Max Lucado Daily: THE HOLY SPIRIT COMES WITH POWER - August 2, 2024
Jesus would not let his followers begin their ministries unless they knew the Holy Spirit. By this point the disciples had spent three years in training. They had seen the empty tomb, they had touched his resurrected body, they had spent forty days listening to the resurrected Christ teach about the kingdom. But they needed more. Jesus told them, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8 NKJV).
The Holy Spirit comes with power. Power to make good choices, to keep promises, to silence the inner voices of fear and failure. Power to get busy about the right things in the right way. Power. This is what Jesus promised then, and this is what Jesus promises still.
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1 Timothy 5
The Family of Faith
1–2 5 Don’t be harsh or impatient with an older man. Talk to him as you would your own father, and to the younger men as your brothers. Reverently honor an older woman as you would your mother, and the younger women as sisters.
3–8 Take care of widows who are destitute. If a widow has family members to take care of her, let them learn that religion begins at their own doorstep and that they should pay back with gratitude some of what they have received. This pleases God immensely. You can tell a legitimate widow by the way she has put all her hope in God, praying to him constantly for the needs of others as well as her own. But a widow who exploits people’s emotions and pocketbooks—well, there’s nothing to her. Tell these things to the people so that they will do the right thing in their extended family. Anyone who neglects to care for family members in need repudiates the faith. That’s worse than refusing to believe in the first place.
9–10 Sign some widows up for the special ministry of offering assistance. They will in turn receive support from the church. They must be over sixty, married only once, and have a reputation for helping out with children, strangers, tired Christians, the hurt and troubled.
11–15 Don’t put young widows on this list. No sooner will they get on than they’ll want to get off, obsessed with wanting to get a husband rather than serving Christ in this way. By breaking their word, they’re liable to go from bad to worse, frittering away their days on empty talk, gossip, and trivialities. No, I’d rather the young widows go ahead and get married in the first place, have children, manage their homes, and not give critics any foothold for finding fault. Some of them have already left and gone after Satan.
16 Any Christian woman who has widows in her family is responsible for them. They shouldn’t be dumped on the church. The church has its hands full already with widows who need help.
17–18 Give a bonus to leaders who do a good job, especially the ones who work hard at preaching and teaching. Scripture tells us, “Don’t muzzle a working ox” and “A worker deserves his pay.”
19 Don’t listen to a complaint against a leader that isn’t backed up by two or three responsible witnesses.
20 If anyone falls into sin, call that person on the carpet. Those who are inclined that way will know right off they can’t get by with it.
21–23 God and Jesus and angels all back me up in these instructions. Carry them out without favoritism, without taking sides. Don’t appoint people to church leadership positions too hastily. If a person is involved in some serious sins, you don’t want to become an unwitting accomplice. In any event, keep a close check on yourself. And don’t worry too much about what the critics will say. Go ahead and drink a little wine, for instance; it’s good for your digestion, good medicine for what ails you.
24–25 The sins of some people are blatant and march them right into court. The sins of others don’t show up until much later. The same with good deeds. Some you see right off, but none are hidden forever.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, August 02, 2024
Today's Scripture
Luke 18:15-17
People brought babies to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. When the disciples saw it, they shooed them off. Jesus called them back. “Let these children alone. Don’t get between them and me. These children are the kingdom’s pride and joy. Mark this: Unless you accept God’s kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you’ll never get in.”
Insight
Although not specifically stated, Luke is believed to be the author of both the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts. Both books are dedicated to Theophilus (Luke 1:3; Acts 1:1) and are considered companion volumes. Luke’s gospel tells the story of Jesus, and Acts presents the story of the early church. Luke was most likely a gentile by birth, well-educated in Greek culture, and trained as a physician. Paul refers to him as his “dear friend Luke, the doctor” (Colossians 4:14). Luke wasn’t an eyewitness to Christ but “carefully investigated everything from the beginning” (Luke 1:3).
Today’s reading (Luke 18:15-17) follows immediately after the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, which underscores the necessity of humility (18:9-14; see Matthew 19:13-14). Little children picture the humility, dependence, trust, openness, and sincerity necessary to see our need for Christ (Luke 18:16-17). By: Alyson Kieda
A Child’s Hope
Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them. Luke 18:16
When my granddaughter Eliana was just seven, she saw a video at her school about an orphanage in Guatemala. She told her mom, “We have to go there to help them.” Her mom replied that they would think about it when she was older.
Eliana never forgot, and, sure enough, when she was ten, her family went to help in the orphanage. Two years later, they went back, this time taking along a couple of other families from Eliana’s school. When Eliana was fifteen, she and her dad went again to Guatemala to serve.
We sometimes think the wishes and dreams of little children don’t carry the weight of adult hopes. But Scripture seems to make no such distinction. God calls children, as in the case of Samuel (1 Samuel 3:4). Jesus honors the faith of little ones (Luke 18:16-17). And Paul said younger believers shouldn’t let people discount them just because they “are young” (1 Timothy 4:12). So, we’re called to guide our children (Deuteronomy 6:6-7; Proverbs 22:6), recognizing that their faith is a model for us all (Matthew 18:3) and understanding that hindering them is something Christ warned against (Luke 18:15).
When we see a spark of hope in children, our job as adults is to help ignite it. And as God leads us, encourage them toward a life dedicated to trust in Jesus and service for Him. By: Dave Branon
Reflect & Pray
How can you encourage children to believe in Jesus? How can you help them grow in faith?
Dear heavenly Father, the children in our world need Christ. Please help me to encourage them to believe in You.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, August 02, 2024
The Discipline of Difficulty
In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. — John 16:33
An average view of the Christian life is that it means deliverance from trouble. It is deliverance in trouble, which is very different. If you are a child of God, there certainly will be troubles to face. Jesus says not to be surprised when they come: “In this world you will have trouble.” But he also says that troubles are no match for him: “Take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Sometimes people who never wanted to complain or go on about their troubles before they were saved become frail in the face of trouble afterward. This happens because they had the wrong idea of what salvation meant. They thought it meant that God would allow them to triumph easily over all adversity. But God does not give us overcoming life; he gives us life as we overcome.
Are you asking God to give you life and liberty and joy? He cannot—not unless you also accept the strain. The strain is the strength. Where there is no strain, there is no strength.
Overcome your timidity. Take the step God is telling you to take, and he will nourish you: “To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life” (Revelation 2:7). If you push yourself to your physical limits, you will become exhausted, but if you push yourself spiritually, you will get more strength. God never gives strength for tomorrow or for the next hour, only for the strain of the minute.
Face your troubles with courage and gladness, remembering that you have nothing to fear. The saint is filled with hilarity when crushed by difficulties, because the situation is so ludicrously impossible to anyone but God. “If you say, ‘The Lord is my refuge,’ and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you” (Psalm 91:9–10). No plague can come near the place where you are at one with God.
Psalms 60-62; Romans 5
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
The great thing about faith in God is that it keeps a man undisturbed in the midst of disturbance.
Notes on Isaiah, 1376 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, August 02, 2024
A Man and His Marriage - #9800
I've ridden with a lot of people on a lot of elevators, but none quite as unusual as the young man that I met on an elevator a while back. Actually, he wasn't unusual; but what he carried was. He had his arms full of a wadded up tuxedo and a wadded up wedding gown. So here's this fellow, marching down the hall with a wedding gown and a tuxedo in his arms.
Now, you can put two and two together. He must have noticed the bemused look on my face though, because as the elevator door closed in front of us he smiled at me and said, "Last night was a life-changing experience!" That's a pretty perceptive insight from a newly married man. And then he added, "Probably more than I know." Oh, he's got that right.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Man and His Marriage."
Well, our word for today from the Word of God comes from Ephesians 5, and we'll begin reading at verse 25. It's about husbands and wives. It says, "Husbands love your wives..." I wish it stopped there; that would make it easier. But listen, it doesn't stop there. "...just as Christ loved the church (Ah!) and gave Himself up for her." Okay, it's getting tougher! It says, "...to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word and to present her to Himself as a radiant church without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish; but holy and blameless."
Now, when a man says, "I do" to a woman, here's what God hears him say, "I will on a daily basis lay down my life for this woman as Christ laid down His life for us." Whew! Man, that's radical! As the newlywed carrying yesterday's tuxedo and bridal gown said, "Yeah, it's a life-changing experience."
From the time we're born, we're like "me" people: change me, feed me, take care of me, hold me. We grow up and we get more sophisticated, but we're still expecting to be the sun and for everyone else to be the planets who revolve around us. Marriage radically changes that me-ness. Jesus said marriage is the moving of someone else to the center position - my wife. So I will revolve around her needs, not her around mine.
This isn't just radical, it's practical. Like listening to your wife's heart poured out even when you're dead tired, or ready to watch your favorite sporting event. That's how you lay down your life. It's putting her fulfillment ahead of yours in sexual love; that's laying down your life for her. It means unloading your day's burdens that you want to carry around with you and you want everybody to cater to you because of those. But you unload those on the way home so you can focus on her and her burdens when you get there.
So, laying down your life? It can mean changing diapers, or taking out garbage, or doing the dishes, or caring about the sacrifice of time; the sacrifice that involves listening when you don't feel like it or you don't want to listen that long. She needs your attention; you promised it to her. You promised she would be first. When you do this you get a wife that's radiant like the church that Christ loves. You know, you can tell the women who have been loved like this. They're radiant; they kind of glow! Beautiful women grow in the garden of a man's selfless love.
It's a life-changing experience for both of you; that's the radical side of "I do."
