Acts 24, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: TAKE GOOD COUNSEL

Hurting people hang with hurting people.  We love those who commiserate and avoid those who correct us.  Yet correction and direction are what we need.

I discovered the importance of healthy counsel in a half-Ironman triathlon.  After the 1.2–mile swim and the 56–mile bike ride, I didn’t have much energy left for the 13.1–mile run.  Neither did the fellow jogging next to me.  I asked him how he was doing and soon regretted it.   He said, “This stinks. It’s the dumbest decision I’ve ever made.”  He had more complaints than a taxpayer at the IRS.

My response to him?  “Goodbye.”  I knew if I listened too long, I’d start agreeing with him. Proverbs 19:20 reminds us to “take good counsel and watch your plans succeed.”  So be quick to pray, seek healthy counsel, and don’t give up.

Acts 24

Paul States His Defense

 Within five days, the Chief Priest Ananias arrived with a contingent of leaders, along with Tertullus, a trial lawyer. They presented the governor with their case against Paul. When Paul was called before the court, Tertullus spoke for the prosecution: “Most Honorable Felix, we are most grateful in all times and places for your wise and gentle rule. We are much aware that it is because of you and you alone that we enjoy all this peace and gain daily profit from your reforms. I’m not going to tire you out with a long speech. I beg your kind indulgence in listening to me. I’ll be quite brief.

5-8 “We’ve found this man time and again disturbing the peace, stirring up riots against Jews all over the world, the ringleader of a seditious sect called Nazarenes. He’s a real bad apple, I must say. We caught him trying to defile our holy Temple and arrested him. You’ll be able to verify all these accusations when you examine him yourself.”

9 The Jews joined in: “Hear, hear! That’s right!”

10-13 The governor motioned to Paul that it was now his turn. Paul said, “I count myself fortunate to be defending myself before you, Governor, knowing how fair-minded you’ve been in judging us all these years. I’ve been back in the country only twelve days—you can check out these dates easily enough. I came with the express purpose of worshiping in Jerusalem on Pentecost, and I’ve been minding my own business the whole time. Nobody can say they saw me arguing in the Temple or working up a crowd in the streets. Not one of their charges can be backed up with evidence or witnesses.

14-15 “But I do freely admit this: In regard to the Way, which they malign as a dead-end street, I serve and worship the very same God served and worshiped by all our ancestors and embrace everything written in all our Scriptures. And I admit to living in hopeful anticipation that God will raise the dead, both the good and the bad. If that’s my crime, my accusers are just as guilty as I am.

16-19 “Believe me, I do my level best to keep a clear conscience before God and my neighbors in everything I do. I’ve been out of the country for a number of years and now I’m back. While I was away, I took up a collection for the poor and brought that with me, along with offerings for the Temple. It was while making those offerings that they found me quietly at my prayers in the Temple. There was no crowd, there was no disturbance. It was some Jews from around Ephesus who started all this trouble. And you’ll notice they’re not here today. They’re cowards, too cowardly to accuse me in front of you.

20-21 “So ask these others what crime they’ve caught me in. Don’t let them hide behind this smooth-talking Tertullus. The only thing they have on me is that one sentence I shouted out in the council: ‘It’s because I believe in the resurrection that I’ve been hauled into this court!’ Does that sound to you like grounds for a criminal case?”

22-23 Felix shilly-shallied. He knew far more about the Way than he let on, and could have settled the case then and there. But uncertain of his best move politically, he played for time. “When Captain Lysias comes down, I’ll decide your case.” He gave orders to the centurion to keep Paul in custody, but to more or less give him the run of the place and not prevent his friends from helping him.

24-26 A few days later Felix and his wife, Drusilla, who was Jewish, sent for Paul and listened to him talk about a life of believing in Jesus Christ. As Paul continued to insist on right relations with God and his people, about a life of moral discipline and the coming Judgment, Felix felt things getting a little too close for comfort and dismissed him. “That’s enough for today. I’ll call you back when it’s convenient.” At the same time he was secretly hoping that Paul would offer him a substantial bribe. These conversations were repeated frequently.

27 After two years of this, Felix was replaced by Porcius Festus. Still playing up to the Jews and ignoring justice, Felix left Paul in prison.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Thursday, July 30, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Luke 13:10–17

Jesus Heals a Crippled Woman on the Sabbath

On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” 13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.

14 Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”

15 The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? 16 Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”

17 When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.

Insight
The Sabbath was a frequent point of contention between Jesus and the religious leaders of Israel. Whether the Pharisees were upset because Jesus healed on the Sabbath (Luke 6:6–11; 13:10–17) or because His disciples picked and ate grain on that day (Matthew 12:1–14), Jesus often confronted them regarding the Sabbath and gave new insight into how it should be understood.

In today’s passage describing the healing of the woman with the bent back, Jesus highlighted the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. They treated their animals better than they did the poor and needy among them. Jesus’ constant pattern was to affirm the value of the people He ministered to rather than the human laws He may have been violating. By doing so, He proved that He was indeed the Lord of the Sabbath.

Touch the Needy
He put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. Luke 13:13

It wasn’t surprising when Mother Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize. True to form, she received the award “in the name of the hungry, of the naked, of the homeless, of the blind, of the lepers, of all those who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society.” Those were the people she ministered to for most of her life.

Jesus modeled how to care for and love the marginalized, regardless of circumstances. Unlike the synagogue leaders who respected the Sabbath law more than the sick (Luke 13:14), when Jesus saw an ill woman at the temple, He was moved with compassion. He looked beyond the physical impairment and saw God’s beautiful creation in bondage. He called her to Him and said she was healed. Then He “put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God” (v. 13). By touching her, He upset the leader of the synagogue because it was the Sabbath. Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath (Luke 6:5), compassionately chose to heal the woman—a person who had faced discomfort and humiliation for nearly two decades.

I wonder how often we see someone as underserving of our compassion. Or maybe we’ve experienced rejection because we didn’t meet somebody else’s standard. May we not be like the religious elite who cared more about rules than fellow humans. Instead, let’s follow Jesus’ example and treat others with compassion, love, and dignity. By:  Estera Pirosca Escobar

Reflect & Pray
How have you experienced God’s healing and touch? Who can you show compassion to this week?

Jesus, thank You for Your infinite love and incredible compassion for all humans, including those marred by disease and difficulties.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, July 30, 2020
The Teaching of Disillusionment
Jesus did not commit Himself to them…, for He knew what was in man. —John 2:24-25

Disillusionment means having no more misconceptions, false impressions, and false judgments in life; it means being free from these deceptions. However, though no longer deceived, our experience of disillusionment may actually leave us cynical and overly critical in our judgment of others. But the disillusionment that comes from God brings us to the point where we see people as they really are, yet without any cynicism or any stinging and bitter criticism. Many of the things in life that inflict the greatest injury, grief, or pain, stem from the fact that we suffer from illusions. We are not true to one another as facts, seeing each other as we really are; we are only true to our misconceived ideas of one another. According to our thinking, everything is either delightful and good, or it is evil, malicious, and cowardly.

Refusing to be disillusioned is the cause of much of the suffering of human life. And this is how that suffering happens— if we love someone, but do not love God, we demand total perfection and righteousness from that person, and when we do not get it we become cruel and vindictive; yet we are demanding of a human being something which he or she cannot possibly give. There is only one Being who can completely satisfy to the absolute depth of the hurting human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord is so obviously uncompromising with regard to every human relationship because He knows that every relationship that is not based on faithfulness to Himself will end in disaster. Our Lord trusted no one, and never placed His faith in people, yet He was never suspicious or bitter. Our Lord’s confidence in God, and in what God’s grace could do for anyone, was so perfect that He never despaired, never giving up hope for any person. If our trust is placed in human beings, we will end up despairing of everyone.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Beware of pronouncing any verdict on the life of faith if you are not living it. Not Knowing Whither, 900 R

Bible in a Year: Psalms 51-53; Romans 2

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, July 30, 2020
Disappointing Investments - #8754

It's late at night and I finally made it to my motel room. It's been a long day. I want a midnight snack or at least a can of soda. As I step outside my room, I hear the "whirr" of vending machines just down the hall. I stand in front of that thing, pondering my hardest decision of the day. Then I put my money in and I push the button. Usually, I get what I just paid for, but not always. Sometimes nothing comes. I push the button again, and again, and again. Not only do I not get my selection, but the coin return isn't working either. Those most frustrating times of all, when you're desperate enough to try again, and maybe again, putting in your money - and still nothing in return.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Disappointing Investments."

That vending machine turns out to be an investment with no return. You may have had financial investments like that, where you put a lot in, but you got very little back. Or you may have invested very heavily in a relationship, or several relationships, only to be disappointed with the return.

There are people who have invested heavily in a marriage and they've basically ended up with little to show for what they gave. You may be one of them. We invest so much of our life in our children, sometimes even there to be disappointed with the return in their lives. All we gave to be successful, all we poured into what we thought would give us security or approval, so many times we keep putting more and more into it, hoping it will finally pay off. But for many, it's loneliness that comes back, or stress, or hurt, or regrets over all that we've paid to get so little.

Our word for today from the Word of God is for all of us who have made some disappointing life investments. In Isaiah 55:1-2, God says, "Come, all you who are thirsty and come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk, without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare."

God's offer is simple, "Come to Me and I will give you what all your searching and all your spending has never delivered, and I will give it to you without cost." The reason none of our earth-investments have been able to satisfy the thirst in our heart is because we've been trying to get from them what we were supposed to get from a personal relationship with our Creator - which we have totally missed.

In Isaiah, that same book of the Bible, God says, "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity (or the sin) of us all" (Isaiah 53:6). No one but the God who made you can fill the hole in your heart. Your sin has cut you off from Him, but God did something amazing to get you back. He invested His greatest treasure: His one and only Son.

The Bible tells us that in heaven, they're saying to Jesus: "With Your blood You purchased men for God" (Revelation 5:9). That's what Jesus invested in you: His blood; His life when He took on Himself all the shame and all the hell of all your sin when He died on the cross. That's why you accept God's invitation "without cost" because all your goodness and all your religion can't do a thing to remove your sin or get you into heaven. Only Jesus can and He paid the price. Only He could!

And today, you have the opportunity to receive what you could never buy - eternal life and a love relationship with Almighty God himself. It begins when you tell Him, "Lord, I want what You died to give me. I have no hope but You and Your death on the cross for me. The door is open. Come on in, Jesus."

It would be my great honor just to help you be sure that you have crossed over "from death to life" the Bible says, and into this unloseable relationship with Jesus. That's what our website's for. And I hope you go there and there find the information that has helped so many secure their relationship with Jesus. That website is ANewStory.com.

I will tell you this, the One who loved you enough to die for you, is powerful enough to walk out of His grave, you will find in him the one person who will never disappoint you.