Max Lucado Daily: Stand Strong in God’s Grace
Stand Strong in God’s Grace
Posted: 15 Nov 2010 10:01 PM PST
This is the true grace of God. Stand strong in that grace. I Peter 5:12
Up the hill we trudge. Weary, wounded hearts wrestling with unresolved mistakes. Sighs of anxiety. Tears of frustration. Words of rationalization. Moans of doubt…
Jesus stands on life’s most barren hill and waits with outstretched, nail-pierced hands. A “crazy, holy grace” it has been called. A type of grace that doesn’t hold up to logic. But then… grace doesn’t have to be logical. If it did, it wouldn’t be grace.
Matthew 16
The Demand for a Sign
1 The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven.
2 He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ 3 and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. 4 A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away.
The Yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees
5 When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. 6 “Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
7 They discussed this among themselves and said, “It is because we didn’t bring any bread.”
8 Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, “You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? 9 Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 11 How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
Jesus Predicts His Death
21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”
23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.
28 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 2 Timothy 2:3-16
2 Timothy 2:3-16 (NIV)2Ti 3 Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs--he wants to please his commanding officer. 5 Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor's crown unless he competes according to the rules. 6 The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. 7 Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this. 8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, 9 for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God's word is not chained. 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. 11 Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; 12 if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; 13 if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself. 14 Keep reminding them of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen. 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. 16 Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.
Daily Diligence
November 16, 2010 — by David C. McCasland
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth. —2 Timothy 2:15
Internationally acclaimed violinist Midori believes that focused, diligent practice is the key to performance. While playing a rigorous schedule of 90 concerts a year, she still practices an average of 5 or 6 hours a day. Jane Ammeson, in NWA WorldTraveler magazine, quoted Midori as saying: “I have to practice for my job and I practice every day. . . . It’s not really the hours, but the quality of the work that needs to be done. I see with students, that they play and they call it practice, but they are not listening and not watching. If you have your textbook open, it doesn’t mean that you are studying.”
That same principle applies to our walk of faith. Paul wrote to Timothy, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). Diligence implies constant, earnest effort, and is the opposite of a careless, inattentive approach. It embraces every aspect of our relationship with God.
Just as a musician strives for excellence, we should want to serve God with confidence, seek His approval, and skillfully share His Word with others.
Am I diligently studying, praying, and listening to the Lord today?
When we live with expectancy,
Awaiting Christ’s return,
Our diligent obedience
Becomes our main concern. —Sper
God speaks to those who take time to listen, and He listens to those who take time to pray.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
November 16th, 2010
Still Human!
. . . whatever you do, do all to the glory of God —1 Corinthians 10:31
In the Scriptures, the great miracle of the incarnation slips into the ordinary life of a child; the great miracle of the transfiguration fades into the demon-possessed valley below; the glory of the resurrection descends into a breakfast on the seashore. This is not an anticlimax, but a great revelation of God.
We have a tendency to look for wonder in our experience, and we mistake heroic actions for real heroes. It’s one thing to go through a crisis grandly, yet quite another to go through every day glorifying God when there is no witness, no limelight, and no one paying even the remotest attention to us. If we are not looking for halos, we at least want something that will make people say, “What a wonderful man of prayer he is!” or, “What a great woman of devotion she is!” If you are properly devoted to the Lord Jesus, you have reached the lofty height where no one would ever notice you personally. All that is noticed is the power of God coming through you all the time.
We want to be able to say, “Oh, I have had a wonderful call from God!” But to do even the most humbling tasks to the glory of God takes the Almighty God Incarnate working in us. To be utterly unnoticeable requires God’s Spirit in us making us absolutely humanly His. The true test of a saint’s life is not successfulness but faithfulness on the human level of life. We tend to set up success in Christian work as our purpose, but our purpose should be to display the glory of God in human life, to live a life “hidden with Christ in God” in our everyday human conditions (Colossians 3:3). Our human relationships are the very conditions in which the ideal life of God should be exhibited.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Tragedy of Doing Nothing - #6222
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
We love it when we hear those stories in the news about ordinary people who come upon someone in danger and risk their own lives to save them. And then there's the kind of story that came from Mount Everest. A British mountaineer became desperate for oxygen on his descent from that peak that is really a legendary mountain. Ultimately, he collapsed along a well-traveled route to the summit. He was dying. And more than forty climbers are thought to have seen him as he lay dying, and they passed him by. He died there of oxygen deficiency. He did not have to die.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Tragedy of Doing Nothing."
The official cause of death was probably something like "oxygen deficiency." But apparently there was another cause of that climber's death - human indifference; people too busy climbing their mountain to stop and help someone who was dying.
Sadly, that happens more than we know. And the ones who are dying may be people we see every day. Without the Bible, we'd never know the real spiritual condition of the folks that we know who don't belong to Jesus. But we have the Bible, and it describes every person without Christ in words like these: they are "lost," according to Luke 19:10 ; they are "without hope and without God in this world," according to Ephesians 2:12 . Some folks you see often, are in God's words, "condemned," according to John 3:18 . And they're called in Proverbs 24 , "those who are being led away to death."
My Bible tells me that neighbors and friends of mine who don't know Christ will be "shut out from the presence of the Lord" (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 ). There's no way anyone can get into heaven with their sin unforgiven. And the only One who can forgive them is the only One who died for those sins. So we have dying people all around us. People whose eternal destination may hinge on whether or not we stop for them to tell them what Jesus did for them on the cross. Just living a good life in front of them won't explain that. We'll have to tell them.
Where are we in this disturbing story Jesus told in Luke 10:30-34 , our word for today from the Word of God? "A man...fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him...beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side." And then another religious leader came along and he "passed by on the other side." "But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds...he took him to an inn and took care of him." What troubles me is that it's the really religious folks who just keep walking by a man who needs them - people like me, and probably like you.
So many times I've met people who have come to Christ late in life, and with great regret that they did not know Him sooner. Often they'll say something like, "I was 52 years old...I was 45 years old before I ever heard what Jesus did for me." And it turns out, in retrospect, that they had known several folks along the way who were believers and who never told them about their Jesus.
Look around your personal world: coworkers, family members, fellow students or teammates, fellow club members, your friends, your neighbors. If you'll let Jesus show you what He sees, you'll see people who are slowly dying spiritually; who are headed for an unthinkable eternity without Christ while you're enjoying the glories of heaven. Silence is unacceptable. Silence is wrong.
Don't talk to them about religion. Don't talk to them about church. Don't talk to them about their lifestyle. Tell them about the Man who loved them enough to die in their place. God put you in their life to give them a chance at Jesus. Please, don't keep walking by their need. You know Jesus. They need your Jesus. Don't let them down. Don't let Him down
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