You Need A Savior
“If the Son makes you free, you will be truly free.” John 8:36
Trying to make it to heaven on our own goodness is like trying to get to the moon on a moon beam; nice idea, but try it and see what happens.
Listen. Quit trying to quench your own guilt. You can’t do it. There’s no way.
Not with a bottle of whiskey or perfect Sunday school attendance. Sorry. I don’t care how bad you are. You can’t be bad enough to forget it. And I don’t care how good you are. You can’t be good enough to overcome it.
You need a Savior.
Proverbs 19
1 Better the poor whose walk is blameless
than a fool whose lips are perverse.
2 Desire without knowledge is not good—
how much more will hasty feet miss the way!
3 A person’s own folly leads to their ruin,
yet their heart rages against the LORD.
4 Wealth attracts many friends,
but even the closest friend of the poor person deserts them.
5 A false witness will not go unpunished,
and whoever pours out lies will not go free.
6 Many curry favor with a ruler,
and everyone is the friend of one who gives gifts.
7 The poor are shunned by all their relatives—
how much more do their friends avoid them!
Though the poor pursue them with pleading,
they are nowhere to be found.[a]
8 The one who gets wisdom loves life;
the one who cherishes understanding will soon prosper.
9 A false witness will not go unpunished,
and whoever pours out lies will perish.
10 It is not fitting for a fool to live in luxury—
how much worse for a slave to rule over princes!
11 A person’s wisdom yields patience;
it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.
12 A king’s rage is like the roar of a lion,
but his favor is like dew on the grass.
13 A foolish child is a father’s ruin,
and a quarrelsome wife is like
the constant dripping of a leaky roof.
14 Houses and wealth are inherited from parents,
but a prudent wife is from the LORD.
15 Laziness brings on deep sleep,
and the shiftless go hungry.
16 Whoever keeps commandments keeps their life,
but whoever shows contempt for their ways will die.
17 Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD,
and he will reward them for what they have done.
18 Discipline your children, for in that there is hope;
do not be a willing party to their death.
19 A hot-tempered person must pay the penalty;
rescue them, and you will have to do it again.
20 Listen to advice and accept discipline,
and at the end you will be counted among the wise.
21 Many are the plans in a person’s heart,
but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.
22 What a person desires is unfailing love[b];
better to be poor than a liar.
23 The fear of the LORD leads to life;
then one rests content, untouched by trouble.
24 A sluggard buries his hand in the dish;
he will not even bring it back to his mouth!
25 Flog a mocker, and the simple will learn prudence;
rebuke the discerning, and they will gain knowledge.
26 Whoever robs their father and drives out their mother
is a child who brings shame and disgrace.
27 Stop listening to instruction, my son,
and you will stray from the words of knowledge.
28 A corrupt witness mocks at justice,
and the mouth of the wicked gulps down evil.
29 Penalties are prepared for mockers,
and beatings for the backs of fools.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 Peter 5:5-11
5 In the same way, you younger men must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you, serve each other in humility, for
“God opposes the proud
but favors the humble.”[a]
6 So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. 7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.
8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 9 Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters[b] all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are.
10 In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation. 11 All power to him forever! Amen.
Hawks And Lions
April 4, 2012 — by Jennifer Benson Schuldt
The devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. —1 Peter 5:8
One morning, I watched a rabbit nibble grass in my backyard. He was on the small side, with brown flecked fur and a cotton-puff tail. Suddenly, a hawk sliced through the air as fast and precise as lightning. With talons outstretched, he snatched for his prey. But the rabbit recognized the approaching danger and sped to safety, just inches ahead of the hawk.
Like the rabbit that spotted its predator and scurried away, we as Christians need to be watchful so that we can evade our enemy. “The devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Satan wants to devour us by winning us over to his ways; he does this by toying with the truth (John 8:44) and trying to deceive us (Gen. 3:1).
The devil’s schemes reflect his dishonest nature, and his tricks are meant to catch us off guard. In response, Christians should be alert and clear-headed (1 Peter 5:8). Living in this state of active readiness helps us discern false teaching (1 John 4:1-3; 2 John 1:7-11) and overcome temptation (Matt. 26:41).
Today, watch out for your spiritual predator. What kind of lies is he whispering? How is he tempting you? Resist him, and he will flee (James 4:7).
The devil is cunning, deceptive, and sly;
He’s clever; he tricks us to swallow his lie.
But his crafty methods we’re sure to discern
If we make God’s warnings our daily concern. —D. De Haan
The first step on the way to victory is to recognize the enemy.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
April 4, 2012
The Way to Permanent Faith
Indeed the hour is coming . . . that you will be scattered . . . —John 16:32
Jesus was not rebuking the disciples in this passage. Their faith was real, but it was disordered and unfocused, and was not at work in the important realities of life. The disciples were scattered to their own concerns and they had interests apart from Jesus Christ. After we have the perfect relationship with God, through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, our faith must be exercised in the realities of everyday life. We will be scattered, not into service but into the emptiness of our lives where we will see ruin and barrenness, to know what internal death to God’s blessings means. Are we prepared for this? It is certainly not of our own choosing, but God engineers our circumstances to take us there. Until we have been through that experience, our faith is sustained only by feelings and by blessings. But once we get there, no matter where God may place us or what inner emptiness we experience, we can praise God that all is well. That is what is meant by faith being exercised in the realities of life.
“. . . you . . . will leave Me alone.” Have we been scattered and have we left Jesus alone by not seeing His providential care for us? Do we not see God at work in our circumstances? Dark times are allowed and come to us through the sovereignty of God. Are we prepared to let God do what He wants with us? Are we prepared to be separated from the outward, evident blessings of God? Until Jesus Christ is truly our Lord, we each have goals of our own which we serve. Our faith is real, but it is not yet permanent. And God is never in a hurry. If we are willing to wait, we will see God pointing out that we have been interested only in His blessings, instead of in God Himself. The sense of God’s blessings is fundamental
“. . . be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Unyielding spiritual fortitude is what we need.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Easter - Up Close and Personal - #6583
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
I'm having flashbacks, yeah, of some very special Easters past; often at a sunrise service. Like the Easter in Miami, with the sun rising over Biscayne Bay as I spoke about Jesus rising from the dead. Or the Easter morning on an Idaho Indian reservation; that was great! Celebrating Jesus with Native Americans in a public park. And the one on the mountaintop near New York City.
And then there was that sunny, but cold, Easter on an Ozark mountainside, with the backdrop of the massive white statue of Jesus known as "The Christ of the Ozarks." He stands there, night and day, with His arms open wide. You know, that's my Jesus - arms open wide.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Easter - Up Close and Personal."
That's why there's a personal invitation woven into the accounts of Jesus' Resurrection. The women who had stuck with Jesus when everyone else ran away had come with spices to properly care for Jesus' hastily buried body. What they found rocked their world; the huge stone rolled away from the tomb and a powerful angel sitting on it! Then the shocker of all shockers. We find it in our word for today from the Word of God, Matthew 28:5-6. "I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; He is risen, just as He said."
Then, the invitation, "Come and see."
I remember the morning I "came and saw" for myself what Jesus did for me on Good Friday and Easter. My life has never been the same. That invitation, by the way, is still open this Easter. Come, check it out. See for yourself. You can miss the game-changing impact of Jesus' Easter triumph if you only look at it as a historical event; which, of course it is, according to six historians of that time. But it's so much more than that.
You can even miss it if it's just a religious event, a special day on the church calendar. It's so much more personal than that, because Jesus died on that cross to take my hell for my sin, and so I can go to His heaven. And because Jesus blew away death that Easter dawn, I don't ever have to fear death again. He said to those who belong to Him, "Because I live, you will live also" (John 14:19). Jesus, and Jesus alone, proved He can give eternal life because He's got eternal life!
There's a lot on the line in that "come and see." Like eternity! Because just knowing about Jesus, liking Jesus, agreeing with Jesus is still missing Jesus. See, He's the Gift you have to take to make it yours. He's the Rescuer you have to grab onto in order to be saved. You can be in church, celebrating Easter, but never really have a personal relationship with Him. He can be in your head, but not in your heart. And that's the difference between forever with Him and forever without Him.
And because everyone deserves a chance at Jesus, He won't let us just sit there and say, "Oh, it's so nice to be here with all the folks who know Jesus." No, His Easter invitation is followed by His Easter orders. "Go and tell" (Matthew 28:10).
When you've come and seen what Jesus can do, then go and tell those who haven't. To know the love of a crucified Savior and the power of a risen Savior, and not to tell others about Him, is a crime against Him and a crime against them. And what should I tell them? It says, "Mary Magdalene went...with the news: 'I have seen the Lord'" (John 20:18). That's it! Just tell them your Hope Story of your firsthand experience with Jesus and the difference He's made.
And if you have never come and seen for yourself, if you've never personalized - made for you what Jesus did on the cross when He died to pay for every wrong thing you've ever done, taking your hell. If you've never taken Him into your life, let this be the day. What a wonderful time to do that! Just tell Him, "Jesus, I'm Yours." And please go to our website. I can meet you by way of our website and help you there understand for sure that you've begun your relationship with Him. It's YoursForLife.net.
I'm so glad the arms of Jesus are still open wide this Easter, to send those who know Him to "go and tell" those who don't, and to welcome one who's been searching for a lifetime to "come and see" His love and His power for themselves. Yeah, Jesus walked out of His grave that first Easter, and He's ready to walk into your life this Easter.
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