
Two cousins reuniting may not seem extraordinary on the surface—but the encounter between Mary and Elizabeth would ultimately change the course of human history. Listen to Truth For Life as Alistair Begg walks us through this dramatic event.
From the Sermon

Walking With God
Genuine faith is no flash in the pan. It’s both a decisive act and a sustained attitude.
Enoch, we are told, “walked with God”—but this wasn’t always the case. It is clear from Genesis 5 that there was a time in Enoch’s life when faith began. In fact, we’re told that “Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah.” Perhaps, as with many life-altering experiences, the responsibilities and challenges of parenting quickly revealed Enoch’s inadequacies to him. Whatever the case, there appears to have come a moment in Enoch’s life when he stopped believing in himself, stopped depending on himself, and started believing in and depending on God.
But not only was Enoch’s faith a deliberate choice; it was also a sustained relationship. Faith begins with and continues as a decisive act. Enoch “walked with God” until “he was not.” And as a result of his enduring faith, Enoch was taken by God. He didn’t taste death.
Enoch’s almost-unique end-of-life experience anticipates the glorification of the body, which will be the experience of all believers when Jesus Christ returns. Paul explains that “the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:52-53). When we walk with God, remembering that every dimension of our lives is under His control and constraint, then being gathered into our eternal future will change our bodies and our setting but it will not change our company.
Enoch’s sustained relationship with God has culminated in his enjoyment of God’s presence forever. If we are going to spend all of eternity in worship of our God, then in worshiping Him on earth we are simply beginning what will never end. If we are going to spend all of eternity in fellowship and in adoration, then our experience here is preparation for what happens there. So walk with Him today. Be aware of His presence. Be dependent on His grace and power. Be quick to ask for His forgiveness. Be alert to His guiding. Walk with Him today, until today is the day you see Him face-to-face.
How is God calling me to think differently?
How is God reordering my heart’s affections — what I love?
What is God calling me to do as I go about my day today?
The Coming of the Lord
13But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, gthat you may not grieve as others do hwho have no hope. 14For isince we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him jthose who have fallen asleep. 15For this we declare to you kby a word from the Lord,4 that lwe who are alive, who are left until mthe coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16For nthe Lord himself will descend ofrom heaven pwith a cry of command, with the voice of qan archangel, and rwith the sound of the trumpet of God. And sthe dead in Christ will rise first. 17Then we who are alive, who are left, will be tcaught up together with them uin the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so vwe will always be with the Lord. 18Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotionals by Alistair Begg, published by The Good Book Company, thegoodbook.com. Used by Truth For Life with permission. Copyright © 2021, 2022, The Good Book Company.

Passion to Save Souls
I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.
Paul's great object was not merely to instruct and to improve, but to save. Anything short of this would have disappointed him; he desired to see men renewed in heart, forgiven, sanctified, in fact saved. Have our Christian efforts been aimed at anything below this great objective? Then let us correct our ways, for what good will it be at the last great day to have taught and moralized men if they appear before God unsaved? If through life we have sought inferior objects and forgotten that men needed to be saved, then we will be held accountable.
Paul knew the ruin of man's natural state and did not try to educate him, but to save him; he saw men sinking to hell and did not talk of refining them, but of saving from the wrath to come. To accomplish their salvation, he gave himself up with untiring zeal to spreading the Gospel, to warning and beseeching men to be reconciled to God. His prayers were persistent and his labors incessant. His consuming passion, his ambition, his calling was to save souls. He became a servant to all men, working for them, feeling a woe within him if he did not preach the Gospel. He laid aside his preferences to prevent prejudice; he submitted his will in things indifferent, and if men would just receive the Gospel, he raised no questions about forms or ceremonies. The Gospel was the one all-important business with him. If he might save some, he would be content. This was the crown for which he extended himself, the sole and sufficient reward of all his labors and self-denials.
Dear reader, have you and I lived to win souls to this extent? Are we possessed with the same all-absorbing desire? If not, why not? Jesus died for sinners. Can we not live for them? Where is our tenderness? Where is our love for Christ, if we do not seek His honor in the salvation of men? Lord Jesus, saturate us through and through with an undying zeal for the souls of men.

Devotional material is taken from Morning and Evening, written by C. H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg. Copyright © 2003, Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org. Used by Truth For Life with written permission.
Daily Bible Reading for December 7
Fire from Heaven
1tAs soon as Solomon finished his prayer, ufire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, vand the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 2And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord's house. 3When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “For he is good, wfor his steadfast love endures forever.”
The Dedication of the Temple
4xThen the king and all the people offered sacrifice before the Lord. 5King Solomon offered as a sacrifice 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. 6The priests stood at their posts; ythe Levites also, with the instruments for music to the Lord that King David had made for giving thanks to the Lord—wfor his steadfast love endures forever—whenever David offered praises by their ministry;1 zopposite them the priests sounded trumpets, and all Israel stood.
7aAnd Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord, for there he offered the burnt offering and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar Solomon had made could not hold the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat.
8At that time Solomon held the feast for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from bLebo-hamath to the cBrook of Egypt. 9And on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, for they had kept the dedication of the altar seven days and the feast seven days. 10On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their homes, joyful and glad of heart for the prosperity2 that the Lord had granted to David and to Solomon and to Israel his people.
If My People Pray
11dThus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king's house. All that Solomon had planned to do in the house of the Lord and in his own house he successfully accomplished. 12Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer eand have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. 13fWhen I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, 14if my people who are called by my name ghumble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15hNow my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. 16eFor now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. 17And as for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my rules, 18then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, i‘You shall not lack a man to rule Israel.’
19j“But if you3 turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, 20kthen I will pluck you4 up from my land that I have given you, and this house that I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it la proverb and a byword among all peoples. 21And at this house, which was exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished and say, m‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ 22Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore he has brought all this disaster on them.’”
Greeting
1aThe elder to the elect lady and her children, bwhom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who cknow dthe truth, 2ebecause of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever:
3fGrace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love.
Walking in Truth and Love
4gI rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. 5And now I ask you, dear lady—hnot as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—ithat we love one another. 6And jthis is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just kas you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. 7For lmany deceivers mhave gone out into the world, nthose who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8Watch yourselves, oso that you may not lose what we1 have worked for, but pmay win a full reward. 9Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, qdoes not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching qhas both the Father and the Son. 10If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, rdo not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, 11for whoever greets him stakes part in his wicked works.
Final Greetings
12tThough I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. uInstead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, vso that our joy may be complete.
13The children of your elect sister greet you.
1I will htake my stand at my watchpost
and station myself on the tower,
and ilook out to see jwhat he will say to me,
and what I will answer concerning my complaint.
The Righteous Shall Live by His Faith
2And the Lord answered me:
k“Write the vision;
make it plain on tablets,
so he may run who reads it.
3For still lthe vision awaits its appointed time;
it hastens to the end—it will not lie.
If it seems slow, mwait for it;
nit will surely come; it will not delay.
4“Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
but othe righteous shall live by his faith.1
5“Moreover, wine2 is pa traitor,
an arrogant man who is never at rest.3
His greed is as wide as Sheol;
like death qhe has never enough.
rHe gathers for himself all nations
and collects as his own all peoples.”
Woe to the Chaldeans
6Shall not all these stake up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say,
t“Woe to him uwho heaps up what is not his own—
for vhow long?—
and wloads himself with pledges!”
7xWill not your debtors suddenly arise,
and those awake who will make you tremble?
Then you will be spoil for them.
8yBecause you have plundered many nations,
all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you,
zfor the blood of man and yviolence to the earth,
to cities and all who dwell in them.
9t“Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house,
to be safe from the reach of harm!
10You have devised shame for your house
cby cutting off many peoples;
you have forfeited your life.
11For dthe stone will cry out from the wall,
and the beam from the woodwork respond.
12t“Woe to him ewho builds a town with blood
and founds a city on iniquity!
13Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts
that fpeoples labor merely for fire,
and nations weary themselves for nothing?
14gFor the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of hthe glory of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
15t“Woe to him iwho makes his neighbors drink—
you pour out your wrath and make them drunk,
in order to gaze jat their nakedness!
16You will have your fill kof shame instead of glory.
lDrink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision!
lThe cup in the Lord's right hand
will come around to you,
and mutter shame will come upon your glory!
17nThe violence odone to Lebanon will overwhelm you,
as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them,
nfor the blood of man and violence to the earth,
to cities and all who dwell in them.
18p“What profit is an idol
when its maker has shaped it,
a metal image, qa teacher of lies?
For its maker trusts in his own creation
when he makes rspeechless idols!
19sWoe to him twho says to a wooden thing, Awake;
to a silent stone, Arise!
Can this teach?
Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,
and uthere is no breath at all in it.
20But vthe Lord is in his holy temple;
wlet all the earth keep silence before him.”
The Widow's Offering
1yJesus1 looked up and saw the rich zputting their gifts into athe offering box, 2and he saw a poor widow put in two bsmall copper coins.2 3And he said, “Truly, I tell you, cthis poor widow has put in more than all of them. 4For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her dpoverty put in all eshe had to live on.”
Jesus Foretells Destruction of the Temple
5fAnd while some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said, 6“As for these things that you see, gthe days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” 7And they asked him, “Teacher, hwhen will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?” 8And he said, i“See that you are not led astray. For jmany will come in my name, saying, k‘I am he!’ and, l‘The time is at hand!’ Do not go after them. 9And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be mterrified, for these things nmust first take place, but the end will not be at once.”
Jesus Foretells Wars and Persecution
10Then he said to them, o“Nation will rise against nation, and pkingdom against kingdom. 11There will be great qearthquakes, and in various places rfamines and pestilences. And there will be sterrors and great tsigns from heaven. 12But before all this uthey will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to vthe synagogues and wprisons, and you xwill be brought before ykings and zgovernors for my name's sake. 13aThis will be your opportunity to bear witness. 14Settle it therefore in your minds bnot to meditate beforehand how to answer, 15for cI will give you a mouth and dwisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or econtradict. 16You will be delivered up feven by parents and brothers3 and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. 17gYou will be hated by all for my name's sake. 18But hnot a hair of your head will perish. 19By your iendurance you will gain your lives.
Jesus Foretells Destruction of Jerusalem
20“But jwhen you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that kits desolation has come near. 21Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, 22for these are ldays of mvengeance, to fulfill nall that is written. 23oAlas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and pwrath against this people. 24They will fall by the edge of the sword and qbe led captive among all nations, and rJerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, suntil the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
The Coming of the Son of Man
25“And tthere will be signs in sun and moon uand stars, and on the earth vdistress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For wthe powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27And then they will see xthe Son of Man coming in a cloud ywith power and great glory. 28Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and zraise your heads, because ayour redemption is drawing near.”
The Lesson of the Fig Tree
29And he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. 30As soon as they come out in leaf, you see bfor yourselves and know that the summer is already near. 31So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. 32cTruly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. 33dHeaven and earth will pass away, but emy words will not pass away.
Watch Yourselves
34“But watch yourselves flest gyour hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and hcares of this life, and ithat day come upon you suddenly jlike a trap. 35For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36But kstay awake at all times, lpraying that you may mhave strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and nto stand before the Son of Man.”
37And oevery day he was teaching in the temple, but pat night he went out and lodged on qthe mount called Olivet. 38And early in the morning oall the people came to him in the temple to hear him.
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