Max Lucado Daily: God Has Done It
The rich young ruler. He's rich, powerful. Just ask him. He knows where he's going. But today he has a question. Calling on this carpenter's son for help must be awkward. "Teacher," he asks, "what good thing must I do to get eternal life" (Matthew 19:16)? How much do I need to invest to be certain of my return?
Jesus' answer is intended to make the young man wince. "Obey the commandments."
"Hey," he grins, I've obeyed all of these."
Jesus gets to the point. "If you want to be perfect, go sell your possessions, give to the poor and you'll have treasures in heaven" (Matthew 19:21). The statement leaves the young man distraught. It wasn't the money that hindered the rich man-it was the self-sufficiency. God does for his children what they can't do for themselves. This was the message of Paul: "For what the law was powerless to do-God did" (Romans 8:3).
From The Applause of Heaven
Psalm 28
A psalm of David.
1 I pray to you, O Lord, my rock.
Do not turn a deaf ear to me.
For if you are silent,
I might as well give up and die.
2 Listen to my prayer for mercy
as I cry out to you for help,
as I lift my hands toward your holy sanctuary.
3 Do not drag me away with the wicked—
with those who do evil—
those who speak friendly words to their neighbors
while planning evil in their hearts.
4 Give them the punishment they so richly deserve!
Measure it out in proportion to their wickedness.
Pay them back for all their evil deeds!
Give them a taste of what they have done to others.
5 They care nothing for what the Lord has done
or for what his hands have made.
So he will tear them down,
and they will never be rebuilt!
6 Praise the Lord!
For he has heard my cry for mercy.
7 The Lord is my strength and shield.
I trust him with all my heart.
He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy.
I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.
8 The Lord gives his people strength.
He is a safe fortress for his anointed king.
9 Save your people!
Bless Israel, your special possession.[a]
Lead them like a shepherd,
and carry them in your arms forever.
Footnotes:
28:9 Hebrew Bless your inheritance
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, August 14, 2015
Read: John 9:1-7
Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind
9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. 2 “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?”
3 “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him. 4 We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us.[a] The night is coming, and then no one can work. 5 But while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 Then he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes. 7 He told him, “Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “sent”). So the man went and washed and came back seeing!
Footnotes:
9:4 Other manuscripts read I must quickly carry out the tasks assigned me by the one who sent me; still others read We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent me.
INSIGHT:
In comparison to the other gospels, the gospel of John is sparse in recording Jesus’ miracles. John records only seven miracles, but he does so for a specific purpose. In John 20:30-31 he writes: “Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not recorded in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” Several of the miracles that John recorded pair with a significant statement about Jesus’ identity. After He fed the multitude with five loaves and two fish (6:1-13), He claimed to be “the bread of life” (v. 35). He said He was the “light of the world” (8:12) and then healed the man born blind (ch. 9). People believed in Jesus as the Messiah in response to His miracles (6:14; 9:38). J.R. Hudberg
Einstein and Jesus
By Mart DeHaan
Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world.” —John 8:12
We remember Albert Einstein for more than his disheveled hair, big eyes, and witty charm. We know him as the genius and physicist who changed the way we see the world. His famous formula of E=mc2 revolutionized scientific thought and brought us into the nuclear age. Through his “Special Theory of Relativity” he reasoned that since everything in the universe is in motion, all knowledge is a matter of perspective. He believed that the speed of light is the only constant by which we can measure space, time, or physical mass.
Long before Einstein, Jesus talked about the role of light in understanding our world, but from a different perspective. To support His claim to be the Light of the World (John 8:12), Jesus healed a man who had been blind from birth (9:6). When the Pharisees accused Christ of being a sinner, this grateful man said, “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see” (v. 25).
Jesus can change our perspective on everything.
While Einstein’s ideas would later be proven difficult to test, Jesus’ claims can be tested. We can spend time with Jesus in the Gospels. We can invite Him into our daily routine. We can see for ourselves that He can change our perspective on everything.
Lord Jesus, You are the one constant in this chaotic world. Thank You for being the one true Light that the darkness can never extinguish.
Only as we walk in Christ’s light can we live in His love.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
The Discipline of the Lord
August 14, 2015
My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him. —Hebrews 12:5
It is very easy to grieve the Spirit of God; we do it by despising the discipline of the Lord, or by becoming discouraged when He rebukes us. If our experience of being set apart from sin and being made holy through the process of sanctification is still very shallow, we tend to mistake the reality of God for something else. And when the Spirit of God gives us a sense of warning or restraint, we are apt to say mistakenly, “Oh, that must be from the devil.”
“Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19), and do not despise Him when He says to you, in effect, “Don’t be blind on this point anymore— you are not as far along spiritually as you thought you were. Until now I have not been able to reveal this to you, but I’m revealing it to you right now.” When the Lord disciplines you like that, let Him have His way with you. Allow Him to put you into a right-standing relationship before God.
“…nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him.” We begin to pout, become irritated with God, and then say, “Oh well, I can’t help it. I prayed and things didn’t turn out right anyway. So I’m simply going to give up on everything.” Just think what would happen if we acted like this in any other area of our lives!
Am I fully prepared to allow God to grip me by His power and do a work in me that is truly worthy of Himself? Sanctification is not my idea of what I want God to do for me— sanctification is God’s idea of what He wants to do for me. But He has to get me into the state of mind and spirit where I will allow Him to sanctify me completely, whatever the cost (see 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
If there is only one strand of faith amongst all the corruption within us, God will take hold of that one strand. Not Knowing Whither, 888 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, August 14, 2015
Do You Know What Time It Is? - #7460
Slang words are sometimes difficult to understand. Not so much the words themselves, but their meaning. There are some pretty cool slang words out there. For instance, when I just used the word cool, I wasn't talking about the temperature. If a young person today looked at me and said 'Totes!' they're not talking about a tote that you carry things in.
And just because someone may have asked you, 'Do you know what time it is, man?' That doesn't mean they really want to know the time. I remember in a stretch of time there in New York City that people were basically saying, 'Man, you're out of it. You don't get it do you? You know what time it is? You don't know what's happening.' They're saying, 'You really don't have it all figured out yet, man.'
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about 'Do You Know What Time It Is?'
Our word for today from the Word of God comes out of Matthew 24. The disciples wanted to know what time it was. They said to Jesus, 'Tell us when this will happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming at the end of the age?' And then Jesus began to give them some of the ways to be able to see what time it is on God's clock. 'Many will come in My name' he said, 'claiming 'I am the Christ' and will deceive many.'
Now, let me give you five ways that He kind of let us know that the time is here. First, Jesus said there will be lots of 'christs.' Now, it's pretty commonplace to believe that we are our own god, we're our own creator. There's plenty of spiritual options out there. And then Jesus said, 'You will hear of wars and rumors of wars.' So it is going to be a world full of war and combat and danger erupting all over the place. Sounds like the evening news.
Thirdly, we'll know that it's coming down to D-Day on God's clock because there's going to be a lot of natural disasters. He said, 'There'll be famines and earthquakes in various places.' In the book of Luke He adds the word pestilences. We've certainly seen our share of frightening diseases and immunity to antibiotics, so we've got whole new things that we can't fight. There's plenty of famines and earthquakes. Check the news.
The book of Revelation says a third of the human race will be killed by something that looks like fire and brimstone. How could early Christians have ever imagined that happening? What - spears, bows and arrow? We know fire and brimstone that could kill a third of the human race don't we? And then two more compound events to Jesus' coming. There has to be an Israel. There hasn't been one for very long, and today they are a nation.
Then it says, 'Every eye will see some of the events that take place.' Well, how in the world could every eye on earth see one event happen? Satellites? It's happening all the time. We see things going on all over the world.
It's amazing the kind of countdown time you and I are living in. I don't know when Jesus is coming back. I would certainly not even attempt to name a time. The Bible says not to do that. But I can say that the world looks more today like the world Jesus said He would come back to than it's probably ever looked before. It's kind of like that ball coming down on that building in Times Square on New Years Eve - 3, 2, 1. I don't know, maybe Jesus is almost here. And He says that at that time, people will in two groups.
The first group of people is the colder. The Bible says, '...because of the increase of wickedness the love of most will grow cold.' He's talking about His own people. They'll make sin everyday stuff, they'll fit in and they'll do nothing. You might be in that group.
The second group of people know what time it is, and they're going to become bolder. It says '...they're going to spread the Gospel of the kingdom as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.' These are the people who are going for broke. They see what time it is on the clock! They're going to clean the junk out of their lives. They're going to get other people ready for Jesus.
Lots of christs, lots of wars, lots of natural disasters, lots of disease, lots of mega weapons. Sounds like the world we're living in right now. It's later than it's ever been before on God's clock. I can tell you that. It's time to live boldly; to go public for Christ; to be 'all in', to attack the sin that we've been flirting with, because sometime soon our Lord may show up. Keep your eye on the clock. Do you know what time it is?
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