Leviticus 12, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Looking for God - December 1, 2021

With the passing of years, Henry’s life had changed. His children were grown. The neighborhood was different. He was unhappy. He asked his minister if he was unhappy for some sin he’d committed. “Yes,” the wise pastor replied. “The sin of ignorance. One of your neighbors is the Messiah in disguise, and you have not seen him.”

With time, Henry saw things in people he’d never seen. When others spoke he listened. After all, he might be listening to the Messiah. The bounce returned to his step. His eyes took on a friendly sparkle. He said, “All I know is that things changed when I started looking for God.”

Now, that’s curious. The old man saw Jesus because he didn’t know what he looked like. The people in Jesus’ day missed him because they thought they did. How are things looking in your neighborhood?

Leviticus 12

Childbirth

God spoke to Moses: “Tell the People of Israel, A woman who conceives and gives birth to a boy is ritually unclean for seven days, the same as during her menstruation. On the eighth day circumcise the boy. The mother must stay home another thirty-three days for purification from her bleeding. She may not touch anything holy or enter the Sanctuary until the days of her purification are complete. If she gives birth to a girl, she is unclean for fourteen days, the same as during her menstruation. She must stay home for sixty-six days for purification from her bleeding.

6-7 “When the days for her purification for either a boy or a girl are complete, she will bring a yearling lamb for a Whole-Burnt-Offering and a pigeon or dove for an Absolution-Offering to the priest at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. He will offer it to God and make atonement for her. She is then clean from her flow of blood.

“These are the instructions for a woman who gives birth to either a boy or a girl.

8 “If she can’t afford a lamb, she can bring two doves or two pigeons, one for the Whole-Burnt-Offering and one for the Absolution-Offering. The priest will make atonement for her and she will be clean.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Wednesday, December 01, 2021

Today's Scripture
Hebrews 10:19–25
(NIV)

A Call to Persevere in Faith

19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidencep to enter the Most Holy Placeq by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living wayr opened for us through the curtain,s that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priestt over the house of God,u 22 let us draw near to Godv with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings,w having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty consciencex and having our bodies washed with pure water.y 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hopez we profess,a for he who promised is faithful.b 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,c 25 not giving up meeting together,d as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one anothere—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Insight

The letter to the Hebrews was written to Jewish believers in Jesus who, due to persecution and hardship, were in danger of drifting from the faith. Therefore, it makes sense that the author would remind them of the confidence they could have in Christ, for it provides an antidote for their doubts. The New Bible Commentary says, “The word translated confidence is found in four important contexts in Hebrews (3:6; 4:16; 10:19; 10:35). Fundamentally, it’s a confidence of free and open access to God . . . based on the unique sacrifice of Jesus (by the blood of Jesus).” As a result, the believers were encouraged to embrace the confidence that they were truly part of God’s “house” (3:6), to enter God’s presence confidently in prayer (4:15–16), to enter God’s presence in worship (10:19), and to maintain that confidence in living out their lives (10:35). By: Bill Crowder

We Need Our Church Community

[Let us] not [give] up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but [encourage] one another.
Hebrews 10:25

I grew up the firstborn son of a Southern Baptist preacher. Every Sunday the expectation was clear: I was to be in church. Possible exceptions? Maybe if I had a significant fever. But the truth is, I absolutely loved going, and I even went a few times feverish. But the world has changed, and the numbers for regular church attendance are not what they used to be. Of course, the quick question is why? The answers are many and varied. Author Kathleen Norris counters those answers with a response she received from a pastor to the question, “Why do we go to church?” He said, “We go to church for other people. Because someone may need you there.”

Now by no means is that the only reason we go to church, but his response does resonate with the heartbeat of the writer to the Hebrews. He urged the believers to persevere in the faith, and to achieve that goal he stressed “not giving up meeting together” (Hebrews 10:25). Why? Because something vital would be missed in our absence: “encouraging one another” (v. 25). We need that mutual encouragement to “spur one another on toward love and good deeds” (v. 24).

Brothers and sisters, keep meeting together, because someone may need you there. And the corresponding truth is that you may need them as well. By:  John Blase

Reflect & Pray

What are the top four reasons you either go to church or don’t go? How does knowing “someone may need you there” make you feel about meeting together?

Heavenly Father, as I meet with others to worship and praise Your name, help me to also encourage others in Your name. Forgive me when I overlook the latter because I’m too preoccupied with myself.

Learn more about the importance of church.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, December 01, 2021

The Law and the Gospel

Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. —James 2:10

The moral law does not consider our weaknesses as human beings; in fact, it does not take into account our heredity or infirmities. It simply demands that we be absolutely moral. The moral law never changes, either for the highest of society or for the weakest in the world. It is enduring and eternally the same. The moral law, ordained by God, does not make itself weak to the weak by excusing our shortcomings. It remains absolute for all time and eternity. If we are not aware of this, it is because we are less than alive. Once we do realize it, our life immediately becomes a fatal tragedy. “I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died” (Romans 7:9). The moment we realize this, the Spirit of God convicts us of sin. Until a person gets there and sees that there is no hope, the Cross of Christ remains absurd to him. Conviction of sin always brings a fearful, confining sense of the law. It makes a person hopeless— “…sold under sin” (Romans 7:14). I, a guilty sinner, can never work to get right with God— it is impossible. There is only one way by which I can get right with God, and that is through the death of Jesus Christ. I must get rid of the underlying idea that I can ever be right with God because of my obedience. Who of us could ever obey God to absolute perfection!

We only begin to realize the power of the moral law once we see that it comes with a condition and a promise. But God never coerces us. Sometimes we wish He would make us be obedient, and at other times we wish He would leave us alone. Whenever God’s will is in complete control, He removes all pressure. And when we deliberately choose to obey Him, He will reach to the remotest star and to the ends of the earth to assist us with all of His almighty power.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

Christianity is not consistency to conscience or to convictions; Christianity is being true to Jesus Christ.  Biblical Ethics, 111 L

Bible in a Year: Ezekiel 40-41; 2 Peter 3

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, December 01, 2021

They Aren't Where They Used To Be - #9103

Sometimes we tell people, "You really need to get out more." For my wife, that was especially true some years ago. Our ministry had been growing so fast she almost felt like a prisoner at the office. She hadn't been able to get out, shop, even in our own town.

Well, she finally broke down. She "escaped," if you will, because she had so much needed shopping to do. That night she came home and she said, "You know, it's kind of sad. I had my route all planned out, what I was going to buy, where I was going to buy it, how to avoid backtracking. But there was one small problem. The stores aren't there anymore."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "They Aren't Where They Used To Be."

Our word for today from the Word of God actually comes from John 4. We find Jesus in a place where most Jews would never go. It was an area called Samaria. Jews weren't very well liked there. And it says, "He had to go through Samaria." Now, this chapter tells us that He has a life-transforming encounter there with a Samaritan woman, who finds out that the love of Christ is the love she's been looking for her whole life.

And then finally, when we get down to verses 39 and 41 it says, "Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Jesus because of the woman's testimony. And because of His words, many more became believers." Now, why did Jesus have to go through Samaria? Because that's where Samaritans are! The Samaritans would never have come to Him. He went where the lost people were. He connected with them on their turf where they were comfortable.

Now let's fast-forward to the present. On our watch, America has become a post-Christian nation. We're surrounded by people every day who don't know our language, they don't know our morality, they don't know anything about our meetings or want to go to them, they don't know our heroes, they don't know our book. They don't know anything about our Savior.

There's plenty of activity going on in the name of evangelism, but it seems like we're missing most of our neighbors. We're not making a difference, and the chasm between the world of the church and the world of the lost seems wider than ever. What's the problem here? Could it be the same problem that my wife found after being cloistered in her office for too long? She went where the action had been, but it wasn't there anymore.

So many of the ways we try to reach lost people were developed many decades ago, and we're still trying to reach people with the same kind of programs, same vocabulary, same kind of presentations, music and literature. See, we're going to where they used to be, and they moved. They're not there anymore.

When it comes to communicating with lost people, the price of failure is eternally high. It's an unthinkable eternity for those who are lost! We can't leave the people around us lost and just wait for them to come to us, to our meeting, to our place. Jesus didn't do that. He went to their turf. He went to their place. He talked about the things they cared about. He explained the gospel in words and with examples that they could understand; not religious talk.

The ancient Indian proverb says, "We need to walk a mile in the other man's moccasins." In other words, think post-Christian for a minute. Think lost! How would a lost person think in these times? How would they respond to our program? How would they respond to how we're saying it? Be the person you're trying to reach. Would you come to those meetings? Would you understand those religious words? What would interest you there? What would keep you from coming back?

Would they come to our website? Would they listen to what we're doing? What's going on in the life of a 21st Century lost person that would make them interested in Jesus? What are the differences in a Christian you know that would mean something to you if you're a lost person? You say, "Man, I want what they've got." Well, what would that be? You want to find someone who's lost, you go where they are.

Maybe we've been in our little Christian cocoon too long. We need to realize that the people who have to know about our Jesus don't live where they used to live, they don't understand what they used to understand. Like Jesus, we need to "seek and save those who are lost." Please, go to where the lost people are.