Luke 14, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals (Click to listen)

Max Lucado Daily: Go Deep

“You thrill to God’s Word, you chew on Scripture day and night.” Psalm 1:2 The Message

The Bible is not a newspaper to be skimmed but rather a mine to be quarried.

Here is a practical point. Study the Bible a little at a time. God seems to send messages as did his manna: one day’s portion at a time. He provides ” a command here, a command there. A rule here, a rule there. A little lesson here, a little lesson there” (Isa. 28:10). Choose depth over quantity.

Luke 14

Jesus at a Pharisee’s House

1 One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. 2 There in front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body. 3 Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” 4 But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way.
5 Then he asked them, “If one of you has a child[a] or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?” 6 And they had nothing to say.

7 When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: 8 “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9 If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10 But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. 11 For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

12 Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

The Parable of the Great Banquet

15 When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”
16 Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’

18 “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’

19 “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’

20 “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’

21 “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’

22 “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’

23 “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. 24 I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”



Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: 2 Corinthians 11:22–12:10

22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. 27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28 Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?

30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying. 32 In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. 33 But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands.

2 Corinthians 12

Paul’s Vision and His Thorn

1 I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 3 And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— 4 was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. 5 I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. 6 Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, 7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Bring It On!

August 25, 2011 — by Dave Branon

Three times I was beaten . . . ; three times I was shipwrecked; . . . in perils . . . , in weariness and toil, . . . in hunger and thirst. —2 Corinthians 11:25-27

A TV program on the History Channel featured the world’s most extreme airports. The one that caught my attention is no longer open, but it is one I had flown into. I agree that Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Airport was definitely a thrill ride for passengers and surely a challenge for pilots. If you came in from one direction, you had to fly over skyscrapers and then hope the plane stopped before it plunged into the sea. If you came in the other way, it seemed as if you were going to smack into a mountain.
I found it surprising that a pilot who used to take planeloads of people into Kai Tak said, “I miss flying into that airport.” But I think I know what he meant. As a pilot, he relished the challenge. He had a confidence based on his ability and his reliance on those who guided him into the airport.
Too often, we run from challenges. Yet the people we love to read about in the Bible are impressive because they battled challenges. Consider Paul. With the confidence of God’s help, he faced troubles head-on—and conquered them. Christ’s promise to Paul and to us is: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). Like Paul’s example, in the confidence of God’s care we can say to the next challenge: Bring it on!


I do not ask for easy paths
Along life’s winding roads,
But for the promised grace and strength
To carry all its loads. —Meadows


If God sends you on stony paths,
He will provide you with strong shoes.



My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
August 25th, 2011

Sacrifice and Friendship

I have called you friends . . . —John 15:15

We will never know the joy of self-sacrifice until we surrender in every detail of our lives. Yet self-surrender is the most difficult thing for us to do. We make it conditional by saying, “I’ll surrender if . . . !” Or we approach it by saying, “I suppose I have to devote my life to God.” We will never find the joy of self-sacrifice in either of these ways.

But as soon as we do totally surrender, abandoning ourselves to Jesus, the Holy Spirit gives us a taste of His joy. The ultimate goal of self-sacrifice is to lay down our lives for our Friend (see John 15:13-14). When the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, our greatest desire is to lay down our lives for Jesus. Yet the thought of self-sacrifice never even crosses our minds, because sacrifice is the Holy Spirit’s ultimate expression of love.

Our Lord is our example of a life of self-sacrifice, and He perfectly exemplified Psalm 40:8, “I delight to do Your will, O my God . . . .” He endured tremendous personal sacrifice, yet with overflowing joy. Have I ever yielded myself in absolute submission to Jesus Christ? If He is not the One to whom I am looking for direction and guidance, then there is no benefit in my sacrifice. But when my sacrifice is made with my eyes focused on Him, slowly but surely His molding influence becomes evident in my life (see Hebrews 12:1-2).

Beware of letting your natural desires hinder your walk in love before God. One of the cruelest ways to kill natural love is through the rejection that results from having built the love on natural desires. But the one true desire of a saint is the Lord Jesus. Love for God is not something sentimental or emotional— for a saint to love as God loves is the most practical thing imaginable.

“I have called you friends. . . .” Our friendship with Jesus is based on the new life He created in us, which has no resemblance or attraction to our old life but only to the life of God. It is a life that is completely humble, pure, and devoted to God.


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

A Message From the Titanic - #6424

Thursday, August 25, 2011

It's almost been a century when the unsinkable ship sank and some 1,500 passengers died. You know, I actually have my boarding pass for the Titanic. Yeah, for real! They gave it to me at the entrance to the Titanic artifacts exhibit I went to. (No, I am not that old to have the original thing.) Now, it doesn't have my name on it. It says, "J. Pearse, Crew." Now, having the name of someone who was really there that night, I guess, made what I saw a whole lot more personal.

It really hit home with me at the end of the tour, because I stood staring at this large wall that had two lists. They were reminiscent of the same lists that they posted after the tragedy in the White Star Line's Liverpool, England offices. Here are these anxious relatives waiting to hear the fate of a passenger they loved, and a company rep who comes in occasionally and adds a name to one of two lists: "Known to be saved" and "Known to be lost." My guy, "J. Pearse," was saved. My friends who also saw this exhibit turned out to be "lost."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Message From the Titanic."

The haunting images of that mighty ship going down are just indelible in my mind. But then so are those two lists. Because everyone I know--everyone listening to this--is also on one of two lists: "Known to be saved" "Known to be lost." Not "rich" or "poor"...not "liberal" or "conservative"...not "Religion X" or "Religion Y" - just "saved" or "lost."

God makes it so plain in our word for today from the Word of God, which is in 1 John 5:11-12. "God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life (saved); he who does not have the Son of God does not have life (lost)." Now, if you have Jesus, you are rescued from the death penalty for your sins and you've got heaven. And God says if you don't have Jesus, you don't have heaven.

Because that "saving" came at a very high price that only the Son of God could pay. It meant Him, who had no sin, doing all the dying for all my sinning. Going through my hell so I, and so you, could go to His heaven.

The great news of Good Friday, the great news of Easter, is that you can change lists! In Jesus' words, "Whoever hears My word and believes Him who has sent me has eternal life; he has crossed over from death to life" (John 5:24). I love the definite sounds of those words, "has eternal life." Not hopes to have - has. A done deal! We can know for sure right now that if we died today, we would go to heaven - eternal life insurance. No fear.

Maybe you know some folks who are still outside the lifeboat. You have nothing more urgent to do than in the Bible's words, "rescue those who are being led away to death" (Proverbs 24:11).

If you're not sure, though, that you've ever given yourself to Jesus, you have nothing more urgent to do than in the words of the Bible, "believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31). That transaction between you and Him could take place this very day. Why not get this done? Why not get this settled? Why not today where you are just say, "Jesus, I believe You died for my sins. I believe You are alive because You walked out of your grave, and I am ready to give the running of my life over to You. I'm pinning all my hopes on You to get me to heaven and forgive my sins. I'm Yours!" At that moment you go from those who are "known to be lost" to those who are "known to be saved."


Let me invite you to go to our website and check it out. It's all about how to begin that relationship and be sure you have. YoursForLife.net. We'd be honored to have you visit us there.

I'll tell you, it's amazing to be saved, but it is awful to be lost.