ walked the dusty roads in Israel, He never once stopped caring for people. No matter if He was physically exhausted or hungry, He cared about others more than Himself. He said, “For the son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” He cared for others even at the expense of his own life.

The reality is that caring about people and ministering to them and meeting their needs requires effort and sacrifice on our part. There are not shortcuts to touching lives. When we are willing to make sacrifices and invest in the lives of others, it will leave an impact on generations to come.

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

There is an old joke about a man who ignored an evacuation order given because of a coming flood. As the water began to rise, a rescue officer in a boat came by his house and told him to get in or he might drown.

The man replied, “I’m fine. God will take care of me.”

When the water continued to rise, he was eventually forced to the roof of his house. A helicopter flew over and lowered a ladder, but he again refused. “God will take care of me.” After he drowned, he asked God why He hadn’t rescued him. God responded, “I sent you a boat and a helicopter, what else did you want?”

There are times when we do not listen to what God has said because it convicts us or would requires us to do something we do not want to do. Make the decision today to choose to obey God, no matter how He may lead.