Psalm 113 bible reading and devotions.

Click here to download and listen.

MaxLucado.com: A Second Chance

She was only five years old when you took the photo.  Cheeks freckled by the summer sun, hair in pigtails.  That was twenty years ago.  Three marriages ago.  A million flight miles and e-mails ago.

Today she walks down the aisle on the arm of another father.  You left your family bobbing in the wake of your high-speed career.  Now that you have what you wanted, you don’t want it at all.  Oh, to have a second chance.

1st John 4:15 says, “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.”

He re-purposes bad decisions and squalid choices.  Saved by grace is to be saved by Him.  He placed a term limit on sin and danced a victory jig in a graveyard.

God can do something with the mess of your life. Grace is what you need!

From GRACE

Enjoy this e-booklet, The Gospel of Second Chances, and other free resources at MaxLucado.com.

Psalm 113

1 Praise the Lord.[a]
Praise the Lord, you his servants;
    praise the name of the Lord.
2 Let the name of the Lord be praised,
    both now and forevermore.
3 From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,
    the name of the Lord is to be praised.
4 The Lord is exalted over all the nations,
    his glory above the heavens.
5 Who is like the Lord our God,
    the One who sits enthroned on high,
6 who stoops down to look
    on the heavens and the earth?
7 He raises the poor from the dust
    and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
8 he seats them with princes,
    with the princes of his people.
9 He settles the childless woman in her home
    as a happy mother of children.
Praise the Lord.


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: 3 John

Greeting

1 The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.

2 Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. 3 For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers[a] came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

Support and Opposition

5 Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, 6 who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. 7 For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. 8 Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.

9 I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. 10 So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church.

11 Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God. 12 Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We also add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true.

Final Greetings

13 I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink. 14 I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.

15 Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends, each by name.

Imitate The Good

September 11, 2012 — by David C. McCasland

Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God. —3 John 1:11

Most people would agree that life is a painful mixture of good and bad. It’s true in marriage, friendship, family, work, and church. Yet we are surprised and disappointed when self-centeredness takes the stage within a fellowship of those who seek to worship and serve Christ together.

When the apostle John wrote to his friend Gaius, he commended the truthful living and generous hospitality of those in his church (3 John 1:3-8). In the same fellowship, however, Diotrephes, “who wants to be head of everything” (v.9 Phillips), had created an atmosphere of hostility.

John promised to deal personally with Diotrephes on his next visit to the church. In the meantime, he urged the congregation: “Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God” (v.11). John’s words echo the instruction of Paul to the Christians in Rome: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:21).

In a heated conflict, we may be tempted to “fight fire with fire.” Yet John urges us to turn away from what is bad and follow what is good. This is the pathway that honors our Savior.

For Further Study
Be patient and humble in conflicts (Rom. 12: 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:
"If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. ;

Gal. 6: 1 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. 
Follow the guidelines in with the desire to restore erring fellow Christians. Matt. 18:15 "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16 But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. 18 "I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

As light overcomes darkness, goodness can overcome evil.


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

Missionary Weapons (2)

If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet —John 13:14

Ministering in Everyday Opportunities. Ministering in everyday opportunities that surround us does not mean that we select our own surroundings— it means being God’s very special choice to be available for use in any of the seemingly random surroundings which He has engineered for us. The very character we exhibit in our present surroundings is an indication of what we will be like in other surroundings.

The things Jesus did were the most menial of everyday tasks, and this is an indication that it takes all of God’s power in me to accomplish even the most common tasks in His way. Can I use a towel as He did? Towels, dishes, sandals, and all the other ordinary things in our lives reveal what we are made of more quickly than anything else. It takes God Almighty Incarnate in us to do the most menial duty as it ought to be done.

Jesus said, “I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you” (13:15). Notice the kind of people that God brings around you, and you will be humiliated once you realize that this is actually His way of revealing to you the kind of person you have been to Him. Now He says we should exhibit to those around us exactly what He has exhibited to us.

Do you find yourself responding by saying, “Oh, I will do all that once I’m out on the mission field”? Talking in this way is like trying to produce the weapons of war while in the trenches of the battlefield–you will be killed while trying to do it.

We have to go the “second mile” with God (see Matthew 5:41). Yet some of us become worn out in the first ten steps. Then we say, “Well, I’ll just wait until I get closer to the next big crisis in my life.” But if we do not steadily minister in everyday opportunities, we will do nothing when the crisis comes.


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Watching the Towers Fall - #6697

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

A friend called that morning and said, "Ron, you should turn on the TV. An airplane just hit one of the World Trade Center towers." There was no file folder in my heart for what I was about to see. I quickly found a news channel. From that moment on, I didn't turn it off.

My wife and I were in Manhattan, in that area not long ago, and we were friends with a lot of people who worked in Manhattan. We had been occasional visitors to the observation deck atop the Trade Center. We watched one horrific event after another unfold before our eyes that day. And when the towers collapsed in that killer cloud of dust, we couldn't contain the tears. Neither could the TV reporters who, for those gut-wrenching moments, lost their journalist's detachment and they melted with all of us. Stunned, shock, disbelief.

And I prayed. I was groping for what to pray, but I poured out my heart to God, and suddenly I found myself praying, "O Lord, would You please help me see this through Your eyes? What are You seeing in this tragedy that's just too big for our hearts to handle?" In the hours that followed, I believe He answered my prayer. And what I saw - beyond the unspeakable events that raked our souls - has stuck with me for over a decade. Every year, watching those deeply moving remembrances of the events at "Ground Zero," the echoes reverberate again in my heart. "Make every day count with the people you love."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I'd like to have A Word With You today about "Watching the Towers Fall."

All those heart-rending cell phone calls from hijacked planes and burning buildings were pretty much about one thing - "I love you." Who can know now that this day might be our last day to be sure people we know love them. It's not good enough to just leave our dear ones on an "I love you until further notice" basis.

Each of them needs to know it, and to feel it today. The psalmist said, "Teach us to number our days aright" (Psalm 90:1). Live and love like today is all you've got, because some day it will be.

Ask the "make a difference" question. A lot of folks did after they saw so many lives end so suddenly before our eyes. "Am I just making a living or am I really making a difference?" People changed careers; they changed their life plans in light of the powerful wake-up call of September 11.

With our life and the lives around us so very fragile, it's good to stop and weigh the most significant use of this one short life. The God who created us as "His workmanship," it says, "for good works He prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10). He doesn't want us settling for less than our destiny. This time of remembering is also the time to be reflecting on the changes needed to make the greatest possible difference with the rest of our life.

Life's real heroes are the rescuers. In the days that followed September 11, sports stars and paparazzi-ed celebrities were saying, "Don't call us heroes. Heroes are those guys who went into the flames and the rubble to save lives." All over the country, America honored and continues to honor our first responders - those who disregard their fears, forget about themselves to give someone a chance to live. Those are the kind of heroes, by the way, that heaven honors, too.

Now, our word for today from the Word of God, Proverbs 24:11 says that a hero like that sees and understands that their friends and loved ones who've never met their Jesus are "staggering toward slaughter" and "being led away to death." God has one unmistakable command: "Rescue them." Tell them what you know about what Jesus did on the cross for them. Give them a chance to live - forever.

Be ready for eternity whenever it comes. More than anything, I think that's what screamed - and still screams - to me from the rubble of Ground Zero. We just can't count on tomorrow. That's why the Bible says, "Prepare to meet your God" (Amos 6:1).

See, He's not a Savior you "get around to someday"; not when we live one heartbeat from eternity. Not when the only way to be ready to meet a holy God is to have every sin of your life erased by the only One who can, and that's Jesus; the only One who did all the dying for all your sin. So the Bible says, "whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

If you don't belong to Him, don't count on another day. Tell Him today, "Jesus, I'm yours." There's no greater peace, no greater security than to know for sure that you are ready for eternity whenever it comes.