Psalm 96 bible reading and devotions.

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We Are Valuable

Value is now measured by two criteria: appearance and performance.  Where does that leave the ugly or uneducated?  Where hope does that offer the unborn child? The aged?  The handicapped? Not much at all. We become nameless numbers on mislaid lists.

This is man’s value system.  But it is not God’s.  His plan is much brighter.  In God’s book man is heading somewhere.  He has an amazing destiny.

We’re being prepared to walk down the church aisle and become the bride of Jesus. We’re going to live with him.  Share the throne with him. We count.  We’re valuable.

Jesus’ love does not depend on what we do for him. If there was anything that Jesus wanted everyone to understand it was this: A person is worth something simply because he is a person. That’s why Jesus treated people the way he did.

You have value simply because you are!

You are His.

From Cast of Characters

Psalm 96

1 Sing to the Lord a new song;
    sing to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Sing to the Lord, praise his name;
    proclaim his salvation day after day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations,
    his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
4 For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
    he is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the nations are idols,
    but the Lord made the heavens.
6 Splendor and majesty are before him;
    strength and glory are in his sanctuary.
7 Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations,
    ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
    bring an offering and come into his courts.
9 Worship the Lord in the splendor of his[a] holiness;
    tremble before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns. ”
    The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;
    he will judge the peoples with equity.
11 Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
    let the sea resound, and all that is in it.
12 Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them;
    let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.
13 Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes,
    he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
    and the peoples in his faithfulness.


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: Hebrews 4:9-16

9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works,[a] just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Jesus the Great High Priest

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven,[b] Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are —yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

The New Normal

August 27, 2012 — by Bill Crowder

For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. —Hebrews 4:15

A pastor, who was trained in trauma and grief counseling, commented that the greatest challenge for people who are hurting is often not the immediate heartache of the loss. Instead, the biggest problem is adjusting to the different kind of life that follows. What once was normal may never be normal again. So the challenge for those offering help is to assist the sufferers as they establish the “new normal.” It may be a new normal that no longer includes robust health, a treasured relationship, or a satisfying job. Or it may be living without a loved one who has been taken in death. The gravity of such losses forces us to live a different kind of life—no matter how unwelcome it may be.

When our “new normal” comes, it’s easy to think no one understands how we feel. But that isn’t true. Part of the reason Jesus came was to experience life among us, resulting in His present ministry: “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15).

Our Savior lived a perfect life, yet He also knew the pains of a broken world. He endured sorrow; He suffered agony. And He stands ready to encourage us when the dark moments of life force us to embrace a new normal.

Father, thank You that in the darkest seasons of life, You
will never abandon us. Guide us with Your never-failing
presence through both the welcome and unwelcome changes
of life. In Jesus’ name, amen.
In our desert of grief, Jesus can provide an oasis of hope.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
August 27, 2012

Living Your Theology

Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you . . . —John 12:35

Beware of not acting upon what you see in your moments on the mountaintop with God. If you do not obey the light, it will turn into darkness. “If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:23). The moment you forsake the matter of sanctification or neglect anything else on which God has given you His light, your spiritual life begins to disintegrate within you. Continually bring the truth out into your real life, working it out into every area, or else even the light that you possess will itself prove to be a curse.

The most difficult person to deal with is the one who has the prideful self-satisfaction of a past experience, but is not working that experience out in his everyday life. If you say you are sanctified, show it. The experience must be so genuine that it shows in your life. Beware of any belief that makes you self-indulgent or self-gratifying; that belief came from the pit of hell itself, regardless of how beautiful it may sound.

Your theology must work itself out, exhibiting itself in your most common everyday relationships. Our Lord said, “. . . unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20). In other words, you must be more moral than the most moral person you know. You may know all about the doctrine of sanctification, but are you working it out in the everyday issues of your life? Every detail of your life, whether physical, moral, or spiritual, is to be judged and measured by the standard of the atonement by the Cross of Christ.


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Avoiding the Backlash That's Building Behind You - #6686

Monday, August 27, 2012

When you hear about the weather on the East Coast, you almost always hear about a place called Cape Hatteras. It's a barrier reef off the coast of North Carolina; it's been called the Graveyard of the Atlantic. And it's probably the storm center of the East Coast. In fact, when you look at the map or hear the weatherman in the morning he'll say, "There's a blizzard off of Cape Hatteras. There's a hurricane off of Cape Hatteras. There's a major storm system off of Cape Hatteras."

It's a place where most hurricanes coming up the East Coast make landfall. Oh, you have the ocean on the front side of this barrier reef, and then there's a quieter bay on its backside. When a hurricane hits, it can do a lot of damage. I talked to some people when I was there, and they told me a surprising reason why the hurricane does so much damage. Most of it doesn't come from the hurricane coming in from the ocean, which I would have thought; it comes after the hurricane leaves from all the water that was pushed back into the bay. It's that backlash that kills the island, not the front of the storm. It's sort of like postponed destruction.

Maybe you've faced some gale-force winds lately in your life. But because of the way you're handling it, you may face something worse than the storm, and that's the backlash from the bay.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Avoiding the Backlash That's Building Behind You."

Our word for today from the Word of God is about people under pressure; people who are being hit with perhaps emotional, or financial, or medical, or family hurricanes; storm centers like Cape Hatteras. Isaiah 30:15, talks about ways that we can handle that kind of pressure, "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength." Listen to what He says, "'But you would have none of it. No, here's how I'll handle it.' You said, 'No, we will flee on horses. Therefore, you will flee.' You said, 'We will ride off on swift horses. Therefore your pursuers will be swift.'"

Now, what He's talking about here is handling pressure in that time-honored way, "Run for it! Escape! Get on a fast horse and get out of here." It may very well be that trouble has hit you, and you've been trying to run from it rather than face it. You haven't resorted to horses, but there are a lot of other ways to run. To run from your family problems, from personal doubts you've been having, maybe a problem you've been postponing dealing with or a confrontation you need to have. Perhaps you run to your friends, or you just turn up the music, or get real busy, or use drugs or alcohol, maybe just deception - you kid yourself, you run to your recreation, you get lost in your work. Or maybe you've been running from the Lord's personal dealings with you.

But see, the backlash from the bay is going to catch you. That's why the Bible says your pursuers will be swift. The backlash is building. You can't postpone it. The Bible says, "Your strength is not in running from it. Your strength is in repenting, in resting, being quiet, in trusting.

Stop running from what you should be facing. You've got to face the pressure, face the storm, face the issue, and if need be, face the Lord. Trade in that false and temporary security we feel by trying to escape. Trade that for the real security of the peace of Almighty God.