Max Lucado Daily: THE DEVIL’S DEMISE - September 24, 2024
Satan is a fallen, embittered, and evil angel. He wreaks havoc on earth and leaves devastation in his wake. Every war, worry, and weary soul can be blamed on him. Hence, to imagine Satan bound, locked away from humanity—what an appealing thought! Has this incarceration occurred? Has Satan been removed from the earth and locked away? As far as I can tell, he is still “a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8 GNT). Satan’s incarceration is a yet-to-be event.
But he will be incarcerated. Revelation 20 declares with the reality of the devil’s upcoming demise. The millennium will be glorious because Satan will be bound, Christ will be crowned, and we will reign with Jesus for a thousand years.
What Happens Next
2 Peter 2
Lying Religious Leaders
1–2 2 But there were also lying prophets among the people then, just as there will be lying religious teachers among you. They’ll smuggle in destructive divisions, pitting you against each other—biting the hand of the One who gave them a chance to have their lives back! They’ve put themselves on a fast downhill slide to destruction, but not before they recruit a crowd of mixed-up followers who can’t tell right from wrong.
2–3 They give the way of truth a bad name. They’re only out for themselves. They’ll say anything, anything, that sounds good to exploit you. They won’t, of course, get by with it. They’ll come to a bad end, for God has never just stood by and let that kind of thing go on.
4–5 God didn’t let the rebel angels off the hook, but jailed them in hell till Judgment Day. Neither did he let the ancient ungodly world off. He wiped it out with a flood, rescuing only eight people—Noah, the sole voice of righteousness, was one of them.
6–8 God decreed destruction for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. A mound of ashes was all that was left—grim warning to anyone bent on an ungodly life. But that good man Lot, driven nearly out of his mind by the sexual filth and perversity, was rescued. Surrounded by moral rot day after day after day, that righteous man was in constant torment.
9 So God knows how to rescue the godly from evil trials. And he knows how to hold the feet of the wicked to the fire until Judgment Day.
Predators on the Prowl
10–11 God is especially incensed against these “teachers” who live by lust, addicted to a filthy existence. They despise interference from true authority, preferring to indulge in self-rule. Insolent egotists, they don’t hesitate to speak evil against the most splendid of creatures. Even angels, their superiors in every way, wouldn’t think of throwing their weight around like that, trying to slander others before God.
12–14 These people are nothing but brute beasts, born in the wild, predators on the prowl. In the very act of bringing down others with their ignorant blasphemies, they themselves will be brought down, losers in the end. Their evil will boomerang on them. They’re so despicable and addicted to pleasure that they indulge in wild parties, carousing in broad daylight. They’re obsessed with adultery, compulsive in sin, seducing every vulnerable soul they come upon. Their specialty is greed, and they’re experts at it. Dead souls!
15–16 They’ve left the main road and are directionless, having taken the way of Balaam, son of Beor, the prophet who turned profiteer, a connoisseur of evil. But Balaam was stopped in his wayward tracks: A dumb animal spoke in a human voice and prevented the prophet’s craziness.
17–19 There’s nothing to these people—they’re dried-up fountains, storm-scattered clouds, headed for a black hole in hell. They are loudmouths, full of hot air, but still they’re dangerous. Men and women who have recently escaped from a deviant life are most susceptible to their brand of seduction. They promise these newcomers freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, for if they’re addicted to corruption—and they are—they’re enslaved.
20–22 If they’ve escaped from the slum of sin by experiencing our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ, and then slid back into that same old life again, they’re worse than if they had never left. Better not to have started out on the straight road to God than to start out and then turn back, repudiating the experience and the holy command. They prove the point of the proverbs, “A dog goes back to its own vomit” and “A scrubbed-up pig heads for the mud.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, September 24, 2024
Today's Scripture
Romans 12:1-5
Place Your Life Before God
1–2 12 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
3 I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.
4–6 In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we’re talking about is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ’s body,
Insight
Paul wrote Romans to believers in Jesus living in Rome—a city steeped in the practices of pagan worship. Those pagans brought offerings of meat and drink to their gods hoping that the sacrifice would earn a bit of mercy. And those listening to the apostle’s letter for the first time would have immediately recognized his emphasis of “sacrifice” (12:1).
But the apostle upends the expected order of things. For the believer in Jesus, mercy comes first—not sacrifice—and it’s freely given. Paul made that argument throughout the first part of the letter, and it’s why he begins this section with “therefore.”
So, therefore, on account of God’s great mercy, we offer sacrifice. And that sacrifice isn’t the meat of a goat or cow; we offer ourselves. Paul doesn’t mean we climb onto an altar but that we offer the whole of ourselves as a gift to our merciful God. By: Jed Ostoich
Together in Jesus
In Christ we . . . form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. Romans 12:5
Most of the three hundred residents of Whittier, Alaska, live in one big apartment complex, and that’s why Whittier is called a “town under one roof.” Amie, a former resident, says, “I didn’t have to step outside the building-the grocery store, notary public, school, and post office were on our ground floor, just an elevator ride away!”
“Because life there was so comfortable, I often wanted to keep to myself, thinking I didn’t need anyone,” Amie shares. “But the residents are so warm. They look out for each other. I learned that they need me, and I need them.”
Like Amie, we may at times want to keep to ourselves and avoid community. The latter seems less stressful! But Scripture says that a believer in Jesus should have a healthy balance of solitude and fellowship with other believers. The apostle Paul likens the body of believers to the human body. Just as each body part has a distinct function, every believer has a distinct role (Romans 12:4). Just as a body part can’t exist alone, a believer can’t live the life of faith in isolation (v. 5). It’s in the midst of community that we use our gifts (vv. 6-8; 1 Peter 4:10) and grow to be like Jesus (Romans 12:9-21).
We need one another; our togetherness is in Christ (v. 5). With His help, as we “look out for each other,” we can cultivate a deeper relationship with Him and show others His love. By: Karen Huang
Reflect & Pray
How has community in Jesus helped you in your walk with God? How have other believers encouraged you?
Dear God, thank You for my brothers and sisters in Christ.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, September 24, 2024
The “Go” of Preparation
If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift. — Matthew 5:23–24
It’s easy to imagine that someday we’ll get to a place where we are complete and ready. But preparation isn’t accomplished suddenly; it’s a process that must be steadily maintained. Our lives must be preparation and preparation. To be in a settled state of experience is a dangerous thing.
A sense of heroic sacrifice appeals readily to young Christians; humanly speaking, what attracts us to Jesus Christ is our sense that he was a heroic figure. But the words our Lord speaks in Matthew 5:23–24 soon put our enthusiasm to the test. Don’t come to the altar in a moment of enthusiasm, Jesus says. “First go” and reconcile yourself to your brother or sister; first prepare yourself to make your offering. The “go” of preparation involves submitting yourself in advance to the scrutiny of Jesus’s words. Simply having a sense of heroic sacrifice isn’t enough.
Do you have anything to hide from God? Let him search you with his light. If you are harboring within you the disposition that can never work in his service, his Spirit will detect it and reveal it. When he reveals sin, don’t admit it; confess it. Never ignore the Spirit’s conviction. If it’s important enough for the Spirit of God to have brought it to your mind, it’s something God wishes you to confess. Perhaps you were looking for something big to give up, but God has pointed out something tiny. No matter what it is, God is telling you about it because beneath it lies the great stronghold of obstinacy: “I won’t give up my right to myself.” This is the very thing God intends you to give up if you are going to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Are you willing to obey your Lord, whatever the humiliation to your right to yourself may be?
Song of Solomon 4-5; Galatians 3
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
Both nations and individuals have tried Christianity and abandoned it, because it has been found too difficult; but no man has ever gone through the crisis of deliberately making Jesus Lord and found Him to be a failure.
The Love of God—The Making of a Christian, 680 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, September 24, 2024
MEN ON THE EDGE - #9837
It used to be pretty uncommon to see a headline about suicide. Not so much today. Athletes, celebrities, a lot of famous people, musicians. We keep hearing about people who have died by their own choice. Sometimes it's people we know and people close to us. We often wonder, "Why?"
There was that prominent official in the White House some years ago who committed suicide. Remembering that made me think about why this is particularly a problem for us guys. A national news magazine turned the spotlight on a disturbing fact after that high profile suicide. And it said, "wounded men with no place to bleed."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Men on the Edge."
I know from years of walking through crises with many guys, that we men often stuff it rather than share it. We live with the lie that being strong means never showing weakness, never showing a soft or hurting heart, and always being in control of course.
So we bleed inside where there's nothing to stop the bleeding or treat the wound. The pressure builds like lava in a volcano. Or like a beach ball pushed farther and farther under the water. The farther down you push it, the higher it ultimately goes when it can't be held down anymore. Suddenly, often inexplicably, there's an explosion of anger or violence or depression, or self-destruction.
But the strongest man who ever lived offered us guys a better way. The shortest verse in the Bible - only two words, John 11:35, "Jesus wept" at a friend's grave. The Bible says, when He saw a crowd of hurting people, "He was moved with compassion because they were...like sheep without a shepherd" (Matthew 9:36). I'm pretty sure He wasn't afraid to smile or laugh either. The children loved to sit on His lap, and I know my grandchildren don't want anything to do with grouches.
Jesus wasn't afraid to let His friends know He was really hurting. Just before what He knew was going to be His awful torture and crucifixion, He asked His main guys to be with Him in the garden. He told them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with Me" (Matthew 26:38). Though He was God in the flesh - the ultimate Man - He wasn't afraid to say He needed people.
So, wounded men do have a place to bleed. With the One who bled for them. As one high-powered enemy-turned-follower of Jesus said in our word for today from the Word of God in Galatians 2:20, He "loved me and gave Himself for me." We would be lost in this life and horribly lost forever if Jesus hadn't paid the price to cure our terminal spiritual cancer called sin.
Guys get what sin is. It means, "I've gotta drive. You ride, God, but I'm driving." That's spiritual hijacking. Controlling a life that was made by God and for God and taking it where we want it to go instead. Sadly, we're like my four-year-old grandson standing behind the wheel of his daddy's parked car. He was never meant to drive.
Neither were we. And if we do, we'll ultimately crash, taking people we love with us. That's why God lets a man run into something he can't fix, or change, or control. We never really were in control. So we see that we're created to have the One who gave us our life running our life.
To be blunt, we need a Savior. We need Jesus. Not a religion. Jesus. We need Him to forgive all our junk, to open up this closed and wounded heart. To give us the power to be the man we want to be. And to fill us with the exhilaration of living our life for the one cause that's worth everything a guy's got.
A man can totally trust himself to Jesus, because He loved you enough to die for you and He will never let you down. This might be the day to choose Jesus as the Savior from your sin. This could be your new beginning.
That's why our website is called ANewStory.com. I wish you'd go there today guys.
No longer does your heart have to be lonely and hurting. You're not alone. You have a place to bleed. Remember, with the Man who bled for you.
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