Max Lucado Daily: Calvary
Come with me to the hill of Calvary. Watch as the soldiers shove the carpenter to the ground and stretch his arms against the beams. Jesus turns his face toward the nail just as the soldier lifts the hammer to strike it! Couldn’t Jesus have stopped him? With a flex of bicep, a clench of the fist, he could have resisted. But the moment isn’t aborted. Why? Why didn’t Jesus resist?
As the soldier pressed his arm, Jesus saw a nail—yes. He saw the soldier’s hand—yes. But he saw something else. A long list of our lusts and lies and greedy moments and prodigal years. A list of our sins. He knew the price of those sins was death. He knew the source of those sins was you. And he couldn’t bear the thought of eternity without you. He chose the nails!
From On Calvary’s Hill
Leviticus 3
The Peace-Offering
1-5 “If your offering is a Peace-Offering and you present an animal from the herd, either male or female, it must be an animal without any defect. Lay your hand on the head of your offering and slaughter it at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. Aaron’s sons, the priests, will throw the blood on all sides of the Altar. As a Fire-Gift to God from the Peace-Offering, present all the fat that covers or is connected to the entrails, the two kidneys and the fat around them at the loins, and the lobe of the liver that is removed along with the kidneys. Aaron and his sons will burn it on the Altar along with the Whole-Burnt-Offering that is on the wood prepared for the fire: a Fire-Gift, a pleasing fragrance to God.
6-11 “If your Peace-Offering to God comes from the flock, bring a male or female without defect. If you offer a lamb, offer it to God. Lay your hand on the head of your offering and slaughter it at the Tent of Meeting. The sons of Aaron will throw its blood on all sides of the Altar. As a Fire-Gift to God from the Peace-Offering, present its fat, the entire fat tail cut off close to the backbone, all the fat on and connected to the entrails, the two kidneys and the fat around them on the loins, and the lobe of the liver which is removed along with the kidneys. The priest will burn it on the Altar: a meal, a Fire-Gift to God.
12-16 “If the offering is a goat, bring it into the presence of God, lay your hand on its head, and slaughter it in front of the Tent of Meeting. Aaron’s sons will throw the blood on all sides of the Altar. As a Fire-Gift to God present the fat that covers and is connected to the entrails, the two kidneys and the fat which is around them on the loins, and the lobe of the liver which is removed along with the kidneys. The priest will burn them on the Altar: a meal, a Fire-Gift, a pleasing fragrance.
16-17 “All the fat belongs to God. This is the fixed rule down through the generations, wherever you happen to live: Don’t eat the fat; don’t eat the blood. None of it.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, March 30, 2018
Read: Hebrews 10:1–10
Christ’s Sacrifice Once for All
10 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2 Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. 4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
6 with burnt offerings and sin offerings
you were not pleased.
7 Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
I have come to do your will, my God.’”[a]
8 First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. 9 Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Footnotes:
Hebrews 10:7 Psalm 40:6-8 (see Septuagint)
INSIGHT
In Romans 3:9–23 Paul describes how we are all sinners. Because of our sins we deserve God’s wrath (1:18). But God showed us how much He loved us by giving His Son to be the “sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood” (3:25). We are all “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (v. 24). Even though we still sin, we are justified, reconciled, and sanctified. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us, we can live holy lives.
The Via Dolorosa
By Amy Peterson
We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Hebrews 10:10
During Holy Week, we remember the final days before Jesus’s crucifixion. The road Jesus traveled to the cross through the streets of Jerusalem is known today as the Via Dolorosa, the way of sorrows.
But the writer of Hebrews viewed the path Jesus took as more than just a path of sorrows. The way of suffering that Jesus willingly walked to Golgotha made a “new and living way” into the presence of God for us (Hebrews 10:20).
Jesus, thank You for walking the way of sorrow and making a way for us to be reconciled to God.
For centuries the Jewish people had sought to come into God’s presence through animal sacrifices and by seeking to keep the law. But the law was “only a shadow of the good things that are coming,” for “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (vv. 1, 4).
Jesus’s journey down the Via Dolorosa led to His death and resurrection. Because of His sacrifice, we can be made holy when we trust in Him for the forgiveness of our sins. Even though we aren’t able to keep the law perfectly, we can draw near to God without fear, fully confident that we are welcomed and loved (vv. 10, 22).
Christ’s way of sorrow opened for us a new and living way to God.
Jesus, thank You for walking the way of sorrow and making a way for us to be reconciled to God.
Christ’s sacrifice was what God desired and what our sin required.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, March 30, 2018
Holiness or Hardness Toward God?
He…wondered that there was no intercessor… —Isaiah 59:16
The reason many of us stop praying and become hard toward God is that we only have an emotional interest in prayer. It sounds good to say that we pray, and we read books on prayer which tell us that prayer is beneficial— that our minds are quieted and our souls are uplifted when we pray. But Isaiah implied in this verse that God is amazed at such thoughts about prayer.
Worship and intercession must go together; one is impossible without the other. Intercession means raising ourselves up to the point of getting the mind of Christ regarding the person for whom we are praying (see Philippians 2:5). Instead of worshiping God, we recite speeches to God about how prayer is supposed to work. Are we worshiping God or disputing Him when we say, “But God, I just don’t see how you are going to do this”? This is a sure sign that we are not worshiping. When we lose sight of God, we become hard and dogmatic. We throw our petitions at His throne and dictate to Him what we want Him to do. We don’t worship God, nor do we seek to conform our minds to the mind of Christ. And if we are hard toward God, we will become hard toward other people.
Are we worshiping God in a way that will raise us up to where we can take hold of Him, having such intimate contact with Him that we know His mind about the ones for whom we pray? Are we living in a holy relationship with God, or have we become hard and dogmatic?
Do you find yourself thinking that there is no one interceding properly? Then be that person yourself. Be a person who worships God and lives in a holy relationship with Him. Get involved in the real work of intercession, remembering that it truly is work— work that demands all your energy, but work which has no hidden pitfalls. Preaching the gospel has its share of pitfalls, but intercessory prayer has none whatsoever.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
A fanatic is one who entrenches himself in invincible ignorance. Baffled to Fight Better, 59 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, March 30, 2018
Smacked With Your Back Pack - #8145
OK, backpacks are basically a good thing. They make it possible for you to carry some essentials while you keep your hands free, right? But backpacks are not always a good thing, especially when you forget you're wearing one! I've seen a lot of the dangerous side of backpacks in airports and airplanes. See, you get used to your body ending at a certain point, and you navigate through a crowd knowing where the "oops, I bumped you" point is. Now you add a backpack and suddenly you have enlarged what is commonly known as your space, but you continue to navigate crowds and narrow places as if you had the same old parameters. So you turn around and "aahh, Oh no!", you clobber someone behind you or next to you with your backpack! I mean, its one thing to carry your load, it's another thing to hit someone else with it!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about, "Smacked With Your Backpack."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Peter 3:9-11. We've all got some baggage-the emotional kind that is. The question is, is the baggage you're carrying hurting other people? First Peter 3:9 says this: "Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing . . .'Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it.'"
And then verse 15 tells us why it's important to not do or say things that will hurt other people or cause conflict; why we should have positive talk, wholesome talk, why we should pursue peaceful relationships and doing good for people. Here's the reason. First Peter 3:15, "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. . ."
Now, what is going to attract people to your Jesus? Well, it says your hope. They're going to want to ask about your hope! They'll be curious about what makes you such a positive person, a joyful person. But they're not going to see hope if you keep hitting them with the negative stuff you're carrying. Maybe you're carrying a backpack full of stress and pressure and you're stressing out everybody; you're dumping your stress on them!
It could be that your backpack is full of victim feelings and people around you just keep getting hit with your self-pity, complaining, anger. That's what they get when they get near you. Or are people getting smacked with your critical mouth, your negative attitude, your all too frequent bad moods? It's one thing for you to be carrying that load around, but you're going too far when it's hitting other people!
God uses words like "keep from, turn from," to describe what we ought to do with our negative sinful baggage. Actually, someone else wants to carry your backpack. Later in this book, 1 Peter 5:7 says, "Cast all your care upon Him because He cares for you." The Lord Himself is asking, "What are you carrying all that for? Why don't you bring it all to me? Lay it down at My feet. Let Me carry it."
If you'll let go of that stuff, you can become the hope person you're called to be so that lost people around you can see Him. They desperately need to. They need to see hope, not heaviness. You probably didn't mean for your attitudes to hit anyone else, you might not even be aware of the hurt sometimes, but this is a wakeup call.
Too many people have been smacked with your back pack-usually the people closest to you. Once you've given your load to your awesome Savior, not only can you stop hitting other people with your load, you can actually reach out and help carry theirs!