Acts 15 bible reading and devotionals.

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Max Lucado Daily: A Choice

Mount Everest is sudden blinding snow.  Temperatures are hovering below zero.  In two hours, Dan Mazur would be at the summit realizing a lifelong dream.  He sees a flash of color; a person perched on a razor-edged rock.

“What’s your name?” he shouts.

“Lincoln Hall,” was the reply.

Earlier he’d heard the announcement, “Lincoln Hall is dead on the mountain.”

Dan was face to face with a miracle.  He was also face to face with a choice!  Descending a mountain has profound risks.  How long would Lincoln live anyway?  He had to choose.  Abandon his dream or abandon Lincoln Hall.

We make defining decisions every day.  Not on Everest, but with spouses, children, at work, in school, in churches.  Jesus tells us to “honor others above ourselves.”   Give more than requested.  Do more than demanded.

The sweetest satisfaction lies not in climbing your own Everest, but in helping others climb theirs!

“Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor. Romans 12:10?

From Great Day Every Day

Acts 15:1-21
New International Version (NIV)
The Council at Jerusalem

15 Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. 3 The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the believers very glad. 4 When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.

5 Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”

6 The apostles and elders met to consider this question. 7 After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. 8 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9 He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? 11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

12 The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. 13 When they finished, James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. 14 Simon[a] has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. 15 The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:

16 “‘After this I will return
    and rebuild David’s fallen tent.
Its ruins I will rebuild,
    and I will restore it,
17 that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,
    even all the Gentiles who bear my name,
says the Lord, who does these things’[b] —
18     things known from long ago.[c]
19 “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20 Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. 21 For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: Leviticus 26:1-12

Rewards for Obeying the Lord

 1 " 'Do not make statues of gods for yourselves. Do not set up a likeness of a god or a sacred stone for yourselves. Do not place a carved stone in your land and bow down in front of it. I am the Lord your God.
 2 " 'You must always keep my Sabbath days. Have respect for my sacred tent. I am the Lord.

 3 " 'Follow my rules. Be careful to obey my commands. 4 Then I will send you rain at the right time. The ground will produce its crops. The trees of the field will bear their fruit. 5 You will continue to thresh your grain until you gather your grapes. You will continue to gather your grapes until you plant your crops. You will have all you want to eat. And you will live in safety in your land.

 6 " 'I will give you peace in the land. You will sleep, and no one will make you afraid. I will remove wild animals from the land. There will not be any war in your country. 7 You will hunt down your enemies. You will kill them with your swords. 8 Five of you will chase 100. And 100 of you will chase 10,000. You will kill your enemies with your swords.

 9 " 'I will look with favor on you. I will give you many children and increase your numbers. And I will keep my covenant with you. 10 You will still be eating last year's crops when you have to move them out to make room for new crops.

 11 " 'I will live among you. I will not turn away from you. 12 I will walk among you. I will be your God. And you will be my people.

Sweet Slumber

July 11, 2012 — by Julie Ackerman Link

I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. —Psalm 4:8

Photographer Anne Geddes has made an art form out of taking pictures of sleeping babies. Her photos evoke smiles. Nothing is a better image of peace than a sleeping child.

But between naps and nighttime, caring for children is an exhausting and relentless responsibility. In their innocence and enthusiasm, children can get themselves into life-threatening situations in no time. After a hectic day of chasing, entertaining, protecting, feeding, dressing, guarding, guiding, and making peace between squabbling siblings, parents are eager for bedtime. After the toys are put away and the pajamas are put on, the sleepy toddler slows down, cuddles with mom or dad for a bedtime story, and finally falls asleep. Later, before putting themselves to bed, parents check on their children one more time to make sure all is peaceful in dreamland. The serene beauty of a sleeping child makes all the day’s frustrations worthwhile.

Scripture indicates that God’s ideal condition for His children is peace (Lev. 26:6), but too often in our immaturity we get into trouble and cause conflict. Like parents of young children, God desires for us to become weary of wrongdoing and to rest in the safety and contentment of His loving ways.

Lord, help me not to squabble and cause friction
with others about unimportant matters.
May I instead find rest in Your love and wisdom,
and seek peace. Amen.
In His will is our peace. —Dante


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
July 11, 2012

The Spiritually Vigorous Saint

. . . that I may know Him . . . —Philippians 3:10

A saint is not to take the initiative toward self-realization, but toward knowing Jesus Christ. A spiritually vigorous saint never believes that his circumstances simply happen at random, nor does he ever think of his life as being divided into the secular and the sacred. He sees every situation in which he finds himself as the means of obtaining a greater knowledge of Jesus Christ, and he has an attitude of unrestrained abandon and total surrender about him. The Holy Spirit is determined that we will have the realization of Jesus Christ in every area of our lives, and He will bring us back to the same point over and over again until we do. Self-realization only leads to the glorification of good works, whereas a saint of God glorifies Jesus Christ through his good works. Whatever we may be doing— even eating, drinking, or washing disciples’ feet— we have to take the initiative of realizing and recognizing Jesus Christ in it. Every phase of our life has its counterpart in the life of Jesus. Our Lord realized His relationship to the Father even in the most menial task. “Jesus, knowing . . . that He had come from God and was going to God, . . . took a towel . . . and began to wash the disciples’ feet . . .” (John 13:3-5).

The aim of a spiritually vigorous saint is “that I may know Him . . .” Do I know Him where I am today? If not, I am failing Him. I am not here for self-realization, but to know Jesus Christ. In Christian work our initiative and motivation are too often simply the result of realizing that there is work to be done and that we must do it. Yet that is never the attitude of a spiritually vigorous saint. His aim is to achieve the realization of Jesus Christ in every set of circumstances.


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Super Donkey - #6653

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

On the Sunday before Easter, my pastor was talking about the donkey Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. And my mind wandered, (that's never the pastor's fault,) to a horse that I met one day in Texas.

I was recording my youth broadcast with a live teenage audience on a Texas cattle ranch, and I asked if they could arrange a horse for city boy Ron to ride. Yeah, well, two adjectives defined my equine request - "old, harmless." Yeah, give me a horse that's old and harmless. So, here I am dressed in a cowboy hat and chaps (by the way, all those photos have been burned), and I mounted the steed that they found for me.

I should have asked his name sooner. See, this town had a monster tornado some years ago. You want to guess my horse's name? Yeah, I'm already on it when they said, "Tornado." Yeah. There was no turning back!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Super Donkey."

OK, back to the Palm Sunday donkey. When two of Jesus' disciples went to fetch the animal for Jesus' entry to Jerusalem, they might well have named him Tornado. Because Jesus said the donkey He sent them for was one "no one has ever ridden" (Luke 19:30). We're talking here a long-eared version of a buckin' bronco!

But I think that might be the overlooked miracle of Palm Sunday. With Jesus on board, that wild donkey just isn't wild. Even when they're passing through those surging crowds of "loud voices," the Bible says, praising Jesus, that unbroken donkey doesn't bolt, doesn't freak out. Again, Jesus is on board.

Which gives me another reason to join those voices who celebrated Jesus on the first day of the week that changed the world. He has power to tame what has never been tamed, including the animal inside me and inside you.

We don't have to accept as un-tamable that temper that scars the people we love, or that lustful passion that makes us feel so defeated and ashamed. This Jesus, who one week after Palm Sunday blew death away, has power to conquer in us what has been unconquerable for us. The Bible radiates hope of winning with this promise in our word for today from the Word of God in Romans 6:14 and 18: "Sin shall not be your master...you have been set free from sin."

The taming miracle of Jesus begins when you relinquish the reins to Him. Because, as the Bible says, "our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ...gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness" (Titus 2:13-14). When He had bled out His life for us on that cross, He declared, "It is finished!" And that blood-bought victory included breaking the power of the animal inside us.

Oh yeah, my pastor prompted another thought during the Palm Sunday sermon. The disciples were given the curious assignment of just finding this donkey, untying him and bringing him to Jesus without asking the owner. Now, I don't know about you, but I'd be thinking about how I would look in prison stripes. But Jesus had told them, "If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' tell him, 'The Lord needs it'" (Luke 19:31). That's all the owner needed to hear. Little did he know that his nondescript beast of burden would be immortalized for carrying the King of kings to His date with destiny.

I think Jesus is still asking us to release something we have so He can use it. A talent, an ability, some money or valuables we've been hanging onto, maybe a ministry that we've hijacked from Him, a position of influence we have, our career, our retirement plans, or a child that we will not release to the call that God's given them. The finger of God may be reaching down from heaven and pointing to something or someone that we're holding tightly. And He's saying, "The Lord needs it."

You know, it may be your time to make Him more than the Savior of the world. It's time to make Him your Savior. If you want to know more about how you can take that step and begin a relationship with Him, and have the animal inside of you finally tamed by the One who walked out of His grave and has the power to do it, I hope you'll check out our website - YoursForLife.net.

If we'll let it go, whatever we've been hanging onto, He will do with it what we could never imagine. And He'll make whatever you release to Him into a miracle...like the Super Donkey