Max Lucado Daily: GROW IN YOUR SALVATION
Are a bride and groom ever more married than they are the first day? The vows are made, the certificate signed—could they be any more married than that? Imagine fifty years later. They finish each other’s sentences, order each other’s food. They even start looking alike, a thought which troubles my wife Denalyn deeply. Wouldn’t they be more married on their 50th anniversary than on their wedding day?
Marriage is both a done deal and a daily development. The same is true of our walk with God. Can you be more saved than you were the first day of your salvation? No, but can a person grow in salvation? Absolutely. Like marriage, it’s a done deal and a daily development. Be secure in your salvation. And, at the same time, grow in your salvation.
Nehemiah 13
Also on that same day there was a reading from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people. It was found written there that no Ammonite or Moabite was permitted to enter the congregation of God, because they hadn’t welcomed the People of Israel with food and drink; they even hired Balaam to work against them by cursing them, but our God turned the curse into a blessing. When they heard the reading of The Revelation, they excluded all foreigners from Israel.
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4-5 Some time before this, Eliashib the priest had been put in charge of the storerooms of The Temple of God. He was close to Tobiah and had made available to him a large storeroom that had been used to store Grain-Offerings, incense, worship vessels, and the tithes of grain, wine, and oil for the Levites, singers, and security guards, and the offerings for the priests.
6-9 When this was going on I wasn’t there in Jerusalem; in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon, I had traveled back to the king. But later I asked for his permission to leave again. I arrived in Jerusalem and learned of the wrong that Eliashib had done in turning over to him a room in the courts of The Temple of God. I was angry, really angry, and threw everything in the room out into the street, all of Tobiah’s stuff. Then I ordered that they ceremonially cleanse the room. Only then did I put back the worship vessels of The Temple of God, along with the Grain-Offerings and the incense.
10-13 And then I learned that the Levites hadn’t been given their regular food allotments. So the Levites and singers who led the services of worship had all left and gone back to their farms. I called the officials on the carpet, “Why has The Temple of God been abandoned?” I got everyone back again and put them back on their jobs so that all Judah was again bringing in the tithe of grain, wine, and oil to the storerooms. I put Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and a Levite named Pedaiah in charge of the storerooms. I made Hanan son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah, their right-hand man. These men had a reputation for honesty and hard work. They were responsible for distributing the rations to their brothers.
14 Remember me, O my God, for this. Don’t ever forget the devoted work I have done for The Temple of God and its worship.
15-16 During those days, while back in Judah, I also noticed that people treaded wine presses, brought in sacks of grain, and loaded up their donkeys on the Sabbath. They brought wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of stuff to sell on the Sabbath. So I spoke up and warned them about selling food on that day. Tyrians living there brought in fish and whatever else, selling it to Judeans—in Jerusalem, mind you!—on the Sabbath.
17-18 I confronted the leaders of Judah: “What’s going on here? This evil! Profaning the Sabbath! Isn’t this exactly what your ancestors did? And because of it didn’t God bring down on us and this city all this misery? And here you are adding to it—accumulating more wrath on Jerusalem by profaning the Sabbath.”
19 As the gates of Jerusalem were darkened by the shadows of the approaching Sabbath, I ordered the doors shut and not to be opened until the Sabbath was over. I placed some of my servants at the gates to make sure that nothing to be sold would get in on the Sabbath day.
20-21 Traders and dealers in various goods camped outside the gates once or twice. But I took them to task. I said, “You have no business camping out here by the wall. If I find you here again, I’ll use force to drive you off.”
And that did it; they didn’t come back on the Sabbath.
22 Then I directed the Levites to ceremonially cleanse themselves and take over as guards at the gates to keep the sanctity of the Sabbath day.
Remember me also for this, my God. Treat me with mercy according to your great and steadfast love.
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23-27 Also in those days I saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. Half the children couldn’t even speak the language of Judah; all they knew was the language of Ashdod or some other tongue. So I took those men to task, gave them a piece of my mind, even slapped some of them and jerked them by the hair. I made them swear to God: “Don’t marry your daughters to their sons; and don’t let their daughters marry your sons—and don’t you yourselves marry them! Didn’t Solomon the king of Israel sin because of women just like these? Even though there was no king quite like him, and God loved him and made him king over all Israel, foreign women were his downfall. Do you call this obedience—engaging in this extensive evil, showing yourselves faithless to God by marrying foreign wives?”
28 One of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite; I drove him out of my presence.
29 Remember them, O my God, how they defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priests and Levites.
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30-31 All in all I cleansed them from everything foreign. I organized the orders of service for the priests and Levites so that each man knew his job. I arranged for a regular supply of altar wood at the appointed times and for the firstfruits.
Remember me, O my God, for good.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, April 16, 2021
Read: Luke 17:1–5
Sin, Faith, Duty
Footnotes
Luke 17:3 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a fellow disciple, whether man or woman.
INSIGHT
In Luke 17, Jesus is teaching His disciples how to relate to other people (vv. 1–5) and to God (vv. 6–10). He warns that His disciples aren’t to cause anyone to sin (v. 2) and are to confront those who do sin (v. 3), which was required by the law (Leviticus 19:17). Jesus added a third duty: to forgive those who repent (Luke 17:3–4). His disciples are to deal unequivocally with a brother or sister who sins, with the purpose of restoration and reconciliation (Matthew 18:15–17). The rabbis argued that since God forgave Israel’s enemies only three times (inferred from Amos 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 13), people only needed to forgive three times. However, Jesus wasn’t setting a new “seven times” limit on forgiveness (Luke 17:4). Rather, the idea is that when it comes to forgiving someone, you don’t keep score. There’s no limit to the number of times you forgive.
Extending Mercy - By Amy Boucher Pye
If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Luke 17:3
Reflecting on how she forgave Manasseh, the man who killed her husband and some of her children in the Rwandan genocide, Beata said, “My forgiving is based on what Jesus did. He took the punishment for every evil act throughout all time. His cross is the place we find victory—the only place!” Manasseh had written to Beata from prison more than once, begging her—and God—for forgiveness as he detailed the regular nightmares that plagued him. At first she could extend no mercy, saying she hated him for killing her family. But then “Jesus intruded into her thoughts,” and with God’s help, some two years later, she forgave him.
In this, Beata followed Jesus’ instruction to His disciples to forgive those who repent. He said that even if they “sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them” (Luke 17:4). But to forgive can be extremely difficult, as we see by the disciples’ reaction: “Increase our faith!” (v. 5).
Beata’s faith increased as she wrestled in prayer over her inability to forgive. If, like her, we’re struggling to forgive, we can ask God through His Holy Spirit to help us to do so. As our faith increases, He helps us to forgive.
If someone who wronged you later repented, how did you react? How could God help you to forgive in these situations?
Jesus, thank You for releasing me from the consequences of my sin through Your death on the cross. I give You the glory!
Read The Risk of Forgiveness at DiscoverySeries.org/HP071.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, April 16, 2021
an You Come Down From the Mountain?
While you have the light, believe in the light… —John 12:36
We all have moments when we feel better than ever before, and we say, “I feel fit for anything; if only I could always be like this!” We are not meant to be. Those moments are moments of insight which we have to live up to even when we do not feel like it. Many of us are no good for the everyday world when we are not on the mountaintop. Yet we must bring our everyday life up to the standard revealed to us on the mountaintop when we were there.
Never allow a feeling that was awakened in you on the mountaintop to evaporate. Don’t place yourself on the shelf by thinking, “How great to be in such a wonderful state of mind!” Act immediately— do something, even if your only reason to act is that you would rather not. If, during a prayer meeting, God shows you something to do, don’t say, “I’ll do it”— just do it! Pick yourself up by the back of the neck and shake off your fleshly laziness. Laziness can always be seen in our cravings for a mountaintop experience; all we talk about is our planning for our time on the mountain. We must learn to live in the ordinary “gray” day according to what we saw on the mountain.
Don’t give up because you have been blocked and confused once— go after it again. Burn your bridges behind you, and stand committed to God by an act of your own will. Never change your decisions, but be sure to make your decisions in the light of what you saw and learned on the mountain.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.” The Shadow of an Agony, 1166 R
Bible in a Year: 1 Samuel 30-31; Luke 13:23-35
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, April 16, 2021
The Deadliest Day in the World - #8940
It's only a story, but the point it makes is a reality not to be ignored. As the story goes, there was a day when the devil called an emergency meeting in hell. All his senior demons were there. The agenda: how to increase the number of people who were going to hell instead of heaven. The first demon to speak said, "Let me launch an all-out attack on people's belief in the Bible and Jesus as the Son of God. Before I'm finished, they won't trust either one, and hell will be full." The devil was impressed and he released that first demon to launch his doubt offensive on the future inhabitants of eternity. After an appropriate time, Satan reconvened his council of senior demons. He wasn't pleased, especially with demon number one. He said, "The number of people coming to hell is up only slightly since you tried your little strategy of creating doubt. This isn't working! We need a better idea."
That was when demon number two stepped up with a plan he believed to be foolproof. "I will launch an all-out campaign to convince people they will have to give up too much to follow Jesus. It costs too much! It's too hard! That's what I'll tell them." Satan was fascinated with that proposal and he wished demon number two great success. It didn't happen. The traffic coming into hell did increase some, but not nearly enough to satisfy the enemy of every human soul. No, he wanted many more.
All the other demons were afraid to offer another plan for fear of failure and the devil's displeasure. All the other demons except one, that is. Demon number three asked Satan for permission to launch a top secret strategy - one which he would only reveal after the results were in. The devil was skeptical. But since nothing else was working, he let demon number three put his secret plan into action.
Within weeks, the floodgates opened. More people were ending up in hell than any of the demons had ever seen. Satan again convened his demon council to find out what was this strategy that was bringing so many people to hell. When the third demon explained it, everyone was amazed. And that strategy for keeping people from heaven is the sober reality we all need to consider.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Deadliest Day in the World."
The third demon explained: "I actually tell people they do need Jesus and that they should give Him their life." Satan was ready to explode! The room was quiet as a tomb when the third demon said: "I tell them to come to Jesus...tomorrow."
And that's the word that has sent so many people to hell - tomorrow. "I know I should open my heart to Jesus. I'll get right with Him - tomorrow." Listen to God's urgent call in 2 Corinthians 6:2. It's our word for today from the Word of God. "I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation." That word salvation, it's a rescue word, because rescue is why Jesus came.
Our sins have earned us the eternal death penalty that the Bible calls hell. A hell which could be cancelled only one way. It took the Son of God Himself taking your hell and mine; taking your punishment for you. You did the sinning; Jesus did the dying. When a rescuer extends his hand to you in a burning or collapsed building, you don't wait to grab it. Your chance to live is now.
And Jesus is extending His rescuing hand to you today, even as I'm speaking these words. He's the tug you feel in your heart. None of your reasons for waiting are worth risking an unthinkable eternity. Now is the day of salvation. God said it. Don't risk it. The rescue happens when you grab Jesus your Rescuer with both hands and say, "Jesus, You're my only hope. I'm Yours from today on." Because today is the only day you can be sure of.
Our website is there to help you get this settled once and for all. I hope you'll go there today. It's ANewStory.com. Please visit us today at ANewStory.com.
If they could, so many people on the other side of eternity would say to you, "Don't wait for tomorrow." Because for them, tomorrow never came.
From my daily reading of the bible, Our Daily Bread Devotionals, My Utmost for His Highest and Ron Hutchcraft "A Word with You" and occasionally others.