Joshua 22, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals (Click to listen)

Max Lucado Daily: Through Faith


“A person is made right with God through faith.” Romans 3:28

Dare you stand before God and ask him to save you because of your suffering or your sacrifice or your tears or your study? . . .

Nor did Paul. It took him decades to discover what he wrote in only one sentence.

“A person is made right with God through faith.” Not through good works, suffering, or study. All those may be the result of salvation but they are not the cause of it.


Joshua 22

Eastern Tribes Return Home

1 Then Joshua summoned the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh 2 and said to them, “You have done all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded, and you have obeyed me in everything I commanded. 3 For a long time now—to this very day—you have not deserted your fellow Israelites but have carried out the mission the LORD your God gave you. 4 Now that the LORD your God has given them rest as he promised, return to your homes in the land that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you on the other side of the Jordan. 5 But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
6 Then Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their homes. 7 (To the half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given land in Bashan, and to the other half of the tribe Joshua gave land on the west side of the Jordan along with their fellow Israelites.) When Joshua sent them home, he blessed them, 8 saying, “Return to your homes with your great wealth—with large herds of livestock, with silver, gold, bronze and iron, and a great quantity of clothing—and divide the plunder from your enemies with your fellow Israelites.”

9 So the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites at Shiloh in Canaan to return to Gilead, their own land, which they had acquired in accordance with the command of the LORD through Moses.

10 When they came to Geliloth near the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an imposing altar there by the Jordan. 11 And when the Israelites heard that they had built the altar on the border of Canaan at Geliloth near the Jordan on the Israelite side, 12 the whole assembly of Israel gathered at Shiloh to go to war against them.

13 So the Israelites sent Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, to the land of Gilead—to Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh. 14 With him they sent ten of the chief men, one from each of the tribes of Israel, each the head of a family division among the Israelite clans.

15 When they went to Gilead—to Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh—they said to them: 16 “The whole assembly of the LORD says: ‘How could you break faith with the God of Israel like this? How could you turn away from the LORD and build yourselves an altar in rebellion against him now? 17 Was not the sin of Peor enough for us? Up to this very day we have not cleansed ourselves from that sin, even though a plague fell on the community of the LORD! 18 And are you now turning away from the LORD?

“‘If you rebel against the LORD today, tomorrow he will be angry with the whole community of Israel. 19 If the land you possess is defiled, come over to the LORD’s land, where the LORD’s tabernacle stands, and share the land with us. But do not rebel against the LORD or against us by building an altar for yourselves, other than the altar of the LORD our God. 20 When Achan son of Zerah was unfaithful in regard to the devoted things,[a] did not wrath come on the whole community of Israel? He was not the only one who died for his sin.’”

21 Then Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh replied to the heads of the clans of Israel: 22 “The Mighty One, God, the LORD! The Mighty One, God, the LORD! He knows! And let Israel know! If this has been in rebellion or disobedience to the LORD, do not spare us this day. 23 If we have built our own altar to turn away from the LORD and to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, or to sacrifice fellowship offerings on it, may the LORD himself call us to account.

24 “No! We did it for fear that some day your descendants might say to ours, ‘What do you have to do with the LORD, the God of Israel? 25 The LORD has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you—you Reubenites and Gadites! You have no share in the LORD.’ So your descendants might cause ours to stop fearing the LORD.

26 “That is why we said, ‘Let us get ready and build an altar—but not for burnt offerings or sacrifices.’ 27 On the contrary, it is to be a witness between us and you and the generations that follow, that we will worship the LORD at his sanctuary with our burnt offerings, sacrifices and fellowship offerings. Then in the future your descendants will not be able to say to ours, ‘You have no share in the LORD.’

28 “And we said, ‘If they ever say this to us, or to our descendants, we will answer: Look at the replica of the LORD’s altar, which our ancestors built, not for burnt offerings and sacrifices, but as a witness between us and you.’

29 “Far be it from us to rebel against the LORD and turn away from him today by building an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings and sacrifices, other than the altar of the LORD our God that stands before his tabernacle.”

30 When Phinehas the priest and the leaders of the community—the heads of the clans of the Israelites—heard what Reuben, Gad and Manasseh had to say, they were pleased. 31 And Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, said to Reuben, Gad and Manasseh, “Today we know that the LORD is with us, because you have not been unfaithful to the LORD in this matter. Now you have rescued the Israelites from the LORD’s hand.”

32 Then Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, and the leaders returned to Canaan from their meeting with the Reubenites and Gadites in Gilead and reported to the Israelites. 33 They were glad to hear the report and praised God. And they talked no more about going to war against them to devastate the country where the Reubenites and the Gadites lived.

34 And the Reubenites and the Gadites gave the altar this name: A Witness Between Us—that the LORD is God.


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: Luke 7:34-48

34 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ 35 But wisdom is proved right by all her children.”

Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman

36 When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 38 As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”

40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

“Tell me, teacher,” he said.

41 “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,[a] and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

43 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”

“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.

44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”

48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

Fishing Where They Ain’t

August 8, 2011 — by David H. Roper

One of the Pharisees asked [Jesus] to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat. —Luke 7:36

I have a good friend I fish with now and then. He’s a very thoughtful man. After climbing into his waders and boots and gathering up his gear, he sits on the tailgate of his truck and scans the river for 15 minutes or more, looking for rising fish. “No use fishing where they ain’t,” he says. This makes me think of another question: “Do I fish for souls where they ain’t?”
It was said of Jesus that He was “a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Luke 7:34). As Christians, we are to be unlike the world in our behavior, but squarely in it as He was. So we have to ask ourselves: Do I, like Jesus, have friends who are sinners? If I have only Christian friends, I may be fishing for souls “where they ain’t.”
Being with nonbelievers is the first step in “fishing.” Then comes love—a heart-kindness that sees beneath the surface of their off-hand remarks and listens for the deeper cry of the soul. It asks, “Can you tell me more about that?” and follows up with compassion. “There is much preaching in this friendliness,” pastor George Herbert (1593–1633) said.
Such love is not a natural instinct. It comes solely from God. And so we pray: “Lord, when I am with nonbelievers today, may I become aware of the cheerless voice, the weary countenance, or the downcast eyes that I, in my natural self-preoccupation, could easily overlook. May I have a love that springs from and is rooted in Your love. May I listen to others, show Your compassion, and speak Your truth today.”

We are to be channels of God’s truth— not reservoirs.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
August 8th, 2011

Prayer in the Father’s Honor

. . . that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God —Luke 1:35

If the Son of God has been born into my human flesh, then am I allowing His holy innocence, simplicity, and oneness with the Father the opportunity to exhibit itself in me? What was true of the Virgin Mary in the history of the Son of God’s birth on earth is true of every saint. God’s Son is born into me through the direct act of God; then I as His child must exercise the right of a child— the right of always being face to face with my Father through prayer. Do I find myself continually saying in amazement to the commonsense part of my life, “Why did you want me to turn here or to go over there? ’Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?’ ” (Luke 2:49). Whatever our circumstances may be, that holy, innocent, and eternal Child must be in contact with His Father.
Am I simple enough to identify myself with my Lord in this way? Is He having His wonderful way with me? Is God’s will being fulfilled in that His Son has been formed in me (see Galatians 4:19), or have I carefully pushed Him to one side? Oh, the noisy outcry of today! Why does everyone seem to be crying out so loudly? People today are crying out for the Son of God to be put to death. There is no room here for God’s Son right now— no room for quiet, holy fellowship and oneness with the Father.
Is the Son of God praying in me, bringing honor to the Father, or am I dictating my demands to Him? Is He ministering in me as He did in the time of His manhood here on earth? Is God’s Son in me going through His passion, suffering so that His own purposes might be fulfilled? The more a person knows of the inner life of God’s most mature saints, the more he sees what God’s purpose really is: to “. . . fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ . . .” (Colossians 1:24). And when we think of what it takes to “fill up,” there is always something yet to be done.


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Immune to the Warnings - #6411

Monday, August 8, 2011

A lot of people I know of have friends in Joplin, Missouri. So you can imagine that they have been feeling the unimaginable devastation and loss from that huge tornado there on a personal level. And it's always that way when a disaster has a face; it's not just a story on the news.

Now many people in the region have been mobilizing to help in some way. And, the stories emerging from the rubble, I tell ya, they're touching all of us deeply, even causing a lot of people to rethink their own response to frequent tornado warnings. Because you know across the region, there are plenty of them.

One of Missouri's United States Senators actually said, "Now, I've heard tornado warnings my whole life. And honestly, you don't take them very seriously when you hear them over and over again. And then she said, "It's kind of like 'Here we go again,' nothing ever happens.'" "But with what's happened in Joplin," she said, "that changes everything." Yeah, I guess!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Immune to the Warnings."

I got an email today from a lady who said this, "Here in tornado alley we have learned to ignore the warnings because we are used to the storms." When it comes to a twister, ignoring the warnings can be fatal.

And tragically, so many people have made that same mistake with Jesus. Especially people who've heard about Him over and over again. And if you're listening to this station and this program today, there's a good chance you're in that category. And you don't say it, but you can think, "Here we go again, I know all this."

You know the people who are in the greatest danger of all may be those who have become immune to the message of Jesus through lots of exposure to Him. You know you can hang out with Jesus' people, you can hear a thousand times how Jesus died for us, you can even agree with all those beliefs about Jesus - and still be in danger of a horrible eternity without Him. Because honestly, you can have tons of Christianity and miss Christ.

One of the most sobering warnings in the Bible is our word for today from the Word of God and it asks this question in Hebrews 2:3 - "How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?" You may have never out-and-out rejected Jesus, and you wouldn't. But if you've never out-and-out given yourself to Jesus, you are as lost as someone who's never heard the warning siren of the Gospel. In a tornado, the one who never heard the warning and the one who just ignored it will suffer the same fate.

When you keep hearing about Jesus dying for your sin and you just sit there, well, in the Bible's words you are, "hardening your heart." You don't even know it is happening. The Bible talks about how people would not believe in Jesus, and then ultimately could not believe in Jesus. Because this imperceptible hardening of the heart takes place until one day, you can't come to Him. You see, God says, "My Spirit will not contend with man forever" (Hebrews 2:3) and it says "seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near" (Hebrews 2:3). What's the implication? He won't always be able to be found. He won't always be near.

But if you hear His voice, if you feel that tug on your heart today, He is near. You can call on Him still. And so let this be the day when you get this done, finally. When you move beyond Christianity and Christ in your head to Christ in your heart, and change your eternal destination from hell to Heaven. By telling Him, "Jesus, I've never actually reached out to You and said, 'I'm Yours, it's my sin that You died for,' and I'm asking You to be my personal rescuer for my personal sin." If there's a chance you've been living in the false security of knowing about Jesus, without really knowing Jesus, maybe you are the reason God stirred me to talk about this today. As one more warning.

So today, tell Him, "Jesus, I'm Yours." And I hope you'll go to our website where you will find a road there that take you from where you are to being sure you belong to Jesus Christ. It's YoursForLife.net. Go there as soon as you can. If you can feel this tug in your heart today, there's still a little more time.