Max Lucado Daily: OPEN YOUR CIRCLE - April 17, 2024
Hospitality and hospital come from the same Latin word, for they both lead to the same result: healing. When you open your door to someone, you’re sending this message: “You matter to me and to God.” Do you know people who need this message? Your hospitality can be their hospital. All you need are a few basic practices.
Issue a genuine invitation. Let your guests know you want them to come. Make a big deal of their arrival. One of God’s children is coming to your house! Address the needs of your guests. Modern-day hospitality includes the sharing of food and drink and time to talk and listen. Send them out with a blessing. Make it clear you are glad your guests came. Offer a prayer for their safety and a word of encouragement for their travel.
Open your table. Even more, open your circle.
Jeremiah 25
Don’t Follow the God-Fads of the Day
1 25 This is the Message given to Jeremiah for all the people of Judah. It came in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah. It was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
2 Jeremiah the prophet delivered the Message to all the people of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem:
3 From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah right up to the present day—twenty-three years it’s been!—God’s Word has come to me, and from early each morning to late every night I’ve passed it on to you. And you haven’t listened to a word of it!
4–6 Not only that but God also sent a steady stream of prophets to you who were just as persistent as me, and you never listened. They told you, “Turn back—right now, each one of you!—from your evil way of life and bad behavior, and live in the land God gave you and your ancestors, the land he intended to give you forever. Don’t follow the god-fads of the day, taking up and worshiping these no-gods. Don’t make me angry with your god-businesses, making and selling gods—a dangerous business!
7 “You refused to listen to any of this, and now I am really angry. These god-making businesses of yours are your doom.”
8–11 The verdict of God-of-the-Angel-Armies on all this: “Because you have refused to listen to what I’ve said, I’m stepping in. I’m sending for the armies out of the north headed by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, my servant in this, and I’m setting them on this land and people and even the surrounding countries. I’m devoting the whole works to total destruction—a horror to top all the horrors in history. And I’ll banish every sound of joy—singing, laughter, marriage festivities, genial workmen, candlelit suppers. The whole landscape will be one vast wasteland. These countries will be in subjection to the king of Babylon for seventy years.
12–14 “Once the seventy years is up, I’ll punish the king of Babylon and the whole nation of Babylon for their sin. Then they’ll be the wasteland. Everything that I said I’d do to that country, I’ll do—everything that’s written in this book, everything Jeremiah preached against all the godless nations. Many nations and great kings will make slaves of the Babylonians, paying them back for everything they’ve done to others. They won’t get by with anything.” God’s Decree.
God Puts the Human Race on Trial
15–16 This is a Message that the God of Israel gave me: “Take this cup filled with the wine of my wrath that I’m handing to you. Make all the nations where I send you drink it down. They’ll drink it and get drunk, staggering in delirium because of the killing that I’m going to unleash among them.”
17–26 I took the cup from God’s hand and made them drink it, all the nations to which he sent me:
Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, along with their kings and leaders, turning them into a vast wasteland, a horror to look at, a cussword—which, in fact, they now are;
Pharaoh king of Egypt with his attendants and leaders, plus all his people and the melting pot of foreigners collected there;
All the kings of Uz;
All the kings of the Philistines from Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and what’s left of Ashdod;
Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites;
All the kings of Tyre, Sidon, and the coastlands across the sea;
Dedan, Tema, Buz, and the nomads on the fringe of the desert;
All the kings of Arabia and the various Bedouin sheiks and chieftains wandering about in the desert;
All the kings of Zimri, Elam, and the Medes;
All the kings from the north countries near and far, one by one;
All the kingdoms on planet Earth …
And the king of Sheshak (that is, Babylon) will be the last to drink.
27 “Tell them, ‘These are orders from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel: Drink and get drunk and vomit. Fall on your faces and don’t get up again. You’re slated for a massacre.’
28 “If any of them refuse to take the cup from you and drink it, say to them, ‘God-of-the-Angel-Armies has ordered you to drink. So drink!
29 “ ‘Prepare for the worst! I’m starting off the catastrophe in the city that I claim as my own, so don’t think you are going to get out of it. No, you’re not getting out of anything. It’s the sword and nothing but the sword against everyone everywhere!’ ” The God-of-the-Angel-Armies’ Decree.
30–31 “Preach it all, Jeremiah. Preach the entire Message to them. Say:
“ ‘God roars like a lion from high heaven;
thunder rolls out from his holy dwelling—
Ear-splitting bellows against his people,
shouting hurrahs like workers in harvest.
The noise reverberates all over the earth;
everyone everywhere hears it.
God makes his case against the godless nations.
He’s about to put the human race on trial.
For the wicked the verdict is clear-cut:
death by the sword.’ ” God’s Decree.
32 A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:
“Prepare for the worst! Doomsday!
Disaster is spreading from nation to nation.
A huge storm is about to rage
all across planet Earth.”
33 Laid end to end, those killed in God’s judgment that day will stretch from one end of the earth to the other. No tears will be shed and no burials conducted. The bodies will be left where they fall, like so much horse dung fertilizing the fields.
34–38 Wail, shepherds! Cry out for help!
Grovel in the dirt, you masters of flocks!
Time’s up—you’re slated for the slaughterhouse,
like a choice ram with its throat cut.
There’s no way out for the rulers,
no escape for those shepherds.
Hear that? Rulers crying for help,
shepherds of the flock wailing!
God is about to ravage their fine pastures.
The peaceful sheepfolds will be silent with death,
silenced by God’s deadly anger.
God will come out into the open
like a lion leaping from its cover,
And the country will be torn to pieces,
ripped and ravaged by his anger.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Today's Scripture
Proverbs 14:8-12
The wisdom of the wise keeps life on track;
the foolishness of fools lands them in the ditch.
9 The stupid ridicule right and wrong,
but a moral life is a favored life.
10 The person who shuns the bitter moments of friends
will be an outsider at their celebrations.
11 Lives of careless wrongdoing are tumbledown shacks;
holy living builds soaring cathedrals.
12–13 There’s a way of life that looks harmless enough;
look again—it leads straight to hell.
Insight
The book of Proverbs often concerns itself with three primary categories of people: fools, the wicked, and the wise. In today’s reading, we find all three. Fools become easy prey for the wicked. The wise, however, can see through deception and make prudent choices in difficult situations. The reason? It starts with fearing God and heeding His instructions: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7) and “the beginning of wisdom” (9:10). Here in Proverbs 14, a series of contrasts occurs between the wise (the prudent) and the foolish (the simple): “Whoever fears the Lord walks uprightly, but those who despise him are devious in their ways” (v. 2). In verse 8, “the prudent . . . give thought to their ways, but the folly of fools is deception.” Verse 11 contrasts the wicked with the wise: “The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but . . . the upright will flourish.” By: Tim Gustafson
Choices Matter
There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death. Proverbs 14:12
Pastor Damian’s schedule included hospital visits to two people nearing death who’d chosen two different life paths. In one hospital was a woman beloved by her family. Her selfless public service had endeared her to many. Other believers in Jesus had gathered around her, and worship, prayer, and hope filled the room. In another hospital, the relative of a member of Pastor Damian’s church was also dying. His hardened heart had led to a hard life, and his disheveled family lived in the wake of his poor decisions and misdeeds. The differences in the two atmospheres reflected the contrasts in how each had lived.
Those who fail to consider where they’re headed in life often find themselves stuck in uncomfortable, undesirable, and lonely places. Proverbs 14:12 notes that “there is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” Young or old, sick or well, wealthy or impoverished—it’s not too late to reexamine our path. Where will it lead? Does it honor God? Does it help or disrupt others? Is it the best path for a believer in Jesus?
Choices do matter. And the God of heaven will help us make the best choices as we turn to Him through His Son, Jesus, who said, “Come to me, . . . and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
By: Arthur Jackson
Reflect & Pray
What about your path of life needs reexamination or correction? What’s keeping you from asking for God’s help and courage to make corrections?
Dear Jesus, You’re the source of life. Please give me the courage and strength to surrender my life to You and do what honors You.
For further study, read Taking Sin SeriousTaking Sin Seriouslyly.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Abandoning All
As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him . . . and jumped into the water. — John 21:7
Have you ever had a crisis in which you deliberately, emphatically, and recklessly abandoned everything to God? It is a crisis of will. You may come to the crisis many times in your outward experience, giving up worldly things and behaviors. But giving up external things amounts to nothing. The real crisis of abandonment happens within. Giving up external things may be a sign of being in total bondage, not to God but to your own idea of holiness.
Have you deliberately committed your will to Jesus Christ? It is, truly, an act of will, not of emotion. Emotion is just the gilded edge of action. If you expect the emotion to come before you act, you will never get to the act itself. Don’t keep asking God what you should do. Reflect on what he is already showing you—in the simple place or in the profound place, in the small thing or the great thing. Then act on what you see.
“Jesus stood on the shore… He called out to them, ‘Friends, haven’t you any fish?’” (John 21:4–5). If you’ve heard the voice of Jesus Christ calling to you across the waves, let your creeds and convictions go to the wind; let your consistency go to the wind. Dive in and head toward the shore. Maintain your relationship with him.
2 Samuel 1-2; Luke 14:1-24
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Going Beyond the Walls - #9723
Once upon a time there was a machinist who lived with his wife, his four-year-old son, and his new baby boy in this cheap apartment on the south side of Chicago. He spent a chunk of his meager earnings on alcohol and cigarettes and gambling, and then the bottom dropped out of his life. His baby boy died suddenly at the age of only six months. He was crushed. I mean, his grief was inconsolable. This machinist (John was his name) took his one surviving boy to church. John didn't go in - no. But he did wait out in front, in his car, smoking his cigarette and reading his Sunday paper. Until the day that one of the men of the church looked outside and noticed the man in the car. He didn't wait for John to come in. He went outside to John's car, introduced himself, asked a few questions, and then invited him in. Well, when John said he wasn't dressed for it, the man told him it didn't matter how he was dressed.
The little boy gave his heart to Jesus in that church. And only a few months later, his Dad started coming to the men's Bible class. And one Christmas Eve John tearfully walked the aisle, accepting Christ's forgiveness for his sins. He would grow in Christ and ultimately he'd become a deacon, then the chairman of the deacons, and then an active Christian lay leader. The little boy was me. The machinist in the car in front of the church was my Dad.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Going Beyond the Walls."
We were the un-churched. We were the lost. But someone went outside the walls of the church to reach my father. Because he did, my father is in heaven today. There are more people than ever like my father; they will never know Christ if we wait for them to come inside. We'll have to go out where they are if they're ever going to have a chance at heaven.
This is not a new idea. In John 4:4, our word for today from the Word of God, the Bible says, "Jesus had to go through Samaria." It was there that Jesus encountered the woman at the well and led her out of a life of promiscuity and emptiness into a new life in Christ. And ultimately she went back and told her village about Jesus and they all came to Him. John 4 tells us that "many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the woman's testimony."
Now why did Jesus have to go through Samaria when Jews did everything they could to avoid going through Samaria? Because Samaria is where you go if you want to reach Samaritans! If you want to follow our Master, we'll need to go where the lost people are. Most of them don't ever plan to go to our religious meeting to listen to our religious speaker talk on a religious subject in a religious place, which is usually how we go about trying to reach them isn't it? It's no wonder they're still outside.
If we want the lost to be at our outreaches, we need to have some of those outreaches in places they will come to - neutral places. And you've been strategically placed right in the middle of some spiritually dying people. You work with them, you live near them, you're in some group with them, you go to school with them, and you recreate with them. You are God's program for rescuing the lost people who are around you. That's why God placed you there, to save some lives. See, you already are where the spiritually dying people are! You don't have to go where they are. You're there!
It's very possible the reason my Dad is in heaven today is because someone left where it was comfortable and someone went outside the walls to reach him. That's where an awful lot of lost people are, and that's where they'll have to be reached, including people you know very well.
By the way, as you're listening to this, you might be my Dad, because you've never experienced the love and the forgiveness of Jesus Christ for yourself. And your heart's ready for that. You want that. This is what you've been looking for all your life. Maybe that's why this broadcast today; this is how He has come looking for you where you are.
Don't you want to be where He is forever? Would you tell Him today, "Jesus, I'm yours"? And I'd love to show you the way that my Dad and I both found Jesus. It's right there on our website and it will tell you how you can know Him for real. ANewStory.com - that's the website.
Jesus goes where lost people are, and we have to do that. Going outside the walls may be the only hope for a lot of people in your town - for someone you know and for someone you love.