Max Lucado Daily: The Grace-given, Give Grace
The grace-given-give grace! Is grace happening to you? Is there anyone in your life you refuse to forgive? If so, do you appreciate God's forgiveness toward you? Do you resent God's kindness to others? Do you grumble at God's uneven compensation? How long has it been since your generosity stunned someone?
Since someone objected, "No, really, this is too generous?" If it's been awhile reconsider God's extravagant grace. Psalm 103:2-3 says, "Forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity."
Let grace unscrooge your heart. Like Peter encourages us in 2 Peter 3:18, "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
When grace happens, generosity happens. Unsquashable, eye-popping, big-heartedness happens! You simply can't contain it all. Let it bubble over. Let it spill out. Let it pour forth.
From GRACE
Zechariah 3
Clean Garments for the High Priest
Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan[d] standing at his right side to accuse him. 2 The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”
3 Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. 4 The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.”
Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you.”
5 Then I said, “Put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the Lord stood by.
6 The angel of the Lord gave this charge to Joshua: 7 “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘If you will walk in obedience to me and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here.
8 “‘Listen, High Priest Joshua, you and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch. 9 See, the stone I have set in front of Joshua! There are seven eyes[e] on that one stone, and I will engrave an inscription on it,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will remove the sin of this land in a single day.
10 “‘In that day each of you will invite your neighbor to sit under your vine and fig tree,’ declares the Lord Almighty.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Luke 1:26-33
The Birth of Jesus Foretold
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
The Son Is Given
December 19, 2013 — by Bill Crowder
For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given. —Isaiah 9:6
One of my favorite portions of Handel’s Messiah is the joyous movement “For unto us a Child is born,” from the first part of the oratorio. I especially love how the chorus rises to the phrase, “Unto us a Son is given.” Those words, of course, are taken from Isaiah 9:6, “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given.” Handel’s majestic music soars with adoration for the Son who came to us in human flesh that first Christmas.
The New Testament clarifies even further who this Son is. In Luke 1, the angelic messenger appeared to Mary and identified the Christ-child in four ways. He would be the son of Mary, making Him fully human (1:31). He would be the Son of the Highest, which made Him fully divine (1:32). He would also be the Son of David, giving Him royal lineage (1:32). And He would bear the title of Son of God (1:35), giving Him equality with the Father in all things. All of the roles the Messiah was called to fill are made possible in these distinct expressions of His Sonship.
As we worship Him this Christmas, may our celebrations be filled with joy and wonder at the fullness of what it means. Our heavenly Father has given us His perfect, sufficient Son. O come, let us adore Him!
Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning,
Jesus, to Thee be all glory given;
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing;
O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord. —Wade
God’s love became incarnate at Bethlehem.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 19, 2013
The Focus Of Our Message
I did not come to bring peace but a sword —Matthew 10:34
Never be sympathetic with a person whose situation causes you to conclude that God is dealing harshly with him. God can be more tender than we can conceive, and every once in a while He gives us the opportunity to deal firmly with someone so that He may be viewed as the tender One. If a person cannot go to God, it is because he has something secret which he does not intend to give up— he may admit his sin, but would no more give up that thing than he could fly under his own power. It is impossible to deal sympathetically with people like that. We must reach down deep in their lives to the root of the problem, which will cause hostility and resentment toward the message. People want the blessing of God, but they can’t stand something that pierces right through to the heart of the matter.
If you are sensitive to God’s way, your message as His servant will be merciless and insistent, cutting to the very root. Otherwise, there will be no healing. We must drive the message home so forcefully that a person cannot possibly hide, but must apply its truth. Deal with people where they are, until they begin to realize their true need. Then hold high the standard of Jesus for their lives. Their response may be, “We can never be that.” Then drive it home with, “Jesus Christ says you must.” “But how can we be?” “You can’t, unless you have a new Spirit” (see Luke 11:13).
There must be a sense of need created before your message is of any use. Thousands of people in this world profess to be happy without God. But if we could be truly happy and moral without Jesus, then why did He come? He came because that kind of happiness and peace is only superficial. Jesus Christ came to “bring . . . a sword” through every kind of peace that is not based on a personal relationship with Himself.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
A Picture in Advance - #7029
Thursday, December 19, 2013
A college student was supposed to pick me up at this small town airport, and I was going to go to his college to speak. He had my press photo in his hand; just one of those typical head shots...mug shots, you know, that you send out to newspapers and so on. I didn't, of course, have a photo of him. So who would you expect to find who in that airport? It wasn't exactly LaGuardia or Kennedy or Newark Airport. There were only two gates.
My flight came in and I kept waiting for someone to come up and identify themselves, but pretty soon everybody cleared out and there were only two people left. There was me and there was this college student walking back and forth looking at a photo in his hand, looking at me, looking at the photo, looking at me. And the only other person there was the man with a briefcase looking at the college student.
Well, I knew his name was Jeff. I had talked to him on the phone. I said, "Is that you, Jeff?" He looked at the picture again and said, "Is that you, Ron?" I said, "It sure is!" He said, "Oh, in the picture you look tall." What? I must have a tall head. I guess I just got the wrong body. Well now, look! Anyone who has a picture in advance ought to recognize the man when He comes. Right?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Picture in Advance."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 1:21. It's part of the Christmas Story, and the angel is speaking to Joseph. "'She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.' All this took place to fulfill what the Lord has said to the prophet; 'The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, (That's a quote from the book of Isaiah.) and they will call him Immanuel, which means God with us.'"
God says here that "When My Son comes He'll be the fulfillment of a prophecy." He will, in fact, be the fulfillment of scores of prophecies. For two thousand years God had been sending ahead a picture of what His Son would look like when He came to earth. It's sort of like an inverted pyramid. It starts out very broad and comes down to a very narrowly focused picture in advance of what the Messiah will look like.
In Genesis 3:15, way back in the Garden of Eden, God says the answer to sin would be a descendent of Eve. In other words, a man would come. Then in Genesis 12:15, He says what nation He will come from. Of all the nations on earth, it says that the Messiah's blessings will come through the Nation of Israel. Then in Genesis chapter 49, God narrows it down a little more; gives us a little more focused photograph. He says He'll come from the tribe out of the twelve tribes of Israel...look for Him to come from the tribe of Judah.
Then in Isaiah 11:1 He narrows it down to the family. He says He'll come out of the family of David. Isaiah chapter 7, the method - a virgin birth. How could you miss it? Micah 5:2, He says, "Now, here's the place. He'll be born in a little village called Bethlehem." Isaiah 53 describes His death. The book of Zachariah even tells the number of pieces of silver He'll be betrayed for.
They had the picture in their hands back then and they didn't recognize Him. John 1:11, "He came to His own and His own did not receive Him." You say, "How could they miss Him?" Well how can we? We don't just have prophecies, we've got history. We know He walked out of His grave under His own power.
He's identified himself to you as the one you've been looking for. Could it be you're still withholding your allegiance? Could it be you're circling Him like that fellow did at the airport with me; checking out who He is? Well, sometime you've got to do something with Him. John 1:12 says, "As many as received Him, to everyone who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God."
Maybe sometime for you is Christmas time. You don't need evidence now, you need faith. Don't circle Jesus any more. Come to Him and say, "Lord, you are the one I've spent a lifetime searching for."
I would love to help you get started with Him this Christmas. I would invite you to join me at our website. It's ANewStory.com. It could be the beginning of your new story. If you'll tell Jesus, "I'm Yours", well I know where you'll be. You'll be home for Christmas.
