Max Lucado: GOD’S NEVER ENDING LOVE - December 28, 2022
God will not let you go. The big news of the Bible is not that you love God, but that God loves you! He tattooed your name on the palm of his hand. His thoughts of you outnumber the sand on the shore. You never leave his mind, escape his sight, or flee his thoughts. You need not win his love. You already have it.
He sees the worst of you and loves you still. Your sins of tomorrow and failings of the future will not surprise him; he sees them now. Every day and deed of your life has passed before his eyes and been calculated in his decision. He knows you better than you know you and has reached this verdict: he loves you still.
No discovery will disillusion him. No rebellion will dissuade him. He loves you with an everlasting love. God’s love – never failing, never ending.
Acts 2:22-47
“Fellow Israelites, listen carefully to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man thoroughly accredited by God to you—the miracles and wonders and signs that God did through him are common knowledge—this Jesus, following the deliberate and well-thought-out plan of God, was betrayed by men who took the law into their own hands, and was handed over to you. And you pinned him to a cross and killed him. But God untied the death ropes and raised him up. Death was no match for him. David said it all:
I saw God before me for all time.
Nothing can shake me; he’s right by my side.
I’m glad from the inside out, ecstatic;
I’ve pitched my tent in the land of hope.
I know you’ll never dump me in Hades;
I’ll never even smell the stench of death.
You’ve got my feet on the life-path,
with your face shining sun-joy all around.
29-36 “Dear friends, let me be completely frank with you. Our ancestor David is dead and buried—his tomb is in plain sight today. But being also a prophet and knowing that God had solemnly sworn that a descendant of his would rule his kingdom, seeing far ahead, he talked of the resurrection of the Messiah—‘no trip to Hades, no stench of death.’ This Jesus, God raised up. And every one of us here is a witness to it. Then, raised to the heights at the right hand of God and receiving the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, he poured out the Spirit he had just received. That is what you see and hear. For David himself did not ascend to heaven, but he did say,
God said to my Master, “Sit at my right hand
Until I make your enemies a stool for resting your feet.”
“All Israel, then, know this: There’s no longer room for doubt—God made him Master and Messiah, this Jesus whom you killed on a cross.”
37 Cut to the quick, those who were there listening asked Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers! Brothers! So now what do we do?”
38-39 Peter said, “Change your life. Turn to God and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, so your sins are forgiven. Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is targeted to you and your children, but also to all who are far away—whomever, in fact, our Master God invites.”
40 He went on in this vein for a long time, urging them over and over, “Get out while you can; get out of this sick and stupid culture!”
41-42 That day about three thousand took him at his word, were baptized and were signed up. They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers.
* * *
43-45 Everyone around was in awe—all those wonders and signs done through the apostles! And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person’s need was met.
46-47 They followed a daily discipline of worship in the Temple followed by meals at home, every meal a celebration, exuberant and joyful, as they praised God. People in general liked what they saw. Every day their number grew as God added those who were saved.
Our Daily Bread Devotional
Today's Scripture:
2 Corinthians 1:12–16 Now that the worst is over, we’re pleased we can report that we’ve come out of this with conscience and faith intact, and can face the world—and even more importantly, face you with our heads held high. But it wasn’t by any fancy footwork on our part. It was God who kept us focused on him, uncompromised. Don’t try to read between the lines or look for hidden meanings in this letter. We’re writing plain, unembellished truth, hoping that you’ll now see the whole picture as well as you’ve seen some of the details. We want you to be as proud of us as we are of you when we stand together before our Master Jesus.
15–16 Confident of your welcome, I had originally planned two great visits with you—coming by on my way to Macedonia province, and then again on my return trip. Then we could have had a bon-voyage party as you sent me off to Judea. That was the plan.
Insight
The NIV Bible translation includes twenty-two references to the word integrity. One dictionary defines it as “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.” This is what the apostle Paul strove to exemplify (2 Corinthians 1:12).
The importance of having integrity is found throughout Scripture. David was said to have “integrity of heart” (Psalm 78:72). And God promised Solomon that “if you walk before me faithfully with integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever” (1 Kings 9:4–5). In 1 Chronicles 29:17, David says to God, “You test the heart and are pleased with integrity.” Job was such a man of integrity (Job 2:3). The book of Proverbs says, “Whoever walks in integrity walks securely” (10:9) and “righteousness guards the person of integrity, but wickedness overthrows the sinner” (13:6).
By: Alyson Kieda
In All Our Dealings
Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves . . . with integrity and godly sincerity.
2 Corinthians 1:12
In 1524, Martin Luther observed: “Among themselves the merchants have a common rule which is their chief maxim. . . . I care nothing about my neighbor; so long as I have my profit and satisfy my greed.” More than two hundred years later, John Woolman, from Mount Holly, New Jersey, let his commitment to Jesus influence his tailor shop dealings. Out of support for the freeing of slaves, he refused to purchase any cotton or dye supplies from companies that used forced labor. With a clear conscience, he loved his neighbor and lived according to integrity and sincerity in all his dealings.
The apostle Paul strived to live out “integrity and godly sincerity” (2 Corinthians 1:12). When some in Corinth tried to undermine his authority as an apostle for Jesus, he defended his conduct among them. He wrote that his words and actions could withstand the closest scrutiny (v. 13). He also showed that he was dependent on God’s power and grace for effectiveness, not his own (v. 12). In short, Paul’s faith in Christ permeated all his dealings.
As we live as ambassadors for Jesus, may we be careful to let the good news ring out in all our dealings—family, business, and more. When by God’s power and grace we reveal His love to others, we honor Him and love our neighbors well.
By: Marvin Williams
Reflect & Pray
How are your words and actions a representation of your faith in Jesus? As a believer in Him, why are integrity and sincerity vital in your dealings with others?
Dear God, help me to serve others with such a clear conscience that my love for them is evident.
For further study, read Outrageous Compassion.
Utmost for His Highest
Continuous Conversion
By Oswald Chambers
…unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. —Matthew 18:3
These words of our Lord refer to our initial conversion, but we should continue to turn to God as children, being continuously converted every day of our lives. If we trust in our own abilities, instead of God’s, we produce consequences for which God will hold us responsible. When God through His sovereignty brings us into new situations, we should immediately make sure that our natural life submits to the spiritual, obeying the orders of the Spirit of God. Just because we have responded properly in the past is no guarantee that we will do so again. The response of the natural to the spiritual should be continuous conversion, but this is where we so often refuse to be obedient. No matter what our situation is, the Spirit of God remains unchanged and His salvation unaltered. But we must “put on the new man…” (Ephesians 4:24). God holds us accountable every time we refuse to convert ourselves, and He sees our refusal as willful disobedience. Our natural life must not rule— God must rule in us.
To refuse to be continuously converted puts a stumbling block in the growth of our spiritual life. There are areas of self-will in our lives where our pride pours contempt on the throne of God and says, “I won’t submit.” We deify our independence and self-will and call them by the wrong name. What God sees as stubborn weakness, we call strength. There are whole areas of our lives that have not yet been brought into submission, and this can only be done by this continuous conversion. Slowly but surely we can claim the whole territory for the Spirit of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The attitude of a Christian towards the providential order in which he is placed is to recognize that God is behind it for purposes of His own. Biblical Ethics, 99 R
Bible in a Year: Zechariah 5-8; Revelation 19
A Word With You by Ron Hutchcraft
HOW STAYING THE SAME CAN COST US THE LOST - #938
So why did the American colonists win the Revolution? Well, it wouldn't surprise you if you saw how the redcoats fought. They fought battles in the old fashioned European way. They lined up in straight rows. The front row shoots. The next row rotates in while the others reload. Now, the colonists on the other hand didn't believe in lining up. They just came from everywhere. So those red uniforms all lined up in a rigid row? Well, that's like target practice. The colonists looked like they were disorganized, but their new way of fighting won the battle.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How Staying the Same Can Cost Us the Lost."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 5:30. The religious leaders are criticizing how Jesus is going about reaching people. The Pharisees and the people who followed them, they're complaining to Jesus' disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus answered them, "It's not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I've not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Later He said, "No one pours new wine into old wine skins, because the new wine will burst the skins. The wine will run out and the wine skins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into a new wine skin."
See, Jesus broke out of the religious mold to reach people that no one was touching - new wine skins. Now, in those days the bottles in Palestine were really animal skins. And the wine would ferment and it would give off this gas. And if the bottle was new and it had elasticity in the skin, then it gave with the pressure. If it was an old wine skin, it was dry and hard, and of course it burst.
Sometimes you have to replace an old idea with a new idea if you want God to do a new thing; if you want to reach people no one's been reaching. Like those Revolutionary War soldiers. The redcoats? They were rigid and they lost. The ones who were flexible won the battle.
Maybe God is trying to do a new thing in your life, in your church, in your ministry. Could it be you're unwilling to go with His flow? There are some things that never change and must never change; the product so to speak, the Gospel, the message, the doctrine of Jesus Christ. That must never change. But the package? That can change. Never the message, but often the method will change.
The world of lost people and the world of the church have never been so far apart. I call them the new unbelievers, America's post-Christians. They're biblically illiterate. They don't ever plan to go to a religious meeting to hear a religious speaker talk on a religious subject. It takes new approaches to reach them. Or else we could just leave them lost like they have been.
We've got to leave the church building to reach them in many cases. They're probably not going to come in. We need to have our outreaches on neutral ground. We have to learn to express Christ without all our religious language. Maybe we're going to have to use some new music, because it's the language of the natives we're trying to reach. All missionaries know that you do it in the language of the person you're trying to reach. That might mean some new ideas.
Maybe we need to learn to wrap this gospel that is unfamiliar to so many people in a familiar need that they do know about. We talk about marriage and parenting, or handling stress, or sex, or singleness. And you move from those things that they do know about into the story of Jesus to show the difference that a Savior like Jesus could make.
In Jesus' day the religious people totally missed what God was doing because they would not accept a new approach. The British soldiers in Revolutionary War times lost because they were rigid. We're in a battle for our town, our neighbors, the ever-living, never-dying souls of people. Their eternities are at stake.
If God says, "I'm doing a new thing," let's not lose the battle by insisting on the same old formation.