2 Chronicles 4 bible reading and devotionals.

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Max Lucado Daily:

He Called His Name Jesus

Scripture says,  “And Joseph took to him his wife, and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son.  And he called His name Jesus! Matthew 1:24”

Joseph was literally willing to tank his reputation.  And he did. He traded it in for a pregnant fiancée and an illegitimate son and made the big decision of discipleship.  He placed God’s plan ahead of his own.  Rather than make a name for himself, he made a home for Christ.  And because he did, a great reward came his way. “And he called His name Jesus!”

Of all the saints, sinners, prodigals, and preachers who’ve spoken the name, Joseph—a blue-collar, small-town construction worker said it first.  Joseph cradled the wrinkle-faced prince of heaven, and with an audience of angels and pigs, whispered, “Jesus—You’ll be called Jesus!”

From: Grace for the Moment

2 Chronicles 4

New International Version (NIV)
The Temple’s Furnishings

4 He made a bronze altar twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide and ten cubits high.[a] 2 He made the Sea of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim and five cubits[b] high. It took a line of thirty cubits[c] to measure around it. 3 Below the rim, figures of bulls encircled it—ten to a cubit.[d] The bulls were cast in two rows in one piece with the Sea.

4 The Sea stood on twelve bulls, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south and three facing east. The Sea rested on top of them, and their hindquarters were toward the center. 5 It was a handbreadth[e] in thickness, and its rim was like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held three thousand baths.[f]

6 He then made ten basins for washing and placed five on the south side and five on the north. In them the things to be used for the burnt offerings were rinsed, but the Sea was to be used by the priests for washing.

7 He made ten gold lampstands according to the specifications for them and placed them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north.

8 He made ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north. He also made a hundred gold sprinkling bowls.

9 He made the courtyard of the priests, and the large court and the doors for the court, and overlaid the doors with bronze. 10 He placed the Sea on the south side, at the southeast corner.

11 And Huram also made the pots and shovels and sprinkling bowls.

So Huram finished the work he had undertaken for King Solomon in the temple of God:

12 the two pillars;

the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars;

the two sets of network decorating the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars;

13 the four hundred pomegranates for the two sets of network (two rows of pomegranates for each network, decorating the bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars);

14 the stands with their basins;

15 the Sea and the twelve bulls under it;

16 the pots, shovels, meat forks and all related articles.

All the objects that Huram-Abi made for King Solomon for the temple of the Lord were of polished bronze. 17 The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Sukkoth and Zarethan.[g] 18 All these things that Solomon made amounted to so much that the weight of the bronze could not be calculated.

19 Solomon also made all the furnishings that were in God’s temple:

the golden altar;

the tables on which was the bread of the Presence;

20 the lampstands of pure gold with their lamps, to burn in front of the inner sanctuary as prescribed;

21 the gold floral work and lamps and tongs (they were solid gold);

22 the pure gold wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes and censers; and the gold doors of the temple: the inner doors to the Most Holy Place and the doors of the main hall.


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: Colossians 1:19-27

Colossians 1:19-27
English Standard Version (ESV)
19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation[a] under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

Paul's Ministry to the Church

24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

The Gift

December 20, 2012 — by Julie Ackerman Link

And you . . . He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight. —Colossians 1:21-22

We refer to Christmas as the season of giving. Most of us try hard to find gifts that friends and family will like, but not all gifts are equal. Some gifts come with a subtle hint, like an exercise machine or a book about weight loss. Other gifts are those that the giver really wants for himself. But the best gifts are those that come from someone who loves us and knows what we want.

Last Christmas, my pastor, Jim Samra, challenged us to think about Christ’s coming in another way. We know that Jesus was God’s perfect gift to us (Rom. 6:23), but Pastor Jim added another thought. He said that His coming to earth could also be looked at as a gift that Jesus gave to His Father. Jesus loved His Father and knew that what He wanted more than anything else was for us, His creation, to be reconciled to Him. Through His incarnation, Jesus made it possible for us to be a holy and blameless present to God (Col. 1:22).

Thinking of ourselves as a gift to God makes us want to be a present worth the cost, “fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (v.10).

Dear Lord, from whom all blessings flow,
Most precious gifts dost Thou bestow;
So truly faithful may I be
As Thou art gracious unto me. —Roworth
God’s highest Gift should awaken our deepest gratitude.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 20, 2012

The Right Kind of Help

And I, if I am lifted up . . . will draw all peoples to Myself —John 12:32

Very few of us have any understanding of the reason why Jesus Christ died. If sympathy is all that human beings need, then the Cross of Christ is an absurdity and there is absolutely no need for it. What the world needs is not “a little bit of love,” but major surgery.

When you find yourself face to face with a person who is spiritually lost, remind yourself of Jesus Christ on the cross. If that person can get to God in any other way, then the Cross of Christ is unnecessary. If you think you are helping lost people with your sympathy and understanding, you are a traitor to Jesus Christ. You must have a right-standing relationship with Him yourself, and pour your life out in helping others in His way— not in a human way that ignores God. The theme of the world’s religion today is to serve in a pleasant, non-confrontational manner.

But our only priority must be to present Jesus Christ crucified— to lift Him up all the time (see 1 Corinthians 2:2). Every belief that is not firmly rooted in the Cross of Christ will lead people astray. If the worker himself believes in Jesus Christ and is trusting in the reality of redemption, his words will be compelling to others. What is extremely important is for the worker’s simple relationship with Jesus Christ to be strong and growing. His usefulness to God depends on that, and that alone.

The calling of a New Testament worker is to expose sin and to reveal Jesus Christ as Savior. Consequently, he cannot always be charming and friendly, but must be willing to be stern to accomplish major surgery. We are sent by God to lift up Jesus Christ, not to give wonderfully beautiful speeches. We must be willing to examine others as deeply as God has examined us. We must also be sharply intent on sensing those Scripture passages that will drive the truth home, and then not be afraid to apply them.


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

The Gift He Didn't Want - #6769

Thursday, December 20, 2012

When my friend Rich was about seven years old, his parents really splurged on his Christmas gift. They got him a big boy bike! What a moment that Christmas morning. Can you imagine? They'd been holding on to this, waiting to surprise him. They wheel it into the living room, and Rich says, "Thanks, but I don't want it." That's the truth, really. Can you imagine? That boy rejected the best gift his parents could give him. He's not alone.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Gift He Didn't Want."

Man, I can only imagine how his father felt about that bike that he had spent a good deal on, and his boy didn't want it. More importantly, can you imagine how God feels when we do that to Him? Because Christmas...that's when He gave the most expensive gift He could possibly give. In the words of the Bible, "He spared not His Son but delivered Him up for us all" (Romans 8:32). Jesus came that Christmas to end up dying alone on a cross to pay for every sin we've ever done; to take our hell so we could go to His heaven. That's the ultimate gift!

But see, that tells us how bad our sin is. We can't excuse sin as just a few immoral failures. It's rebellion against God that could only be paid for by a death penalty. It's spiritual hijacking. And we've said, "God, you made the universe. You run the universe. I'll run me, thank you." How dare I defy the God of a hundred billion galaxies, who decides if I take my next breath. Yeah, that's how bad our sin is. If you don't know how bad it is, you go to that cross and look at what it took to pay for it. There's only one way to pay for our sin. Either we pay the death penalty forever in a place away from God, or we accept the payment Jesus made. That's the gift He died to pay for.

Now, in our word for today from the Word of God, Romans 6:23, it says, "The gift of God is eternal life." Before that it says, "The wages of sin is death." That's what we deserve. But "the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Now, I'll tell you why it's a gift. It's because there's nothing you can do to earn heaven. You don't pay God for it. You don't begin to somehow acquire it by doing good works. When someone gives you a gift on Christmas, you don't do anything for it. Your only way of making it yours is to receive it and to take it for yourself. There's a big lie out there. You see it across the world among religious people that, "I can be good enough somehow to make it to heaven." But if we could have been good enough, would God have sent His Son to pay this awful price if there was any other way? Obviously it had to be bought with the blood of the only perfect One there was - God's Son.

And that gift? That gift is being wheeled out in front of you this Christmas season. The biggest mistake of your life would be to say "Thanks, God, but I don't want it." This Christmas, you've got to decide what you're going to do with this greatest gift of all. To reject that gift is to reject God's great sacrifice for you, is to spurn this ultimate act of love from the God who made you, and to turn your back on the heaven that you want to go to when you die.

Listen, if you want to take that gift for yourself, will you tell Him that, "Jesus, I am Yours. I cannot any longer ignore, postpone, marginalize or reject this gift. I want the gift of eternal life You died to give me." This Christmas season, what a wonderful time to receive God's greatest gift. You can go to our website and walk right through there how to begin this relationship with Jesus. Go to, YoursForLife.net.

It's so important that you take this gift, because I can tell you, the God who sent His Son here will never forget what you do with His Son.