Devotional Commentary Series
David J. Liebherr brings a pilgrim's walk and a pastor's heart to this unique, ongoing, ever-growing series designed to help followers of the Lord Jesus Christ on their journey to live a life that brings glory to God out of first love for Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, according to the Word of God.
My journey of following Jesus began with a personal surrender to Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord at age 13 in 1976. Having grown up in the Roman Catholic Church, I had some understanding of the external form of organized religion. However, when Jesus came into my life on a personal level, I was born again by the Holy Spirit and transformed into entirely new way of life. I found that religion as a way to someday get to heaven gave way to a daily walk with my Creator at every level of my being and during every season of my life.
Along the way, I eventually felt led by God to pursue a life's calling into vocational full-time ministry. I am a graduate of Central Bible College in Springfield, Missouri. During my time at CBC, God gave me a wonderful wife, and we have now been joined together in Christ, gifted with thirteen children and an ever-growing batch of twenty-two (and counting) grandchildren!
Just as a convenient frame of reference, my theology is non-cessationist yet non-charismatic (i.e., not related to health and wealth or prosperity movements). I take the Holy Bible (the plenary Protestant 66 books of both testaments) as the infallible, authoritative, inerrant Word of God. I believe in the Solas of the Protestant Reformation (Sola Christus, Gratia, Scriptura, Fide, and Deo Gloria ), yet I am not a five-point Calvinist. My first read-through of Scripture was just me and the Holy Spirit when I was first saved as a thirteen-year-old boy, and He set my doctrine in my heart and I have not wavered from it.
Available Titles:
From David J. Liebherr, pastor of 30+ years, comes this "devotional walk through the letter of First Peter", intended as an encouragement to access and apply the eternal message of Pastor Peter's Shepherd-message to the churches that he served almost 2,000 years ago... yet so relevant for today!
As David writes:
"In this short devotional book are my thoughts originally shared on my Facebook page from around April 13 through May 15, 2024 as I read through the amazing letter of ‘First Peter’ originally written by the Apostle Peter almost 2,000 years ago.
I share these thoughts as daily encouragement to you from the heart of one born-again follower of the Lord Jesus Christ to another.
The Bible is a unique book. Its propositional teachings stand on their own two feet, and they can be studied formally to gain an educational knowledge of its teachings— just like any other book. But it is also a living book that is hammered out on the anvil of the personal experiences of the individual hearts and minds of those who read it to get to know the Living God behind it all.
So, in that respect, this devotional has been forged in my thoughts and in my experience over a segment of my daily life and living. I have read First Peter many times over the years and have preached many sermons and teaching sessions from it. But every time I read through this letter, like all Scripture, it comes alive again and the Holy Spirit of God interprets it and applies it to my daily walk with Christ as a guard, a guide and means to get to know Jesus better. At every read-through I am strengthened in my relationship to Christ and made more and more into His Image/Character—always and ultimately for the Glory of God. Also, my path in life has included several decades in ministry centered around learning and teaching The Word of God. Through that lens I have written this devotional. I hope that the “pastoral sway” borne out in what I have written here will help you to understand important Biblical doctrines and their implications for us as followers of Jesus and the sheep of God’s Pasture.
I invite you into ‘the forge’ to hear how God hammered out His Word on the anvil of my heart as I read through First Peter this time through. Some of what you read will mention current events in my life and in the world around me… but that’s the point… next time through God will use this letter to teach, and lead, and relate to me dynamically in the moment and in the circumstances that I am facing daily.
My prayer is that some of the sparks off the anvil will light a fire in your heart to follow Jesus with the fire of the Holy Spirit."
Yours, in Christ,
David J. Liebherr
Pewaukee, WI
The first thing to notice about the Book of Exodus is its title: ‘Exodus’.
The record of this ancient writing is more than just a history of the exit of an enslaved people group from the bondage of a powerful captor-nation.
The fact is— in the ultimate and eternal sense, each of us needs a personal spiritual exodus— to experience deliverance from the power, principality and penalty of the dominion of sin and death.
The miraculous exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt is held up throughout the Bible as a tremendous panoramic drama filled with transformative lessons pointing to Jesus as our Deliverer.
It’s really His-story becoming our story as the Exodus story holds out a message for all of us to consider:
“1Co 10:1 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea.
1Co 10:2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
1Co 10:3 They all ate the same spiritual food
1Co 10:4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
———
1Co 10:11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come.”
In the end, Exodus is not ancient history— it’s your story and my story, drawn up into Christ’s-story, carried to us by the example of God’s people, delivering to us both a warning and a loving offer to facilitate our exodus from the mud pits of slavery in sin, and to walk with Jesus on a life-long journey of discipleship that will gain for us a miraculous gracious entrance into Heaven.
My prayer for this devotional is that those who read it will come alongside me in daily consideration of those lessons to discover the important messages of Kingdom-exodus in Christ Jesus.
My hope is that in doing so we will learn from their ancient example and allow God’s Word to equip us for the long journey that we are on in following our Deliverer— Jesus Christ; for the Glory of God.
From David J. Liebherr, pastor of 30+ years, comes this "Devotional Walk through the Book of Exodus", intended as a daily encouragement to access and apply the life-transforming promises, principles and power of God's Word to our own Exodus from the dominion of sin into the Freedom of The Lord Jesus Christ.
As David writes:
In this devotional book are my thoughts originally shared on my Facebook page from around June through December 2024 as I read through the ancient Book of Exodus, written by Moses nearly 3,500 years ago.
I share these thoughts as a daily encouragement to you from the heart of one born-again follower of the Lord Jesus Christ to another. This devotional is not intended to be a verse-by-verse commentary, but it is more of a coffee conversation approach— me sharing what the Lord had laid on my heart on that given day as I read a daily portion of Exodus.
Some of what you read will mention current events in my life and in the world around me… but that’s the point… next time through, God will use this letter to teach, and lead, and relate to me dynamically in the moment and in the circumstances that I am facing daily.
My prayer is that some of ‘the sparks off the anvil’ will light a fire in your heart to follow Jesus with the fire of the Holy Spirit.
Yours, in Christ,
David J. Liebherr
The Beatitudes are not meant to burden us with yet another religious list of moral obligations; they are Christ alive in us like lightning in a bottle… “Christ in you, the Hope of Glory.” (Col. 1:27) The Beatitudes are not intended to be something humans do in the world, but they are something that Jesus does in us when He enters the individual human heart through the New Birth, afforded to those who repent of their sins and trust Him as their personal Savior and Lord. The Beatitudes are the release of the Holy Spirit’s Power in us while He causes ‘Christ to dwell in our hearts by faith’ as The Apostle Paul describes in his prayer for God’s people in Ephesians Chapter Three. I share these thoughts as a daily encouragement to you from the heart of one born-again follower of the Lord Jesus Christ to another. This devotional is not intended to be a verse-by-verse commentary, but it is more of a coffee conversation— me sharing what the Lord has laid on my heart on that given day, as I read through The Beatitudes this time around. The Bible is a unique book. Its propositional teachings stand on their own two feet, and they can be studied formally to gain an educational knowledge of its teachings— just like any other book. But it is also a living book that is hammered out on the anvil of the personal experiences of the individual hearts and minds of those who read it to get to know the Living God behind it all. So, in that respect, this devotional has been forged in my thoughts and in my experience over a segment of my daily life and living. I have read The Sermon on the Mount many times over the years and have preached many sermons and teaching sessions from it. But every time I read through Jesus’ introduction, like all Scripture, it comes alive again and the Holy Spirit of God interprets it and applies it to my daily walk with Christ as a guard, a guide, and a means to get to know Him better. At every read-through, I am strengthened in my relationship to Christ and made more and more into His Image/Character— always and ultimately for the Glory of God. As for perspective, my path in life has included several decades in ministry, centered around learning and teaching The Word of God. Through that lens, I have written this devotional. I hope that the “pastoral sway” borne out in what I have written here will help you to understand important Biblical doctrines and their implications for us as followers of Jesus… the sheep of God’s Pasture. I invite you into ‘the forge’ to hear how God hammered out His Word on the anvil of my heart as I read through The Beatitudes this time through. My prayer is that some of ‘the sparks off the anvil’ will light a fire in your heart to follow Jesus with the fire of the Holy Spirit. Yours, in Christ, David J. Liebherr