Max Lucado Daily: Nothing To Fear
Nothing To Fear
Posted: 11 Apr 2011 11:01 PM PDT
“He isn’t here! He has been raised from the dead.” Matthew 28:6, NLT
The crucifixion was marked by sudden darkness, silent angels, and mocking soldiers. At the empty tomb the soldiers are silent, an angel speaks, and light erupts like Vesuvius. The one who was dead is said to be alive, and the soldiers, who are alive, look as if they are dead. The women can tell something is up . . . The angel informs them: “He isn’t here! He has been raised from the dead.”
Heaven unplugged the grave’s power cord, and you and I have nothing to fear. Death is disabled.
Numbers 5
The Purity of the Camp
1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 “Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone who has a defiling skin disease[a] or a discharge of any kind, or who is ceremonially unclean because of a dead body. 3 Send away male and female alike; send them outside the camp so they will not defile their camp, where I dwell among them.” 4 The Israelites did so; they sent them outside the camp. They did just as the LORD had instructed Moses.
Restitution for Wrongs
5 The LORD said to Moses, 6 “Say to the Israelites: ‘Any man or woman who wrongs another in any way[b] and so is unfaithful to the LORD is guilty 7 and must confess the sin they have committed. They must make full restitution for the wrong they have done, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the person they have wronged. 8 But if that person has no close relative to whom restitution can be made for the wrong, the restitution belongs to the LORD and must be given to the priest, along with the ram with which atonement is made for the wrongdoer. 9 All the sacred contributions the Israelites bring to a priest will belong to him. 10 Sacred things belong to their owners, but what they give to the priest will belong to the priest.’”
The Test for an Unfaithful Wife
11 Then the LORD said to Moses, 12 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If a man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him 13 so that another man has sexual relations with her, and this is hidden from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act), 14 and if feelings of jealousy come over her husband and he suspects his wife and she is impure—or if he is jealous and suspects her even though she is not impure— 15 then he is to take his wife to the priest. He must also take an offering of a tenth of an ephah[c] of barley flour on her behalf. He must not pour olive oil on it or put incense on it, because it is a grain offering for jealousy, a reminder-offering to draw attention to wrongdoing.
16 “‘The priest shall bring her and have her stand before the LORD. 17 Then he shall take some holy water in a clay jar and put some dust from the tabernacle floor into the water. 18 After the priest has had the woman stand before the LORD, he shall loosen her hair and place in her hands the reminder-offering, the grain offering for jealousy, while he himself holds the bitter water that brings a curse. 19 Then the priest shall put the woman under oath and say to her, “If no other man has had sexual relations with you and you have not gone astray and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse not harm you. 20 But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have made yourself impure by having sexual relations with a man other than your husband”— 21 here the priest is to put the woman under this curse—“may the LORD cause you to become a curse[d] among your people when he makes your womb miscarry and your abdomen swell. 22 May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells or your womb miscarries.”
“‘Then the woman is to say, “Amen. So be it.”
23 “‘The priest is to write these curses on a scroll and then wash them off into the bitter water. 24 He shall make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and this water that brings a curse and causes bitter suffering will enter her. 25 The priest is to take from her hands the grain offering for jealousy, wave it before the LORD and bring it to the altar. 26 The priest is then to take a handful of the grain offering as a memorial[e] offering and burn it on the altar; after that, he is to have the woman drink the water. 27 If she has made herself impure and been unfaithful to her husband, this will be the result: When she is made to drink the water that brings a curse and causes bitter suffering, it will enter her, her abdomen will swell and her womb will miscarry, and she will become a curse. 28 If, however, the woman has not made herself impure, but is clean, she will be cleared of guilt and will be able to have children.
29 “‘This, then, is the law of jealousy when a woman goes astray and makes herself impure while married to her husband, 30 or when feelings of jealousy come over a man because he suspects his wife. The priest is to have her stand before the LORD and is to apply this entire law to her. 31 The husband will be innocent of any wrongdoing, but the woman will bear the consequences of her sin.’”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Luke 11:29-45
The Sign of Jonah
29 As the crowds increased, Jesus said, “This is a wicked generation. It asks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. 30 For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31 The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom; and now something greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and now something greater than Jonah is here.
The Lamp of the Body
33 “No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. 34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy,[a] your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy,[b] your body also is full of darkness. 35 See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. 36 Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.”
Woes on the Pharisees and the Experts in the Law
37 When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. 38 But the Pharisee was surprised when he noticed that Jesus did not first wash before the meal.
39 Then the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.
42 “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.
43 “Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces.
44 “Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which people walk over without knowing it.”
45 One of the experts in the law answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.”
Pay Attention To Signs
April 12, 2011 — by Julie Ackerman Link
As Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation. —Luke 11:30
The road was smooth and we were making good progress as we headed for Jay’s dad’s house in South Carolina. As we drove through the mountains in Tennessee, I began seeing detour signs. But Jay kept going, so I assumed that they didn’t apply to us. Shortly before we reached the North Carolina border, we came to a sign that said the highway ahead was closed due to a rock slide. We would have to turn around. Jay was surprised. “Why wasn’t there any warning?” he wanted to know. “There were lots of warnings,” I said. “Didn’t you see the signs?” “No,” he said, “why didn’t you mention them?” “I assumed that you saw them,” I answered. We now tell this story to entertain our friends.
Throughout history, God provided plenty of “signs” to show people the way to live, but they kept going their own way. When God finally sent His Son as a sign (Luke 11:30), the religious leaders paid little attention to His warnings. Life for them was good. They were recognized and respected (v.43). They resented being told that they were wrong (v.45).
We can be the same way. When life is going well, we tend to ignore warnings that we need to turn around and change our sinful ways. It’s important to remember that we may be wrong even though life is good.
God gives us warnings to prevent
What comes from falling into sin;
But if we do ignore—and fall—
Confession cleanses us within. —Sper
God sends warnings to protect us, not to punish us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
April 12th, 2011
Complete and Effective Dominion
Death no longer has dominion over Him. . . . the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God . . . —Romans 6:9-11
Co-Eternal Life. Eternal life is the life which Jesus Christ exhibited on the human level. And it is this same life, not simply a copy of it, which is made evident in our mortal flesh when we are born again. Eternal life is not a gift from God; eternal life is the gift of God. The energy and the power which was so very evident in Jesus will be exhibited in us by an act of the absolute sovereign grace of God, once we have made that complete and effective decision about sin.
“You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you . . .” (Acts 1:8)— not power as a gift from the Holy Spirit; the power is the Holy Spirit, not something that He gives us. The life that was in Jesus becomes ours because of His Cross, once we make the decision to be identified with Him. If it is difficult to get right with God, it is because we refuse to make this moral decision about sin. But once we do decide, the full life of God comes in immediately. Jesus came to give us an endless supply of life— “. . . that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19). Eternal life has nothing to do with time. It is the life which Jesus lived when He was down here, and the only Source of life is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Even the weakest saint can experience the power of the deity of the Son of God, when he is willing to “let go.” But any effort to “hang on” to the least bit of our own power will only diminish the life of Jesus in us. We have to keep letting go, and slowly, but surely, the great full life of God will invade us, penetrating every part. Then Jesus will have complete and effective dominion in us, and people will take notice that we have been with Him.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Capturing the Time in Between - #6327
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
I remember when I was a kid we used to take my dad out to the airport for business trips. And as I'd see him leaving with his briefcase on those old airplanes (well, they weren't old then, but they seem that way now). I thought, "Oh, flying would be glamorous wouldn't it, if you had to go fly a lot." Yeah, well I've learned since, having had to fly a lot of times, and sometimes every month. If you've seen one plane, you've seen them all.
Now, for example, I used to fly often to Chicago from New York, and there are about two hours in between. You're leaving something important, and you're going to something important. But then there's the time in-between that can be such, like dead time.
You think that's bad? I went to South Africa some years ago. It was 18 hours...the same equation - leaving something important; going to something important, but all this dead time in between. But I learned that the time between destinations can be valuable too. You don't have to use the headphones. You don't have to watch the movie. You don't have to just think about plastic lunches or read about the life jacket. Some of my best time to create, to write, to prepare, to think, has been on an airplane. You really can make use of that seemingly useless time en route.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Capturing the Time in Between."
Now, our word for today from the Word of God is from Jeremiah chapter 29, and I'll be reading from verses 4-7. We're reading about some people who were going to be in-between for quite a while. What had happened was the Jews had been carried away in captivity. They really didn't want to be where they were in Babylon, but that's where they were going to be - but not forever. God said, "This will change. You will eventually be back to your homeland." It's that same kind of in-between time I have on an airplane, but it's a whole lot longer in their case.
Here's exactly what God instructs them to do, "Say to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry, have sons and daughters, find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there, do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."
In a sentence, God is saying, "Bloom where you're planted. I know you're not going to be there forever, but I want you to act like you're going to be. Put down roots. Get busy. Change things. Live 100% where you are." Now you may not be in captivity, but you might be in one of life's in-between times right now. It feels like you're between destinations. And basically, maybe you've been cruising until you get to your destination. Maybe you're between jobs, or waiting to get into or back into college. Maybe you're single; just sort of coasting until Mr. or Miss Right comes along; waiting for God's will or waiting for an open door. Maybe you're in a time of illness or a financial in-between time.
There are many seasons in your life, but you feel like right now you're between two important things and you're not doing much. Well God says through this passage, where you are right now is important, not just where you're going to be. Give 100% to this assignment. Act as if you'll be there forever. Because in the course of capturing where you are, God will show you where you are going to be. This is God's will right now! This situation as much as that next milestone will be. Serve Christ actively in between. Do things for Him that you may not be able to do when the next big destination comes along. Don't waste this travel time. Capture the time in between.
