Wednesday, July 25, 2012
2 Kings 16 bible reading and devotionals.
MaxLucado.com: When God Engraved Your Name
A person doesn’t have to be a golf fan to empathize with Adam Scott. With four holes to go he had a four shot lead in the British Open. Four shots! Par the final quartet of holes and the trophy was his. Might as well have told him to chew gum. He could par these holes in his sleep. Everyone knew the tournament was his. A craftsman in a nearby workshop began sketching the name Adam Scott on the winner’s medal.
But disaster struck. Missed putts. Wayward shots. The next thing he knew, he was scrambling to make a ten-foot putt to force a playoff. He missed it. “Wow,” he mouthed, chin trembling.
The most poignant moment of the collapse might have been the camera shot of the engraver as he was given the news. He stopped his work and, gulp, erased Adam Scott’s name from the first place medal.
Viewers offered a collective groan.
Many Christians can relate. We fear the same will happen to us. We fear the fatal stumble, the ultimate collapse. Might we fall so utterly that God will erase our name?
No, he won’t.
Jesus couldn’t be more emphatic. “And I shall give them eternal life, and they shall never lose it or perish throughout the ages. [To all eternity they shall never by any means be destroyed.] And no one is able to snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:28 AMP).
Jesus promised a new life that cannot be forfeited or terminated. “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned: he has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24 NIV).
Unlike the medal engraver, Jesus has an eternal perspective. He knew every step of your life before you took the first one. He saw the bogies and the birdies, the strong days and bad ones. He made His choice. When you said “yes” to him, he entered your name into the eternal populace of heaven. Your name is “engraved on the palms of his hands.” (Is.49:16 )
Finish well. But, if you stumble along the way, don’t worry, Jesus doesn’t use an eraser.
2 Kings 16
Ahaz King of Judah
16 In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign. 2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. Unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God. 3 He followed the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, engaging in the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. 4 He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on the hilltops and under every spreading tree.
5 Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem and besieged Ahaz, but they could not overpower him. 6 At that time, Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath for Aram by driving out the people of Judah. Edomites then moved into Elath and have lived there to this day.
7 Ahaz sent messengers to say to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, “I am your servant and vassal. Come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Aram and of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.” 8 And Ahaz took the silver and gold found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace and sent it as a gift to the king of Assyria. 9 The king of Assyria complied by attacking Damascus and capturing it. He deported its inhabitants to Kir and put Rezin to death.
10 Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria. He saw an altar in Damascus and sent to Uriah the priest a sketch of the altar, with detailed plans for its construction. 11 So Uriah the priest built an altar in accordance with all the plans that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus and finished it before King Ahaz returned. 12 When the king came back from Damascus and saw the altar, he approached it and presented offerings[i] on it. 13 He offered up his burnt offering and grain offering, poured out his drink offering, and splashed the blood of his fellowship offerings against the altar. 14 As for the bronze altar that stood before the Lord, he brought it from the front of the temple—from between the new altar and the temple of the Lord—and put it on the north side of the new altar.
15 King Ahaz then gave these orders to Uriah the priest: “On the large new altar, offer the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, and the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. Splash against this altar the blood of all the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use the bronze altar for seeking guidance.” 16 And Uriah the priest did just as King Ahaz had ordered.
17 King Ahaz cut off the side panels and removed the basins from the movable stands. He removed the Sea from the bronze bulls that supported it and set it on a stone base. 18 He took away the Sabbath canopy[j] that had been built at the temple and removed the royal entryway outside the temple of the Lord, in deference to the king of Assyria.
19 As for the other events of the reign of Ahaz, and what he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? 20 Ahaz rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. And Hezekiah his son succeeded him as king.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Mark 10:35-45
The Request of James and John
35 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 36 And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” 37 And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” 38 Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” 39 And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, 40 but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” 41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. 42 And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,[a] 44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave[b] of all. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Remembering The Reason
July 25, 2012 — by David C. McCasland
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. —Mark 10:45
Joe Morris flavors his ice cream with ingredients ranging from chocolate and strawberries to green tea and dried chipotle peppers. He’s one of three ice-cream makers for a successful Texas company known for its quality, creativity, and innovation. But Joe hasn’t forgotten why he does it.
He told reporter Ricardo Gándara that one of the longtime employees always reminded them, “Why are we making ice cream? It’s a happy food. We’re here to make people happy.” And that’s why Joe Morris makes ice cream.
We know that it’s extremely important to remember the reason for what we do as followers of Jesus. If we forget, we become like the disciples when a dispute over who was most important created anger and division among them. Jesus reminded them that “even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:35-45).
If our goal is to share the good news of God’s love with others, we won’t become impersonal or harsh if someone resists or ridicules our appeal. As we follow our Lord’s path of loving service and sacrifice, we are reminded that He came to serve and save.
That’s the reason for everything we do.
He whose right was heaven’s glory
Chose to serve on earth below,
Leaving us a clear example
Of the love He’d have us show. —D. De Haan
Keep your eyes on the Lord, and you won’t lose sight of life’s purpose.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
July 25, 2012
Am I Blessed Like This?
Blessed are . . . —Matthew 5:3-11
When we first read the statements of Jesus, they seem wonderfully simple and unstartling, and they sink unnoticed into our subconscious minds. For instance, the Beatitudes initially seem to be merely soothing and beautiful precepts for overly spiritual and seemingly useless people, but of very little practical use in the rigid, fast-paced workdays of the world in which we live. We soon find, however, that the Beatitudes contain the “dynamite” of the Holy Spirit. And they “explode” when the circumstances of our lives cause them to do so. When the Holy Spirit brings to our remembrance one of the Beatitudes, we say, “What a startling statement that is!” Then we must decide whether or not we will accept the tremendous spiritual upheaval that will be produced in our circumstances if we obey His words. That is the way the Spirit of God works. We do not need to be born again to apply the Sermon on the Mount literally. The literal interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount is as easy as child’s play. But the interpretation by the Spirit of God as He applies our Lord’s statements to our circumstances is the strict and difficult work of a saint.
The teachings of Jesus are all out of proportion when compared to our natural way of looking at things, and they come to us initially with astonishing discomfort. We gradually have to conform our walk and conversation to the precepts of Jesus Christ as the Holy Spirit applies them to our circumstances. The Sermon on the Mount is not a set of rules and regulations— it is a picture of the life we will live when the Holy Spirit is having His unhindered way with us.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Lottery Fever and Other Contagious Diseases - #6663
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
So I went into the gas station to prepay for a fill up and suddenly found myself in Crazyville. There was a long line in this small town store, all talking about what they'd do if they won. Oh, yeah, I had inadvertently walked into Lottery Fever.
Well, all over the news, folks were talking about their dreams for how they were going to spend this record-breaking $600 million-plus jackpot, even though the odds of winning were 1 in 176 million! I didn't buy a ticket. When I saw how much it cost, though, to fill up my vehicle, I thought maybe I'd have to win the lottery to buy my gas.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Lottery Fever and Other Contagious Diseases."
So, some lucky people won the jackpot, and I wish them well. But sadly, so many people who "struck it rich" struck out afterwards. There's story after story online of how winners' dreams turned to nightmares: divorce, bankruptcy, deep depression, conflict, and relentless "gold diggers" who want a piece of it.
You have more money to lose, to argue over, to waste, to keep you from fixing what's wrong inside. Money can improve your environment, but it can't do a thing about your invironment.
The Bible warns in 1 Timothy 6, our word for today from the Word of God. "People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."
Okay, now, it's human nature to attach our dreams to getting "more." And the cash lottery? It's not the only one we bet on. Some of us bet on the love lottery, thinking that finding the right someone to love us will make our dreams come true. But, as so many have discovered, winning at love doesn't guarantee happiness. And too often, the dream turns out to be a nightmare.
Life's got a lot of lotteries you can spend on, hoping your dreams will come true: the success lottery, the "be the best" lottery, the perfection lottery - perfect home, perfect kids, perfect image, the "affair" lottery. Buy lots of tickets; dream your "better life" dream. If you lose, you think that's why you're unhappy. If you win, you're more baffled than ever about why you're not happy.
We had a puppy once and she loved to chase bubbles. I'd wave that little wand of bubble solution, the bubbles would start descending toward the kitchen floor, and our dog would dance and jump and biting as many bubbles as she could. But as soon as she got what she was after - pop - it turned out to be nothing.
King Solomon had chased and caught a lot of bubbles in his day; lots of women, fame, historic projects, a buffet of pleasures, incalculable wealth. His return on investment? "I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind" (Ecclesiastes 1:14). Ultimately, this man who had won all the lotteries says: "Here is the conclusion of the matter: fear God and keep His commandments...remember your Creator in the days of your youth" (Ecclesiastes 12:13, 1).
Turns out we were "created by Him and for Him" (Colossians 1:16), and we're going to keep coming up empty until we experience the God-relationship we were made for. See, the One who made us is the only one big enough to fill that God-shaped hole in our heart. But since we've pretty much ignored Him and lived for ourselves, that relationship comes at a high price; paying the penalty for a lifetime of sinning.
And no matter how deep we dig, we'll never come up with enough to win forgiveness, peace, or eternal life. Oh, but the price has been paid on Good Friday, by Jesus on a cross. That's where the Bible says, "Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that by His poverty He could make you rich" (2 Corinthians 8:9).
My spiritual bankruptcy traded for His eternal treasure, because He gave it all. It was an offer I could not resist. For so many, including me, our lifetime search ended at the feet of Jesus Christ, and that's where it will end for you. If you want to begin this ultimate relationship, the one you were made for, I encourage you to go to our website. It's there to help you get started with Jesus. YoursForLife.net.
He's been waiting for you for a long time to give you the peace, the purpose and the love that you've spent a whole life looking for.
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