Luke 13, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals (Click to listen)

Max Lucado Daily: Ask for More

“Lord, teach me what you want me to do, and I will live by your truth.” Psalm 86:11

When kindness comes through grudgingly, we’ll remember God’s kindness to us and ask Him to make us more kind. When patience is scarce, we’ll thank Him for His and ask Him to make us more patient. When it’s hard to forgive, we won’t list all the times we’ve been given grief. Rather, we’ll list all the times we’ve been given grace and pray to become more forgiving.

Luke 13:23-35
New International Version (NIV)
23 Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”

He said to them, 24 “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 25 Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’

“But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’

26 “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’

27 “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’

28 “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. 29 People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. 30 Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”

Jesus’ Sorrow for Jerusalem

31 At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.”
32 He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ 33 In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!

34 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. 35 Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’[a]”



Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: Proverbs 4:14-27

14 Do not set foot on the path of the wicked
or walk in the way of evildoers.
15 Avoid it, do not travel on it;
turn from it and go on your way.
16 For they cannot rest until they do evil;
they are robbed of sleep till they make someone stumble.
17 They eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence.

18 The path of the righteous is like the morning sun,
shining ever brighter till the full light of day.
19 But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
they do not know what makes them stumble.

20 My son, pay attention to what I say;
turn your ear to my words.
21 Do not let them out of your sight,
keep them within your heart;
22 for they are life to those who find them
and health to one’s whole body.
23 Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it.
24 Keep your mouth free of perversity;
keep corrupt talk far from your lips.
25 Let your eyes look straight ahead;
fix your gaze directly before you.
26 Give careful thought to the[a] paths for your feet
and be steadfast in all your ways.
27 Do not turn to the right or the left;
keep your foot from evil.

Ponder Your Path

August 22, 2011 — by David C. McCasland

Keep your heart with all diligence . . . . Ponder the path of your feet. —Proverbs 4:23,26

A 47-year-old Austrian man gave away his entire $4.7 million fortune after concluding that his wealth and lavish spending were keeping him from real life and happiness. Karl Rabeder told the Daily Telegraph (London), “I had the feeling I was working as a slave for things I did not wish for or need. It was the biggest shock in my life when I realized how horrible, soulless, and without feeling the ‘five-star’ lifestyle is.” His money now funds charities he set up to help people in Latin America.
Proverbs 4 urges us to consider carefully our own road in life. The passage contrasts the free, unhindered path of the just with the dark, confused way of the wicked (v.19). “Let your heart retain my words; keep my commands, and live” (v.4). “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life” (v.23). “Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established” (v.26). Each verse encourages us to evaluate where we are in life.
No one wants to go through life on a selfish, heartless road. But it can happen unless we consider where we are going in life and ask the Lord for His direction. May He give us grace today to embrace His Word and follow Him with all our hearts.


If we pursue mere earthly gain,
We choose a path that ends in pain;
But joy remains within the soul
When we pursue a heavenly goal. —D. De Haan


You are headed in the right direction when you walk with God.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
August 22nd, 2011

"I Indeed . . . But He"

I indeed baptize you with water . . . but He . . . will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire —Matthew 3:11

Have I ever come to the point in my life where I can say, “I indeed . . . but He . . .”? Until that moment comes, I will never know what the baptism of the Holy Spirit means. I indeed am at the end, and I cannot do anything more— butHe begins right there— He does the things that no one else can ever do. Am I prepared for His coming? Jesus cannot come and do His work in me as long as there is anything blocking the way, whether it is something good or bad. When He comes to me, am I prepared for Him to drag every wrong thing I have ever done into the light? That is exactly where He comes. Wherever I know I am unclean is where He will put His feet and stand, and wherever I think I am clean is where He will remove His feet and walk away.
Repentance does not cause a sense of sin— it causes a sense of inexpressible unworthiness. When I repent, I realize that I am absolutely helpless, and I know that through and through I am not worthy even to carry His sandals. Have I repented like that, or do I have a lingering thought of possibly trying to defend my actions? The reason God cannot come into my life is that I am not at the point of complete repentance.
“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” John is not speaking here of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as an experience, but as a work performed by Jesus Christ. “He will baptize you . . . .” The only experience that those who are baptized with the Holy Spirit are ever conscious of is the experience of sensing their absolute unworthiness.
“I indeed” was this in the past, “but He” came and something miraculous happened. Get to the end of yourself where you can do nothing, but where He does everything.


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Covering First Base - #6421

Monday, August 22, 2011

If you're a baseball fan, it seems like winter is going to last forever. But finally you hear those wonderful words "Opening Day!" And the snowballs turn to fast balls, and you're happy again. Now, you know, as in the last ten years, St. Louis Cardinals star, Albert Pujols, is probably going to have another great season. He's acknowledged by many to already be one of baseball's all-time greats.

Now, he's got a new book. It's called "More Than the Game," and it actually shows there's a lot more to this first baseman than uncommon athletic ability. He says that baseball is, for him, ultimately a God-given platform to elevate Jesus Christ. But wait, isn't that true of whatever position any Jesus-follower is in?

Now, Albert Pujols loved to see opposing players be out at first base, but apparently can't stand the thought of them being out at the gates heaven.

He revealed in his book that he has, on occasion, asked players an eternity question while they're standing on his base. He says, "Do you think you're going to heaven when you die? If you died today, where do you think you'd go?"

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Covering First Base."

That's fascinating! Now, you may or may not like Albert's approach, but I'll tell you what, there is no doubt that he is a Jesus-follower who understands why he is where he is. Our word for today from the Word of God tells us that he is, like every believer, like you and I, "an ambassador for Christ." And in the Bible's words, "imploring people in Christ's stead, to be reconciled to God" (2 Corinthians 5:20); divinely positioned to help people be in heaven someday. That's why you are where you are!

Whatever your situation is, is designed to situate you to be His face there, His voice there, His hands there. So those people there can have a chance at Jesus. So whether that's a hospital, or a funeral home, or an office, or a factory, or a soccer field, or a classroom, or a community organization, or your neighborhood, wherever you are you are there to there to help people be in heaven.

Now, I wouldn't have chosen to see a child we love dearly spend trying days in the hospital recently, and the battle was pretty intense with some medical issues that were challenging. But I can tell you one reason I was there. It was the same reason God's all-star rep, Paul, was in prison. He said he was an "ambassador in chains" for the sake of Jesus' good news (Ephesians 6:20).

You know, while I was in that hospital, I'm thinking, "You know what? Wait a minute, I'm an ambassador in a hospital. I wouldn't be here except for a situation I really wish wasn't happening, but there were so many opportunities to represent the love and the peace of Jesus to hospital staff."

Now, Paul, ambassador in chains, he said, "I'm placed where I am, in this lousy situation, because Jesus needed someone to tell Caesar's Praetorian Guards about Him." And we know later that he said, "The Christians in Caesar's household salute you." He was an ambassador in chains so the Gospel could infiltrate the very world of Caesar himself.


Well, like Paul, we knew our situation had positioned us to be Christ's "ambassadors in the hospital." Now I'm happy to say that our loved one is out and recovering, but I'll tell you what, that crisis meant that some doctors, nurses and other patients got to hear about Jesus. So, just like Albert Pujols is His "ambassador at first base," we all get to be His ambassador at Wal-Mart, at our kids' school, on Facebook, in our service club, at the gym, the club, the workplace.

And suddenly our "everyday stuff" isn't everyday anymore. It takes on eternal meaning. Because the people we know can't get to first base with God without our Jesus.