Max Lucado Daily: GOD CARES
“God, don’t you care?” “Why me?” Why my friend?” “Why my business?” It’s the timeless question. I’ve asked it before, haven’t you? It’s been screamed countless times by literally every person that has walked this globe.
As the winds howled and the sea raged, the impatient and frightened disciples screamed their fear at the sleeping Jesus. “Teacher, don’t you care that we are about to die?” (Mark 4:38 NIV). He could have kept on sleeping. He could have told them to shut up. He could have pointed out their immaturity. But he didn’t. With all the patience that only one who cares can have, he answered the question. He hushed the storm so the shivering disciples would not miss his response. Jesus answered once and for all the aching dilemma of man: Where is God when I hurt? Listening and healing. That’s where he is. He cares.
From God is With You Every Day
Isaiah 39
There Will Be Nothing Left
Sometime later, King Merodach-baladan son of Baladan of Babylon sent messengers with greetings and a gift to Hezekiah. He had heard that Hezekiah had been sick and was now well.
2 Hezekiah received the messengers warmly. He took them on a tour of his royal precincts, proudly showing them all his treasures: silver, gold, spices, expensive oils, all his weapons—everything out on display. There was nothing in his house or kingdom that Hezekiah didn’t show them.
3 Later the prophet Isaiah showed up. He asked Hezekiah, “What were these men up to? What did they say? And where did they come from?”
Hezekiah said, “They came from a long way off, from Babylon.”
4 “And what did they see in your palace?”
“Everything,” said Hezekiah. “I showed them the works, opened all the doors and impressed them with it all.”
5-7 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Now listen to this Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies: I have to warn you, the time is coming when everything in this palace, along with everything your ancestors accumulated before you, will be hauled off to Babylon. God says that there will be nothing left. Nothing. And not only your things but your sons. Some of your sons will be taken into exile, ending up as eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”
8 Hezekiah replied to Isaiah, “Good. If God says so, it’s good.” Within himself he was thinking, “But surely nothing bad will happen in my lifetime. I’ll enjoy peace and stability as long as I live.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, October 14, 2016
Read: 1 John 3:16–17
This is how we’ve come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves. If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God’s love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.
INSIGHT:
John reminds believers to model the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ. True Christian love is sacrificial action (1 John 3:16) and selfless generosity (v. 17). John exhorts us to be loving and genuine, both in our speech and, more so, in our actions (v. 18). This kind of sacrificial love is the clearest of evidence that one has a new life (v. 14). The person who lacks love shows that he does not really know God nor is he in close fellowship with God, “for God is love” (1 John 4:7–8). Reminiscent of John 3:16, 1 John 4:9–10 once again reiterates how much God loves us (vv. 9–10).
Dying for Others
By Lawrence Darmani
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. John 10:11
I love birds, which is why I bought six caged birds and carried them home to our daughter Alice, who began to care for them daily. Then one of the birds fell ill and died. We wondered if the birds would be more likely to thrive if they were not caged. So we freed the surviving five and observed them fly away in jubilation.
Alice then pointed out, “Do you realize, Daddy, that it was the death of one bird that caused us to free the rest?”
The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. John 10:11
Isn’t that what the Lord Jesus did for us? Just as one man’s sin (Adam’s) brought condemnation to the world, so one Man’s righteousness (Jesus’s) brought salvation to those who believe (Rom. 5:12–19). Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11).
John makes it more practical when he says, “Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters” (1 John 3:16). This won’t likely mean literal death, but as we align our lives with Jesus’s example of sacrificial love, we find that we are “laying down our lives.” For instance, we might choose to deprive ourselves of material goods in order to share them with others (v. 17) or make time to be with someone who needs comfort and companionship.
Who do you need to sacrifice for today?
In what ways have others sacrificed for your well-being?
Share with us at odb.org.
Christ’s ultimate sacrifice for us motivates us to sacrifice ourselves for others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, October 14, 2016
The Key to the Missionary’s Work
Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…" —Matthew 28:18-19
The key to the missionary’s work is the authority of Jesus Christ, not the needs of the lost. We are inclined to look on our Lord as one who assists us in our endeavors for God. Yet our Lord places Himself as the absolute sovereign and supreme Lord over His disciples. He does not say that the lost will never be saved if we don’t go— He simply says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations….” He says, “Go on the basis of the revealed truth of My sovereignty, teaching and preaching out of your living experience of Me.”
“Then the eleven disciples went…to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them” (Matthew 28:16). If I want to know the universal sovereignty of Christ, I must know Him myself. I must take time to worship the One whose name I bear. Jesus says, “Come to Me…”— that is the place to meet Jesus— “all you who labor and are heavy laden…” (Matthew 11:28)— and how many missionaries are! We completely dismiss these wonderful words of the universal Sovereign of the world, but they are the words of Jesus to His disciples meant for here and now.
“Go therefore….” To “go” simply means to live. Acts 1:8 is the description of how to go. Jesus did not say in this verse, “Go into Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria,” but, “…you shall be witnesses to Me in [all these places].” He takes upon Himself the work of sending us.
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you…” (John 15:7)— that is the way to keep going. Where we are placed is then a matter of indifference to us, because God sovereignly engineers our goings.
“None of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus…” (Acts 20:24). That is how to keep going until we are gone from this life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
“When the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” We all have faith in good principles, in good management, in good common sense, but who amongst us has faith in Jesus Christ? Physical courage is grand, moral courage is grander, but the man who trusts Jesus Christ in the face of the terrific problems of life is worth a whole crowd of heroes. The Highest Good, 544 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, October 14, 2016
Feeling Dirty, Getting Clean - #7765
Our son had just moved to an Indian reservation to work among the young people there, and for a short time he stayed rent-free at the home of a Native American family. Well, sort of rent-free. One day the man of the house asked our son to help him with a little plumbing problem. Our suburban boy said, "Plumbing? Sure. Where can I find the plunger?" He was informed that no plunger would be needed, so apparently it's going to be easier than he thought. Right? Wrong. His host took him out in the backyard and introduced him to a septic pond where his job was to try to clean out a stopped-up pipe. In order to find it, our son had to reach into the gross stuff up to his shoulder. Then he got to experience the contents of that septic pond splashing all over him as he hung over the water, pushing a rod up and down through the blocked pipe. Yuk! He said when he was finished, he had one thing and only one thing on his mind-a shower. He called and he pretty much summarized his experience, "I have never felt so dirty in my life, and it's never felt so good to be clean."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Feeling Dirty, Getting Clean."
Feeling clean; that's a feeling someone who's listening right now could use because you've felt dirty long enough. We all know those feelings because we've all done things we're ashamed of; we've done some things that we thought we'd never do, we've failed to do some things we should have done. Too many times, the people we've hurt the most are the people we care about the most. There are these dark secrets that haunt us and even some things that we're hooked on that we cannot stop doing. We feel dirty inside, and we don't know how to get clean.
That is why our word for today from the Word of God is such awesome good news. It's written to people who know what dirty feels like. In 1 Corinthians 6, beginning with verse 9, the writer describes people who have messed with sex, both heterosexual and homosexual, people who have ripped off others, who've been selfish and greedy, who've had drinking problems, along with backstabbers and cheaters. Then comes this startling statement: "That is what some of you were." Were? How does that happen? How do dirty people get clean?
Here's how. It says, "You were washed...you were justified (that means made right with God) in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." God gave them a spiritual shower because of Jesus. How can a God whose perfect just erase all my sins from His book? It says, "In the name of the Lord Jesus."
That's because Jesus had all the dirt of my life dumped on Him when He died on the cross. In the Bible's words, "He carried our sins in His body on the tree." (1 Peter 2:24) Just think of Jesus absorbing all the guilt, all the shame, and all the hell of every angry thing you've ever done; every dirty thing, every selfish thing, every deceitful thing, every hurting thing. That's how much He loves you. That's how much He wants to forgive you so you can have the unspeakable joy of being clean and the guarantee of being with Him in heaven forever.
As Jesus was dying on that cross, He said of those who nailed Him there, "Father, forgive them." That's what He wants to say to God about you today, "Father, forgive him. Forgive her." If you will take what He died to give you. No religion can erase your sin from God's book. Only Jesus can do that, because only Jesus paid the death penalty that we deserve. The sinless One became dirty so you could become clean. He took your hell so you could live in His heaven.
The man on the cross next to Jesus, hearing His offer of forgiveness, said to Him, "Remember me when You come into Your kingdom." (Luke 23:42) That's what you need to do-to reach out to the Great Forgiver and ask Him to forgive all the sinning you've ever done. If you do, He will say, "I will remember your sin no more." (Hebrews 8:12) You grab Him in total faith as the only One who can rescue you from your sin.
If you're tired of dirty, if you're ready to finally be clean inside, tell Jesus that. You know, the day I opened my heart to Jesus, someone took time to explain to me exactly how to get started in that relationship with Him. I would love to do that for you through our website. It's ANewStory.com.
There's nothing like a shower when you feel dirty. And right now Jesus stands ready to wash away the dirt of your lifetime. It feels so good to be clean!
