Max Lucado Daily: You Are God’s Child
You are God’s child, and God will give you the blessing he promised! Galatians 4:7
I can’t assure you your family will ever give you the blessing you seek—but I know God will!
If your earthly father doesn’t affirm you, then let your heavenly Father take his place!
It’s one thing to accept him as Lord, another to recognize him as Savior. To recognize God as Lord is to acknowledge that he is sovereign and supreme in the universe. To accept him as Savior is to accept his gift of salvation offered on the cross.
To regard him as Father is to go a step further! A father is the one in your life who provides and protects. That is exactly what God has done. He has provided for your needs. Protected you from harm. Adopted you. And he has given you his name!
Acts 2
The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost
1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them.
5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,[b] 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”
Peter Addresses the Crowd
14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17 “‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
21 And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’[c]
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Luke 19:1-10
Jesus and Zacchaeus
19 Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town. 2 There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich. 3 He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way.
5 When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.”
6 Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. 7 But the people were displeased. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled.
8 Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!”
9 Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man[a] came to seek and save those who are lost.”
Who Do We See?
March 30, 2012 — by David C. McCasland
The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. —Luke 19:10
For many years, Allen Funt’s Candid Camera television program delighted viewers by using a hidden camera to catch the often hilarious reactions of ordinary people to unexpected situations. Their approach, according to his son Peter was: “We believe people are wonderful, and we’re out to confirm it.” Peter feels the perspective of some other similar shows is that “people are stupid, and we’re going to find ways to underscore that.”
His comments point out that our view of people determines how we treat them.
The citizens of Jericho were offended when Jesus went to the home of Zacchaeus the tax collector. “When they saw it, they all complained, saying, ‘He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner’” (Luke 19:7). Yet, when Zacchaeus had a deep change of heart (v.8), Jesus told him, “Today salvation has come to this house . . . for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (vv.9-10).
My friend Bob Horner says, “When we see people as losers, we treat them with contempt. When we see them as lost, we treat them with compassion.”
Jesus doesn’t see losers, only lost people He loves. When we look at others, who do we see?
Oh, give me, Lord, Your love for souls,
For lost and wandering sheep,
That I may see the multitudes
And weep as You did weep. —Harrison
Those who have been found should seek the lost.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
March 30, 2012
Holiness or Hardness Toward God?
He . . . wondered that there was no intercessor . . . —Isaiah 59:16
The reason many of us stop praying and become hard toward God is that we only have an emotional interest in prayer. It sounds good to say that we pray, and we read books on prayer which tell us that prayer is beneficial— that our minds are quieted and our souls are uplifted when we pray. But Isaiah implied in this verse that God is amazed at such thoughts about prayer.
Worship and intercession must go together; one is impossible without the other. Intercession means raising ourselves up to the point of getting the mind of Christ regarding the person for whom we are praying (see Philippians 2:5). Instead of worshiping God, we recite speeches to God about how prayer is supposed to work. Are we worshiping God or disputing Him when we say, “But God, I just don’t see how you are going to do this”? This is a sure sign that we are not worshiping. When we lose sight of God, we become hard and dogmatic. We throw our petitions at His throne and dictate to Him what we want Him to do. We don’t worship God, nor do we seek to conform our minds to the mind of Christ. And if we are hard toward God, we will become hard toward other people.
Are we worshiping God in a way that will raise us up to where we can take hold of Him, having such intimate contact with Him that we know His mind about the ones for whom we pray? Are we living in a holy relationship with God, or have we become hard and dogmatic?
Do you find yourself thinking that there is no one interceding properly? Then be that person yourself. Be a person who worships God and lives in a holy relationship with Him. Get involved in the real work of intercession, remembering that it truly is work-work that demands all your energy, but work which has no hidden pitfalls. Preaching the gospel has its share of pitfalls, but intercessory prayer has none whatsoever.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Your Skin Goes Everywhere - #6580
Friday, March 30, 2012
Some days I wear a shirt and tie, because, well, that's kind of appropriate for the meetings I'm going to have that day. Now, you go home a little later and get into jeans and an old shirt. Why? Well, because I don't want to do all the work I'm going to be doing there in, you know, my dress up clothes. It will be appropriate for the work I have to do there.
Now, when I go to a wedding in a few weeks, I'll dress up for that. I'll get in my very best. When I go to the beach, No, I won't do that. I won't wear what I wear to the wedding. See, I change my clothes for the occasion just like you do. There is something I don't change no matter what the occasion - my skin. I change my clothes; I always have the same skin.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Skin Goes Everywhere."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Corinthians 10:31. "So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." That's an interesting verse. What Paul's saying here is that living for Christ is so practical that you can even do it while you're eating or drinking; having lunch, having breakfast. It's that kind of practical thing.
A couple of Sundays ago I had preached at a church about giving God your best instead of giving Him just your leftovers. And a man came up to me very sincerely and said, "Ron, I really do want to give God my best, but no matter how much I try to do for Him, I feel like I'm never doing enough. You know, I've got my job, and I've got my family, and I've got a lot of other things, and I feel like I'm just never doing enough for Him."
Well, as we talked, I began to realize that enough meant for him doing more spiritual things. And that isn't primarily what the Lord is looking for. He wants to make more things you're already doing spiritual; not have you do more spiritual things.
Our problem is that we reduce our Christ-life to a compartment. We say, "Well, let's see. Here's my money, here's my friends, here's my family, here's my job, here's my recreation. Oh, wait, here's a compartment I have available. Yeah, that's for Jesus. I'll just write in Jesus there and now I've got my Jesus compartment.
Jesus is King of Kings, Lord of Lords. He is not going to be a compartment. He doesn't fit in a compartment. He wants to be in all the compartments; not have one of His own. He wants to be the Lord of all those practical areas. So, you're not adding a list of spiritual things to do. You're letting Christ make the things you already do His things.
So you drive unselfishly for example. You drive to the glory of God. You use your car to help others. You shop for Him. Maybe walking into that grocery store and trying to bring some joy and some love into the otherwise dull life of a checkout girl. Who knows?
Colossians 3:17 picks up the same theme when it says, "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus." And then it goes on to talk about what kind of wife you are, being a husband to the glory of God. It talks about obeying your parents, and as you're doing it saying to the Lord, "This is for You, Lord." Fathering in positive ways that don't tear your kids down. It talks about employees working with all their heart as if Jesus were their boss. He is.
Your relationship with Christ isn't just some set of spiritual clothes you put on to do spiritual work, to go to spiritual meetings and then take off. It's skin that you carry with you into every arena of your life.
Living for Christ is a style that you carry with you all day, everywhere like skin.
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