Max Lucado Daily: UNCOMMON FORCES - October 28, 2022
“‘Do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say…For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you'” (Matthew 10:19-20 ESV). Best I can tell, this promise of Jesus has not been rescinded.
On the day Brenda Jones went to see the plastic surgeon, she was in a battle with breast cancer. She asked if she could share a story, and Dr. Pete politely said yes. He listened to the story about the God who became a baby, then a man, and then a sacrifice for humanity. “He died for you, Doctor Pete,” she told him. The fifteen-minute conversation changed Dr. Pete forever.
The promise of Pentecost: the Spirit turns common folk into uncommon forces and turns those who are lost into those who are saved. Might the Spirit do the same with us? With you?
Psalm 40
I waited and waited and waited for God.
At last he looked; finally he listened.
He lifted me out of the ditch,
pulled me from deep mud.
He stood me up on a solid rock
to make sure I wouldn’t slip.
He taught me how to sing the latest God-song,
a praise-song to our God.
More and more people are seeing this:
they enter the mystery,
abandoning themselves to God.
4-5 Blessed are you who give yourselves over to God,
turn your backs on the world’s “sure thing,”
ignore what the world worships;
The world’s a huge stockpile
of God-wonders and God-thoughts.
Nothing and no one
compares to you!
I start talking about you, telling what I know,
and quickly run out of words.
Neither numbers nor words
account for you.
6 Doing something for you, bringing something to you—
that’s not what you’re after.
Being religious, acting pious—
that’s not what you’re asking for.
You’ve opened my ears
so I can listen.
7-8 So I answered, “I’m coming.
I read in your letter what you wrote about me,
And I’m coming to the party
you’re throwing for me.”
That’s when God’s Word entered my life,
became part of my very being.
9-10 I’ve preached you to the whole congregation,
I’ve kept back nothing, God—you know that.
I didn’t keep the news of your ways
a secret, didn’t keep it to myself.
I told it all, how dependable you are, how thorough.
I didn’t hold back pieces of love and truth
For myself alone. I told it all,
let the congregation know the whole story.
11-12 Now God, don’t hold out on me,
don’t hold back your passion.
Your love and truth
are all that keeps me together.
When troubles ganged up on me,
a mob of sins past counting,
I was so swamped by guilt
I couldn’t see my way clear.
More guilt in my heart than hair on my head,
so heavy the guilt that my heart gave out.
13-15 Soften up, God, and intervene;
hurry and get me some help,
So those who are trying to kidnap my soul
will be embarrassed and lose face,
So anyone who gets a kick out of making me miserable
will be heckled and disgraced,
So those who pray for my ruin
will be booed and jeered without mercy.
16-17 But all who are hunting for you—
oh, let them sing and be happy.
Let those who know what you’re all about
tell the world you’re great and not quitting.
And me? I’m a mess. I’m nothing and have nothing:
make something of me.
You can do it; you’ve got what it takes—
but God, don’t put it off.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, October 28, 2022
Today's Scripture
Titus 2:1–10
A God-Filled Life
Your job is to speak out on the things that make for solid doctrine. Guide older men into lives of temperance, dignity, and wisdom, into healthy faith, love, and endurance. Guide older women into lives of reverence so they end up as neither gossips nor drunks, but models of goodness. By looking at them, the younger women will know how to love their husbands and children, be virtuous and pure, keep a good house, be good wives. We don’t want anyone looking down on God’s Message because of their behavior. Also, guide the young men to live disciplined lives.
7-8 But mostly, show them all this by doing it yourself, trustworthy in your teaching, your words solid and sane. Then anyone who is dead set against us, when he finds nothing weird or misguided, might eventually come around.
9-10 Guide slaves into being loyal workers, a bonus to their masters—no back talk, no petty thievery. Then their good character will shine through their actions, adding luster to the teaching of our Savior God.
Insight
Titus, one of Paul’s gentile converts (Galatians 2:3; Titus 1:4), was Paul’s faithful “partner and co-worker” (2 Corinthians 8:23). Paul sent Titus as his personal representative to deal with the troublesome Corinthian church, which testifies to his character and maturity as well as to his leadership and pastoral abilities (7:6–7, 13–14; 8:6, 16–17; 12:18).
Wherever Paul established a church, he appointed elders to take care of it (Acts 14:23). Scholars aren’t sure who started the church in Crete, but when Paul found that no elders had been appointed to shepherd the young converts, he sent Titus to organize and supervise the church (Titus 1:5). Paul wrote this letter to guide Titus through the supervisory process, instructing him to teach the believers how to live lives that honor God. He emphasized godly leadership (ch. 1), gracious behavior and good deeds within the church family (ch. 2), and instructions for living within society at large (ch. 3).
Learn more about living in union with Christ. By: K. T. Sim
For the Sake of the Gospel
In every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.
Titus 2:10
The year was 1916 and Nelson had just graduated from medical school in his native Virginia. Later that year, he and his bride of six months arrived in China. At the age of twenty-two, he became a surgeon at Love and Mercy Hospital, the only hospital in an area of at least two million Chinese residents. Nelson, together with his family, lived in the area for twenty-four more years, running the hospital, performing surgeries, and sharing the gospel with thousands of people. From once being called “foreign devil” by those who distrusted foreigners, Nelson Bell later became known as “The Bell Who Is Lover of the Chinese People.” His daughter Ruth was to later marry the evangelist Billy Graham.
Although Nelson was a brilliant surgeon and Bible teacher, it wasn’t his skills that drew many to Jesus; it was his character and the way he lived out the gospel. In Paul’s letter to Titus, the young gentile leader who was taking care of the church in Crete, the apostle said that living like Christ is crucial because it can make the gospel “attractive” (Titus 2:10). Yet we don’t do this on our own strength. God’s grace helps us live “self-controlled, upright and godly lives” (v. 12), reflecting the truths of our faith (v. 1).
Many people around us still don’t know the good news of Christ, but they know us. May He help us reflect and reveal His message in attractive ways.
By: Karen Huang
Reflect & Pray
What can you learn from people whose life seems to draw others to the gospel? What things can you do (or stop doing) to make the gospel attractive to others?
Loving God, help me to be a good representative of the gospel. Help me to draw others to You.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, October 28, 2022
Justification by Faith
If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. —Romans 5:10
I am not saved by believing— I simply realize I am saved by believing. And it is not repentance that saves me— repentance is only the sign that I realize what God has done through Christ Jesus. The danger here is putting the emphasis on the effect, instead of on the cause. Is it my obedience, consecration, and dedication that make me right with God? It is never that! I am made right with God because, prior to all of that, Christ died. When I turn to God and by belief accept what God reveals, the miraculous atonement by the Cross of Christ instantly places me into a right relationship with God. And as a result of the supernatural miracle of God’s grace I stand justified, not because I am sorry for my sin, or because I have repented, but because of what Jesus has done. The Spirit of God brings justification with a shattering, radiant light, and I know that I am saved, even though I don’t know how it was accomplished.
The salvation that comes from God is not based on human logic, but on the sacrificial death of Jesus. We can be born again solely because of the atonement of our Lord. Sinful men and women can be changed into new creations, not through their repentance or their belief, but through the wonderful work of God in Christ Jesus which preceded all of our experience (see 2 Corinthians 5:17-19). The unconquerable safety of justification and sanctification is God Himself. We do not have to accomplish these things ourselves— they have been accomplished through the atonement of the Cross of Christ. The supernatural becomes natural to us through the miracle of God, and there is the realization of what Jesus Christ has already done— “It is finished!” (John 19:30).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We all have the trick of saying—If only I were not where I am!—If only I had not got the kind of people I have to live with! If our faith or our religion does not help us in the conditions we are in, we have either a further struggle to go through, or we had better abandon that faith and religion. The Shadow of an Agony, 1178 L
Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 15-17; 2 Timothy 2
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, October 28, 2022
SOMEBODY BIGGER - #9340
When I was growing up, we had a bully in our neighborhood. Maybe every neighborhood has a bully. I don't know. Ours was named Boomer! Nobody knew what his real name was, and if we did we probably would know why he was called Boomer. It kind of sounds like a neighborhood bully doesn't it? He intimidated us little kids, I mean. I think it was his hobby, and honestly we were pretty scared of him. He'd come and take our baseball paraphernalia and call us names and threaten to beat us up.
One day, like a lot of other days, he started after me and started to threaten and make noises like he wanted to hurt me. And all of a sudden there was a voice behind him saying, "Boomer, go home" and he did. It wasn't me. No, my Dad had arrived on the scene. And you know what? He was bigger than Boomer, even though Boomer was bigger than I was. Now, Boomer was the same bully, and I was the same shrimp, but the difference was somebody bigger was with me.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Somebody Bigger."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 1:23. And if this sounds like a part of the Christmas Story, it is. But the Christmas Story isn't just for Christmas. This is all about when God came to earth, which is the beginning of the greatest news of all time. The angel is talking to Joseph and says, "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel - which means 'God with us'."
Whoa! Hold that thought for just a minute. There was a survey a few years ago that mapped the position of hundreds of millions of galaxies. The survey revealed the large scale structure of this universe and it uncovered this giant string of galaxies that they now call the The Sloan Great Wall. They say it's 1.4 billion light years across, which makes it the largest structure in the universe. I can't even begin to comprehend it! Why don't we just laugh? There's no point in trying to understand this. I mean, it's huge!
The astronomers said it has raised such profound questions about the origin and the structure of the universe that we actually need a major national observatory just to study it. They say and I quote, "The size of the structure indicates that in present theories of the universe, something is really wrong. That makes a big difference." The astronomer said. "No known force could produce a structure this big in the time since the universe was formed." And I just want to say, "Oh yeah?"
Well, it is that God who is with us because Jesus came. The Creator of something that's 1.4 billion light years across (and that's just a few of the galaxies) - where is He now? Well, He came into this world and looked helpless as a little baby. He wasn't even able to grab His mama's finger, but those are the hands that created the world. He created the tree He died on. And now, that God is with you right where you are. He's there with all the power that made galaxies that big, and that power is available for your life.
There's no excuse for an ordinary life if God is with you. There's no excuse for having small goals, for being embarrassed about your relationship with Him. That God is with you now. There's no excuse for being afraid of anything that God is calling you to do, because that God will be with you.
Maybe you've felt like a victim most of your life, but that's changed now because God is with you. You're alone, you're worried about the future, or you're facing Mission Impossible. God with us! The excitement of life is in looking for that God where He is in your everyday life today. And, by the way, if you've never begun a personal relationship made possible with Him by the death of His Son, Jesus, on the cross for you, why would you wait another day to get started? Would you come to our website and let me show you how to begin that relationship? Just go to ANewStory.com.
The angel said on that Christmas announcement, "This is good news to all people - God is with us." It doesn't matter how big the bully is. He's nothing! Because somebody bigger is with you, so let Him intimidate your bully."