Luke 21:20-3, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: A Worry-Slapper
Become a “worry-slapper!” Treat frets like mosquitoes!
Do you procrastinate when a bloodsucking bug lights on your skin? Do you say, “I’ll take care of that in a moment.” Of course you don’t! You give the critter the slap it deserves.
Be equally decisive with anxiety. The moment a concern surfaces, deal with it. Don’t dwell on it. Head it off before it gets the best of you.
Don’t waste an hour wondering what your boss thinks; ask her. Before you diagnose that blemish as cancer, have it examined. Instead of assuming you’ll never get out of debt, consult an expert. Be a doer—not a stewer!
In Matthew 6:32-33,. Jesus said, “Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. See the kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need!”
On that you can depend and never worry!
Luke 21:20-3
“And when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will know that the time of its destruction has arrived. 21 Then those in Judea must flee to the hills. Those in Jerusalem must get out, and those out in the country should not return to the city. 22 For those will be days of God’s vengeance, and the prophetic words of the Scriptures will be fulfilled. 23 How terrible it will be for pregnant women and for nursing mothers in those days. For there will be disaster in the land and great anger against this people. 24 They will be killed by the sword or sent away as captives to all the nations of the world. And Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the period of the Gentiles comes to an end.
25 “And there will be strange signs in the sun, moon, and stars. And here on earth the nations will be in turmoil, perplexed by the roaring seas and strange tides. 26 People will be terrified at what they see coming upon the earth, for the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 27 Then everyone will see the Son of Man[a] coming on a cloud with power and great glory.[b] 28 So when all these things begin to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near!”
29 Then he gave them this illustration: “Notice the fig tree, or any other tree. 30 When the leaves come out, you know without being told that summer is near. 31 In the same way, when you see all these things taking place, you can know that the Kingdom of God is near. 32 I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass from the scene until all these things have taken place. 33 Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.
34 “Watch out! Don’t let your hearts be dulled by carousing and drunkenness, and by the worries of this life. Don’t let that day catch you unaware, 35 like a trap. For that day will come upon everyone living on the earth. 36 Keep alert at all times. And pray that you might be strong enough to escape these coming horrors and stand before the Son of Man.”
37 Every day Jesus went to the Temple to teach, and each evening he returned to spend the night on the Mount of Olives. 38 The crowds gathered at the Temple early each morning to hear him.
Footnotes:
21:27a “Son of Man” is a title Jesus used for himself.
21:27b See Dan 7:13.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
May 08, 2015
Read: 2 Peter 3:1-13
The Day of the Lord Is Coming
This is my second letter to you, dear friends, and in both of them I have tried to stimulate your wholesome thinking and refresh your memory. 2 I want you to remember what the holy prophets said long ago and what our Lord and Savior commanded through your apostles.
3 Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. 4 They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.”
5 They deliberately forget that God made the heavens long ago by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water. 6 Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood. 7 And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed.
8 But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. 9 The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.[a]
11 Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, 12 looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. 13 But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.
Footnotes:
3:10 Other manuscripts read will be burned up; still others read will be found destroyed.
INSIGHT: Peter wrote to a persecuted and suffering group of Christians, which is why he highlighted the faithfulness of God. Peter wanted them to remember that the Lord would fulfill the promise of His second coming (v. 13).
All Aboard
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
The Lord is . . . longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish. —2 Peter 3:9
One day when I dropped my husband off at our local train station, I watched as the conductor scanned the area for stragglers. A woman with wet hair bounded from the parking lot and up into the train. Then, a man in a dark suit strode to the platform and climbed aboard. The conductor waited patiently while several more late-comers sprinted to the tracks and boarded at the last moment.
Just as the conductor was patient with people boarding the train, God patiently waits for people to come to know Him. However, someday Jesus will return and “the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat” (2 Peter 3:10). When this happens, or when our physical bodies die, it will be too late to establish a relationship with God.
“The Lord is . . . longsuffering toward us,” Peter says, “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (v.9). If you have delayed deciding to follow Christ, there is good news—you can still commit yourself to Him. “If you declare with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9 niv). He is calling. Will you run in His direction?
Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,
Calling for you and for me;
See, on the portals He’s waiting and watching,
Watching for you and for me. —Thompson
Now is the time to choose the Lord.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 08, 2015
The Faith to Persevere
Because you have kept My command to persevere… —Revelation 3:10
Perseverance means more than endurance— more than simply holding on until the end. A saint’s life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, but our Lord continues to stretch and strain, and every once in a while the saint says, “I can’t take any more.” Yet God pays no attention; He goes on stretching until His purpose is in sight, and then He lets the arrow fly. Entrust yourself to God’s hands. Is there something in your life for which you need perseverance right now? Maintain your intimate relationship with Jesus Christ through the perseverance of faith. Proclaim as Job did, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15).
Faith is not some weak and pitiful emotion, but is strong and vigorous confidence built on the fact that God is holy love. And even though you cannot see Him right now and cannot understand what He is doing, you know Him. Disaster occurs in your life when you lack the mental composure that comes from establishing yourself on the eternal truth that God is holy love. Faith is the supreme effort of your life— throwing yourself with abandon and total confidence upon God.
God ventured His all in Jesus Christ to save us, and now He wants us to venture our all with total abandoned confidence in Him. There are areas in our lives where that faith has not worked in us as yet— places still untouched by the life of God. There were none of those places in Jesus Christ’s life, and there are to be none in ours. Jesus prayed, “This is eternal life, that they may know You…” (John 17:3). The real meaning of eternal life is a life that can face anything it has to face without wavering. If we will take this view, life will become one great romance— a glorious opportunity of seeing wonderful things all the time. God is disciplining us to get us into this central place of power.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Another Eternity Moment - #6607
May 8, 2012/15
Jonesboro. Paducah. Columbine. And then this year add Chardon, Ohio - another school shooting. You know, having spent so much of my life on high school campuses, my heart sinks every time I see these all-too-familiar scenes. Students running, crying, parents desperately seeking information, SWAT teams moving in, law enforcement briefings, shooter profiles, ambulances converging, and then those heartbreaking candlelight vigils.
And, you know, when those happen, once again for a very brief window in time, there's an eternity moment. After the Chardon shootings, one national reporter said, "These students are talking way beyond their years today." See, suddenly checking Facebook, and sweating the test, and talking about everyone's social "drama" seems so unimportant. Because, well, a brush with eternity changes everything. At least for a little while.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Another Eternity Moment."
You know, for those traumatized teenagers in a shocked and grieving town where there had been a school shooting, the eternity moment came with gunshots in the cafeteria. But we all have those moments. I mean, that narrow miss, like in traffic, or in a natural disaster when we know how close we were to no tomorrow. The sudden death of someone we didn't expect to lose, and then the unwelcome, insistent reminder of our own mortality. The ominous symptoms. The sobering news from the doctor. The medical procedure we know that we might not have come back from.
It's hard, and it's slightly unnatural, I guess, to imagine ourselves as being the obituary, being the name and the picture on that funeral home memorial card. But then comes that brush with eternity when we realize, "It could have been me."
It's not something to dwell on, but it is something to be ready for. After all, we go to a lot of effort to be ready for a job interview, a date, an exam, a vacation, a financial future, or our retirement. None of which holds a candle to eternity; that vast forever that's just beyond our final breath.
The circumstances that bring our mortality close are often painful. They're even tragic like the wrenching events of the school shooting. But those brushes with eternity can also serve to help save our soul.
A Biblical prophet warned us to "...prepare to meet your God" in our word today from the Word of God, Amos 4:12, because that's what's on the other side of our last heartbeat - our un-postponeable appointment with God. The Bible says, "Man is destined to die once and after that to face judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). Grade points and bank accounts and "to do" lists and earth stuff? In an instant, they're going to matter no more. All that will matter is whether we're right with God. In a moment, we're suddenly facing destination time; where I'm going to spend forever.
Surveys show that most Americans think they'll go to heaven when they die. Jesus, though, talked about "the road that leads to life, and only a few find it" (Matthew 7:14). That's not His fault. He did everything He could to clear away the curse that disqualifies all of us from God's heaven - our sin. Our arrogant control of a life that God gave us and that He was supposed to run. All those lying things, hurting things, selfish things, and dirty things, the God-ignoring things we've done. The verdict is clear: "Nothing impure will ever enter" God's heaven (Revelation 21:27).
No religion can get us in, because my sin carries an eternal death penalty, "the soul who sins will die" (Ezekiel 18:4) the Bible says. And no religion can die for me. A perfect God cannot welcome me into His perfect heaven with my sin.
And a death penalty can't be paid by being a good boy. Somebody has to die, and somebody did. Jesus did. God's one and only Son. The Bible says He's, "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). And the moment you give your heart to Jesus, every sin you've ever committed is erased from God's book forever. And what would keep you out of heaven is removed.
One day, when a church leader used a ringing alarm clock to show time running out, I put all my trust in Jesus to be my Savior from my sin. I'm not worried about eternity, and I've had several close brushes with it. There's just no fear. I put my total trust in Jesus to be my Rescuer from my sin, and I know He'll keep His promise.
It's awesome to know that because of Jesus, you're ready for eternity whenever it comes. If you're not sure you are, would you please today say, "Jesus you died for me. I give me to You." Go to our website YoursForLife.net and make sure you belong to Him.
The Bible describes "eternal life" as a gift that becomes yours at the point you take it for yourself. And this could be your day!
Become a “worry-slapper!” Treat frets like mosquitoes!
Do you procrastinate when a bloodsucking bug lights on your skin? Do you say, “I’ll take care of that in a moment.” Of course you don’t! You give the critter the slap it deserves.
Be equally decisive with anxiety. The moment a concern surfaces, deal with it. Don’t dwell on it. Head it off before it gets the best of you.
Don’t waste an hour wondering what your boss thinks; ask her. Before you diagnose that blemish as cancer, have it examined. Instead of assuming you’ll never get out of debt, consult an expert. Be a doer—not a stewer!
In Matthew 6:32-33,. Jesus said, “Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. See the kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need!”
On that you can depend and never worry!
Luke 21:20-3
“And when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will know that the time of its destruction has arrived. 21 Then those in Judea must flee to the hills. Those in Jerusalem must get out, and those out in the country should not return to the city. 22 For those will be days of God’s vengeance, and the prophetic words of the Scriptures will be fulfilled. 23 How terrible it will be for pregnant women and for nursing mothers in those days. For there will be disaster in the land and great anger against this people. 24 They will be killed by the sword or sent away as captives to all the nations of the world. And Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the period of the Gentiles comes to an end.
25 “And there will be strange signs in the sun, moon, and stars. And here on earth the nations will be in turmoil, perplexed by the roaring seas and strange tides. 26 People will be terrified at what they see coming upon the earth, for the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 27 Then everyone will see the Son of Man[a] coming on a cloud with power and great glory.[b] 28 So when all these things begin to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near!”
29 Then he gave them this illustration: “Notice the fig tree, or any other tree. 30 When the leaves come out, you know without being told that summer is near. 31 In the same way, when you see all these things taking place, you can know that the Kingdom of God is near. 32 I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass from the scene until all these things have taken place. 33 Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.
34 “Watch out! Don’t let your hearts be dulled by carousing and drunkenness, and by the worries of this life. Don’t let that day catch you unaware, 35 like a trap. For that day will come upon everyone living on the earth. 36 Keep alert at all times. And pray that you might be strong enough to escape these coming horrors and stand before the Son of Man.”
37 Every day Jesus went to the Temple to teach, and each evening he returned to spend the night on the Mount of Olives. 38 The crowds gathered at the Temple early each morning to hear him.
Footnotes:
21:27a “Son of Man” is a title Jesus used for himself.
21:27b See Dan 7:13.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
May 08, 2015
Read: 2 Peter 3:1-13
The Day of the Lord Is Coming
This is my second letter to you, dear friends, and in both of them I have tried to stimulate your wholesome thinking and refresh your memory. 2 I want you to remember what the holy prophets said long ago and what our Lord and Savior commanded through your apostles.
3 Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. 4 They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.”
5 They deliberately forget that God made the heavens long ago by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water. 6 Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood. 7 And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed.
8 But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. 9 The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.[a]
11 Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, 12 looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. 13 But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.
Footnotes:
3:10 Other manuscripts read will be burned up; still others read will be found destroyed.
INSIGHT: Peter wrote to a persecuted and suffering group of Christians, which is why he highlighted the faithfulness of God. Peter wanted them to remember that the Lord would fulfill the promise of His second coming (v. 13).
All Aboard
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
The Lord is . . . longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish. —2 Peter 3:9
One day when I dropped my husband off at our local train station, I watched as the conductor scanned the area for stragglers. A woman with wet hair bounded from the parking lot and up into the train. Then, a man in a dark suit strode to the platform and climbed aboard. The conductor waited patiently while several more late-comers sprinted to the tracks and boarded at the last moment.
Just as the conductor was patient with people boarding the train, God patiently waits for people to come to know Him. However, someday Jesus will return and “the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat” (2 Peter 3:10). When this happens, or when our physical bodies die, it will be too late to establish a relationship with God.
“The Lord is . . . longsuffering toward us,” Peter says, “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (v.9). If you have delayed deciding to follow Christ, there is good news—you can still commit yourself to Him. “If you declare with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9 niv). He is calling. Will you run in His direction?
Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,
Calling for you and for me;
See, on the portals He’s waiting and watching,
Watching for you and for me. —Thompson
Now is the time to choose the Lord.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 08, 2015
The Faith to Persevere
Because you have kept My command to persevere… —Revelation 3:10
Perseverance means more than endurance— more than simply holding on until the end. A saint’s life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, but our Lord continues to stretch and strain, and every once in a while the saint says, “I can’t take any more.” Yet God pays no attention; He goes on stretching until His purpose is in sight, and then He lets the arrow fly. Entrust yourself to God’s hands. Is there something in your life for which you need perseverance right now? Maintain your intimate relationship with Jesus Christ through the perseverance of faith. Proclaim as Job did, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15).
Faith is not some weak and pitiful emotion, but is strong and vigorous confidence built on the fact that God is holy love. And even though you cannot see Him right now and cannot understand what He is doing, you know Him. Disaster occurs in your life when you lack the mental composure that comes from establishing yourself on the eternal truth that God is holy love. Faith is the supreme effort of your life— throwing yourself with abandon and total confidence upon God.
God ventured His all in Jesus Christ to save us, and now He wants us to venture our all with total abandoned confidence in Him. There are areas in our lives where that faith has not worked in us as yet— places still untouched by the life of God. There were none of those places in Jesus Christ’s life, and there are to be none in ours. Jesus prayed, “This is eternal life, that they may know You…” (John 17:3). The real meaning of eternal life is a life that can face anything it has to face without wavering. If we will take this view, life will become one great romance— a glorious opportunity of seeing wonderful things all the time. God is disciplining us to get us into this central place of power.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Another Eternity Moment - #6607
May 8, 2012/15
Jonesboro. Paducah. Columbine. And then this year add Chardon, Ohio - another school shooting. You know, having spent so much of my life on high school campuses, my heart sinks every time I see these all-too-familiar scenes. Students running, crying, parents desperately seeking information, SWAT teams moving in, law enforcement briefings, shooter profiles, ambulances converging, and then those heartbreaking candlelight vigils.
And, you know, when those happen, once again for a very brief window in time, there's an eternity moment. After the Chardon shootings, one national reporter said, "These students are talking way beyond their years today." See, suddenly checking Facebook, and sweating the test, and talking about everyone's social "drama" seems so unimportant. Because, well, a brush with eternity changes everything. At least for a little while.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Another Eternity Moment."
You know, for those traumatized teenagers in a shocked and grieving town where there had been a school shooting, the eternity moment came with gunshots in the cafeteria. But we all have those moments. I mean, that narrow miss, like in traffic, or in a natural disaster when we know how close we were to no tomorrow. The sudden death of someone we didn't expect to lose, and then the unwelcome, insistent reminder of our own mortality. The ominous symptoms. The sobering news from the doctor. The medical procedure we know that we might not have come back from.
It's hard, and it's slightly unnatural, I guess, to imagine ourselves as being the obituary, being the name and the picture on that funeral home memorial card. But then comes that brush with eternity when we realize, "It could have been me."
It's not something to dwell on, but it is something to be ready for. After all, we go to a lot of effort to be ready for a job interview, a date, an exam, a vacation, a financial future, or our retirement. None of which holds a candle to eternity; that vast forever that's just beyond our final breath.
The circumstances that bring our mortality close are often painful. They're even tragic like the wrenching events of the school shooting. But those brushes with eternity can also serve to help save our soul.
A Biblical prophet warned us to "...prepare to meet your God" in our word today from the Word of God, Amos 4:12, because that's what's on the other side of our last heartbeat - our un-postponeable appointment with God. The Bible says, "Man is destined to die once and after that to face judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). Grade points and bank accounts and "to do" lists and earth stuff? In an instant, they're going to matter no more. All that will matter is whether we're right with God. In a moment, we're suddenly facing destination time; where I'm going to spend forever.
Surveys show that most Americans think they'll go to heaven when they die. Jesus, though, talked about "the road that leads to life, and only a few find it" (Matthew 7:14). That's not His fault. He did everything He could to clear away the curse that disqualifies all of us from God's heaven - our sin. Our arrogant control of a life that God gave us and that He was supposed to run. All those lying things, hurting things, selfish things, and dirty things, the God-ignoring things we've done. The verdict is clear: "Nothing impure will ever enter" God's heaven (Revelation 21:27).
No religion can get us in, because my sin carries an eternal death penalty, "the soul who sins will die" (Ezekiel 18:4) the Bible says. And no religion can die for me. A perfect God cannot welcome me into His perfect heaven with my sin.
And a death penalty can't be paid by being a good boy. Somebody has to die, and somebody did. Jesus did. God's one and only Son. The Bible says He's, "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). And the moment you give your heart to Jesus, every sin you've ever committed is erased from God's book forever. And what would keep you out of heaven is removed.
One day, when a church leader used a ringing alarm clock to show time running out, I put all my trust in Jesus to be my Savior from my sin. I'm not worried about eternity, and I've had several close brushes with it. There's just no fear. I put my total trust in Jesus to be my Rescuer from my sin, and I know He'll keep His promise.
It's awesome to know that because of Jesus, you're ready for eternity whenever it comes. If you're not sure you are, would you please today say, "Jesus you died for me. I give me to You." Go to our website YoursForLife.net and make sure you belong to Him.
The Bible describes "eternal life" as a gift that becomes yours at the point you take it for yourself. And this could be your day!