Grace Chooses to See Forgiveness
Victoria Ruvolo doesn't remember the 18-year-old boy leaning out the window holding, of all things, a frozen turkey. He threw it at her windshield. Crashing through the glass, it shattered Victoria's face like a dinner plate on concrete.
John 13:14-15 says, "Since I, the Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other's feet. Do as I have done to you."
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| Forgiveness |
From GRACE
Matthew 3
New International Version (NIV)
John the Baptist Prepares the Way
3 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’”[a]
4 John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 “I baptize you with[b] water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with[c] the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
The Baptism of Jesus
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
Footnotes:
Matthew 3:3 Isaiah 40:3
Matthew 3:11 Or in
Matthew 3:11 Or in
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Acts 1:1-11
Jesus Taken Up Into Heaven
1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with[a] water, but in a few days you will be baptized with[b] the Holy Spirit.”
6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Footnotes:
Acts 1:5 Or in
Acts 1:5 Or in
Gentle Witness
By Bill Crowder
You shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. —Acts 1:8
Years ago, I was hospitalized following a life-threatening, 38-foot fall from a bridge. While I was there, the wife of the man in the next bed stopped to speak to me. “My husband just told me what happened to you,” she said. “We believe God spared your life because He wants to use you. We’ve been praying for you.”
I was stunned. I had grown up going to church, but I had never imagined that God would want to be involved in my life. Her words pointed me to a Savior I had heard of but did not know—and marked the beginning of my coming to Christ. I cherish the memory of those words from a gentle witness who cared enough to say something to a stranger about the God whose love is real. Her words conveyed care and concern, and offered purpose and promise.
Jesus challenged His disciples—and us—to tell others about the love of God: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
Through the Holy Spirit our words and witness can have the power to make an eternal difference in the lives of others.
I love to tell the story of unseen things above,
Of Jesus and His glory, of Jesus and His love,
I love to tell the story, because I know ’tis true;
It satisfies my longings as nothing else can do. —Hankey
A caring word can accomplish more than we could ever imagine.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, March 24, 2014
Decreasing for His Purpose
He must increase, but I must decrease —John 3:30
If you become a necessity to someone else’s life, you are out of God’s will. As a servant, your primary responsibility is to be a “friend of the bridegroom” (John 3:29). When you see a person who is close to grasping the claims of Jesus Christ, you know that your influence has been used in the right direction. And when you begin to see that person in the middle of a difficult and painful struggle, don’t try to prevent it, but pray that his difficulty will grow even ten times stronger, until no power on earth or in hell could hold him away from Jesus Christ. Over and over again, we try to be amateur providences in someone’s life. We are indeed amateurs, coming in and actually preventing God’s will and saying, “This person should not have to experience this difficulty.” Instead of being friends of the Bridegroom, our sympathy gets in the way. One day that person will say to us, “You are a thief; you stole my desire to follow Jesus, and because of you I lost sight of Him.”
Beware of rejoicing with someone over the wrong thing, but always look to rejoice over the right thing. “. . . the friend of the bridegroom . . . rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:29-30). This was spoken with joy, not with sadness-at last they were to see the Bridegroom! And John said this was his joy. It represents a stepping aside, an absolute removal of the servant, never to be thought of again.
Listen intently with your entire being until you hear the Bridegroom’s voice in the life of another person. And never give any thought to what devastation, difficulties, or sickness it will bring. Just rejoice with godly excitement that His voice has been heard. You may often have to watch Jesus Christ wreck a life before He saves it (see Matthew 10:34).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
An Island of Sanity - #7096
Monday, March 24, 2014
There is almost nothing more chaotic than moving. Some years ago we moved our office to something more suitable that God had wonderfully provided. The result was terrific! The process was horrendous.
Unfortunately, the work didn't stop just because it was time to move. We had to press on and not let all the inconveniences stop us. I had some real deadlines to meet, (like always), including some radio visits like these to prepare for. Now, people were kind enough to attack my office last. So as the files and the furniture were flying, I just retreated to my office. Pretty soon my office started to go. And when they invaded my office, I moved my little computer to a small tray in the corner, and I just kept typing, like Schroeder on his piano. I had to! At one point, someone literally carried my desk away while I was typing away at my little tray. In the midst of this growing chaos, I actually managed to carve out my own little peaceful corner.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "An Island of Sanity."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes right from the lips of Jesus Christ, John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." I've got to tell you, this was not spoken at some quiet, spiritual retreat in the mountains. The soldiers were on their way to arrest Jesus; His cross was coming. The disciples' world was just about to come totally unglued.
And yet in the middle of this chaos, Jesus is talking about peace. "I will give you peace; an island of sanity in an otherwise insane situation." But He's saying that this peace won't come from what's going on around you; that's the kind the world gives. The island of sanity will be in you; deeply anchored in your personal relationship with Jesus Christ, which nothing can touch.
I was on a plane some years ago, and they announced that we were suddenly being re-routed; flying from Chicago to Newark. Suddenly we were headed to Detroit, because we had hydraulic problems. The guy two seats over went, "That's it! That's it! That's the landing gear." That helped. Next to me was this little grandma. She was terrified. This was really scary to her, and the flight attendants were running back and forth saying, "Seat belts. Seat belts. Seat belts."
I just kept working, because I really didn't feel any particular panic. I kind of tried to calm down this grandma next to me. I said, "Hey, we're going to Detroit for no extra charge. They usually charge for this." She laughed. I kept trying to provide some calm for her. Well, it ended up we landed amid this fleet of emergency vehicles, but we were safe. After it was all over she said, "How can you stay so calm?" I said, "Well, I have to tell you, it's because of a personal relationship that I have with Jesus. See, when you have that - the peace doesn't come from what is going on around you, but the peace comes from what's going on inside you...actually who's going on inside of you."
When you have this all-knowing, all-powerful Savior you've got nothing to fear. He loved us enough to die our death penalty for our sin on the cross. He's powerful enough to be the only person in history to march out of His own grave. Speaking of Jesus, Ephesians 2:14 says, "He Himself is our peace." I have tested that peace over and over: when we've been very concerned about a child, when I almost lost my wife, when my Dad died, when the finances have been impossible, Jesus has been that peaceful corner, like that chaotic moving day. He is my island of sanity. He wants to be yours.
If you're not sure you belong to this Prince of Peace, I urge you to open your heart to Him today. The Bible says until we have our sin forgiven, there is "no peace." But when you put your total trust in this man who died for your sin, the wall between you and God comes down and you finally have what has eluded you all these years-real peace.
If you want to belong to Him; if you want to be sure you belong to Him and let the peace begin, let me urge you to meet me at our website and join me there, and I will explain to you very briefly how you can be sure you have begun your personal relationship with the Prince of all Peace. Go to ANewStory.com.
It's like moving day every day in this stressful world we live in. There's no peace except in a heart where Jesus has come to live at your invitation, because beyond the chaos you will always have His island of peace.