Max Lucado Daily: BORN AGAIN
Jesus said, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3).” Born again? You must be kidding! Put life in reverse? We can’t be born again.
Oh, but wouldn’t we like to? A try-again. A reload. How can this be? Jesus answers in John 3:16—the hope diamond of the Bible. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. A twenty-six word parade of hope!
If you know nothing of the Bible—start here. If you know everything about the Bible—return here! He loves. He gave. We believe. We live! “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…” John 3:16.
From: 3:16 The Numbers of Hope
1 Thessalonians 4
Live to Please God
Finally, dear brothers and sisters,[a] we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God, as we have taught you. You live this way already, and we encourage you to do so even more. 2 For you remember what we taught you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
3 God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. 4 Then each of you will control his own body[b] and live in holiness and honor— 5 not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways. 6 Never harm or cheat a fellow believer in this matter by violating his wife,[c] for the Lord avenges all such sins, as we have solemnly warned you before. 7 God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives. 8 Therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching but is rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
9 But we don’t need to write to you about the importance of loving each other,[d] for God himself has taught you to love one another. 10 Indeed, you already show your love for all the believers[e] throughout Macedonia. Even so, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you to love them even more.
11 Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before. 12 Then people who are not believers will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others.
The Hope of the Resurrection
13 And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died[f] so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.
15 We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died.[g] 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died[h] will rise from their graves. 17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. 18 So encourage each other with these words.
Footnotes:
4:1 Greek brothers; also in 4:10, 13.
4:4 Or will know how to take a wife for himself; or will learn to live with his own wife; Greek reads will know how to possess his own vessel.
4:6 Greek Never harm or cheat a brother in this matter.
4:9 Greek about brotherly love.
4:10 Greek the brothers.
4:13 Greek those who have fallen asleep; also in 4:14.
4:15 Greek those who have fallen asleep.
4:16 Greek the dead in Christ.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, April 01, 2016
Read: Psalm 100
A psalm of thanksgiving.
Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!
2 Worship the Lord with gladness.
Come before him, singing with joy.
3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
He made us, and we are his.[a]
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
go into his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good.
His unfailing love continues forever,
and his faithfulness continues to each generation.
Footnotes:
100:3 As in an alternate reading in the Masoretic Text; the other alternate and some ancient versions read and not we ourselves.
INSIGHT:
Bible scholar J. J. S. Perowne says this about the purpose of Psalm 100: “If we are right in regarding Psalms 93–99 as forming one continuous series, one great prophetic oratorio, whose title is ‘Jehovah is King,’ and through which there runs the same great idea, this Psalm may be regarded as the doxology which closes the strain. We find lingering in it notes of the same great harmony. It breathes the same gladness; it is filled with the same hope, that all nations shall bow down before Jehovah, and confess that he is God.” Psalm 100 expresses this great desire—that the world that is separated from God might know Him and His greatness. Bill Crowder
The Gallery of God
By Dave Branon
The Lord is good and his love endures forever. Psalm 100:5
Psalm 100 is like a work of art that helps us celebrate our unseen God. While the focus of our worship is beyond view, His people make Him known.
Imagine the artist with brush and palette working the colorful words of this psalm onto a canvas. What emerges before our eyes is a world—“all the earth”—shouting for joy to the Lord (v. 1). Joy. Because it is the delight of our God to redeem us from death. “For the joy that was set before Him,” Jesus endured the cross (Heb. 12:2 nkjv).
Our heavenly Father’s heart is pleased when His people worship Him.
As our eyes move across the canvas we see an all-world choir of countless members singing “with gladness” and “joyful songs” (Ps. 100:2). Our heavenly Father’s heart is pleased when His people worship Him for who He is and what He has done.
Then we see images of ourselves, fashioned from dust in the hands of our Creator, and led like sheep into green pastures (v. 3). We, His people, have a loving Shepherd.
Finally, we see God’s great and glorious dwelling place—and the gates through which His rescued people enter His unseen presence, while giving Him thanks and praise (v. 4).
What a picture, inspired by our God. Our good, loving, and faithful God. No wonder it will take forever to enjoy His greatness!
Great God of heaven, thank You for life, for joy, for protection, and for promising us a future with You forever. Help us to live with thoughts of Your greatness always on our hearts and minds.
Nothing is more awesome than to know God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, April 01, 2016
Helpful or Heartless Toward Others?
It is Christ…who also makes intercession for us….the Spirit…makes intercession for the saints… —Romans 8:34, 27
Do we need any more arguments than these to become intercessors– that Christ “always lives to make intercession” (Hebrews 7:25), and that the Holy Spirit “makes intercession for the saints”? Are we living in such a relationship with others that we do the work of intercession as a result of being the children of God who are taught by His Spirit? We should take a look at our current circumstances. Do crises which affect us or others in our home, business, country, or elsewhere, seem to be crushing in on us? Are we being pushed out of the presence of God and left with no time for worship? If so, we must put a stop to such distractions and get into such a living relationship with God that our relationship with others is maintained through the work of intercession, where God works His miracles.
Beware of getting ahead of God by your very desire to do His will. We run ahead of Him in a thousand and one activities, becoming so burdened with people and problems that we don’t worship God, and we fail to intercede. If a burden and its resulting pressure come upon us while we are not in an attitude of worship, it will only produce a hardness toward God and despair in our own souls. God continually introduces us to people in whom we have no interest, and unless we are worshiping God the natural tendency is to be heartless toward them. We give them a quick verse of Scripture, like jabbing them with a spear, or leave them with a hurried, uncaring word of counsel before we go. A heartless Christian must be a terrible grief to our Lord.
Are our lives in the proper place so that we may participate in the intercession of our Lord and the Holy Spirit?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great word of Jesus to His disciples is Abandon. When God has brought us into the relationship of disciples, we have to venture on His word; trust entirely to Him and watch that when He brings us to the venture, we take it.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, April 01, 2016
Why Your World is Getting Rocked - #7625
Our grandson loves to take home souvenirs from visits to our house: Rocks, shiny rocks, colorful rocks. So why not a rock tumbler for him for Christmas? Today, it's running full speed ahead tumbling rocks. For three weeks! For goodness sake, how long does it take to turn a blah rock into a beautiful rock anyway?
His mom explained that the mineral magic takes three different week-long processes. Clean them and remove the rough edges. Then attack them with this sandy grit to start shining them. Finally, another week of bombardment just to make them beautiful.
As I'm listening to all this, I'm thinking, "You know, this sounds familiar. I think I've lived this. Knocked around. Blasted. Spinning in life's 'rock tumbler.'" I actually see in my grandson's spinning rocks some of the meaning in my rocky times.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why Your World is Getting Rocked."
Because God rocks my world to get my attention. Yeah, that's what He does, using turbulence to remove some rough edges, some hard knocks that get rid of accumulated dirt, abrasive times that end up bringing out something beautiful.
Never a process I enjoy (if those tumbling rocks could only talk...). But a result that I'll appreciate for the rest of my life. If, when I get the pain, I get the point. Like the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 7:14, "When times are good, be happy, but when times are bad, consider."
The times of upheaval have made me ask questions that I never would ask otherwise. About life's two lists; the things that really matter and the things that really don't. The push and the pull of my life? Well, they tend to jumble those lists until I'm getting hammered.
That's when I start asking, "What really matters and what really doesn't?" Years ago, a crisis in a loved one's health shook me to the core. Result? I reexamined my priorities and I realized anew the treasure that person is. Trouble has also forced me to ask, "What's the problem here?" Until I realize it's me and I face sin that I've managed to ignore.
God is in the business of making us "rough rocks" into the polished stones that we're meant to be. And it often takes a rugged process to produce that beautiful result. Romans 5:4, our word for today from the Word of God in the New Living says, "Problems and trials...develop strength of character" If I'd never hurt, I would have never developed compassion. If pain hadn't broken me open, I'd never have let God in to touch the deepest corners of my soul.
As Job, who is the poster child for unbearable suffering, said to God after his ordeal: "My ears had heard of You, but now my eyes have seen You" (Job 42:5). It's in the depths of the valley that we experience God's love and God's power as never before. Psalm 34:18,"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted"
Bible folks love to quote Romans 8:28, "All things work together for good to those who love God, who are the called according to His purpose." The next verse defines "His purpose." That we "be conformed to the likeness of His Son." God sends, God allows only what will make me more like Jesus if I pursue His purpose in my pain.
For a boy's rough rocks – for God's "rough rocks" to become polished stones takes time and takes turbulence. And the harder the rock, the longer it needs to keep spinning. I get that. I may not enjoy the ride in the "rock tumbler" of God, but you know what? I'm going to love the result.
