Max Lucado Daily: WE CAN FEAR LESS TOMORROW
In Matthew 8:26, Jesus asks, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” That’s a good question. Sometimes fear is healthy. It can keep a child from running across a busy road. It’s the appropriate reaction to a burning building or a growling dog.
Fear itself is not a sin. But it can lead to sin. If we medicate fear with angry outbursts, sullen withdrawals, or viselike control, we exclude God from the solution. Fear may fill our world, but it doesn’t have to fill our hearts. It will always knock on the door. Just don’t invite it in for dinner. The promise of Jesus is simple. We can fear less tomorrow than we do today.
Read more Fearless
John 1:29-51
The God-Revealer
29-31 The very next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and yelled out, “Here he is, God’s Passover Lamb! He forgives the sins of the world! This is the man I’ve been talking about, ‘the One who comes after me but is really ahead of me.’ I knew nothing about who he was—only this: that my task has been to get Israel ready to recognize him as the God-Revealer. That is why I came here baptizing with water, giving you a good bath and scrubbing sins from your life so you can get a fresh start with God.”
32-34 John clinched his witness with this: “I watched the Spirit, like a dove flying down out of the sky, making himself at home in him. I repeat, I know nothing about him except this: The One who authorized me to baptize with water told me, ‘The One on whom you see the Spirit come down and stay, this One will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ That’s exactly what I saw happen, and I’m telling you, there’s no question about it: This is the Son of God.”
Come, See for Yourself
35-36 The next day John was back at his post with two disciples, who were watching. He looked up, saw Jesus walking nearby, and said, “Here he is, God’s Passover Lamb.”
37-38 The two disciples heard him and went after Jesus. Jesus looked over his shoulder and said to them, “What are you after?”
They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”
39 He replied, “Come along and see for yourself.”
They came, saw where he was living, and ended up staying with him for the day. It was late afternoon when this happened.
40-42 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John’s witness and followed Jesus. The first thing he did after finding where Jesus lived was find his own brother, Simon, telling him, “We’ve found the Messiah” (that is, “Christ”). He immediately led him to Jesus.
Jesus took one look up and said, “You’re John’s son, Simon? From now on your name is Cephas” (or Peter, which means “Rock”).
43-44 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. When he got there, he ran across Philip and said, “Come, follow me.” (Philip’s hometown was Bethsaida, the same as Andrew and Peter.)
45-46 Philip went and found Nathanael and told him, “We’ve found the One Moses wrote of in the Law, the One preached by the prophets. It’s Jesus, Joseph’s son, the one from Nazareth!” Nathanael said, “Nazareth? You’ve got to be kidding.”
But Philip said, “Come, see for yourself.”
47 When Jesus saw him coming he said, “There’s a real Israelite, not a false bone in his body.”
48 Nathanael said, “Where did you get that idea? You don’t know me.”
Jesus answered, “One day, long before Philip called you here, I saw you under the fig tree.”
49 Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi! You are the Son of God, the King of Israel!”
50-51 Jesus said, “You’ve become a believer simply because I say I saw you one day sitting under the fig tree? You haven’t seen anything yet! Before this is over you’re going to see heaven open and God’s angels descending to the Son of Man and ascending again.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, January 04, 2019
Read: Hebrews 12:18–24
An Unshakable Kingdom
18-21 Unlike your ancestors, you didn’t come to Mount Sinai—all that volcanic blaze and earthshaking rumble—to hear God speak. The earsplitting words and soul-shaking message terrified them and they begged him to stop. When they heard the words—“If an animal touches the Mountain, it’s as good as dead”—they were afraid to move. Even Moses was terrified.
22-24 No, that’s not your experience at all. You’ve come to Mount Zion, the city where the living God resides. The invisible Jerusalem is populated by throngs of festive angels and Christian citizens. It is the city where God is Judge, with judgments that make us just. You’ve come to Jesus, who presents us with a new covenant, a fresh charter from God. He is the Mediator of this covenant. The murder of Jesus, unlike Abel’s—a homicide that cried out for vengeance—became a proclamation of grace.
INSIGHT
No author is identified for the book of Hebrews. Scholarly speculation regarding potential authors ranges from Paul to Barnabas to Luke to Apollos, and even to Aquila and Priscilla. What are we to conclude about this ongoing, centuries-old debate? First, the very fact that there is so much speculation clearly reveals that no particular view can be totally proven. Second, human authorship is less of a problem if we understand that, by means of the inspiration of Scripture, the ultimate author is in fact the Holy Spirit who inspired it (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20–21).
For more on Bible background, check out Beyond Reasonable Doubt: The Truth of the Bible at discoveryseries.org/q0411. - Bill Crowder
Walking in the Light
By Lawrence Darmani
In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. John 1:4
Darkness descended on our forest village when the moon disappeared. Lightning slashed the skies, followed by a rainstorm and crackling thunder. Awake and afraid, as a child I imagined all kinds of grisly monsters about to pounce on me! By daybreak, however, the sounds vanished, the sun rose, and calm returned as birds jubilated in the sunshine. The contrast between the frightening darkness of the night and the joy of the daylight was remarkably sharp.
The author of Hebrews recalls the time when the Israelites had an experience at Mount Sinai so dark and stormy they hid in fear (Exodus 20:18–19). For them, God’s presence, even in His loving gift of the law, felt dark and terrifying. This was because, as sinful people, the Israelites couldn’t live up to God’s standards. Their sin caused them to walk in darkness and fear (Hebrews 12:18–21).
But God is light; in Him there’s no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). In Hebrews 12, Mount Sinai represents God’s holiness and our old life of disobedience, while the beauty of Mount Zion represents God’s grace and believers’ new life in Jesus, “the mediator of a new covenant” (vv. 22–24).
Whoever follows Jesus will “never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). Through Him, we can let go of the darkness of our old life and celebrate the joy of walking in the light and beauty of His kingdom.
If you’re a believer in Jesus, how has your life changed since He came into it? What are some ways you’d like to grow in your faith?
Thank You, Lord Jesus, for bringing me out of darkness into Your marvelous light. Help me to avoid the darkness to continue walking in the light toward eternity.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, January 04, 2019
Why Can I Not Follow You Now?
Peter said to Him, "Lord, why can I not follow You now?" —John 13:37
There are times when you can’t understand why you cannot do what you want to do. When God brings a time of waiting, and appears to be unresponsive, don’t fill it with busyness, just wait. The time of waiting may come to teach you the meaning of sanctification— to be set apart from sin and made holy— or it may come after the process of sanctification has begun to teach you what service means. Never run before God gives you His direction. If you have the slightest doubt, then He is not guiding. Whenever there is doubt— wait.
At first you may see clearly what God’s will is— the severance of a friendship, the breaking off of a business relationship, or something else you feel is distinctly God’s will for you to do. But never act on the impulse of that feeling. If you do, you will cause difficult situations to arise which will take years to untangle. Wait for God’s timing and He will do it without any heartache or disappointment. When it is a question of the providential will of God, wait for God to move.
Peter did not wait for God. He predicted in his own mind where the test would come, and it came where he did not expect it. “I will lay down my life for Your sake.” Peter’s statement was honest but ignorant. “Jesus answered him, ‘…the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times’ ” (John 13:38). This was said with a deeper knowledge of Peter than Peter had of himself. He could not follow Jesus because he did not know himself or his own capabilities well enough. Natural devotion may be enough to attract us to Jesus, to make us feel His irresistible charm, but it will never make us disciples. Natural devotion will deny Jesus, always falling short of what it means to truly follow Him.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The emphasis to-day is placed on the furtherance of an organization; the note is, “We must keep this thing going.” If we are in God’s order the thing will go; if we are not in His order, it won’t. Conformed to His Image, 357 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, January 04, 2019
The Open Door On the Storm Cellar - #8345
You know, there's a stretch of Oklahoma, including Oklahoma City, that has been called "Tornado Alley." On the Weather Channel, a lot of spring and summer days show that part of the country colored in the bright red that indicates severe weather. The most powerful tornado America ever had so far roared through the Oklahoma City area just a few years ago. As I drove through that area on a spring day between storm systems, I couldn't help but be impressed with what I saw as I drove by a church. Right in front of the church you could see an open door sticking up out of the ground. The church actually has a storm cellar right out on the street, and the door was wide open!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Open Door On the Storm Cellar."
That's how every church and Christian fellowship should be-a storm cellar with the door wide open for everybody to enter! Sadly, too many churches turn out to be a place where you find more storms, but it's meant to be the safest place in town.
We've got a lot to learn from the original template of how God's people are supposed to operate together. It's described for us in our word for today from the Word of God in Acts 2, beginning with verse 42. These were the original Christians and they showed us how to do it right. "They devoted themselves, to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer." First of all, there's the key to being Jesus' kind of church-stay focused on the majors and don't get mired in the minors. The majors are studying the Word of God together, celebrating your common ground in Christ, remembering His cross, and waging war on your knees. Not majoring on personalities, buildings, budgets, music styles, or putting people in categories.
This powerful blueprint goes on to say that "all the believers were together...they gave to anyone as he had need." They focused on needs, not programs. And "every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people." Well, of course they won the favor of all the people! How could they miss when they provided a place where you could count on being loved, count on having people care about your needs, and count on finding a safe place. That's the storm cellar so many people are looking for in our stormy world.
So, how do we let God's safe place deteriorate into just another stormy place? Egos, personal agendas masquerading as God's agenda, making small issues into big issues, developing an unofficial caste system that effectively has one group of people who are the insiders and the rest who feel like the outsiders, judging people by their outward appearance instead of by their heart, or treating people as categories instead of as individuals. Somehow, the church can become a place where we're known for something other than the one characteristic Jesus said would draw people to Him... "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another."
We represent the welcoming Savior who said, "Come to Me, all you who are weary and heavily burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). The One who was called "the friend of sinners" . . . who sought out the lostest of the lost, and He sought out those the religious people rejected. That's a welcoming Savior! We've got to be His welcoming representatives, providing one place where anyone and everyone can feel safe in this storm-ravaged world. We are the open door through which people can find the sanctuary of the love of Jesus Christ.
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