Max Lucado Daily: CHOOSE YOUR MENTORS - July 1, 2022
The world has seen wiser kings, wealthier kings, and more powerful kings. But history has never seen a more courageous king than young King Josiah. He inherited a fragile throne and a tarnished crown. The temple was in disarray, the law was lost, and the people worshiped idols. But by the end of Josiah’s thirty-one-year reign, the temple had been rebuilt, the idols destroyed, and the law of God was once again elevated to a place of prominence and power.
Josiah was eight years old when he ascended the throne, and he flipped through his family scrapbook until he found an ancestor worthy of emulation. “He lived as his ancestor David had lived, and he did not stop doing what was right” (2 Kings 22:2 NCV).
The principle? We can’t choose our parents, but we can choose our mentors.
Luke 20:27-47
All Intimacies Will Be with God
27-33 Some Sadducees came up. This is the Jewish party that denies any possibility of resurrection. They asked, “Teacher, Moses wrote us that if a man dies and leaves a wife but no child, his brother is obligated to marry her and give her children. Well, there once were seven brothers. The first took a wife. He died childless. The second married her and died, then the third, and eventually all seven had their turn, but no child. After all that, the wife died. That wife, now—in the resurrection whose wife is she? All seven married her.”
34-38 Jesus said, “Marriage is a major preoccupation here, but not there. Those who are included in the resurrection of the dead will no longer be concerned with marriage nor, of course, with death. They will have better things to think about, if you can believe it. All ecstasies and intimacies then will be with God. Even Moses exclaimed about resurrection at the burning bush, saying, ‘God: God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob!’ God isn’t the God of dead men, but of the living. To him all are alive.”
39-40 Some of the religion scholars said, “Teacher, that’s a great answer!” For a while, anyway, no one dared put questions to him.
* * *
41-44 Then he put a question to them: “How is it that they say that the Messiah is David’s son? In the Book of Psalms, David clearly says,
God said to my Master, “Sit here at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.”
“David here designates the Messiah as ‘my Master’—so how can the Messiah also be his ‘son’?”
45-47 With everybody listening, Jesus spoke to his disciples. “Watch out for the religion scholars. They love to walk around in academic gowns, preen in the radiance of public flattery, bask in prominent positions, sit at the head table at every church function. And all the time they are exploiting the weak and helpless. The longer their prayers, the worse they get. But they’ll pay for it in the end.”
Our Daily Bread
Today's Scripture:
1 Corinthians 11:23–26
Let me go over with you again exactly what goes on in the Lord’s Supper and why it is so centrally important. I received my instructions from the Master himself and passed them on to you. The Master, Jesus, on the night of his betrayal, took bread. Having given thanks, he broke it and said,
This is my body, broken for you.
Do this to remember me.
After supper, he did the same thing with the cup:
This cup is my blood, my new covenant with you.
Each time you drink this cup, remember me.
What you must solemnly realize is that every time you eat this bread and every time you drink this cup, you reenact in your words and actions the death of the Master. You will be drawn back to this meal again and again until the Master returns. You must never let familiarity breed contempt.
Insight
Paul’s use of the words “on the night [Jesus] was betrayed” (1 Corinthians 11:23) underscores the serious nature of the matter he was addressing. It was Christ who implemented the first Communion (Lord’s Supper), and He did so on the Passover night before His crucifixion. Paul revisits the importance of this ordinance to correct a serious error in the church at Corinth. He led into this section by saying, “In the following directives I have no praise for you” (v. 17)—stern words to hear from an apostle of Jesus. The apostle pointed out how there were “divisions” among the people (v. 18). Some were eating too much while others went hungry, and some were even getting drunk. The apostle found such behavior appalling and warned of God’s judgment on those who were offending in this matter (vv. 27–32). He concluded by appealing for their renewed unity (v. 33).
By: Tim Gustafson
Celestial Communion
Whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
1 Corinthians 11:26
When Apollo 11’s Eagle lunar module landed on the moon’s Sea of Tranquility on July 20, 1969, the space travelers took time to recover from their flight before stepping onto the moon’s surface. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin had received permission to bring bread and wine so he could take Communion. After reading Scripture, he tasted the first foods ever consumed on the moon. Later, he wrote: “I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon the wine curled slowly and gracefully up the side of the cup.” As Aldrin enjoyed this celestial Communion, his actions proclaimed his belief in Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and the guarantee of His second coming.
The apostle Paul encourages us to remember how Jesus sat with His disciples “on the night he was betrayed” (1 Corinthians 11:23). Christ compared His soon-to-be sacrificed body to the bread (v. 24). He declared the wine as a symbol of “the new covenant” that secured our forgiveness and salvation through His blood shed on the cross (v. 25). Whenever and wherever we take Communion, we’re proclaiming our trust in the reality of Jesus’ sacrifice and our hope in His promised second coming (v. 26).
No matter where we are, we can celebrate our faith in the one and only risen and returning Savior—Jesus Christ—with confidence.
By: Xochitl Dixon
Reflect & Pray
What has kept you from prayerfully taking Communion in remembrance of Christ? How does it make you feel to know that a fellow believer took Communion to honor Jesus on the moon?
Jesus, please help me live boldly for You until You come again!
My Utmost for His Highest
The Inevitable Penalty
By Oswald Chambers
You will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny. —Matthew 5:26
There is no heaven that has a little corner of hell in it. God is determined to make you pure, holy, and right, and He will not allow you to escape from the scrutiny of the Holy Spirit for even one moment. He urged you to come to judgment immediately when He convicted you, but you did not obey. Then the inevitable process began to work, bringing its inevitable penalty. Now you have been “thrown into prison, [and]…you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny” (Matthew 5:25-26). Yet you ask, “Is this a God of mercy and love?” When seen from God’s perspective, it is a glorious ministry of love. God is going to bring you out pure, spotless, and undefiled, but He wants you to recognize the nature you were exhibiting— the nature of demanding your right to yourself. The moment you are willing for God to change your nature, His recreating forces will begin to work. And the moment you realize that God’s purpose is to get you into the right relationship with Himself and then with others, He will reach to the very limits of the universe to help you take the right road. Decide to do it right now, saying, “Yes, Lord, I will write that letter,” or, “I will be reconciled to that person now.”
These sermons of Jesus Christ are meant for your will and your conscience, not for your head. If you dispute these verses from the Sermon on the Mount with your head, you will dull the appeal to your heart.
If you find yourself asking, “I wonder why I’m not growing spiritually with God?”— then ask yourself if you are paying your debts from God’s standpoint. Do now what you will have to do someday. Every moral question or call comes with an “ought” behind it— the knowledge of knowing what we ought to do.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We never enter into the Kingdom of God by having our head questions answered, but only by commitment. The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption
Bible in a Year: Job 20-21; Acts 10:24-48
A Word With You by Ron Hutchcraft
REFUSING TO RETREAT - #9255
They thought it would take about three to five days. Yeah, when there was the invasion of Ukraine. That was the prediction of even our military people that because of the mis-match of the size of the Russian army and the Ukrainian forces it would be over very quickly. Well, as we know now, it has been an amazing part of modern history. And suddenly the world knew about a comedian who had become the President of Ukraine. And Volodymyr Zelenskyy has become a hero around the world. Someone called him "Churchill in a tee shirt." And we've all seen and heard him as he's really decided that he would not retreat, he would not disappear, and when the American government said, "We will give you a ride out," because there were three assisination squads stalking him. He said, "I don't need a ride." Remember? "I need ammunition." And he was there to stay! Guess what? Because one man wouldn't retreat, it inspired a nation to fight, and inspired the world to come and help them.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Refusing to Retreat."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Joshua 1. Joshua has assumed the new command of the children of Israel. And man, has he got obstacles and risks ahead of him. They're going to try to conquer the Promised Land and it's got walled cities, barbarian tribes, giants, and a flooded river to cross. And the man he's depended on all these years, Moses, has just died.
Well, now here's the word for today, Joshua 1:9, "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous; do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Okay, now, God's addressing our two natural reactions when we're facing something overwhelming, threatening, new. We get scared, and we get discouraged. So He says, "Don't be afraid; don't be discouraged." See, God tells his people this eleven times in the Bible. Forty years earlier He said, "Go up and take possession. As the Lord told you, do not be afraid, do not be discouraged." Now, there are those times when your feelings and your circumstances are just saying, "Man, retreat! This is too tough!" But while your emotions are saying, "Retreat!" the Lord's saying, "No, charge!"
It's interesting the kinds of situations in which God says, "Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged." One is when He's asking you to take big risks. Now, that's the situation here with Joshua and the Jews going against the giants of Canaan. When Solomon was facing the massive task of building God's temple, a huge assignment no one had ever done before, David said, "Be strong and courageous and do the work." And then guess what? "Do not be afraid or discouraged." See, God says "charge" when you're facing a big job. Another time God says, this is after the Jews are in Canaan and they experience a deadly defeat. In Joshua 8:1, God says, "Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged." So He says it after a major setback.
Well, maybe right now you're facing a big risk, or a big job, or a big setback, or a big threat, and everything in you and around you is signaling, "Retreat!" Your fears are great, you're feeling discouraged. Remember, God's ancient people made their biggest mistake turning away from the Promised Land because they were afraid and got discouraged. You'll probably miss God's best if your eyes are on the circumstances or your feelings. In each case the reason for your confidence is the same, "The Lord your God is with you wherever you go."
Keep your eyes on the God who is bigger than every obstacle, every need, every enemy, every task. He's called the Lord, the all powerful One who rules everything. But He's the Lord your God making all of that power available to you.
In the nation under attack, one leader with everything around Him seeming to say, "Retreat!" stood his ground and ultimately turned "Retreat!" into "Charge!" Well, that's what the Lord Jesus wants to do for you, because this is no time to retreat!