John 2, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: We're Not Good Enough

Simply put-we are not good enough to go to heaven. So what can we do? We could start doing good deeds. Perhaps if we do enough good deeds, they'll offset our bad deeds. The question then becomes how many good deeds? If I spend one year being greedy, how many years should I be generous?
No one knows the answer to that question. A rule sheet can't be found. A code has not been discovered. Why? Because God doesn't operate this way. God has been so kind to us. We have no way of balancing the scales. All we can do is ask for mercy. And God, because of his kindness, gives it.
God turned over our sins to his Son. Jesus Christ died for us. He did what we could not do so that we might become what we dare not dream-citizens of heaven!
From Max on Life

John 2

From Water to Wine
2 1-3 Three days later there was a wedding in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there. Jesus and his disciples were guests also. When they started running low on wine at the wedding banquet, Jesus’ mother told him, “They’re just about out of wine.”

4 Jesus said, “Is that any of our business, Mother—yours or mine? This isn’t my time. Don’t push me.”

5 She went ahead anyway, telling the servants, “Whatever he tells you, do it.”

6-7 Six stoneware water pots were there, used by the Jews for ritual washings. Each held twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus ordered the servants, “Fill the pots with water.” And they filled them to the brim.

8 “Now fill your pitchers and take them to the host,” Jesus said, and they did.

9-10 When the host tasted the water that had become wine (he didn’t know what had just happened but the servants, of course, knew), he called out to the bridegroom, “Everybody I know begins with their finest wines and after the guests have had their fill brings in the cheap stuff. But you’ve saved the best till now!”

11 This act in Cana of Galilee was the first sign Jesus gave, the first glimpse of his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

12 After this he went down to Capernaum along with his mother, brothers, and disciples, and stayed several days.

Tear Down This Temple . . .
13-14 When the Passover Feast, celebrated each spring by the Jews, was about to take place, Jesus traveled up to Jerusalem. He found the Temple teeming with people selling cattle and sheep and doves. The loan sharks were also there in full strength.

15-17 Jesus put together a whip out of strips of leather and chased them out of the Temple, stampeding the sheep and cattle, upending the tables of the loan sharks, spilling coins left and right. He told the dove merchants, “Get your things out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a shopping mall!” That’s when his disciples remembered the Scripture, “Zeal for your house consumes me.”

18-19 But the Jews were upset. They asked, “What credentials can you present to justify this?” Jesus answered, “Tear down this Temple and in three days I’ll put it back together.”

20-22 They were indignant: “It took forty-six years to build this Temple, and you’re going to rebuild it in three days?” But Jesus was talking about his body as the Temple. Later, after he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this. They then put two and two together and believed both what was written in Scripture and what Jesus had said.

23-25 During the time he was in Jerusalem, those days of the Passover Feast, many people noticed the signs he was displaying and, seeing they pointed straight to God, entrusted their lives to him. But Jesus didn’t entrust his life to them. He knew them inside and out, knew how untrustworthy they were. He didn’t need any help in seeing right through them.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Saturday, January 05, 2019
Read: 2 Chronicles 33:9–17 |

But Manasseh led Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem off the beaten path into practices of evil exceeding even the evil of the pagan nations that God had earlier destroyed. When God spoke to Manasseh and his people about this, they ignored him.

11-13 Then God directed the leaders of the troops of the king of Assyria to come after Manasseh. They put a hook in his nose, shackles on his feet, and took him off to Babylon. Now that he was in trouble, he went to his knees in prayer asking for help—total repentance before the God of his ancestors. As he prayed, God was touched; God listened and brought him back to Jerusalem as king. That convinced Manasseh that God was in control.

14-17 After that Manasseh rebuilt the outside defensive wall of the City of David to the west of the Gihon spring in the valley. It went from the Fish Gate and around the hill of Ophel. He also increased its height. He tightened up the defense system by posting army captains in all the fortress cities of Judah. He also did a good spring cleaning on The Temple, carting out the pagan idols and the goddess statue. He took all the altars he had set up on The Temple hill and throughout Jerusalem and dumped them outside the city. He put the Altar of God back in working order and restored worship, sacrificing Peace-Offerings and Thank-Offerings. He issued orders to the people: “You shall serve and worship God, the God of Israel.” But the people didn’t take him seriously—they used the name “God” but kept on going to the old pagan neighborhood shrines and doing the same old things.

INSIGHT
Second Kings 21:1–18 parallels 2 Chronicles 33:1–20, but the version in 2 Kings curiously omits Manasseh’s repentance. Both accounts share how Manasseh rebuilt the obscene shrines his father Hezekiah had destroyed, desecrating God’s holy temple and sacrificing his own son. Second Kings prophesies Jerusalem’s coming judgment (21:10–15), while 2 Chronicles shows us a larger story—the fulfillment of that prophesy and God’s hand in bringing Judah’s worst king to eventual repentance (33:10–17).-Tim Gustafson

Transformed & Transforming
By Ruth O'Reilly-Smith

Then he restored the altar of the Lord. . . and told Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel. 2 Chronicles 33:16

Tani and Modupe grew up in Nigeria and went to the UK to study in the 1970s. Having been personally transformed by God’s grace, they never imagined that they would be used to transform one of the most deprived and segregated communities in England—Anfield in Liverpool. As Drs. Tani and Modupe Omideyi faithfully sought God and served their community, God restored hope to many. They lead a vibrant church and continue to run numerous community projects that have led to the transformation of countless lives.

Manasseh changed his community, first for evil and then for good. Crowned king of Judah at the age of twelve, he led his people astray and they did great evil for many years (2 Chronicles 33:1–9). They paid no attention to God’s warnings and so He allowed Manasseh to be taken prisoner to Babylon (vv. 10–11).

In his distress, the king humbly cried out to God who heard his plea and restored him to his kingdom (vv. 12–13). The now-reformed king rebuilt the city walls and got rid of the foreign gods (vv. 14–15). “He restored the altar of the Lord and . . . told Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel” (v. 16). As the people observed the radical transformation of Manasseh, so too were they transformed (v. 17).

As we seek God, may He transform us and so impact our communities through us.
Heavenly Father, transform our lives that we may be used by You to bring transformation to others.

Welcome to Ruth O’Reilly-Smith! Meet all our authors at odb.org/all-authors.

Your transformation by God brings transformation to others.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, January 05, 2019
The Life of Power to Follow
Jesus answered him, "Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward." —John 13:36

“And when He had spoken this, He said to him, ‘Follow Me’ ” (John 21:19). Three years earlier Jesus had said, “Follow Me” (Matthew 4:19), and Peter followed with no hesitation. The irresistible attraction of Jesus was upon him and he did not need the Holy Spirit to help him do it. Later he came to the place where he denied Jesus, and his heart broke. Then he received the Holy Spirit and Jesus said again, “Follow Me” (John 21:19). Now no one is in front of Peter except the Lord Jesus Christ. The first “Follow Me” was nothing mysterious; it was an external following. Jesus is now asking for an internal sacrifice and yielding (see John 21:18).

Between these two times Peter denied Jesus with oaths and curses (see Matthew 26:69-75). But then he came completely to the end of himself and all of his self-sufficiency. There was no part of himself he would ever rely on again. In his state of destitution, he was finally ready to receive all that the risen Lord had for him. “…He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’ ” (John 20:22). No matter what changes God has performed in you, never rely on them. Build only on a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, and on the Spirit He gives.

All our promises and resolutions end in denial because we have no power to accomplish them. When we come to the end of ourselves, not just mentally but completely, we are able to “receive the Holy Spirit.” “Receive the Holy Spirit” — the idea is that of invasion. There is now only One who directs the course of your life, the Lord Jesus Christ.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Our danger is to water down God’s word to suit ourselves. God never fits His word to suit me; He fits me to suit His word. Not Knowing Whither, 901 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Saturday, January 01, 2019
Stepping Into the Unknown - #8342

When you’re taking a team of Native young people to nine different reservations—a lot of them in pretty remote places—you need a combination command post/prayer room/counseling room/supply room on wheels. So we got this rented RV; it served all those purposes. Now I’m still getting used to this RV thing. Some of them are like entire civilizations on wheels. They’re like living two zip codes everywhere they go. Ours was a lot simpler, but it did the job. One challenge for me was the distance from the RV to the ground. I think that there may have been some mix-up at the factory and some NBA player got part of my legs maybe. I don’t know. All I know is it looked like a long way to the ground for Mr. Vertically Challenged. But the RV had a cool feature. As I stepped out, a step automatically came up under my dangling foot and helped me land safely every time. 

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about “Stepping Into the Unknown.” 

Many times in my life, God has led me to do something that literally meant stepping out totally by faith. I couldn’t see where the money was going to come from, or the people, or the solution. The Apostle Paul called it “going not knowing” (Acts 20:22). All through the Bible, from Abraham leaving everything he knew, to Peter stepping out of a boat to walk on water, God’s plan has repeatedly required stepping into the unknown. You might be at one of those “going not knowing” moments right now. 

Here, in twelve simple words, is why you can risk taking that step. It is God’s guarantee, from the God who’s never broken a promise. That promise is recorded in 1 Thessalonians 5:24, our word for today from the Word of God. Here it is: “The One who calls you is faithful and He will do it.” That’s all you need to know. God’s not going to leave you stranded in the middle of His will. What He calls you to do, He’ll enable you to do. What He leads you to do, He will provide for you to do. He’s your security. Not a paycheck. Not people you’ve depended on. Not your safe little nest. Not your abilities. It’s like Peter, it’s not the water that’s going to support you, man, it’s Jesus!

The God who calls you to step into the unknown will bring His support underneath you as you step. Not before you step…as you step. You have His word on it. Deuteronomy 33:27 guarantees that “the eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” 

When God asked us to leave the ministry organization that had been our ministry vehicle since we started, we were leaving an office, a staff, a support base, and a large network of relationships. We left that for no office, no staff, a tiny support base and a whole starting over well into our lives. That’s how this ministry began. I remember saying to my wife, “Honey, this is a risky obedience.” I thought about what I’d said for a moment, and I corrected myself: “Wait! That’s an oxymoron. There’s no such thing as a risky obedience—only a risky disobedience.” And I’ll tell you, that’s the truth!

God has given His word that He will “equip you with everything good for doing His will” (Hebrews 13:21); and that “my God will supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). So what is it you are worrying about? See, just like our RV, the support doesn’t come until you take the step. Because, in God’s words again, “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6).

There was a poet a long time ago who summed up how faith in a God like ours works: “The steps of faith fall on the seeming void and find the rock beneath.” That’s what will happen to you if you take the step.