Max Lucado Daily: A Tree That Will Never Fall
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A Tree That Will Never Fall
Posted: 27 Mar 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“God is strong and can help you not to fall.” Jude 24
Can God really keep you from falling?
To answer that, go to a . . . tree on a barren hill. A tree older than time. A tree that covers the mistakes of your past and the problems of your future. Be assured—that tree will never fall.
Ezekiel 2
1 It said, "Son of man, stand up. I have something to say to you." 2 The moment I heard the voice, the Spirit entered me and put me on my feet. As he spoke to me, I listened. 3-7 He said, "Son of man, I'm sending you to the family of Israel, a rebellious nation if there ever was one. They and their ancestors have fomented rebellion right up to the present. They're a hard case, these people to whom I'm sending you—hardened in their sin. Tell them, 'This is the Message of God, the Master.' They are a defiant bunch. Whether or not they listen, at least they'll know that a prophet's been here. But don't be afraid of them, son of man, and don't be afraid of anything they say. Don't be afraid when living among them is like stepping on thorns or finding scorpions in your bed. Don't be afraid of their mean words or their hard looks. They're a bunch of rebels. Your job is to speak to them. Whether they listen is not your concern. They're hardened rebels.
8 "Only take care, son of man, that you don't rebel like these rebels. Open your mouth and eat what I give you."
9-10 When I looked he had his hand stretched out to me, and in the hand a book, a scroll. He unrolled the scroll. On both sides, front and back, were written lamentations and mourning and doom.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Mark 11
Entering Jerusalem on a Colt
1-3When they were nearing Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany on Mount Olives, he sent off two of the disciples with instructions: "Go to the village across from you. As soon as you enter, you'll find a colt tethered, one that has never yet been ridden. Untie it and bring it. If anyone asks, 'What are you doing?' say, 'The Master needs him, and will return him right away.'"
4-7They went and found a colt tied to a door at the street corner and untied it. Some of those standing there said, "What are you doing untying that colt?" The disciples replied exactly as Jesus had instructed them, and the people let them alone. They brought the colt to Jesus, spread their coats on it, and he mounted.
March 28, 2010
God Needs You!
Listen Now | Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ: Mark 11:1-7
If anyone says to you, “Why are you doing this?” say, “The Lord has need of it.” —Mark 11:3
For His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Jesus chose a donkey to serve as His royal transportation. His disciples were instructed to say, “The Lord has need of it” (Mark 11:3). Isn’t it astounding that the Son of God should use such lowly means to accomplish His purposes? Alexander MacLaren commented on this: “Christ comes to us in like fashion, and brushes aside all our convenient excuses. He says, ‘I want you, and that is enough.’ ”
Think of it! The Creator of the universe needs us and desires to fit us into His eternal design! Though all-powerful and not dependent on any creature, He has chosen to carry out His plans through lowly human instruments. If this were not so, He would have taken us to heaven as soon as He saved us by His grace.
Someone once asked Francis of Assisi how he was able to accomplish so much. He replied, “This may be why: The Lord looked down from heaven and said, ‘Where can I find the weakest, littlest man on earth?’ Then He saw me and said, ‘I’ve found him. I will work through him, and he won’t be proud of it. He’ll see that I am only using him because of his insignificance.’ ”
You may be small in your own eyes, but God has need of you! — Paul Van Gorder
Yours is a mission you alone can fill,
Whether it be to build or teach or till;
Your goal may still be hidden from your view,
But somewhere God has urgent need of you. —Thayer
God is looking for ordinary people for extraordinary work.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
March 28, 2010
Isn’t There Some Misunderstanding?
| Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ:
’Let us go to Judea again.’ The disciples said to Him, ’. . . are You going there again?’ —John 11:7-8
Just because I don’t understand what Jesus Christ says, I have no right to determine that He must be mistaken in what He says. That is a dangerous view, and it is never right to think that my obedience to God’s directive will bring dishonor to Jesus. The only thing that will bring dishonor is not obeying Him. To put my view of His honor ahead of what He is plainly guiding me to do is never right, even though it may come from a real desire to prevent Him from being put to an open shame. I know when the instructions have come from God because of their quiet persistence. But when I begin to weigh the pros and cons, and doubt and debate enter into my mind, I am bringing in an element that is not of God. This will only result in my concluding that His instructions to me were not right. Many of us are faithful to our ideas about Jesus Christ, but how many of us are faithful to Jesus Himself? Faithfulness to Jesus means that I must step out even when and where I can’t see anything (see Matthew 14:29 ). But faithfulness to my own ideas means that I first clear the way mentally. Faith, however, is not intellectual understanding; faith is a deliberate commitment to the Person of Jesus Christ, even when I can’t see the way ahead.
Are you debating whether you should take a step of faith in Jesus, or whether you should wait until you can clearly see how to do what He has asked? Simply obey Him with unrestrained joy. When He tells you something and you begin to debate, it is because you have a misunderstanding of what honors Him and what doesn’t. Are you faithful to Jesus, or faithful to your ideas about Him? Are you faithful to what He says, or are you trying to compromise His words with thoughts that never came from Him? "Whatever He says to you, do it " ( John 2:5 ).
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Ezekiel 1, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: Three O’Clock
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Three O’Clock
Posted: 26 Mar 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“At noon the whole country was covered with darkness, which lasted for three hours.” Matthew 27:45 TEV
Of course the sky is dark; people are killing the Light of the World . . .
The sky weeps. And a lamb bleats. Remember the time of the scream? “At about three o’clock Jesus cried out.” Three o’clock in the afternoon, the hour of the temple sacrifice. Less than a mile to the east, a finely clothed priest leads a lamb to the slaughter, unaware that his work is futile. Heaven is not looking at the lamb of man but at “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29, RSV).
Ezekiel 1
Wheels Within Wheels, Like a Gyroscope
1When I was thirty years of age, I was living with the exiles on the Kebar River. On the fifth day of the fourth month, the sky opened up and I saw visions of God.
2-3 (It was the fifth day of the month in the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin that God's Word came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, on the banks of the Kebar River in the country of Babylon. God's hand came upon him that day.)
4-9 I looked: I saw an immense dust storm come from the north, an immense cloud with lightning flashing from it, a huge ball of fire glowing like bronze. Within the fire were what looked like four creatures vibrant with life. Each had the form of a human being, but each also had four faces and four wings. Their legs were as sturdy and straight as columns, but their feet were hoofed like those of a calf and sparkled from the fire like burnished bronze. On all four sides under their wings they had human hands. All four had both faces and wings, with the wings touching one another. They turned neither one way nor the other; they went straight forward.
10-12 Their faces looked like this: In front a human face, on the right side the face of a lion, on the left the face of an ox, and in back the face of an eagle. So much for the faces. The wings were spread out with the tips of one pair touching the creature on either side; the other pair of wings covered its body. Each creature went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit went, they went. They didn't turn as they went.
13-14 The four creatures looked like a blazing fire, or like fiery torches. Tongues of fire shot back and forth between the creatures, and out of the fire, bolts of lightning. The creatures flashed back and forth like strikes of lightning.
15-16 As I watched the four creatures, I saw something that looked like a wheel on the ground beside each of the four-faced creatures. This is what the wheels looked like: They were identical wheels, sparkling like diamonds in the sun. It looked like they were wheels within wheels, like a gyroscope.
17-21 They went in any one of the four directions they faced, but straight, not veering off. The rims were immense, circled with eyes. When the living creatures went, the wheels went; when the living creatures lifted off, the wheels lifted off. Wherever the spirit went, they went, the wheels sticking right with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. When the creatures went, the wheels went; when the creatures stopped, the wheels stopped; when the creatures lifted off, the wheels lifted off, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
22-24 Over the heads of the living creatures was something like a dome, shimmering like a sky full of cut glass, vaulted over their heads. Under the dome one set of wings was extended toward the others, with another set of wings covering their bodies. When they moved I heard their wings—it was like the roar of a great waterfall, like the voice of The Strong God, like the noise of a battlefield. When they stopped, they folded their wings.
25-28 And then, as they stood with folded wings, there was a voice from above the dome over their heads. Above the dome there was something that looked like a throne, sky-blue like a sapphire, with a humanlike figure towering above the throne. From what I could see, from the waist up he looked like burnished bronze and from the waist down like a blazing fire. Brightness everywhere! The way a rainbow springs out of the sky on a rainy day—that's what it was like. It turned out to be the Glory of God!
When I saw all this, I fell to my knees, my face to the ground. Then I heard a voice.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
1 John 4:7-21 (The Message)
God Is Love
7-10My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can't know him if you don't love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God.
11-12My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!
13-16This is how we know we're living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He's given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit. Also, we've seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God's Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we've embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God.
To Love, to Be Loved
17-18God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we're free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ's. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.
19We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.
20-21If anyone boasts, "I love God," and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won't love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can't see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You've got to love both.
March 27, 2010
Loving God
Listen Now | Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ: 1 John 4:7-21
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. —1 John 4:11
Early in our marriage, I thought I knew the ultimate shortcut to my wife’s heart. I arrived home one night with a bouquet of a dozen red roses behind my back. When I presented the flowers to Martie, she thanked me graciously, sniffed the flowers, and then took them into the kitchen. Not quite the response I had expected.
It was an introductory lesson in the reality that flowers are not my wife’s primary language of love. While she appreciated the gesture, she was mentally calculating the cost of an expensive bouquet of flowers—a budget breaker for a young couple in seminary! And as I’ve discovered through the years, she is far more interested in my time and attention. When I devote myself to her in an uninterrupted and attentive way, that’s when she really feels loved.
Did you ever wonder how God wants us to show that we love Him? We get a clue when we read, “He who loves God must love his brother also” (1 John 4:21). It’s that simple. One of the primary ways we show our love for God is by loving our brothers and sisters in Christ. When we genuinely love each other, it brings pleasure to our heavenly Father.
So watch for opportunities to tell Jesus that you love Him. He’s infinitely worth whatever it costs. — Joe Stowell
All those who say they love the Lord
But don’t love one another,
Should question the relationship
They have with God the Father. —Sper
To show your love for God, share your love with others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
March 27, 2010
Spiritual Vision Through Personal Purity (2)
| Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ:
Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place . . . —Revelation 4:1
A higher state of mind and spiritual vision can only be achieved through the higher practice of personal character. If you live up to the highest and best that you know in the outer level of your life, God will continually say to you, "Friend, come up even higher." There is also a continuing rule in temptation which calls you to go higher; but when you do, you only encounter other temptations and character traits. Both God and Satan use the strategy of elevation, but Satan uses it in temptation, and the effect is quite different. When the devil elevates you to a certain place, he causes you to fasten your idea of what holiness is far beyond what flesh and blood could ever bear or achieve. Your life becomes a spiritual acrobatic performance high atop a steeple. You cling to it, trying to maintain your balance and daring not to move. But when God elevates you by His grace into heavenly places, you find a vast plateau where you can move about with ease.
Compare this week in your spiritual life with the same week last year to see how God has called you to a higher level. We have all been brought to see from a higher viewpoint. Never allow God to show you a truth which you do not instantly begin to live up to, applying it to your life. Always work through it, staying in its light.
Your growth in grace is not measured by the fact that you haven’t turned back, but that you have an insight and understanding into where you are spiritually. Have you heard God say, "Come up higher," not audibly on the outer level, but to the innermost part of your character?
"Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing . . . ?" (Genesis 18:17 ). God has to hide from us what He does, until, due to the growth of our personal character, we get to the level where He is then able to reveal it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Three O’Clock
Posted: 26 Mar 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“At noon the whole country was covered with darkness, which lasted for three hours.” Matthew 27:45 TEV
Of course the sky is dark; people are killing the Light of the World . . .
The sky weeps. And a lamb bleats. Remember the time of the scream? “At about three o’clock Jesus cried out.” Three o’clock in the afternoon, the hour of the temple sacrifice. Less than a mile to the east, a finely clothed priest leads a lamb to the slaughter, unaware that his work is futile. Heaven is not looking at the lamb of man but at “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29, RSV).
Ezekiel 1
Wheels Within Wheels, Like a Gyroscope
1When I was thirty years of age, I was living with the exiles on the Kebar River. On the fifth day of the fourth month, the sky opened up and I saw visions of God.
2-3 (It was the fifth day of the month in the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin that God's Word came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, on the banks of the Kebar River in the country of Babylon. God's hand came upon him that day.)
4-9 I looked: I saw an immense dust storm come from the north, an immense cloud with lightning flashing from it, a huge ball of fire glowing like bronze. Within the fire were what looked like four creatures vibrant with life. Each had the form of a human being, but each also had four faces and four wings. Their legs were as sturdy and straight as columns, but their feet were hoofed like those of a calf and sparkled from the fire like burnished bronze. On all four sides under their wings they had human hands. All four had both faces and wings, with the wings touching one another. They turned neither one way nor the other; they went straight forward.
10-12 Their faces looked like this: In front a human face, on the right side the face of a lion, on the left the face of an ox, and in back the face of an eagle. So much for the faces. The wings were spread out with the tips of one pair touching the creature on either side; the other pair of wings covered its body. Each creature went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit went, they went. They didn't turn as they went.
13-14 The four creatures looked like a blazing fire, or like fiery torches. Tongues of fire shot back and forth between the creatures, and out of the fire, bolts of lightning. The creatures flashed back and forth like strikes of lightning.
15-16 As I watched the four creatures, I saw something that looked like a wheel on the ground beside each of the four-faced creatures. This is what the wheels looked like: They were identical wheels, sparkling like diamonds in the sun. It looked like they were wheels within wheels, like a gyroscope.
17-21 They went in any one of the four directions they faced, but straight, not veering off. The rims were immense, circled with eyes. When the living creatures went, the wheels went; when the living creatures lifted off, the wheels lifted off. Wherever the spirit went, they went, the wheels sticking right with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. When the creatures went, the wheels went; when the creatures stopped, the wheels stopped; when the creatures lifted off, the wheels lifted off, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
22-24 Over the heads of the living creatures was something like a dome, shimmering like a sky full of cut glass, vaulted over their heads. Under the dome one set of wings was extended toward the others, with another set of wings covering their bodies. When they moved I heard their wings—it was like the roar of a great waterfall, like the voice of The Strong God, like the noise of a battlefield. When they stopped, they folded their wings.
25-28 And then, as they stood with folded wings, there was a voice from above the dome over their heads. Above the dome there was something that looked like a throne, sky-blue like a sapphire, with a humanlike figure towering above the throne. From what I could see, from the waist up he looked like burnished bronze and from the waist down like a blazing fire. Brightness everywhere! The way a rainbow springs out of the sky on a rainy day—that's what it was like. It turned out to be the Glory of God!
When I saw all this, I fell to my knees, my face to the ground. Then I heard a voice.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
1 John 4:7-21 (The Message)
God Is Love
7-10My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can't know him if you don't love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God.
11-12My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!
13-16This is how we know we're living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He's given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit. Also, we've seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God's Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we've embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God.
To Love, to Be Loved
17-18God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we're free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ's. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.
19We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.
20-21If anyone boasts, "I love God," and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won't love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can't see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You've got to love both.
March 27, 2010
Loving God
Listen Now | Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ: 1 John 4:7-21
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. —1 John 4:11
Early in our marriage, I thought I knew the ultimate shortcut to my wife’s heart. I arrived home one night with a bouquet of a dozen red roses behind my back. When I presented the flowers to Martie, she thanked me graciously, sniffed the flowers, and then took them into the kitchen. Not quite the response I had expected.
It was an introductory lesson in the reality that flowers are not my wife’s primary language of love. While she appreciated the gesture, she was mentally calculating the cost of an expensive bouquet of flowers—a budget breaker for a young couple in seminary! And as I’ve discovered through the years, she is far more interested in my time and attention. When I devote myself to her in an uninterrupted and attentive way, that’s when she really feels loved.
Did you ever wonder how God wants us to show that we love Him? We get a clue when we read, “He who loves God must love his brother also” (1 John 4:21). It’s that simple. One of the primary ways we show our love for God is by loving our brothers and sisters in Christ. When we genuinely love each other, it brings pleasure to our heavenly Father.
So watch for opportunities to tell Jesus that you love Him. He’s infinitely worth whatever it costs. — Joe Stowell
All those who say they love the Lord
But don’t love one another,
Should question the relationship
They have with God the Father. —Sper
To show your love for God, share your love with others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
March 27, 2010
Spiritual Vision Through Personal Purity (2)
| Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ:
Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place . . . —Revelation 4:1
A higher state of mind and spiritual vision can only be achieved through the higher practice of personal character. If you live up to the highest and best that you know in the outer level of your life, God will continually say to you, "Friend, come up even higher." There is also a continuing rule in temptation which calls you to go higher; but when you do, you only encounter other temptations and character traits. Both God and Satan use the strategy of elevation, but Satan uses it in temptation, and the effect is quite different. When the devil elevates you to a certain place, he causes you to fasten your idea of what holiness is far beyond what flesh and blood could ever bear or achieve. Your life becomes a spiritual acrobatic performance high atop a steeple. You cling to it, trying to maintain your balance and daring not to move. But when God elevates you by His grace into heavenly places, you find a vast plateau where you can move about with ease.
Compare this week in your spiritual life with the same week last year to see how God has called you to a higher level. We have all been brought to see from a higher viewpoint. Never allow God to show you a truth which you do not instantly begin to live up to, applying it to your life. Always work through it, staying in its light.
Your growth in grace is not measured by the fact that you haven’t turned back, but that you have an insight and understanding into where you are spiritually. Have you heard God say, "Come up higher," not audibly on the outer level, but to the innermost part of your character?
"Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing . . . ?" (Genesis 18:17 ). God has to hide from us what He does, until, due to the growth of our personal character, we get to the level where He is then able to reveal it.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Habakkuk 1, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: Christ Claims You
Christ Claims You
Posted: 25 Mar 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“The LORD won’t leave his people nor give up his children.” Psalm 94:14
When everyone else rejects you, Christ accepts you. When everyone else leaves you, Christ finds you. When no one else wants you, Christ claims you. When no one else will give you the time of day, Jesus will give you the words of eternity . . .
What is the work of God? Accepting people . . . Caring before condemning.
Habakkuk 1
Justice Is a Joke
1-4 The problem as God gave Habakkuk to see it: God, how long do I have to cry out for help
before you listen?
How many times do I have to yell, "Help! Murder! Police!"
before you come to the rescue?
Why do you force me to look at evil,
stare trouble in the face day after day?
Anarchy and violence break out,
quarrels and fights all over the place.
Law and order fall to pieces.
Justice is a joke.
The wicked have the righteous hamstrung
and stand justice on its head.
God Says, "Look!"
5-11"Look around at the godless nations.
Look long and hard. Brace yourself for a shock.
Something's about to take place
and you're going to find it hard to believe.
I'm about to raise up Babylonians to punish you,
Babylonians, fierce and ferocious—
World-conquering Babylon,
grabbing up nations right and left,
A dreadful and terrible people,
making up its own rules as it goes.
Their horses run like the wind,
attack like bloodthirsty wolves.
A stampede of galloping horses
thunders out of nowhere.
They descend like vultures
circling in on carrion.
They're out to kill. Death is on their minds.
They collect victims like squirrels gathering nuts.
They mock kings,
poke fun at generals,
Spit on forts,
and leave them in the dust.
They'll all be blown away by the wind.
Brazen in sin, they call strength their god."
Why Is God Silent Now?
12-13God, you're from eternity, aren't you?
Holy God, we aren't going to die, are we?
God, you chose Babylonians for your judgment work?
Rock-Solid God, you gave them the job of discipline?
But you can't be serious!
You can't condone evil!
So why don't you do something about this?
Why are you silent now?
This outrage! Evil men swallow up the righteous
and you stand around and watch!
14-16You're treating men and women
as so many fish in the ocean,
Swimming without direction,
swimming but not getting anywhere.
Then this evil Babylonian arrives and goes fishing.
He pulls in a good catch.
He catches his limit and fills his creel—
a good day of fishing! He's happy!
He praises his rod and reel,
piles his fishing gear on an altar and worships it!
It's made his day,
and he's going to eat well tonight!
17Are you going to let this go on and on?
Will you let this Babylonian fisherman
Fish like a weekend angler,
killing people as if they're nothing but fish?
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Philippians 2:19-30 (The Message)
19-24I plan (according to Jesus' plan) to send Timothy to you very soon so he can bring back all the news of you he can gather. Oh, how that will do my heart good! I have no one quite like Timothy. He is loyal, and genuinely concerned for you. Most people around here are looking out for themselves, with little concern for the things of Jesus. But you know yourselves that Timothy's the real thing. He's been a devoted son to me as together we've delivered the Message. As soon as I see how things are going to fall out for me here, I plan to send him off. And then I'm hoping and praying to be right on his heels.
25-27But for right now, I'm dispatching Epaphroditus, my good friend and companion in my work. You sent him to help me out; now I'm sending him to help you out. He has been wanting in the worst way to get back with you. Especially since recovering from the illness you heard about, he's been wanting to get back and reassure you that he is just fine. He nearly died, as you know, but God had mercy on him. And not only on him—he had mercy on me, too. His death would have been one huge grief piled on top of all the others.
28-30So you can see why I'm so delighted to send him on to you. When you see him again, hale and hearty, how you'll rejoice and how relieved I'll be. Give him a grand welcome, a joyful embrace! People like him deserve the best you can give. Remember the ministry to me that you started but weren't able to complete? Well, in the process of finishing up that work, he put his life on the line and nearly died doing it.
March 26, 2010
Worthy Of Respect
Listen Now | Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ: Philippians 2:19-30
Receive [Epaphroditus] therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such men in esteem. —Phil. 2:29
Just before kickoff at Super Bowl XLIII, Kurt Warner of the Arizona Cardinals received the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award—a tribute given to the player who had best combined on-field excellence with off-field community service. “I am humbled the Lord has given me such an amazing life to impact others,” said Warner, a dedicated Christian. “Of all the awards given to NFL athletes, [this one] stands out . . . because of what it represents.” It represents a commitment to giving and sacrificing for others.
Paying homage to those who serve is not a new concept. Paul spoke of it when he reminded the Philippians to honor those who gave themselves in serving Christ. He told them of their friend Epaphroditus, who had nearly died (Phil. 2:30) because of his efforts for Christ in ministering to others—including the people at Philippi. How should they respond? Paul said, “Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such men in esteem” (v.29). Clearly, when we think of those who sacrifice in serving the Savior, they are worthy of our respect and appreciation.
Why not look for ways to show gratitude to those who have served you spiritually. Give them the honor they deserve. — Bill Crowder
To honor is to show respect,
To meet another’s need,
To give someone encouragement,
To love in word and deed. —Sper
We honor God when we honor those who serve God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
March 26, 2010
Spiritual Vision Through Personal Purity (1)
| Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ:
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God —Matthew 5:8
Purity is not innocence— it is much more than that. Purity is the result of continued spiritual harmony with God. We have to grow in purity. Our life with God may be right and our inner purity unblemished, yet occasionally our outer life may become spotted and stained. God intentionally does not protect us from this possibility, because this is the way we recognize the necessity of maintaining our spiritual vision through personal purity. If the outer level of our spiritual life with God is impaired to the slightest degree, we must put everything else aside until we make it right. Remember that spiritual vision depends on our character— it is "the pure in heart " who "see God."
God makes us pure by an act of His sovereign grace, but we still have something that we must carefully watch. It is through our bodily life coming in contact with other people and other points of view that we tend to become tarnished. Not only must our "inner sanctuary" be kept right with God, but also the "outer courts" must be brought into perfect harmony with the purity God gives us through His grace. Our spiritual vision and understanding is immediately blurred when our "outer court" is stained. If we want to maintain personal intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ, it will mean refusing to do or even think certain things. And some things that are acceptable for others will become unacceptable for us.
A practical help in keeping your personal purity unblemished in your relations with other people is to begin to see them as God does. Say to yourself, "That man or that woman is perfect in Christ Jesus! That friend or that relative is perfect in Christ Jesus!"
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
A Leader's Real Assignment - #6055
Friday, March 26, 2010
Before D. L. Moody became the greatest evangelist of the 19th Century, he ran a storefront Sunday School to reach some of the street kids of Chicago. The story is told of one tough little guy who was seen on Sunday after Sunday, trudging by on his way to that Sunday School. He lived a long way from his destination. Well, on one brutally cold and snowy Chicago day, one man saw the boy walking into the wind, stubbornly making his usual Sunday morning journey to Moody's Sunday School. He asked the boy why he would make that effort every Sunday, even on a day when no one else was out, especially when he passed by many churches that were much closer to his home. The boy's explanation was pretty clear and pretty simple, "I go there because they make a fellow feel loved there."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Leader's Real Assignment."
The first portrait of Jesus I can ever remember seeing as a child was one that portrays Him as the Good Shepherd, with His sheep following Him closely and this one little lamb cuddled in His arms. Interestingly enough, now that I'm in Christian leadership, I realize that picture is also what I'm supposed to be about. And you, too, if God has entrusted you with any kind of influence or direction in people's lives. Your template is supposed to be that of a shepherd of whom people say, "He or she sure makes a person feel loved."
Listen to 1 Peter 5, beginning with verse 2. It's our word for today from the Word of God, and it's a picture of leadership worth planting deeply in your heart. Writing to those in leadership God says, "Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers..." Okay, quick timeout here! Notice whose sheep your people are - your children are. They're God's; they're not yours. Don't ever start acting like they're yours. And notice, too, that they are given to you to be under your care, not under your thumb.
Peter goes on: "Not because you must, but because you are willing...not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock." Okay, what's the Biblical picture of being a leader? Yeah, shepherding. Leading the sheep, not lording it over them. Loving the sheep, not using them for your own ends. Modeling more than demanding.
So if you're a shepherd, what should you be doing? Well, a shepherd always leads the sheep to what they need. If you've been entrusted with people to lead, it's your job to gently direct them to what they need emotionally, spiritually, physically, mentally, and to know when they need encouraging, and when they need correcting, and when they just need loving. Christian leadership is all about you meeting their needs, not them meeting your needs.
Shepherding also means keeping your sheep from wandering - establishing clear boundaries and pulling them back at the first sign of wandering. Being a shepherd also means protecting your sheep from the enemy. A few verses later in this passage, Peter talks about resisting the roaring lion who's looking for someone to devour. It is the Christian leader's job to keep his eyes open for where Satan might get in and to defend his flock from the lion's stalking.
And Jesus taught us one other thing the "good shepherd" does. He said, "He calls His own sheep by name" (John 10:3). In other words, if you're a good shepherd, you will give each of His sheep individual attention, the kind that street kid in Chicago must have felt at D. L. Moody's Sunday School. Make each one feel like the most important person in the world when they're with you. Don't treat them as just another nameless face in the flock.
Jesus was a shepherd, and now He's called you to be one, trusting you with some of the sheep that He died for. Is leadership worth the price you pay and the sacrifices you make? Listen to the bottom line in 1 Peter 5:4, "And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory, that will never fade away."
Christ Claims You
Posted: 25 Mar 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“The LORD won’t leave his people nor give up his children.” Psalm 94:14
When everyone else rejects you, Christ accepts you. When everyone else leaves you, Christ finds you. When no one else wants you, Christ claims you. When no one else will give you the time of day, Jesus will give you the words of eternity . . .
What is the work of God? Accepting people . . . Caring before condemning.
Habakkuk 1
Justice Is a Joke
1-4 The problem as God gave Habakkuk to see it: God, how long do I have to cry out for help
before you listen?
How many times do I have to yell, "Help! Murder! Police!"
before you come to the rescue?
Why do you force me to look at evil,
stare trouble in the face day after day?
Anarchy and violence break out,
quarrels and fights all over the place.
Law and order fall to pieces.
Justice is a joke.
The wicked have the righteous hamstrung
and stand justice on its head.
God Says, "Look!"
5-11"Look around at the godless nations.
Look long and hard. Brace yourself for a shock.
Something's about to take place
and you're going to find it hard to believe.
I'm about to raise up Babylonians to punish you,
Babylonians, fierce and ferocious—
World-conquering Babylon,
grabbing up nations right and left,
A dreadful and terrible people,
making up its own rules as it goes.
Their horses run like the wind,
attack like bloodthirsty wolves.
A stampede of galloping horses
thunders out of nowhere.
They descend like vultures
circling in on carrion.
They're out to kill. Death is on their minds.
They collect victims like squirrels gathering nuts.
They mock kings,
poke fun at generals,
Spit on forts,
and leave them in the dust.
They'll all be blown away by the wind.
Brazen in sin, they call strength their god."
Why Is God Silent Now?
12-13God, you're from eternity, aren't you?
Holy God, we aren't going to die, are we?
God, you chose Babylonians for your judgment work?
Rock-Solid God, you gave them the job of discipline?
But you can't be serious!
You can't condone evil!
So why don't you do something about this?
Why are you silent now?
This outrage! Evil men swallow up the righteous
and you stand around and watch!
14-16You're treating men and women
as so many fish in the ocean,
Swimming without direction,
swimming but not getting anywhere.
Then this evil Babylonian arrives and goes fishing.
He pulls in a good catch.
He catches his limit and fills his creel—
a good day of fishing! He's happy!
He praises his rod and reel,
piles his fishing gear on an altar and worships it!
It's made his day,
and he's going to eat well tonight!
17Are you going to let this go on and on?
Will you let this Babylonian fisherman
Fish like a weekend angler,
killing people as if they're nothing but fish?
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Philippians 2:19-30 (The Message)
19-24I plan (according to Jesus' plan) to send Timothy to you very soon so he can bring back all the news of you he can gather. Oh, how that will do my heart good! I have no one quite like Timothy. He is loyal, and genuinely concerned for you. Most people around here are looking out for themselves, with little concern for the things of Jesus. But you know yourselves that Timothy's the real thing. He's been a devoted son to me as together we've delivered the Message. As soon as I see how things are going to fall out for me here, I plan to send him off. And then I'm hoping and praying to be right on his heels.
25-27But for right now, I'm dispatching Epaphroditus, my good friend and companion in my work. You sent him to help me out; now I'm sending him to help you out. He has been wanting in the worst way to get back with you. Especially since recovering from the illness you heard about, he's been wanting to get back and reassure you that he is just fine. He nearly died, as you know, but God had mercy on him. And not only on him—he had mercy on me, too. His death would have been one huge grief piled on top of all the others.
28-30So you can see why I'm so delighted to send him on to you. When you see him again, hale and hearty, how you'll rejoice and how relieved I'll be. Give him a grand welcome, a joyful embrace! People like him deserve the best you can give. Remember the ministry to me that you started but weren't able to complete? Well, in the process of finishing up that work, he put his life on the line and nearly died doing it.
March 26, 2010
Worthy Of Respect
Listen Now | Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ: Philippians 2:19-30
Receive [Epaphroditus] therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such men in esteem. —Phil. 2:29
Just before kickoff at Super Bowl XLIII, Kurt Warner of the Arizona Cardinals received the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award—a tribute given to the player who had best combined on-field excellence with off-field community service. “I am humbled the Lord has given me such an amazing life to impact others,” said Warner, a dedicated Christian. “Of all the awards given to NFL athletes, [this one] stands out . . . because of what it represents.” It represents a commitment to giving and sacrificing for others.
Paying homage to those who serve is not a new concept. Paul spoke of it when he reminded the Philippians to honor those who gave themselves in serving Christ. He told them of their friend Epaphroditus, who had nearly died (Phil. 2:30) because of his efforts for Christ in ministering to others—including the people at Philippi. How should they respond? Paul said, “Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such men in esteem” (v.29). Clearly, when we think of those who sacrifice in serving the Savior, they are worthy of our respect and appreciation.
Why not look for ways to show gratitude to those who have served you spiritually. Give them the honor they deserve. — Bill Crowder
To honor is to show respect,
To meet another’s need,
To give someone encouragement,
To love in word and deed. —Sper
We honor God when we honor those who serve God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
March 26, 2010
Spiritual Vision Through Personal Purity (1)
| Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ:
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God —Matthew 5:8
Purity is not innocence— it is much more than that. Purity is the result of continued spiritual harmony with God. We have to grow in purity. Our life with God may be right and our inner purity unblemished, yet occasionally our outer life may become spotted and stained. God intentionally does not protect us from this possibility, because this is the way we recognize the necessity of maintaining our spiritual vision through personal purity. If the outer level of our spiritual life with God is impaired to the slightest degree, we must put everything else aside until we make it right. Remember that spiritual vision depends on our character— it is "the pure in heart " who "see God."
God makes us pure by an act of His sovereign grace, but we still have something that we must carefully watch. It is through our bodily life coming in contact with other people and other points of view that we tend to become tarnished. Not only must our "inner sanctuary" be kept right with God, but also the "outer courts" must be brought into perfect harmony with the purity God gives us through His grace. Our spiritual vision and understanding is immediately blurred when our "outer court" is stained. If we want to maintain personal intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ, it will mean refusing to do or even think certain things. And some things that are acceptable for others will become unacceptable for us.
A practical help in keeping your personal purity unblemished in your relations with other people is to begin to see them as God does. Say to yourself, "That man or that woman is perfect in Christ Jesus! That friend or that relative is perfect in Christ Jesus!"
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
A Leader's Real Assignment - #6055
Friday, March 26, 2010
Before D. L. Moody became the greatest evangelist of the 19th Century, he ran a storefront Sunday School to reach some of the street kids of Chicago. The story is told of one tough little guy who was seen on Sunday after Sunday, trudging by on his way to that Sunday School. He lived a long way from his destination. Well, on one brutally cold and snowy Chicago day, one man saw the boy walking into the wind, stubbornly making his usual Sunday morning journey to Moody's Sunday School. He asked the boy why he would make that effort every Sunday, even on a day when no one else was out, especially when he passed by many churches that were much closer to his home. The boy's explanation was pretty clear and pretty simple, "I go there because they make a fellow feel loved there."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Leader's Real Assignment."
The first portrait of Jesus I can ever remember seeing as a child was one that portrays Him as the Good Shepherd, with His sheep following Him closely and this one little lamb cuddled in His arms. Interestingly enough, now that I'm in Christian leadership, I realize that picture is also what I'm supposed to be about. And you, too, if God has entrusted you with any kind of influence or direction in people's lives. Your template is supposed to be that of a shepherd of whom people say, "He or she sure makes a person feel loved."
Listen to 1 Peter 5, beginning with verse 2. It's our word for today from the Word of God, and it's a picture of leadership worth planting deeply in your heart. Writing to those in leadership God says, "Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers..." Okay, quick timeout here! Notice whose sheep your people are - your children are. They're God's; they're not yours. Don't ever start acting like they're yours. And notice, too, that they are given to you to be under your care, not under your thumb.
Peter goes on: "Not because you must, but because you are willing...not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock." Okay, what's the Biblical picture of being a leader? Yeah, shepherding. Leading the sheep, not lording it over them. Loving the sheep, not using them for your own ends. Modeling more than demanding.
So if you're a shepherd, what should you be doing? Well, a shepherd always leads the sheep to what they need. If you've been entrusted with people to lead, it's your job to gently direct them to what they need emotionally, spiritually, physically, mentally, and to know when they need encouraging, and when they need correcting, and when they just need loving. Christian leadership is all about you meeting their needs, not them meeting your needs.
Shepherding also means keeping your sheep from wandering - establishing clear boundaries and pulling them back at the first sign of wandering. Being a shepherd also means protecting your sheep from the enemy. A few verses later in this passage, Peter talks about resisting the roaring lion who's looking for someone to devour. It is the Christian leader's job to keep his eyes open for where Satan might get in and to defend his flock from the lion's stalking.
And Jesus taught us one other thing the "good shepherd" does. He said, "He calls His own sheep by name" (John 10:3). In other words, if you're a good shepherd, you will give each of His sheep individual attention, the kind that street kid in Chicago must have felt at D. L. Moody's Sunday School. Make each one feel like the most important person in the world when they're with you. Don't treat them as just another nameless face in the flock.
Jesus was a shepherd, and now He's called you to be one, trusting you with some of the sheep that He died for. Is leadership worth the price you pay and the sacrifices you make? Listen to the bottom line in 1 Peter 5:4, "And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory, that will never fade away."
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Jeremiah 5, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: All Things
“By Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.” Colossians 1:16 NASB
What a phenomenal list! Heavens and earth. Visible and invisible. Thrones, dominions, rulers and authorities. No thing, place, or person omitted. The scale on the sea urchin. The hair on the elephant hide.
The hurricane that wrecks the coast, the rain that nourishes the desert, the infant’s first heartbeat, the elderly person’s final breath -– all can be traced back to the hand of Christ, the firstborn of creation.
Jeremiah 5
Sins Are Piled Sky-High
1-2 "Patrol Jerusalem's streets. Look around. Take note.
Search the market squares.
See if you can find one man, one woman,
A single soul who does what is right
and tries to live a true life.
I want to forgive that person."
God's Decree.
"But if all they do is say, 'As sure as God lives...'
they're nothing but a bunch of liars."
3-6But you, God,
you have an eye for truth, don't you?
You hit them hard, but it didn't faze them.
You disciplined them, but they refused correction.
Hardheaded, harder than rock,
they wouldn't change.
Then I said to myself, "Well, these are just poor people.
They don't know any better.
They were never taught anything about God.
They never went to prayer meetings.
I'll find some people from the best families.
I'll talk to them.
They'll know what's going on, the way God works.
They'll know the score."
But they were no better! Rebels all!
Off doing their own thing.
The invaders are ready to pounce and kill,
like a mountain lion, a wilderness wolf,
Panthers on the prowl.
The streets aren't safe anymore.
And why? Because the people's sins are piled sky-high;
their betrayals are past counting.
7-9"Why should I even bother with you any longer?
Your children wander off, leaving me,
Taking up with gods
that aren't even gods.
I satisfied their deepest needs, and then they went off with the 'sacred' whores,
left me for orgies in sex shrines!
A bunch of well-groomed, lusty stallions,
each one pawing and snorting for his neighbor's wife.
Do you think I'm going to stand around and do nothing?"
God's Decree.
"Don't you think I'll take serious measures
against a people like this?
Eyes That Don't Really Look,
Ears That Don't Really Listen
10-11"Go down the rows of vineyards and rip out the vines,
but not all of them. Leave a few.
Prune back those vines!
That growth didn't come from God!
They've betrayed me over and over again,
Judah and Israel both."
God's Decree.
12-13"They've spread lies about God.
They've said, 'There's nothing to him.
Nothing bad will happen to us,
neither famine nor war will come our way.
The prophets are all windbags.
They speak nothing but nonsense.'"
14Therefore, this is what God said to me, God-of-the-Angel-Armies:
"Because they have talked this way,
they are going to eat those words.
Watch now! I'm putting my words
as fire in your mouth.
And the people are a pile of kindling
ready to go up in flames.
15-17"Attention! I'm bringing a far-off nation
against you, O house of Israel."
God's Decree.
"A solid nation,
an ancient nation,
A nation that speaks another language.
You won't understand a word they say.
When they aim their arrows, you're as good as dead.
They're a nation of real fighters!
They'll clean you out of house and home,
rob you of crops and children alike.
They'll feast on your sheep and cattle,
strip your vines and fig trees.
And the fortresses that made you feel so safe—
leveled with a stroke of the sword!
18-19"Even then, as bad as it will be"—God's Decree!—"it will not be the end of the world for you. And when people ask, 'Why did our God do all this to us?' you must say to them, 'It's tit for tat. Just as you left me and served foreign gods in your own country, so now you must serve foreigners in their own country.'
20-25"Tell the house of Jacob this,
put out this bulletin in Judah:
Listen to this,
you scatterbrains, airheads,
With eyes that see but don't really look,
and ears that hear but don't really listen.
Why don't you honor me?
Why aren't you in awe before me?
Yes, me, who made the shorelines
to contain the ocean waters.
I drew a line in the sand
that cannot be crossed.
Waves roll in but cannot get through;
breakers crash but that's the end of them.
But this people—what a people!
Uncontrollable, untameable runaways.
It never occurs to them to say,
'How can we honor our God with our lives,
The God who gives rain in both spring and autumn
and maintains the rhythm of the seasons,
Who sets aside time each year for harvest
and keeps everything running smoothly for us?'
Of course you don't! Your bad behavior blinds you to all this.
Your sins keep my blessings at a distance.
To Stand for Nothing and Stand Up for No One
26-29"My people are infiltrated by wicked men,
unscrupulous men on the hunt.
They set traps for the unsuspecting.
Their victims are innocent men and women.
Their houses are stuffed with ill-gotten gain,
like a hunter's bag full of birds.
Pretentious and powerful and rich,
hugely obese, oily with rolls of fat.
Worse, they have no conscience.
Right and wrong mean nothing to them.
They stand for nothing, stand up for no one,
throw orphans to the wolves, exploit the poor.
Do you think I'll stand by and do nothing about this?"
God's Decree.
"Don't you think I'll take serious measures
against a people like this?
30-31"Unspeakable! Sickening!
What's happened in this country?
Prophets preach lies
and priests hire on as their assistants.
And my people love it. They eat it up!
But what will you do when it's time to pick up the pieces?"
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Revelation 21
Everything New
1I saw Heaven and earth new-created. Gone the first Heaven, gone the first earth, gone the sea. 2I saw Holy Jerusalem, new-created, descending resplendent out of Heaven, as ready for God as a bride for her husband. 3-5I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: "Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! They're his people, he's their God. He'll wipe every tear from their eyes. Death is gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the first order of things gone." The Enthroned continued, "Look! I'm making everything new. Write it all down—each word dependable and accurate."
March 25, 2010
Far Better
Listen Now | Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ: Revelation 21:1-4
God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. —Revelation 21:4
Having suffered greatly—first from cancer, and then from the grueling medical regimen—pastor Dan Cummings was tired. After 2 weeks of treatment in Texas, he was looking forward to going back home to Michigan. In a post on his blog, he wrote: “Today is far better . . . amazing what some hydration will do. . . . Will fly home on the weekend to continue treatment at home.”
Dan did return to Michigan, but several days later, his journey on earth ended. He went home to be with his God—whom he loved with every bit of his weakened body but mighty spirit.
When I viewed his blog a few days later, his words “Today is far better” jumped out at me. I smiled through my tears in the knowledge that Dan was now experiencing a life that is truly “far better” (Phil. 1:23).
Someday we who claim the name of Jesus will also go to that place where there is “no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.” It’s a place where there is no more pain and where a loving Father promises to “wipe away every tear from [our] eyes” (Rev. 21:4).
The life we have here isn’t all there is. There is a far, far better place that Jesus is preparing for those who love Him (John 14:2-3). — Cindy Hess Kasper
When our life on earth has ended
We will feel God’s warm embrace;
There will be no pain or sorrow
In that far, far better place. —Sper
Heaven—no pain, no night, no death, no tears.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
March 25, 2010
Maintaining the Proper Relationship
| Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ:
. . . the friend of the bridegroom . . . —John 3:29
Goodness and purity should never be traits that draw attention to themselves, but should simply be magnets that draw people to Jesus Christ. If my holiness is not drawing others to Him, it is not the right kind of holiness; it is only an influence which awakens undue emotions and evil desires in people and diverts them from heading in the right direction. A person who is a beautiful saint can be a hindrance in leading people to the Lord by presenting only what Christ has done for him, instead of presenting Jesus Christ Himself. Others will be left with this thought— "What a fine person that man is!" That is not being a true "friend of the bridegroom"— I am increasing all the time; He is not.
To maintain this friendship and faithfulness to the Bridegroom, we have to be more careful to have the moral and vital relationship to Him above everything else, including obedience. Sometimes there is nothing to obey and our only task is to maintain a vital connection with Jesus Christ, seeing that nothing interferes with it. Only occasionally is it a matter of obedience. At those times when a crisis arises, we have to find out what God’s will is. Yet most of our life is not spent in trying to be consciously obedient, but in maintaining this relationship— being the "friend of the bridegroom." Christian work can actually be a means of diverting a person’s focus away from Jesus Christ. Instead of being friends "of the bridegroom," we may become amateur providences of God to someone else, working against Him while we use His weapons.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Cost of Putting Off the Repairs - #6054
Thursday, March 25, 2010
A storm that roared through our area got so intense that a tree as big around as a car came crashing down on a house in our community. It went all the way through the roof and the house. We're talking major damage here. It didn't take long for the insurance adjuster to come by and give the owner a check to get the damage repaired. She called a contractor to come over for an estimate, and when he asked if she wanted him to do the work, she told him she wanted another estimate first. He warned her that there was more rain in the forecast, but she was determined. She had a similar conversation with a second contractor. Then the big rain came - and, of course, poured into her house. That's when she called a third and fourth contractor; both of whom gave her much higher estimates than the first two. Finally, she called in that first contractor who gave her a new estimate as high as the others. He said, "Ma'am, you waited so long that the rain came and did a lot more damage. So getting things fixed is going to cost a lot more."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Cost of Putting Off the Repairs."
It's amazing how we have a tendency to do that - to put off repairs that need to be made in our marriage, with our child, with our parents, in a broken relationship, or in dealing with a problem that we don't want to confront. We keep thinking about how much it's going to cost to try to fix things. And we put it off - a little bit longer.
Problem: the longer you wait to repair what's broken, the more expensive it's going to be. This is the easiest and cheapest it's ever going to be to make it right. One day it's going to get so bad it's un-livable that way. But the price of repairs may be more expensive than you ever dreamed.
In the Bible, God is constantly urging us to get things fixed now. He says about our anger, for example, "Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry" (Ephesians 4:27). Translation: fix it now. Putting it off will only make it more expensive to fix.
Jesus told the story of the son who insisted on getting his inheritance while his father was still alive. Then he went to another country and squandered it all on partying. Did he face the damage and start repairs at that point? Oh, no! Postpone the repairs; too hard to go home and admit you're wrong. Did he give in when his friends all abandoned him? No. When the only job he could find was feeding some farmer's pigs? He still postponed the repairs. Finally, as he was reduced to eating pig slop, he said, "I will go to my father." And that's when he finally got a real relationship with his father - when he least deserved the love and forgiveness his father gave him.
We all need to go home to God that same way, because the most broken thing in our life is our relationship with God. The Bible says we're "far away" from God because our sin has cut us off from the one person we can't afford to live without - or die without. Our word for today from the Word of God in Isaiah 55:6 warns us to "...seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near." One day you won't be able to find Him. If you feel His moving in your heart today, you can still find Him...for today, that is.
Postponing the Christ who died for your sin gets more and more expensive; more and more days wasted without the love and the meaning you were made for. Until one day the days run out, and you will have to pay, forever, the bill for your sin that Jesus already paid for you on the cross because you put it off one time too many. Which is why I urge you (why I pray for you) that you will not postpone repairing your relationship with God one more day.
Talk to Him. Tell Him, "Jesus, I'm Yours. No more putting this off. You died for me. You've got me." Getting this settled brings the greatest peace in the world. If you'd be interested in some information that I've put together on just how to get started with Jesus, visit our website today. It's YoursForLife.net. Or you can call toll free for my free booklet about it. It's called Yours For Life and the toll free number is 877-741-1200.
If Jesus is working in your heart, please don't tell Him "later" again. The price you're risking is a price you don't want to pay.
“By Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.” Colossians 1:16 NASB
What a phenomenal list! Heavens and earth. Visible and invisible. Thrones, dominions, rulers and authorities. No thing, place, or person omitted. The scale on the sea urchin. The hair on the elephant hide.
The hurricane that wrecks the coast, the rain that nourishes the desert, the infant’s first heartbeat, the elderly person’s final breath -– all can be traced back to the hand of Christ, the firstborn of creation.
Jeremiah 5
Sins Are Piled Sky-High
1-2 "Patrol Jerusalem's streets. Look around. Take note.
Search the market squares.
See if you can find one man, one woman,
A single soul who does what is right
and tries to live a true life.
I want to forgive that person."
God's Decree.
"But if all they do is say, 'As sure as God lives...'
they're nothing but a bunch of liars."
3-6But you, God,
you have an eye for truth, don't you?
You hit them hard, but it didn't faze them.
You disciplined them, but they refused correction.
Hardheaded, harder than rock,
they wouldn't change.
Then I said to myself, "Well, these are just poor people.
They don't know any better.
They were never taught anything about God.
They never went to prayer meetings.
I'll find some people from the best families.
I'll talk to them.
They'll know what's going on, the way God works.
They'll know the score."
But they were no better! Rebels all!
Off doing their own thing.
The invaders are ready to pounce and kill,
like a mountain lion, a wilderness wolf,
Panthers on the prowl.
The streets aren't safe anymore.
And why? Because the people's sins are piled sky-high;
their betrayals are past counting.
7-9"Why should I even bother with you any longer?
Your children wander off, leaving me,
Taking up with gods
that aren't even gods.
I satisfied their deepest needs, and then they went off with the 'sacred' whores,
left me for orgies in sex shrines!
A bunch of well-groomed, lusty stallions,
each one pawing and snorting for his neighbor's wife.
Do you think I'm going to stand around and do nothing?"
God's Decree.
"Don't you think I'll take serious measures
against a people like this?
Eyes That Don't Really Look,
Ears That Don't Really Listen
10-11"Go down the rows of vineyards and rip out the vines,
but not all of them. Leave a few.
Prune back those vines!
That growth didn't come from God!
They've betrayed me over and over again,
Judah and Israel both."
God's Decree.
12-13"They've spread lies about God.
They've said, 'There's nothing to him.
Nothing bad will happen to us,
neither famine nor war will come our way.
The prophets are all windbags.
They speak nothing but nonsense.'"
14Therefore, this is what God said to me, God-of-the-Angel-Armies:
"Because they have talked this way,
they are going to eat those words.
Watch now! I'm putting my words
as fire in your mouth.
And the people are a pile of kindling
ready to go up in flames.
15-17"Attention! I'm bringing a far-off nation
against you, O house of Israel."
God's Decree.
"A solid nation,
an ancient nation,
A nation that speaks another language.
You won't understand a word they say.
When they aim their arrows, you're as good as dead.
They're a nation of real fighters!
They'll clean you out of house and home,
rob you of crops and children alike.
They'll feast on your sheep and cattle,
strip your vines and fig trees.
And the fortresses that made you feel so safe—
leveled with a stroke of the sword!
18-19"Even then, as bad as it will be"—God's Decree!—"it will not be the end of the world for you. And when people ask, 'Why did our God do all this to us?' you must say to them, 'It's tit for tat. Just as you left me and served foreign gods in your own country, so now you must serve foreigners in their own country.'
20-25"Tell the house of Jacob this,
put out this bulletin in Judah:
Listen to this,
you scatterbrains, airheads,
With eyes that see but don't really look,
and ears that hear but don't really listen.
Why don't you honor me?
Why aren't you in awe before me?
Yes, me, who made the shorelines
to contain the ocean waters.
I drew a line in the sand
that cannot be crossed.
Waves roll in but cannot get through;
breakers crash but that's the end of them.
But this people—what a people!
Uncontrollable, untameable runaways.
It never occurs to them to say,
'How can we honor our God with our lives,
The God who gives rain in both spring and autumn
and maintains the rhythm of the seasons,
Who sets aside time each year for harvest
and keeps everything running smoothly for us?'
Of course you don't! Your bad behavior blinds you to all this.
Your sins keep my blessings at a distance.
To Stand for Nothing and Stand Up for No One
26-29"My people are infiltrated by wicked men,
unscrupulous men on the hunt.
They set traps for the unsuspecting.
Their victims are innocent men and women.
Their houses are stuffed with ill-gotten gain,
like a hunter's bag full of birds.
Pretentious and powerful and rich,
hugely obese, oily with rolls of fat.
Worse, they have no conscience.
Right and wrong mean nothing to them.
They stand for nothing, stand up for no one,
throw orphans to the wolves, exploit the poor.
Do you think I'll stand by and do nothing about this?"
God's Decree.
"Don't you think I'll take serious measures
against a people like this?
30-31"Unspeakable! Sickening!
What's happened in this country?
Prophets preach lies
and priests hire on as their assistants.
And my people love it. They eat it up!
But what will you do when it's time to pick up the pieces?"
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Revelation 21
Everything New
1I saw Heaven and earth new-created. Gone the first Heaven, gone the first earth, gone the sea. 2I saw Holy Jerusalem, new-created, descending resplendent out of Heaven, as ready for God as a bride for her husband. 3-5I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: "Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! They're his people, he's their God. He'll wipe every tear from their eyes. Death is gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the first order of things gone." The Enthroned continued, "Look! I'm making everything new. Write it all down—each word dependable and accurate."
March 25, 2010
Far Better
Listen Now | Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ: Revelation 21:1-4
God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. —Revelation 21:4
Having suffered greatly—first from cancer, and then from the grueling medical regimen—pastor Dan Cummings was tired. After 2 weeks of treatment in Texas, he was looking forward to going back home to Michigan. In a post on his blog, he wrote: “Today is far better . . . amazing what some hydration will do. . . . Will fly home on the weekend to continue treatment at home.”
Dan did return to Michigan, but several days later, his journey on earth ended. He went home to be with his God—whom he loved with every bit of his weakened body but mighty spirit.
When I viewed his blog a few days later, his words “Today is far better” jumped out at me. I smiled through my tears in the knowledge that Dan was now experiencing a life that is truly “far better” (Phil. 1:23).
Someday we who claim the name of Jesus will also go to that place where there is “no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.” It’s a place where there is no more pain and where a loving Father promises to “wipe away every tear from [our] eyes” (Rev. 21:4).
The life we have here isn’t all there is. There is a far, far better place that Jesus is preparing for those who love Him (John 14:2-3). — Cindy Hess Kasper
When our life on earth has ended
We will feel God’s warm embrace;
There will be no pain or sorrow
In that far, far better place. —Sper
Heaven—no pain, no night, no death, no tears.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
March 25, 2010
Maintaining the Proper Relationship
| Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ:
. . . the friend of the bridegroom . . . —John 3:29
Goodness and purity should never be traits that draw attention to themselves, but should simply be magnets that draw people to Jesus Christ. If my holiness is not drawing others to Him, it is not the right kind of holiness; it is only an influence which awakens undue emotions and evil desires in people and diverts them from heading in the right direction. A person who is a beautiful saint can be a hindrance in leading people to the Lord by presenting only what Christ has done for him, instead of presenting Jesus Christ Himself. Others will be left with this thought— "What a fine person that man is!" That is not being a true "friend of the bridegroom"— I am increasing all the time; He is not.
To maintain this friendship and faithfulness to the Bridegroom, we have to be more careful to have the moral and vital relationship to Him above everything else, including obedience. Sometimes there is nothing to obey and our only task is to maintain a vital connection with Jesus Christ, seeing that nothing interferes with it. Only occasionally is it a matter of obedience. At those times when a crisis arises, we have to find out what God’s will is. Yet most of our life is not spent in trying to be consciously obedient, but in maintaining this relationship— being the "friend of the bridegroom." Christian work can actually be a means of diverting a person’s focus away from Jesus Christ. Instead of being friends "of the bridegroom," we may become amateur providences of God to someone else, working against Him while we use His weapons.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Cost of Putting Off the Repairs - #6054
Thursday, March 25, 2010
A storm that roared through our area got so intense that a tree as big around as a car came crashing down on a house in our community. It went all the way through the roof and the house. We're talking major damage here. It didn't take long for the insurance adjuster to come by and give the owner a check to get the damage repaired. She called a contractor to come over for an estimate, and when he asked if she wanted him to do the work, she told him she wanted another estimate first. He warned her that there was more rain in the forecast, but she was determined. She had a similar conversation with a second contractor. Then the big rain came - and, of course, poured into her house. That's when she called a third and fourth contractor; both of whom gave her much higher estimates than the first two. Finally, she called in that first contractor who gave her a new estimate as high as the others. He said, "Ma'am, you waited so long that the rain came and did a lot more damage. So getting things fixed is going to cost a lot more."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Cost of Putting Off the Repairs."
It's amazing how we have a tendency to do that - to put off repairs that need to be made in our marriage, with our child, with our parents, in a broken relationship, or in dealing with a problem that we don't want to confront. We keep thinking about how much it's going to cost to try to fix things. And we put it off - a little bit longer.
Problem: the longer you wait to repair what's broken, the more expensive it's going to be. This is the easiest and cheapest it's ever going to be to make it right. One day it's going to get so bad it's un-livable that way. But the price of repairs may be more expensive than you ever dreamed.
In the Bible, God is constantly urging us to get things fixed now. He says about our anger, for example, "Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry" (Ephesians 4:27). Translation: fix it now. Putting it off will only make it more expensive to fix.
Jesus told the story of the son who insisted on getting his inheritance while his father was still alive. Then he went to another country and squandered it all on partying. Did he face the damage and start repairs at that point? Oh, no! Postpone the repairs; too hard to go home and admit you're wrong. Did he give in when his friends all abandoned him? No. When the only job he could find was feeding some farmer's pigs? He still postponed the repairs. Finally, as he was reduced to eating pig slop, he said, "I will go to my father." And that's when he finally got a real relationship with his father - when he least deserved the love and forgiveness his father gave him.
We all need to go home to God that same way, because the most broken thing in our life is our relationship with God. The Bible says we're "far away" from God because our sin has cut us off from the one person we can't afford to live without - or die without. Our word for today from the Word of God in Isaiah 55:6 warns us to "...seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near." One day you won't be able to find Him. If you feel His moving in your heart today, you can still find Him...for today, that is.
Postponing the Christ who died for your sin gets more and more expensive; more and more days wasted without the love and the meaning you were made for. Until one day the days run out, and you will have to pay, forever, the bill for your sin that Jesus already paid for you on the cross because you put it off one time too many. Which is why I urge you (why I pray for you) that you will not postpone repairing your relationship with God one more day.
Talk to Him. Tell Him, "Jesus, I'm Yours. No more putting this off. You died for me. You've got me." Getting this settled brings the greatest peace in the world. If you'd be interested in some information that I've put together on just how to get started with Jesus, visit our website today. It's YoursForLife.net. Or you can call toll free for my free booklet about it. It's called Yours For Life and the toll free number is 877-741-1200.
If Jesus is working in your heart, please don't tell Him "later" again. The price you're risking is a price you don't want to pay.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Jeremiah 4, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: No Normal Friday
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No Normal Friday
Posted: 23 Mar 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“The Good Shepherd puts the sheep before himself.” John 10:11, The Message
God is on a cross. The creator of the universe is being executed.
Spit and blood are caked to his cheeks, and his lips are cracked and swollen.
Thorns rip his scalp. His lungs scream with pain. His legs knot with cramps . . .
And there is no one to save him, for he is sacrificing himself.
It is no normal six hours . . . it is no normal Friday.
Jeremiah 4
1-2 "If you want to come back, O Israel, you must really come back to me.
You must get rid of your stinking sin paraphernalia
and not wander away from me anymore.
Then you can say words like, 'As God lives...'
and have them mean something true and just and right.
And the godless nations will get caught up in the blessing
and find something in Israel to write home about."
3-4Here's another Message from God
to the people of Judah and Jerusalem:
"Plow your unplowed fields,
but then don't plant weeds in the soil!
Yes, circumcise your lives for God's sake.
Plow your unplowed hearts,
all you people of Judah and Jerusalem.
Prevent fire—the fire of my anger—
for once it starts it can't be put out.
Your wicked ways
are fuel for the fire.
God's Sledgehammer Anger
5-8"Sound the alarm in Judah,
broadcast the news in Jerusalem.
Say, 'Blow the ram's horn trumpet through the land!'
Shout out—a bullhorn bellow!—
'Close ranks!
Run for your lives to the shelters!'
Send up a flare warning Zion:
'Not a minute to lose! Don't sit on your hands!'
Disaster's descending from the north. I set it off!
When it lands, it will shake the foundations.
Invaders have pounced like a lion from its cover,
ready to rip nations to shreds,
Leaving your land in wrack and ruin,
your cities in rubble, abandoned.
Dress in funereal black.
Weep and wail,
For God's sledgehammer anger
has slammed into us head-on.
9"When this happens"
—God's Decree—
"King and princes will lose heart;
priests will be baffled and prophets stand dumbfounded."
10Then I said, "Alas, Master God!
You've fed lies to this people, this Jerusalem.
You assured them, 'All is well, don't worry,'
at the very moment when the sword was at their throats."
11-12At that time, this people, yes, this very Jerusalem,
will be told in plain words:
"The northern hordes are sweeping in
from the desert steppes—
A wind that's up to no good, a gale-force wind.
I ordered this wind.
I'm pronouncing
my hurricane judgment on my people."
Your Evil Life Is Piercing Your Heart
13-14Look at them! Like banks of storm clouds,
racing, tumbling, their chariots a tornado,
Their horses faster than eagles!
Woe to us! We're done for!
Jerusalem! Scrub the evil from your lives
so you'll be fit for salvation.
How much longer will you harbor
devious and malignant designs within you?
15-17What's this? A messenger from Dan?
Bad news from Ephraim's hills!
Make the report public.
Broadcast the news to Jerusalem:
"Invaders from far off are
raising war cries against Judah's towns.
They're all over her, like a dog on a bone.
And why? Because she rebelled against me."
God's Decree.
18"It's the way you've lived
that's brought all this on you.
The bitter taste is from your evil life.
That's what's piercing your heart."
19-21I'm doubled up with cramps in my belly—
a poker burns in my gut.
My insides are tearing me up,
never a moment's peace.
The ram's horn trumpet blast rings in my ears,
the signal for all-out war.
Disaster hard on the heels of disaster,
the whole country in ruins!
In one stroke my home is destroyed,
the walls flattened in the blink of an eye.
How long do I have to look at the warning flares,
listen to the siren of danger?
Experts at Evil
22"What fools my people are!
They have no idea who I am.
A company of half-wits,
dopes and donkeys all!
Experts at evil
but klutzes at good."
23-26I looked at the earth—
it was back to pre-Genesis chaos and emptiness.
I looked at the skies,
and not a star to be seen.
I looked at the mountains—
they were trembling like aspen leaves,
And all the hills
rocking back and forth in the wind.
I looked—what's this! Not a man or woman in sight,
and not a bird to be seen in the skies.
I looked—this can't be! Every garden and orchard shriveled up.
All the towns were ghost towns.
And all this because of God,
because of the blazing anger of God.
27-28Yes, this is God's Word on the matter:
"The whole country will be laid waste—
still it won't be the end of the world.
The earth will mourn
and the skies lament
Because I've given my word and won't take it back.
I've decided and won't change my mind."
You're Not Going to Seduce Anyone
29Someone shouts, "Horsemen and archers!"
and everybody runs for cover.
They hide in ditches,
they climb into caves.
The cities are emptied,
not a person left anywhere.
30-31And you, what do you think you're up to?
Dressing up in party clothes,
Decking yourselves out in jewelry,
putting on lipstick and rouge and mascara!
Your primping goes for nothing.
You're not going to seduce anyone. They're out to kill you!
And what's that I hear? The cry of a woman in labor,
the screams of a mother giving birth to her firstborn.
It's the cry of Daughter Zion, gasping for breath,
reaching out for help:
"Help, oh help me! I'm dying!
The killers are on me!"
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Job 1:13-22 (The Message)
13-15 Sometime later, while Job's children were having one of their parties at the home of the oldest son, a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys grazing in the field next to us when Sabeans attacked. They stole the animals and killed the field hands. I'm the only one to get out alive and tell you what happened."
16 While he was still talking, another messenger arrived and said, "Bolts of lightning struck the sheep and the shepherds and fried them—burned them to a crisp. I'm the only one to get out alive and tell you what happened."
17 While he was still talking, another messenger arrived and said, "Chaldeans coming from three directions raided the camels and massacred the camel drivers. I'm the only one to get out alive and tell you what happened."
18-19 While he was still talking, another messenger arrived and said, "Your children were having a party at the home of the oldest brother when a tornado swept in off the desert and struck the house. It collapsed on the young people and they died. I'm the only one to get out alive and tell you what happened."
20 Job got to his feet, ripped his robe, shaved his head, then fell to the ground and worshiped:
21 Naked I came from my mother's womb,
naked I'll return to the womb of the earth.
God gives, God takes.
God's name be ever blessed.
22 Not once through all this did Job sin; not once did he blame God.
March 24, 2010
Worst Possible Scenario!
Listen Now | Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ: Job 1:13-22
When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. —Job 23:10
When I used to teach at a Bible college in a large city, I sometimes graded papers at a food court while waiting for a commuter train. One day, I accidentally bumped my large cup of coffee. Its entire contents emptied into my open briefcase.
In most cities, there is a quiet reserve on the part of commuters. However, the coffee splash was so dramatic that it could not be ignored. A man sitting nearby said aloud, “Worst possible scenario!”
That comment was obviously an overstatement. But each of us dreads the thought of something in particular: financial loss, the death of a child or spouse, cancer, or another loss or hardship.
The book of Job is a case study in worst possible scenarios. Yet Job wisely assessed God’s role in trying circumstances of loss and poor health: “He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10). From this wise statement we can learn two valuable lessons: One is that what we dread most can be used to test our character and make us stronger. The other is that God will provide the strength and comfort to see us through.
Cling to God. He has promised to work on our behalf, even in the worst possible scenario. — Dennis Fisher
God often sends me joy through pain,
Through bitter loss, divinest gain;
Yet through it all—dark days or bright—
I know my Father leads aright. —Conklin
The living God can take the fear out of living.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
March 24, 2010
Decreasing for His Purpose
| Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ:
He must increase, but I must decrease —John 3:30
If you become a necessity to someone else’s life, you are out of God’s will. As a servant, your primary responsibility is to be a "friend of the bridegroom" (John 3:29 ). When you see a person who is close to grasping the claims of Jesus Christ, you know that your influence has been used in the right direction. And when you begin to see that person in the middle of a difficult and painful struggle, don’t try to prevent it, but pray that his difficulty will grow even ten times stronger, until no power on earth or in hell could hold him away from Jesus Christ. Over and over again, we try to be amateur providences in someone’s life. We are indeed amateurs, coming in and actually preventing God’s will and saying, "This person should not have to experience this difficulty." Instead of being friends of the Bridegroom, our sympathy gets in the way. One day that person will say to us, "You are a thief; you stole my desire to follow Jesus, and because of you I lost sight of Him."
Beware of rejoicing with someone over the wrong thing, but always look to rejoice over the right thing. ". . . the friend of the bridegroom . . . rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease" ( John 3:29-30 ). This was spoken with joy, not with sadness-at last they were to see the Bridegroom! And John said this was his joy. It represents a stepping aside, an absolute removal of the servant, never to be thought of again.
Listen intently with your entire being until you hear the Bridegroom’s voice in the life of another person. And never give any thought to what devastation, difficulties, or sickness it will bring. Just rejoice with godly excitement that His voice has been heard. You may often have to watch Jesus Christ wreck a life before He saves it (see Matthew 10:34 ).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
What Makes You Really Valuable - #6053
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
They're just pieces of cardboard, but some of them are worth hundreds, even thousands of dollars. We call them baseball cards. Our son got interested in them when he was a little guy, and pretty soon they became a pretty serious investment for him. He knew how to, well as they say on Wall Street, buy low and sell high. Because he watched up-and-coming players, he owned the rookie cards of some players who later became major stars, and there aren't many of those rookie cards out there. Lest we trivialize the baseball card business, realize that it helped pay a significant part of our son's way through college. I remember when he told me as a teenager, "Dad, I know my room is a mess, but there's one thing I take care of - my baseball cards." His valuable ones were neatly organized in plastic folders in carefully guarded notebooks. And the reason most of those cards were high value was very simple. They were rare!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "What Makes You Really Valuable."
If you're trying to do what's right in an environment where most everyone else is doing what's wrong, you get to feeling kind of lonely sometimes, don't you? And even weird? In fact, the people you work with, or play with, or go to school with may basically tell you that you're weird because you don't do the things they do. And, after a while, that can start to wear on you and even wear down your resistance. You get tired of being "weird."
But if you're basically standing alone, doing the right thing, you're not weird - you're rare. Ask any collector, whether it's baseball cards, antiques, stamps, coins what makes an item valuable is that they're aren't many of them. The less there are like them, the more valuable they become. If you're taking your stand, doing things God's way, that's you. Yes, there may not be many people living by the standards you are. But that doesn't make you weird; it makes you valuable because there aren't many like you!
In His final hours before His crucifixion, Jesus prayed to His Father on behalf of all those who believed in Him at that time and all those who would believe in Him through the years. So, when you listen to a portion of that prayer in our word for today from the Word of God, remember Jesus is praying in advance for you. John 17, beginning with verse 15, says of His followers, "My prayer is not that You take them out of the world, but that You protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I have sent them into the world."
"Sanctify them," Jesus prayed. That means "set them aside for special purposes. Keep them special, reserved for God's purposes." Jesus wanted to plant you right in the middle of a dark world to be light there. Which means that, just like Him, you're going to take some abuse, some name-calling, and some rejection for your allegiance to Him. But not because there's something wrong with you. There's something very right with you!
The less virgins there are, the more valuable a virgin becomes. The less honest men and women there are, the more valuable an honest person becomes. The less people there are who say no to what's dirty, what's destructive, what's negative, the more your worth increases. Maybe you've been tempted to cave in. You've got combat fatigue; there's heavy pressure. Don't do it. Not only is Jesus counting on you, but the very people who are pressuring you, desperately need for you to stand firm, or their only light goes out.
Because you're Jesus' personal representative in a dark place, in many ways you aren't like everybody else. But you keep loving them unconditionally. You make them feel important, and doing the right thing without condemning them. You keep doing all of that, and you're going to be, whether they admit it or not, one of the most important people in their life. Because people like you are rare and very, very valuable.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No Normal Friday
Posted: 23 Mar 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“The Good Shepherd puts the sheep before himself.” John 10:11, The Message
God is on a cross. The creator of the universe is being executed.
Spit and blood are caked to his cheeks, and his lips are cracked and swollen.
Thorns rip his scalp. His lungs scream with pain. His legs knot with cramps . . .
And there is no one to save him, for he is sacrificing himself.
It is no normal six hours . . . it is no normal Friday.
Jeremiah 4
1-2 "If you want to come back, O Israel, you must really come back to me.
You must get rid of your stinking sin paraphernalia
and not wander away from me anymore.
Then you can say words like, 'As God lives...'
and have them mean something true and just and right.
And the godless nations will get caught up in the blessing
and find something in Israel to write home about."
3-4Here's another Message from God
to the people of Judah and Jerusalem:
"Plow your unplowed fields,
but then don't plant weeds in the soil!
Yes, circumcise your lives for God's sake.
Plow your unplowed hearts,
all you people of Judah and Jerusalem.
Prevent fire—the fire of my anger—
for once it starts it can't be put out.
Your wicked ways
are fuel for the fire.
God's Sledgehammer Anger
5-8"Sound the alarm in Judah,
broadcast the news in Jerusalem.
Say, 'Blow the ram's horn trumpet through the land!'
Shout out—a bullhorn bellow!—
'Close ranks!
Run for your lives to the shelters!'
Send up a flare warning Zion:
'Not a minute to lose! Don't sit on your hands!'
Disaster's descending from the north. I set it off!
When it lands, it will shake the foundations.
Invaders have pounced like a lion from its cover,
ready to rip nations to shreds,
Leaving your land in wrack and ruin,
your cities in rubble, abandoned.
Dress in funereal black.
Weep and wail,
For God's sledgehammer anger
has slammed into us head-on.
9"When this happens"
—God's Decree—
"King and princes will lose heart;
priests will be baffled and prophets stand dumbfounded."
10Then I said, "Alas, Master God!
You've fed lies to this people, this Jerusalem.
You assured them, 'All is well, don't worry,'
at the very moment when the sword was at their throats."
11-12At that time, this people, yes, this very Jerusalem,
will be told in plain words:
"The northern hordes are sweeping in
from the desert steppes—
A wind that's up to no good, a gale-force wind.
I ordered this wind.
I'm pronouncing
my hurricane judgment on my people."
Your Evil Life Is Piercing Your Heart
13-14Look at them! Like banks of storm clouds,
racing, tumbling, their chariots a tornado,
Their horses faster than eagles!
Woe to us! We're done for!
Jerusalem! Scrub the evil from your lives
so you'll be fit for salvation.
How much longer will you harbor
devious and malignant designs within you?
15-17What's this? A messenger from Dan?
Bad news from Ephraim's hills!
Make the report public.
Broadcast the news to Jerusalem:
"Invaders from far off are
raising war cries against Judah's towns.
They're all over her, like a dog on a bone.
And why? Because she rebelled against me."
God's Decree.
18"It's the way you've lived
that's brought all this on you.
The bitter taste is from your evil life.
That's what's piercing your heart."
19-21I'm doubled up with cramps in my belly—
a poker burns in my gut.
My insides are tearing me up,
never a moment's peace.
The ram's horn trumpet blast rings in my ears,
the signal for all-out war.
Disaster hard on the heels of disaster,
the whole country in ruins!
In one stroke my home is destroyed,
the walls flattened in the blink of an eye.
How long do I have to look at the warning flares,
listen to the siren of danger?
Experts at Evil
22"What fools my people are!
They have no idea who I am.
A company of half-wits,
dopes and donkeys all!
Experts at evil
but klutzes at good."
23-26I looked at the earth—
it was back to pre-Genesis chaos and emptiness.
I looked at the skies,
and not a star to be seen.
I looked at the mountains—
they were trembling like aspen leaves,
And all the hills
rocking back and forth in the wind.
I looked—what's this! Not a man or woman in sight,
and not a bird to be seen in the skies.
I looked—this can't be! Every garden and orchard shriveled up.
All the towns were ghost towns.
And all this because of God,
because of the blazing anger of God.
27-28Yes, this is God's Word on the matter:
"The whole country will be laid waste—
still it won't be the end of the world.
The earth will mourn
and the skies lament
Because I've given my word and won't take it back.
I've decided and won't change my mind."
You're Not Going to Seduce Anyone
29Someone shouts, "Horsemen and archers!"
and everybody runs for cover.
They hide in ditches,
they climb into caves.
The cities are emptied,
not a person left anywhere.
30-31And you, what do you think you're up to?
Dressing up in party clothes,
Decking yourselves out in jewelry,
putting on lipstick and rouge and mascara!
Your primping goes for nothing.
You're not going to seduce anyone. They're out to kill you!
And what's that I hear? The cry of a woman in labor,
the screams of a mother giving birth to her firstborn.
It's the cry of Daughter Zion, gasping for breath,
reaching out for help:
"Help, oh help me! I'm dying!
The killers are on me!"
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Job 1:13-22 (The Message)
13-15 Sometime later, while Job's children were having one of their parties at the home of the oldest son, a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys grazing in the field next to us when Sabeans attacked. They stole the animals and killed the field hands. I'm the only one to get out alive and tell you what happened."
16 While he was still talking, another messenger arrived and said, "Bolts of lightning struck the sheep and the shepherds and fried them—burned them to a crisp. I'm the only one to get out alive and tell you what happened."
17 While he was still talking, another messenger arrived and said, "Chaldeans coming from three directions raided the camels and massacred the camel drivers. I'm the only one to get out alive and tell you what happened."
18-19 While he was still talking, another messenger arrived and said, "Your children were having a party at the home of the oldest brother when a tornado swept in off the desert and struck the house. It collapsed on the young people and they died. I'm the only one to get out alive and tell you what happened."
20 Job got to his feet, ripped his robe, shaved his head, then fell to the ground and worshiped:
21 Naked I came from my mother's womb,
naked I'll return to the womb of the earth.
God gives, God takes.
God's name be ever blessed.
22 Not once through all this did Job sin; not once did he blame God.
March 24, 2010
Worst Possible Scenario!
Listen Now | Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ: Job 1:13-22
When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. —Job 23:10
When I used to teach at a Bible college in a large city, I sometimes graded papers at a food court while waiting for a commuter train. One day, I accidentally bumped my large cup of coffee. Its entire contents emptied into my open briefcase.
In most cities, there is a quiet reserve on the part of commuters. However, the coffee splash was so dramatic that it could not be ignored. A man sitting nearby said aloud, “Worst possible scenario!”
That comment was obviously an overstatement. But each of us dreads the thought of something in particular: financial loss, the death of a child or spouse, cancer, or another loss or hardship.
The book of Job is a case study in worst possible scenarios. Yet Job wisely assessed God’s role in trying circumstances of loss and poor health: “He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10). From this wise statement we can learn two valuable lessons: One is that what we dread most can be used to test our character and make us stronger. The other is that God will provide the strength and comfort to see us through.
Cling to God. He has promised to work on our behalf, even in the worst possible scenario. — Dennis Fisher
God often sends me joy through pain,
Through bitter loss, divinest gain;
Yet through it all—dark days or bright—
I know my Father leads aright. —Conklin
The living God can take the fear out of living.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
March 24, 2010
Decreasing for His Purpose
| Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ:
He must increase, but I must decrease —John 3:30
If you become a necessity to someone else’s life, you are out of God’s will. As a servant, your primary responsibility is to be a "friend of the bridegroom" (John 3:29 ). When you see a person who is close to grasping the claims of Jesus Christ, you know that your influence has been used in the right direction. And when you begin to see that person in the middle of a difficult and painful struggle, don’t try to prevent it, but pray that his difficulty will grow even ten times stronger, until no power on earth or in hell could hold him away from Jesus Christ. Over and over again, we try to be amateur providences in someone’s life. We are indeed amateurs, coming in and actually preventing God’s will and saying, "This person should not have to experience this difficulty." Instead of being friends of the Bridegroom, our sympathy gets in the way. One day that person will say to us, "You are a thief; you stole my desire to follow Jesus, and because of you I lost sight of Him."
Beware of rejoicing with someone over the wrong thing, but always look to rejoice over the right thing. ". . . the friend of the bridegroom . . . rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease" ( John 3:29-30 ). This was spoken with joy, not with sadness-at last they were to see the Bridegroom! And John said this was his joy. It represents a stepping aside, an absolute removal of the servant, never to be thought of again.
Listen intently with your entire being until you hear the Bridegroom’s voice in the life of another person. And never give any thought to what devastation, difficulties, or sickness it will bring. Just rejoice with godly excitement that His voice has been heard. You may often have to watch Jesus Christ wreck a life before He saves it (see Matthew 10:34 ).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
What Makes You Really Valuable - #6053
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
They're just pieces of cardboard, but some of them are worth hundreds, even thousands of dollars. We call them baseball cards. Our son got interested in them when he was a little guy, and pretty soon they became a pretty serious investment for him. He knew how to, well as they say on Wall Street, buy low and sell high. Because he watched up-and-coming players, he owned the rookie cards of some players who later became major stars, and there aren't many of those rookie cards out there. Lest we trivialize the baseball card business, realize that it helped pay a significant part of our son's way through college. I remember when he told me as a teenager, "Dad, I know my room is a mess, but there's one thing I take care of - my baseball cards." His valuable ones were neatly organized in plastic folders in carefully guarded notebooks. And the reason most of those cards were high value was very simple. They were rare!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "What Makes You Really Valuable."
If you're trying to do what's right in an environment where most everyone else is doing what's wrong, you get to feeling kind of lonely sometimes, don't you? And even weird? In fact, the people you work with, or play with, or go to school with may basically tell you that you're weird because you don't do the things they do. And, after a while, that can start to wear on you and even wear down your resistance. You get tired of being "weird."
But if you're basically standing alone, doing the right thing, you're not weird - you're rare. Ask any collector, whether it's baseball cards, antiques, stamps, coins what makes an item valuable is that they're aren't many of them. The less there are like them, the more valuable they become. If you're taking your stand, doing things God's way, that's you. Yes, there may not be many people living by the standards you are. But that doesn't make you weird; it makes you valuable because there aren't many like you!
In His final hours before His crucifixion, Jesus prayed to His Father on behalf of all those who believed in Him at that time and all those who would believe in Him through the years. So, when you listen to a portion of that prayer in our word for today from the Word of God, remember Jesus is praying in advance for you. John 17, beginning with verse 15, says of His followers, "My prayer is not that You take them out of the world, but that You protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I have sent them into the world."
"Sanctify them," Jesus prayed. That means "set them aside for special purposes. Keep them special, reserved for God's purposes." Jesus wanted to plant you right in the middle of a dark world to be light there. Which means that, just like Him, you're going to take some abuse, some name-calling, and some rejection for your allegiance to Him. But not because there's something wrong with you. There's something very right with you!
The less virgins there are, the more valuable a virgin becomes. The less honest men and women there are, the more valuable an honest person becomes. The less people there are who say no to what's dirty, what's destructive, what's negative, the more your worth increases. Maybe you've been tempted to cave in. You've got combat fatigue; there's heavy pressure. Don't do it. Not only is Jesus counting on you, but the very people who are pressuring you, desperately need for you to stand firm, or their only light goes out.
Because you're Jesus' personal representative in a dark place, in many ways you aren't like everybody else. But you keep loving them unconditionally. You make them feel important, and doing the right thing without condemning them. You keep doing all of that, and you're going to be, whether they admit it or not, one of the most important people in their life. Because people like you are rare and very, very valuable.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Jeremiah 3, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: Quiet Kindness
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quiet Kindness
Posted: 23 Mar 2010 01:01 AM PDT
“When we have the opportunity to help anyone, we should do it.” Galatians 6:10
Kind hearts are quietly kind. They let the car cut into traffic and the young mom with three kids move up in the checkout line.
The pick up the neighbor’s trash can that rolled into the street. And they are especially kind at church. They understand that perhaps the neediest person they’ll meet all week is the one standing in the foyer or sitting on the row behind them in worship.
Jeremiah 3
Your Sex-and-Religion Obsessions
1 God's Message came to me as follows: "If a man's wife
walks out on him
And marries another man,
can he take her back as if nothing had happened?
Wouldn't that raise a huge stink
in the land?
And isn't that what you've done—
'whored' your way with god after god?
And now you want to come back as if nothing had happened."
God's Decree.
2-5"Look around at the hills.
Where have you not had sex?
You've camped out like hunters stalking deer.
You've solicited many lover-gods,
Like a streetwalking whore
chasing after other gods.
And so the rain has stopped.
No more rain from the skies!
But it doesn't even faze you. Brazen as whores,
you carry on as if you've done nothing wrong.
Then you have the nerve to call out, 'My father!
You took care of me when I was a child. Why not now?
Are you going to keep up your anger nonstop?'
That's your line. Meanwhile you keep sinning nonstop."
Admit Your God-Defiance
6-10God spoke to me during the reign of King Josiah: "You have noticed, haven't you, how fickle Israel has visited every hill and grove of trees as a whore at large? I assumed that after she had gotten it out of her system, she'd come back, but she didn't. Her flighty sister, Judah, saw what she did. She also saw that because of fickle Israel's loose morals I threw her out, gave her her walking papers. But that didn't faze flighty sister Judah. She went out, big as you please, and took up a whore's life also. She took up cheap sex-and-religion as a sideline diversion, an indulgent recreation, and used anything and anyone, flouting sanity and sanctity alike, stinking up the country. And not once in all this did flighty sister Judah even give me a nod, although she made a show of it from time to time." God's Decree.
11-12Then God told me, "Fickle Israel was a good sight better than flighty Judah. Go and preach this message. Face north toward Israel and say:
12-15"'Turn back, fickle Israel.
I'm not just hanging back to punish you.
I'm committed in love to you.
My anger doesn't seethe nonstop.
Just admit your guilt.
Admit your God-defiance.
Admit to your promiscuous life with casual partners,
pulling strangers into the sex-and-religion groves
While turning a deaf ear to me.'"
God's Decree.
"Come back, wandering children!"
God's Decree.
"I, yes I, am your true husband.
I'll pick you out one by one—
This one from the city, these two from the country—
and bring you to Zion.
I'll give you good shepherd-rulers who rule my way,
who rule you with intelligence and wisdom.
16"And this is what will happen: You will increase and prosper in the land. The time will come"—God's Decree!—"when no one will say any longer, 'Oh, for the good old days! Remember the Ark of the Covenant?' It won't even occur to anyone to say it—'the good old days.' The so-called good old days of the Ark are gone for good.
17"Jerusalem will be the new Ark—'God's Throne.' All the godless nations, no longer stuck in the ruts of their evil ways, will gather there to honor God.
18"At that time, the House of Judah will join up with the House of Israel. Holding hands, they'll leave the north country and come to the land I willed to your ancestors.
19-20"I planned what I'd say if you returned to me:
'Good! I'll bring you back into the family.
I'll give you choice land,
land that the godless nations would die for.'
And I imagined that you would say, 'Dear father!'
and would never again go off and leave me.
But no luck. Like a false-hearted woman walking out on her husband,
you, the whole family of Israel, have proven false to me."
God's Decree.
21-22The sound of voices comes drifting out of the hills,
the unhappy sound of Israel's crying,
Israel lamenting the wasted years,
never once giving her God a thought.
"Come back, wandering children!
I can heal your wanderlust!"
22-25"We're here! We've come back to you.
You're our own true God!
All that popular religion was a cheap lie,
duped crowds buying up the latest in gods.
We're back! Back to our true God,
the salvation of Israel.
The Fraud picked us clean, swindled us
of what our ancestors bequeathed us,
Gypped us out of our inheritance—
God-blessed flocks and God-given children.
We made our bed and now lie in it,
all tangled up in the dirty sheets of dishonor.
All because we sinned against our God,
we and our fathers and mothers.
From the time we took our first steps, said our first words,
we've been rebels, disobeying the voice of our God."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
2 Corinthians 2:14-17 (The Message)
An Open Door
12-14When I arrived in Troas to proclaim the Message of the Messiah, I found the place wide open: God had opened the door; all I had to do was walk through it. But when I didn't find Titus waiting for me with news of your condition, I couldn't relax. Worried about you, I left and came on to Macedonia province looking for Titus and a reassuring word on you. And I got it, thank God!
14-16In the Messiah, in Christ, God leads us from place to place in one perpetual victory parade. Through us, he brings knowledge of Christ. Everywhere we go, people breathe in the exquisite fragrance. Because of Christ, we give off a sweet scent rising to God, which is recognized by those on the way of salvation—an aroma redolent with life. But those on the way to destruction treat us more like the stench from a rotting corpse.
16-17This is a terrific responsibility. Is anyone competent to take it on? No— but at least we don't take God's Word, water it down, and then take it to the streets to sell it cheap. We stand in Christ's presence when we speak; God looks us in the face. We get what we say straight from God and say it as honestly as we can.
March 23, 2010
Signature Scent
Listen Now | Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ: 2 Corinthians 2:14-17
Through us [God] diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. —2 Corinthians 2:14
You can’t see it, hear it, or touch it, but scent is powerful. The smell of things like crayons, petunias, and colognes evoke memories that transport me to the past and bring to mind people and places I might not otherwise recall.
Some celebrities have fragrances named after them. Fans can identify with an actress or singer by dabbing on the scent bearing her name. Along those lines, Ladies Home Journal published a quiz to help readers determine the perfect fragrance for them. The idea is that every woman, to be memorable, should have a specific scent associated with her.
The idea of a signature scent is not new. God introduced it as part of worship. In the tabernacle, a certain scent was to be associated with the Lord (Ex. 30:34-35). The people were forbidden to use this fragrance for anything but worship (vv.37-38).
This idea continues under the new covenant, but with a stunning difference. Instead of using incense to make people think of Him, God uses Christians as His “signature scent” to the world (2 Cor. 2:14-15). The fact that God identifies Himself with us in such a powerful way is a truly humbling thought, and causes me to ask, “What do people think about God as a result of being around me?” — Julie Ackerman Link
When we’ve been alone with Jesus,
There’s a difference others know;
And to them it’s like a fragrance
That we leave where’er we go. —Hess
A life lived for God has a pleasing aroma.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
March 23, 2010
Am I Carnally Minded?
| Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ:
Where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal . . . ? —1 Corinthians 3:3
The natural man, or unbeliever, knows nothing about carnality. The desires of the flesh warring against the Spirit, and the Spirit warring against the flesh, which began at rebirth, are what produce carnality and the awareness of it. But Paul said, "Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" ( Galatians 5:16 ). In other words, carnality will disappear.
Are you quarrelsome and easily upset over small things? Do you think that no one who is a Christian is ever like that? Paul said they are, and he connected these attitudes with carnality. Is there a truth in the Bible that instantly awakens a spirit of malice or resentment in you? If so, that is proof that you are still carnal. If the process of sanctification is continuing in your life, there will be no trace of that kind of spirit remaining.
If the Spirit of God detects anything in you that is wrong, He doesn’t ask you to make it right; He only asks you to accept the light of truth, and then He will make it right. A child of the light will confess sin instantly and stand completely open before God. But a child of the darkness will say, "Oh, I can explain that." When the light shines and the Spirit brings conviction of sin, be a child of the light. Confess your wrongdoing, and God will deal with it. If, however, you try to vindicate yourself, you prove yourself to be a child of the darkness.
What is the proof that carnality has gone? Never deceive yourself; when carnality is gone you will know it-it is the most real thing you can imagine. And God will see to it that you have a number of opportunities to prove to yourself the miracle of His grace. The proof is in a very practical test. You will find yourself saying, "If this had happened before, I would have had the spirit of resentment!" And you will never cease to be the most amazed person on earth at what God has done for you on the inside.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
When You've Been Hurt By Friendly Fire - #6052
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Stonewall Jackson was one of the South's greatest generals in the Civil War, and he died on the battlefield - shot by mistake by his own men. He's possibly the most famous victim of one of war's greatest tragedies. You know, "friendly fire," they call it. It's bad enough that a fellow soldier is killed by enemy fire, but the heartbreak is compounded when someone is shot by their own.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When You've Been Hurt By Friendly Fire."
It happens in God's army; people who are deeply wounded, shot by their own. Hurt, betrayed, disappointed by church folks, by people who claim to be Christians. You may be one of those. You know the disillusionment that can cause, the cynicism about anything Christian, the desire to distance yourself from Christian things like you'd keep away from a dog that had bitten you. If you've been spiritually wounded by friendly fire, you're on my heart today. More importantly, you're on God's heart; whether He's on your heart or not.
When you're physically wounded, you find medical help so you can recover. How do you recover from the spiritual and emotional wounds of friendly fire? Let me suggest four steps to spiritual recovery. I don't think you want to keep living with the negativity, and self-pity, and resentment, and withdrawal of those who've been wounded; that stuff just eats you up inside. I think you might be ready for some steps to recovery.
They focus on seven little words in Hebrews 12:1-2, our word for today from the Word of God. These verses are about how to finish as a winner in the spiritual race we run here during our time on earth. It calls us to "...run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith." I wish you could say these four words out loud a few times, "It's all about Jesus." Get your eyes off Christians and churches, and remember who got you started spiritually and who will be at the finish line. It's Jesus.
Recovery step number one is realize it wasn't Jesus who hurt you. Maybe you've been withdrawing from Christians. Whatever you do, don't withdraw from Jesus. You've never needed Him more. Recovery step number 2: Defy Satan's strategy to isolate you so he can have you. The Bible says, "The devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Resist him..." (1 Peter 5:8-9). In Africa, lions try to catch a gazelle that's away from the herd. If they're alone, well, the lion can have them. If they're with the others, they're usually safe. God never designed for us to try to live for Christ alone. If you're holding back from getting close to some of your brothers and sisters in Christ, you're setting yourself up to be a lion lunch.
So, the third recovery step is this: Realize that God's people are where home is. That's why the Bible warns us not to "give up meeting together" (Hebrews 10:25). There are many believers who don't shoot their own, who are imperfect but genuinely loving people. You've got to risk finding a church like that; you need them and they need you. One other recovery step: Let go of the resentment instead of letting it grow. Ask the God who has forgiven you so much to give you His grace to forgive those who've hurt you. The feelings you harbor aren't hurting them at all, but they're killing you!
Above all, don't let Christians make you miss Jesus! Jesus never said, "Follow My followers" or "Follow My leaders." He said, "Follow Me." It's all about Jesus - the One who died for your sins so you wouldn't have to. It's ultimately Christ you accept or reject, not Christians. It's the cross you have to decide about, not the church. And it's Jesus you'll meet when you've taken your last breath. All that's going to matter then - all that really matters now - is what have you done with Jesus? If you've never given yourself fully to Him as your only hope, don't let anything or anyone keep you from Him one more day! Tell Him today, "Jesus, I am Yours."
I'd be very grateful if we could help you know you really belong to Him. And one way that could happen is if you would accept my invitation to visit our website YoursForLife.net. Would you check it out today? He's waiting, as He has been for a long, long time, with arms wide open to love you.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quiet Kindness
Posted: 23 Mar 2010 01:01 AM PDT
“When we have the opportunity to help anyone, we should do it.” Galatians 6:10
Kind hearts are quietly kind. They let the car cut into traffic and the young mom with three kids move up in the checkout line.
The pick up the neighbor’s trash can that rolled into the street. And they are especially kind at church. They understand that perhaps the neediest person they’ll meet all week is the one standing in the foyer or sitting on the row behind them in worship.
Jeremiah 3
Your Sex-and-Religion Obsessions
1 God's Message came to me as follows: "If a man's wife
walks out on him
And marries another man,
can he take her back as if nothing had happened?
Wouldn't that raise a huge stink
in the land?
And isn't that what you've done—
'whored' your way with god after god?
And now you want to come back as if nothing had happened."
God's Decree.
2-5"Look around at the hills.
Where have you not had sex?
You've camped out like hunters stalking deer.
You've solicited many lover-gods,
Like a streetwalking whore
chasing after other gods.
And so the rain has stopped.
No more rain from the skies!
But it doesn't even faze you. Brazen as whores,
you carry on as if you've done nothing wrong.
Then you have the nerve to call out, 'My father!
You took care of me when I was a child. Why not now?
Are you going to keep up your anger nonstop?'
That's your line. Meanwhile you keep sinning nonstop."
Admit Your God-Defiance
6-10God spoke to me during the reign of King Josiah: "You have noticed, haven't you, how fickle Israel has visited every hill and grove of trees as a whore at large? I assumed that after she had gotten it out of her system, she'd come back, but she didn't. Her flighty sister, Judah, saw what she did. She also saw that because of fickle Israel's loose morals I threw her out, gave her her walking papers. But that didn't faze flighty sister Judah. She went out, big as you please, and took up a whore's life also. She took up cheap sex-and-religion as a sideline diversion, an indulgent recreation, and used anything and anyone, flouting sanity and sanctity alike, stinking up the country. And not once in all this did flighty sister Judah even give me a nod, although she made a show of it from time to time." God's Decree.
11-12Then God told me, "Fickle Israel was a good sight better than flighty Judah. Go and preach this message. Face north toward Israel and say:
12-15"'Turn back, fickle Israel.
I'm not just hanging back to punish you.
I'm committed in love to you.
My anger doesn't seethe nonstop.
Just admit your guilt.
Admit your God-defiance.
Admit to your promiscuous life with casual partners,
pulling strangers into the sex-and-religion groves
While turning a deaf ear to me.'"
God's Decree.
"Come back, wandering children!"
God's Decree.
"I, yes I, am your true husband.
I'll pick you out one by one—
This one from the city, these two from the country—
and bring you to Zion.
I'll give you good shepherd-rulers who rule my way,
who rule you with intelligence and wisdom.
16"And this is what will happen: You will increase and prosper in the land. The time will come"—God's Decree!—"when no one will say any longer, 'Oh, for the good old days! Remember the Ark of the Covenant?' It won't even occur to anyone to say it—'the good old days.' The so-called good old days of the Ark are gone for good.
17"Jerusalem will be the new Ark—'God's Throne.' All the godless nations, no longer stuck in the ruts of their evil ways, will gather there to honor God.
18"At that time, the House of Judah will join up with the House of Israel. Holding hands, they'll leave the north country and come to the land I willed to your ancestors.
19-20"I planned what I'd say if you returned to me:
'Good! I'll bring you back into the family.
I'll give you choice land,
land that the godless nations would die for.'
And I imagined that you would say, 'Dear father!'
and would never again go off and leave me.
But no luck. Like a false-hearted woman walking out on her husband,
you, the whole family of Israel, have proven false to me."
God's Decree.
21-22The sound of voices comes drifting out of the hills,
the unhappy sound of Israel's crying,
Israel lamenting the wasted years,
never once giving her God a thought.
"Come back, wandering children!
I can heal your wanderlust!"
22-25"We're here! We've come back to you.
You're our own true God!
All that popular religion was a cheap lie,
duped crowds buying up the latest in gods.
We're back! Back to our true God,
the salvation of Israel.
The Fraud picked us clean, swindled us
of what our ancestors bequeathed us,
Gypped us out of our inheritance—
God-blessed flocks and God-given children.
We made our bed and now lie in it,
all tangled up in the dirty sheets of dishonor.
All because we sinned against our God,
we and our fathers and mothers.
From the time we took our first steps, said our first words,
we've been rebels, disobeying the voice of our God."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
2 Corinthians 2:14-17 (The Message)
An Open Door
12-14When I arrived in Troas to proclaim the Message of the Messiah, I found the place wide open: God had opened the door; all I had to do was walk through it. But when I didn't find Titus waiting for me with news of your condition, I couldn't relax. Worried about you, I left and came on to Macedonia province looking for Titus and a reassuring word on you. And I got it, thank God!
14-16In the Messiah, in Christ, God leads us from place to place in one perpetual victory parade. Through us, he brings knowledge of Christ. Everywhere we go, people breathe in the exquisite fragrance. Because of Christ, we give off a sweet scent rising to God, which is recognized by those on the way of salvation—an aroma redolent with life. But those on the way to destruction treat us more like the stench from a rotting corpse.
16-17This is a terrific responsibility. Is anyone competent to take it on? No— but at least we don't take God's Word, water it down, and then take it to the streets to sell it cheap. We stand in Christ's presence when we speak; God looks us in the face. We get what we say straight from God and say it as honestly as we can.
March 23, 2010
Signature Scent
Listen Now | Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ: 2 Corinthians 2:14-17
Through us [God] diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. —2 Corinthians 2:14
You can’t see it, hear it, or touch it, but scent is powerful. The smell of things like crayons, petunias, and colognes evoke memories that transport me to the past and bring to mind people and places I might not otherwise recall.
Some celebrities have fragrances named after them. Fans can identify with an actress or singer by dabbing on the scent bearing her name. Along those lines, Ladies Home Journal published a quiz to help readers determine the perfect fragrance for them. The idea is that every woman, to be memorable, should have a specific scent associated with her.
The idea of a signature scent is not new. God introduced it as part of worship. In the tabernacle, a certain scent was to be associated with the Lord (Ex. 30:34-35). The people were forbidden to use this fragrance for anything but worship (vv.37-38).
This idea continues under the new covenant, but with a stunning difference. Instead of using incense to make people think of Him, God uses Christians as His “signature scent” to the world (2 Cor. 2:14-15). The fact that God identifies Himself with us in such a powerful way is a truly humbling thought, and causes me to ask, “What do people think about God as a result of being around me?” — Julie Ackerman Link
When we’ve been alone with Jesus,
There’s a difference others know;
And to them it’s like a fragrance
That we leave where’er we go. —Hess
A life lived for God has a pleasing aroma.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
March 23, 2010
Am I Carnally Minded?
| Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ:
Where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal . . . ? —1 Corinthians 3:3
The natural man, or unbeliever, knows nothing about carnality. The desires of the flesh warring against the Spirit, and the Spirit warring against the flesh, which began at rebirth, are what produce carnality and the awareness of it. But Paul said, "Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" ( Galatians 5:16 ). In other words, carnality will disappear.
Are you quarrelsome and easily upset over small things? Do you think that no one who is a Christian is ever like that? Paul said they are, and he connected these attitudes with carnality. Is there a truth in the Bible that instantly awakens a spirit of malice or resentment in you? If so, that is proof that you are still carnal. If the process of sanctification is continuing in your life, there will be no trace of that kind of spirit remaining.
If the Spirit of God detects anything in you that is wrong, He doesn’t ask you to make it right; He only asks you to accept the light of truth, and then He will make it right. A child of the light will confess sin instantly and stand completely open before God. But a child of the darkness will say, "Oh, I can explain that." When the light shines and the Spirit brings conviction of sin, be a child of the light. Confess your wrongdoing, and God will deal with it. If, however, you try to vindicate yourself, you prove yourself to be a child of the darkness.
What is the proof that carnality has gone? Never deceive yourself; when carnality is gone you will know it-it is the most real thing you can imagine. And God will see to it that you have a number of opportunities to prove to yourself the miracle of His grace. The proof is in a very practical test. You will find yourself saying, "If this had happened before, I would have had the spirit of resentment!" And you will never cease to be the most amazed person on earth at what God has done for you on the inside.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
When You've Been Hurt By Friendly Fire - #6052
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Stonewall Jackson was one of the South's greatest generals in the Civil War, and he died on the battlefield - shot by mistake by his own men. He's possibly the most famous victim of one of war's greatest tragedies. You know, "friendly fire," they call it. It's bad enough that a fellow soldier is killed by enemy fire, but the heartbreak is compounded when someone is shot by their own.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When You've Been Hurt By Friendly Fire."
It happens in God's army; people who are deeply wounded, shot by their own. Hurt, betrayed, disappointed by church folks, by people who claim to be Christians. You may be one of those. You know the disillusionment that can cause, the cynicism about anything Christian, the desire to distance yourself from Christian things like you'd keep away from a dog that had bitten you. If you've been spiritually wounded by friendly fire, you're on my heart today. More importantly, you're on God's heart; whether He's on your heart or not.
When you're physically wounded, you find medical help so you can recover. How do you recover from the spiritual and emotional wounds of friendly fire? Let me suggest four steps to spiritual recovery. I don't think you want to keep living with the negativity, and self-pity, and resentment, and withdrawal of those who've been wounded; that stuff just eats you up inside. I think you might be ready for some steps to recovery.
They focus on seven little words in Hebrews 12:1-2, our word for today from the Word of God. These verses are about how to finish as a winner in the spiritual race we run here during our time on earth. It calls us to "...run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith." I wish you could say these four words out loud a few times, "It's all about Jesus." Get your eyes off Christians and churches, and remember who got you started spiritually and who will be at the finish line. It's Jesus.
Recovery step number one is realize it wasn't Jesus who hurt you. Maybe you've been withdrawing from Christians. Whatever you do, don't withdraw from Jesus. You've never needed Him more. Recovery step number 2: Defy Satan's strategy to isolate you so he can have you. The Bible says, "The devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Resist him..." (1 Peter 5:8-9). In Africa, lions try to catch a gazelle that's away from the herd. If they're alone, well, the lion can have them. If they're with the others, they're usually safe. God never designed for us to try to live for Christ alone. If you're holding back from getting close to some of your brothers and sisters in Christ, you're setting yourself up to be a lion lunch.
So, the third recovery step is this: Realize that God's people are where home is. That's why the Bible warns us not to "give up meeting together" (Hebrews 10:25). There are many believers who don't shoot their own, who are imperfect but genuinely loving people. You've got to risk finding a church like that; you need them and they need you. One other recovery step: Let go of the resentment instead of letting it grow. Ask the God who has forgiven you so much to give you His grace to forgive those who've hurt you. The feelings you harbor aren't hurting them at all, but they're killing you!
Above all, don't let Christians make you miss Jesus! Jesus never said, "Follow My followers" or "Follow My leaders." He said, "Follow Me." It's all about Jesus - the One who died for your sins so you wouldn't have to. It's ultimately Christ you accept or reject, not Christians. It's the cross you have to decide about, not the church. And it's Jesus you'll meet when you've taken your last breath. All that's going to matter then - all that really matters now - is what have you done with Jesus? If you've never given yourself fully to Him as your only hope, don't let anything or anyone keep you from Him one more day! Tell Him today, "Jesus, I am Yours."
I'd be very grateful if we could help you know you really belong to Him. And one way that could happen is if you would accept my invitation to visit our website YoursForLife.net. Would you check it out today? He's waiting, as He has been for a long, long time, with arms wide open to love you.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Jeremiah 2, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: He Planned It
He Planned It
Posted: 22 Mar 2010 01:01 AM PDT
“This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge.” Acts 2:23 NIV
Jesus planned his own sacrifice.
He intentionally planted the tree from which his cross would be carved.
He willingly placed the iron ore in the heart of earth from which the nails would be cast . . .
Christ was the one who set in motion the political machinery that would send Pilate to Jerusalem . . .
He didn’t have to do it—but he did.
Jeremiah 2
Israel Was God's Holy Choice
1-3 God's Message came to me. It went like this: "Get out in the streets and call to Jerusalem,
'God's Message!
I remember your youthful loyalty,
our love as newlyweds.
You stayed with me through the wilderness years,
stuck with me through all the hard places.
Israel was God's holy choice,
the pick of the crop.
Anyone who laid a hand on her
would soon wish he hadn't!'"
God's Decree.
4-6Hear God's Message, House of Jacob!
Yes, you—House of Israel!
God's Message: "What did your ancestors find fault with in me
that they drifted so far from me,
Took up with Sir Windbag
and turned into windbags themselves?
It never occurred to them to say, 'Where's God,
the God who got us out of Egypt,
Who took care of us through thick and thin, those rough-and-tumble
wilderness years of parched deserts and death valleys,
A land that no one who enters comes out of,
a cruel, inhospitable land?'
7-8"I brought you to a garden land
where you could eat lush fruit.
But you barged in and polluted my land,
trashed and defiled my dear land.
The priests never thought to ask, 'Where's God?'
The religion experts knew nothing of me.
The rulers defied me.
The prophets preached god Baal
And chased empty god-dreams and silly god-schemes.
9-11"Because of all this, I'm bringing charges against you"
—God's Decree—
"charging you and your children and your grandchildren.
Look around. Have you ever seen anything quite like this?
Sail to the western islands and look.
Travel to the Kedar wilderness and look.
Look closely. Has this ever happened before,
That a nation has traded in its gods
for gods that aren't even close to gods?
But my people have traded my Glory
for empty god-dreams and silly god-schemes.
12-13"Stand in shock, heavens, at what you see!
Throw up your hands in disbelief—this can't be!"
God's Decree.
"My people have committed a compound sin:
they've walked out on me, the fountain
Of fresh flowing waters, and then dug cisterns—
cisterns that leak, cisterns that are no better than sieves.
14-17"Isn't Israel a valued servant,
born into a family with place and position?
So how did she end up a piece of meat
fought over by snarling and roaring lions?
There's nothing left of her but a few old bones,
her towns trashed and deserted.
Egyptians from the cities of Memphis and Tahpanhes
have broken your skulls.
And why do you think all this has happened?
Isn't it because you walked out on your God
just as he was beginning to lead you in the right way?
18-19"And now, what do you think you'll get by going off to Egypt?
Maybe a cool drink of Nile River water?
Or what do you think you'll get by going off to Assyria?
Maybe a long drink of Euphrates River water?
Your evil ways will get you a sound thrashing, that's what you'll get.
You'll pay dearly for your disloyal ways.
Take a long, hard look at what you've done and its bitter results.
Was it worth it to have walked out on your God?"
God's Decree, Master God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
Addicted to Alien Gods
20-22"A long time ago you broke out of the harness.
You shook off all restraints.
You said, 'I will not serve!'
and off you went,
Visiting every sex-and-religion shrine on the way,
like a common whore.
You were a select vine when I planted you
from completely reliable stock.
And look how you've turned out—
a tangle of rancid growth, a poor excuse for a vine.
Scrub, using the strongest soaps.
Scour your skin raw.
The sin-grease won't come out. I can't stand to even look at you!"
God's Decree, the Master's Decree.
23-24"How dare you tell me, 'I'm not stained by sin.
I've never chased after the Baal sex gods'!
Well, look at the tracks you've left behind in the valley.
How do you account for what is written in the desert dust—
Tracks of a camel in heat, running this way and that,
tracks of a wild donkey in rut,
Sniffing the wind for the slightest scent of sex.
Who could possibly corral her!
On the hunt for sex, sex, and more sex—
insatiable, indiscriminate, promiscuous.
25"Slow down. Take a deep breath. What's the hurry?
Why wear yourself out? Just what are you after anyway?
But you say, 'I can't help it.
I'm addicted to alien gods. I can't quit.'
26-28"Just as a thief is chagrined, but only when caught,
so the people of Israel are chagrined,
Caught along with their kings and princes,
their priests and prophets.
They walk up to a tree and say, 'My father!'
They pick up a stone and say, 'My mother! You bore me!'
All I ever see of them is their backsides.
They never look me in the face.
But when things go badly, they don't hesitate to come running,
calling out, 'Get a move on! Save us!'
Why not go to your handcrafted gods you're so fond of?
Rouse them. Let them save you from your bad times.
You've got more gods, Judah,
than you know what to do with.
Trying Out Another Sin-Project
29-30"What do you have against me,
running off to assert your 'independence'?"
God's Decree.
"I've wasted my time trying to train your children.
They've paid no attention to me, ignored my discipline.
And you've gotten rid of your God-messengers,
treating them like dirt and sweeping them away.
31-32"What a generation you turned out to be!
Didn't I tell you? Didn't I warn you?
Have I let you down, Israel?
Am I nothing but a dead-end street?
Why do my people say, 'Good riddance!
From now on we're on our own'?
Young women don't forget their jewelry, do they?
Brides don't show up without their veils, do they?
But my people forget me.
Day after day after day they never give me a thought.
33-35"What an impressive start you made
to get the most out of life.
You founded schools of sin,
taught graduate courses in evil!
And now you're sending out graduates, resplendent in cap and gown—
except the gowns are stained with the blood of your victims!
All that blood convicts you.
You cut and hurt a lot of people to get where you are.
And yet you have the gall to say, 'I've done nothing wrong.
God doesn't mind. He hasn't punished me, has he?'
Don't look now, but judgment's on the way,
aimed at you who say, 'I've done nothing wrong.'
36-37"You think it's just a small thing, don't you,
to try out another sin-project when the first one fails?
But Egypt will leave you in the lurch
the same way that Assyria did.
You're going to walk away from there
wringing your hands.
I, God, have blacklisted those you trusted.
You'll get not a lick of help from them."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Colossians 1:3-12
The Message (MSG)
Working in His Orchard
3-5Our prayers for you are always spilling over into thanksgivings. We can't quit thanking God our Father and Jesus our Messiah for you! We keep getting reports on your steady faith in Christ, our Jesus, and the love you continuously extend to all Christians. The lines of purpose in your lives never grow slack, tightly tied as they are to your future in heaven, kept taut by hope.
5-8The Message is as true among you today as when you first heard it. It doesn't diminish or weaken over time. It's the same all over the world. The Message bears fruit and gets larger and stronger, just as it has in you. From the very first day you heard and recognized the truth of what God is doing, you've been hungry for more. It's as vigorous in you now as when you learned it from our friend and close associate Epaphras. He is one reliable worker for Christ! I could always depend on him. He's the one who told us how thoroughly love had been worked into your lives by the Spirit.
9-12Be assured that from the first day we heard of you, we haven't stopped praying for you, asking God to give you wise minds and spirits attuned to his will, and so acquire a thorough understanding of the ways in which God works. We pray that you'll live well for the Master, making him proud of you as you work hard in his orchard. As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you'll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us.
March 22, 2010
Texting God
Listen Now | Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ: Colossians 1:3-12
[We] do not cease to pray for you. —Colossians 1:9
An article in The Washington Post told about a 15-year-old girl who sent and received 6,473 cell phone text messages in a single month. She says about her constant communication with friends, “I would die without it.” And she is not alone. Researchers say that US teens with cell phones average more than 2,200 text messages a month.
To me, this ongoing digital conversation offers a remarkable illustration of what prayer could and should be like for every follower of Christ. Paul seemed to be constantly in an attitude of prayer for others: “[We] do not cease to pray for you” (Col. 1:9). “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit” (Eph. 6:18). “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). But how can we possibly do that?
Missionary Frank Laubach described his habit of “shooting” prayers at people as he encountered them during the course of each day. In a sense, he was “texting” God on their behalf, staying in constant communication with the Father. Laubach believed that prayer is the mightiest force in the world, and said: “My part is to live in this hour in continuous inner conversation with God and in perfect responsiveness to His will.”
Pray without ceasing. Perhaps what Paul urged us to do can be done. — David C. McCasland
Give me a spirit of prayer, dear Lord,
That I may commune with Thee
As I travel along life’s rugged road,
In Thy company always to be. —Dawe
Prayer should become as natural as breathing.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
March 22, 2010
The Burning Heart
| Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ:
Did not our heart burn within us . . . ? —Luke 24:32
We need to learn this secret of the burning heart. Suddenly Jesus appears to us, fires are set ablaze, and we are given wonderful visions; but then we must learn to maintain the secret of the burning heart— a heart that can go through anything. It is the simple, dreary day, with its commonplace duties and people, that smothers the burning heart— unless we have learned the secret of abiding in Jesus.
Much of the distress we experience as Christians comes not as the result of sin, but because we are ignorant of the laws of our own nature. For instance, the only test we should use to determine whether or not to allow a particular emotion to run its course in our lives is to examine what the final outcome of that emotion will be. Think it through to its logical conclusion, and if the outcome is something that God would condemn, put a stop to it immediately. But if it is an emotion that has been kindled by the Spirit of God and you don’t allow it to have its way in your life, it will cause a reaction on a lower level than God intended. That is the way unrealistic and overly emotional people are made. And the higher the emotion, the deeper the level of corruption, if it is not exercised on its intended level. If the Spirit of God has stirred you, make as many of your decisions as possible irrevocable, and let the consequences be what they will. We cannot stay forever on the "mount of transfiguration," basking in the light of our mountaintop experience (see Mark 9:1-9 ). But we must obey the light we received there; we must put it into action. When God gives us a vision, we must transact business with Him at that point, no matter what the cost.
We cannot kindle when we will The fire which in the heart resides, The spirit bloweth and is still, In mystery our soul abides; But tasks in hours of insight willed Can be through hours of gloom fulfilled.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Joy of Telling - #6051
Monday, March 22, 2010
Jeremy was a young man who worked in our office every year after he got out of college, and then, a veteran of our On Eagles' Wings Native American team. But something was different this particular year for him - a woman! Yes, a woman in Jeremy's life! And, believe me, it is no secret. He started telling us all about her as soon as we saw him again. The romance had just developed in the weeks preceding, and there was nothing he would rather talk about. She lived quite a ways from where we are, and the more he talked about her, the more he wanted to be with her. At first I was kind of amused by this young love, until I remembered that was me not so many years ago, telling anyone who would listen about the woman I loved. And still do.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Joy of Telling."
My young friend couldn't wait to tell us about the person he loved. And, as a result, we couldn't wait to meet her. You see, that's how it's supposed to work with any of us who love Jesus Christ. We love to tell about Him, and as a result, some people we know want to meet Him.
It was a summer when, as we often do, our On Eagles' Wings team had brought the hope of Christ to seven Indian reservations. Wendy, who was 16, was one of our new team members. During that amazing month, where over 800 Native American young people began a personal relationship with Jesus, Wendy had the joy of leading her first people to Christ. At our last night, she said to me: "You know, I accepted Jesus when I was little, but I've never really felt Him until this month. And I know what I want to do with my life now. I want to be in full-time ministry, telling people about Jesus Christ."
Why had Wendy suddenly begun to feel Christ in her life? Why did she suddenly have a sense of mission in her life? I believe it's largely because she had just spent the whole month doing what followers of Jesus are supposed to do all the time. She was telling lost people about the One who loves her, the one she loves.
And that telling about Jesus might be the missing ingredient in your life as one of His kids. Paul prayed a revealing prayer along these lines in Philemon, verse 6, our word for today from the Word of God. He said: "I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ." Paul seems to be saying there's a level of experiencing your Savior that can only be reached by telling others about Him. You don't have a religion to share, or a church, or some beliefs. You have a person to tell about - a person who loved you enough to die for you!
Something powerful happens in your life when you finally open your heart and open your mouth to let people who've never met Jesus know what He's like. Paul says you start to have "a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ." Like the young woman on our team, when you start talking about Jesus you may start feeling Him in your life as never before. And by starting to carry out your mission to be His ambassador, His spiritual rescuer where you are, you may finally begin to get a clear picture of His greater plans for the rest of your life.
Not to mention that what you know about Jesus is their only hope of ever being in heaven with you someday! You need to tell about Jesus. They need to hear about Jesus, because you need to talk about the greatest love of your life. And they need to hear about the one who loves them more than anyone. You tell them about how much He loves you. Sooner or later, they'll want to meet Him.
He Planned It
Posted: 22 Mar 2010 01:01 AM PDT
“This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge.” Acts 2:23 NIV
Jesus planned his own sacrifice.
He intentionally planted the tree from which his cross would be carved.
He willingly placed the iron ore in the heart of earth from which the nails would be cast . . .
Christ was the one who set in motion the political machinery that would send Pilate to Jerusalem . . .
He didn’t have to do it—but he did.
Jeremiah 2
Israel Was God's Holy Choice
1-3 God's Message came to me. It went like this: "Get out in the streets and call to Jerusalem,
'God's Message!
I remember your youthful loyalty,
our love as newlyweds.
You stayed with me through the wilderness years,
stuck with me through all the hard places.
Israel was God's holy choice,
the pick of the crop.
Anyone who laid a hand on her
would soon wish he hadn't!'"
God's Decree.
4-6Hear God's Message, House of Jacob!
Yes, you—House of Israel!
God's Message: "What did your ancestors find fault with in me
that they drifted so far from me,
Took up with Sir Windbag
and turned into windbags themselves?
It never occurred to them to say, 'Where's God,
the God who got us out of Egypt,
Who took care of us through thick and thin, those rough-and-tumble
wilderness years of parched deserts and death valleys,
A land that no one who enters comes out of,
a cruel, inhospitable land?'
7-8"I brought you to a garden land
where you could eat lush fruit.
But you barged in and polluted my land,
trashed and defiled my dear land.
The priests never thought to ask, 'Where's God?'
The religion experts knew nothing of me.
The rulers defied me.
The prophets preached god Baal
And chased empty god-dreams and silly god-schemes.
9-11"Because of all this, I'm bringing charges against you"
—God's Decree—
"charging you and your children and your grandchildren.
Look around. Have you ever seen anything quite like this?
Sail to the western islands and look.
Travel to the Kedar wilderness and look.
Look closely. Has this ever happened before,
That a nation has traded in its gods
for gods that aren't even close to gods?
But my people have traded my Glory
for empty god-dreams and silly god-schemes.
12-13"Stand in shock, heavens, at what you see!
Throw up your hands in disbelief—this can't be!"
God's Decree.
"My people have committed a compound sin:
they've walked out on me, the fountain
Of fresh flowing waters, and then dug cisterns—
cisterns that leak, cisterns that are no better than sieves.
14-17"Isn't Israel a valued servant,
born into a family with place and position?
So how did she end up a piece of meat
fought over by snarling and roaring lions?
There's nothing left of her but a few old bones,
her towns trashed and deserted.
Egyptians from the cities of Memphis and Tahpanhes
have broken your skulls.
And why do you think all this has happened?
Isn't it because you walked out on your God
just as he was beginning to lead you in the right way?
18-19"And now, what do you think you'll get by going off to Egypt?
Maybe a cool drink of Nile River water?
Or what do you think you'll get by going off to Assyria?
Maybe a long drink of Euphrates River water?
Your evil ways will get you a sound thrashing, that's what you'll get.
You'll pay dearly for your disloyal ways.
Take a long, hard look at what you've done and its bitter results.
Was it worth it to have walked out on your God?"
God's Decree, Master God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
Addicted to Alien Gods
20-22"A long time ago you broke out of the harness.
You shook off all restraints.
You said, 'I will not serve!'
and off you went,
Visiting every sex-and-religion shrine on the way,
like a common whore.
You were a select vine when I planted you
from completely reliable stock.
And look how you've turned out—
a tangle of rancid growth, a poor excuse for a vine.
Scrub, using the strongest soaps.
Scour your skin raw.
The sin-grease won't come out. I can't stand to even look at you!"
God's Decree, the Master's Decree.
23-24"How dare you tell me, 'I'm not stained by sin.
I've never chased after the Baal sex gods'!
Well, look at the tracks you've left behind in the valley.
How do you account for what is written in the desert dust—
Tracks of a camel in heat, running this way and that,
tracks of a wild donkey in rut,
Sniffing the wind for the slightest scent of sex.
Who could possibly corral her!
On the hunt for sex, sex, and more sex—
insatiable, indiscriminate, promiscuous.
25"Slow down. Take a deep breath. What's the hurry?
Why wear yourself out? Just what are you after anyway?
But you say, 'I can't help it.
I'm addicted to alien gods. I can't quit.'
26-28"Just as a thief is chagrined, but only when caught,
so the people of Israel are chagrined,
Caught along with their kings and princes,
their priests and prophets.
They walk up to a tree and say, 'My father!'
They pick up a stone and say, 'My mother! You bore me!'
All I ever see of them is their backsides.
They never look me in the face.
But when things go badly, they don't hesitate to come running,
calling out, 'Get a move on! Save us!'
Why not go to your handcrafted gods you're so fond of?
Rouse them. Let them save you from your bad times.
You've got more gods, Judah,
than you know what to do with.
Trying Out Another Sin-Project
29-30"What do you have against me,
running off to assert your 'independence'?"
God's Decree.
"I've wasted my time trying to train your children.
They've paid no attention to me, ignored my discipline.
And you've gotten rid of your God-messengers,
treating them like dirt and sweeping them away.
31-32"What a generation you turned out to be!
Didn't I tell you? Didn't I warn you?
Have I let you down, Israel?
Am I nothing but a dead-end street?
Why do my people say, 'Good riddance!
From now on we're on our own'?
Young women don't forget their jewelry, do they?
Brides don't show up without their veils, do they?
But my people forget me.
Day after day after day they never give me a thought.
33-35"What an impressive start you made
to get the most out of life.
You founded schools of sin,
taught graduate courses in evil!
And now you're sending out graduates, resplendent in cap and gown—
except the gowns are stained with the blood of your victims!
All that blood convicts you.
You cut and hurt a lot of people to get where you are.
And yet you have the gall to say, 'I've done nothing wrong.
God doesn't mind. He hasn't punished me, has he?'
Don't look now, but judgment's on the way,
aimed at you who say, 'I've done nothing wrong.'
36-37"You think it's just a small thing, don't you,
to try out another sin-project when the first one fails?
But Egypt will leave you in the lurch
the same way that Assyria did.
You're going to walk away from there
wringing your hands.
I, God, have blacklisted those you trusted.
You'll get not a lick of help from them."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Colossians 1:3-12
The Message (MSG)
Working in His Orchard
3-5Our prayers for you are always spilling over into thanksgivings. We can't quit thanking God our Father and Jesus our Messiah for you! We keep getting reports on your steady faith in Christ, our Jesus, and the love you continuously extend to all Christians. The lines of purpose in your lives never grow slack, tightly tied as they are to your future in heaven, kept taut by hope.
5-8The Message is as true among you today as when you first heard it. It doesn't diminish or weaken over time. It's the same all over the world. The Message bears fruit and gets larger and stronger, just as it has in you. From the very first day you heard and recognized the truth of what God is doing, you've been hungry for more. It's as vigorous in you now as when you learned it from our friend and close associate Epaphras. He is one reliable worker for Christ! I could always depend on him. He's the one who told us how thoroughly love had been worked into your lives by the Spirit.
9-12Be assured that from the first day we heard of you, we haven't stopped praying for you, asking God to give you wise minds and spirits attuned to his will, and so acquire a thorough understanding of the ways in which God works. We pray that you'll live well for the Master, making him proud of you as you work hard in his orchard. As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you'll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us.
March 22, 2010
Texting God
Listen Now | Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ: Colossians 1:3-12
[We] do not cease to pray for you. —Colossians 1:9
An article in The Washington Post told about a 15-year-old girl who sent and received 6,473 cell phone text messages in a single month. She says about her constant communication with friends, “I would die without it.” And she is not alone. Researchers say that US teens with cell phones average more than 2,200 text messages a month.
To me, this ongoing digital conversation offers a remarkable illustration of what prayer could and should be like for every follower of Christ. Paul seemed to be constantly in an attitude of prayer for others: “[We] do not cease to pray for you” (Col. 1:9). “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit” (Eph. 6:18). “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). But how can we possibly do that?
Missionary Frank Laubach described his habit of “shooting” prayers at people as he encountered them during the course of each day. In a sense, he was “texting” God on their behalf, staying in constant communication with the Father. Laubach believed that prayer is the mightiest force in the world, and said: “My part is to live in this hour in continuous inner conversation with God and in perfect responsiveness to His will.”
Pray without ceasing. Perhaps what Paul urged us to do can be done. — David C. McCasland
Give me a spirit of prayer, dear Lord,
That I may commune with Thee
As I travel along life’s rugged road,
In Thy company always to be. —Dawe
Prayer should become as natural as breathing.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
March 22, 2010
The Burning Heart
| Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ:
Did not our heart burn within us . . . ? —Luke 24:32
We need to learn this secret of the burning heart. Suddenly Jesus appears to us, fires are set ablaze, and we are given wonderful visions; but then we must learn to maintain the secret of the burning heart— a heart that can go through anything. It is the simple, dreary day, with its commonplace duties and people, that smothers the burning heart— unless we have learned the secret of abiding in Jesus.
Much of the distress we experience as Christians comes not as the result of sin, but because we are ignorant of the laws of our own nature. For instance, the only test we should use to determine whether or not to allow a particular emotion to run its course in our lives is to examine what the final outcome of that emotion will be. Think it through to its logical conclusion, and if the outcome is something that God would condemn, put a stop to it immediately. But if it is an emotion that has been kindled by the Spirit of God and you don’t allow it to have its way in your life, it will cause a reaction on a lower level than God intended. That is the way unrealistic and overly emotional people are made. And the higher the emotion, the deeper the level of corruption, if it is not exercised on its intended level. If the Spirit of God has stirred you, make as many of your decisions as possible irrevocable, and let the consequences be what they will. We cannot stay forever on the "mount of transfiguration," basking in the light of our mountaintop experience (see Mark 9:1-9 ). But we must obey the light we received there; we must put it into action. When God gives us a vision, we must transact business with Him at that point, no matter what the cost.
We cannot kindle when we will The fire which in the heart resides, The spirit bloweth and is still, In mystery our soul abides; But tasks in hours of insight willed Can be through hours of gloom fulfilled.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Joy of Telling - #6051
Monday, March 22, 2010
Jeremy was a young man who worked in our office every year after he got out of college, and then, a veteran of our On Eagles' Wings Native American team. But something was different this particular year for him - a woman! Yes, a woman in Jeremy's life! And, believe me, it is no secret. He started telling us all about her as soon as we saw him again. The romance had just developed in the weeks preceding, and there was nothing he would rather talk about. She lived quite a ways from where we are, and the more he talked about her, the more he wanted to be with her. At first I was kind of amused by this young love, until I remembered that was me not so many years ago, telling anyone who would listen about the woman I loved. And still do.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Joy of Telling."
My young friend couldn't wait to tell us about the person he loved. And, as a result, we couldn't wait to meet her. You see, that's how it's supposed to work with any of us who love Jesus Christ. We love to tell about Him, and as a result, some people we know want to meet Him.
It was a summer when, as we often do, our On Eagles' Wings team had brought the hope of Christ to seven Indian reservations. Wendy, who was 16, was one of our new team members. During that amazing month, where over 800 Native American young people began a personal relationship with Jesus, Wendy had the joy of leading her first people to Christ. At our last night, she said to me: "You know, I accepted Jesus when I was little, but I've never really felt Him until this month. And I know what I want to do with my life now. I want to be in full-time ministry, telling people about Jesus Christ."
Why had Wendy suddenly begun to feel Christ in her life? Why did she suddenly have a sense of mission in her life? I believe it's largely because she had just spent the whole month doing what followers of Jesus are supposed to do all the time. She was telling lost people about the One who loves her, the one she loves.
And that telling about Jesus might be the missing ingredient in your life as one of His kids. Paul prayed a revealing prayer along these lines in Philemon, verse 6, our word for today from the Word of God. He said: "I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ." Paul seems to be saying there's a level of experiencing your Savior that can only be reached by telling others about Him. You don't have a religion to share, or a church, or some beliefs. You have a person to tell about - a person who loved you enough to die for you!
Something powerful happens in your life when you finally open your heart and open your mouth to let people who've never met Jesus know what He's like. Paul says you start to have "a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ." Like the young woman on our team, when you start talking about Jesus you may start feeling Him in your life as never before. And by starting to carry out your mission to be His ambassador, His spiritual rescuer where you are, you may finally begin to get a clear picture of His greater plans for the rest of your life.
Not to mention that what you know about Jesus is their only hope of ever being in heaven with you someday! You need to tell about Jesus. They need to hear about Jesus, because you need to talk about the greatest love of your life. And they need to hear about the one who loves them more than anyone. You tell them about how much He loves you. Sooner or later, they'll want to meet Him.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Jeremiah 1, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: Never More Human
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Never More Human
Posted: 20 Mar 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“He poured out His soul unto death.” Isaiah 53:12 NKJV
The scene is very simple; you’ll recognize it quickly. A grove of twisted olive trees. Ground cluttered with large rocks. A low stone fence. A dark, dark night . . .
See that solitary figure? . . . Flat on the ground. Face stained with dirt and tears. Fists pounding the hard earth . . .
That’s Jesus . . . God was never more human than at this hour. God was never nearer to us than when he hurt.
Jeremiah 1
Demolish, and Then Start Over
1-4 The Message of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah of the family of priests who lived in Anathoth in the country of Benjamin. God's Message began to come to him during the thirteenth year that Josiah son of Amos reigned over Judah. It continued to come to him during the time Jehoiakim son of Josiah reigned over Judah. And it continued to come to him clear down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah over Judah, the year that Jerusalem was taken into exile. This is what God said:
5"Before I shaped you in the womb,
I knew all about you.
Before you saw the light of day,
I had holy plans for you:
A prophet to the nations—
that's what I had in mind for you."
6But I said, "Hold it, Master God! Look at me.
I don't know anything. I'm only a boy!"
7-8God told me, "Don't say, 'I'm only a boy.'
I'll tell you where to go and you'll go there.
I'll tell you what to say and you'll say it.
Don't be afraid of a soul.
I'll be right there, looking after you."
God's Decree.
9-10God reached out, touched my mouth, and said,
"Look! I've just put my words in your mouth—hand-delivered!
See what I've done? I've given you a job to do
among nations and governments—a red-letter day!
Your job is to pull up and tear down,
take apart and demolish,
And then start over,
building and planting."
Stand Up and Say Your Piece
11-12God's Message came to me: "What do you see, Jeremiah?"
I said, "A walking stick—that's all."
And God said, "Good eyes! I'm sticking with you.
I'll make every word I give you come true."
13-15God's Message came again: "So what do you see now?"
I said, "I see a boiling pot, tipped down toward us."
Then God told me, "Disaster will pour out of the north
on everyone living in this land.
Watch for this: I'm calling all the kings out of the north."
God's Decree.
15-16"They'll come and set up headquarters
facing Jerusalem's gates,
Facing all the city walls,
facing all the villages of Judah.
I'll pronounce my judgment on the people of Judah
for walking out on me—what a terrible thing to do!—
And courting other gods with their offerings,
worshiping as gods sticks they'd carved, stones they'd painted.
17"But you—up on your feet and get dressed for work!
Stand up and say your piece. Say exactly what I tell you to say.
Don't pull your punches
or I'll pull you out of the lineup.
18-19"Stand at attention while I prepare you for your work.
I'm making you as impregnable as a castle,
Immovable as a steel post,
solid as a concrete block wall.
You're a one-man defense system
against this culture,
Against Judah's kings and princes,
against the priests and local leaders.
They'll fight you, but they won't
even scratch you.
I'll back you up every inch of the way."
God's Decree.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Acts 15
To Let Outsiders Inside
1-2 It wasn't long before some Jews showed up from Judea insisting that everyone be circumcised: "If you're not circumcised in the Mosaic fashion, you can't be saved." Paul and Barnabas were up on their feet at once in fierce protest. The church decided to resolve the matter by sending Paul, Barnabas, and a few others to put it before the apostles and leaders in Jerusalem.
3After they were sent off and on their way, they told everyone they met as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria about the breakthrough to the non-Jewish outsiders. Everyone who heard the news cheered—it was terrific news!
4-5When they got to Jerusalem, Paul and Barnabas were graciously received by the whole church, including the apostles and leaders. They reported on their recent journey and how God had used them to open things up to the outsiders. Some Pharisees stood up to say their piece. They had become believers, but continued to hold to the hard party line of the Pharisees. "You have to circumcise the pagan converts," they said. "You must make them keep the Law of Moses."
6-9The apostles and leaders called a special meeting to consider the matter. The arguments went on and on, back and forth, getting more and more heated. Then Peter took the floor: "Friends, you well know that from early on God made it quite plain that he wanted the pagans to hear the Message of this good news and embrace it—and not in any secondhand or roundabout way, but firsthand, straight from my mouth. And God, who can't be fooled by any pretense on our part but always knows a person's thoughts, gave them the Holy Spirit exactly as he gave him to us. He treated the outsiders exactly as he treated us, beginning at the very center of who they were and working from that center outward, cleaning up their lives as they trusted and believed him.
10-11"So why are you now trying to out-god God, loading these new believers down with rules that crushed our ancestors and crushed us, too? Don't we believe that we are saved because the Master Jesus amazingly and out of sheer generosity moved to save us just as he did those from beyond our nation? So what are we arguing about?"
Acts 15:19-21
19-21"So here is my decision: We're not going to unnecessarily burden non-Jewish people who turn to the Master. We'll write them a letter and tell them, 'Be careful to not get involved in activities connected with idols, to guard the morality of sex and marriage, to not serve food offensive to Jewish Christians—blood, for instance.' This is basic wisdom from Moses, preached and honored for centuries now in city after city as we have met and kept the Sabbath."
March 21, 2010
Pure Milk
Listen Now | Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ: Acts 15:1-11,19-21
As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby. —1 Peter 2:2
Recently it was discovered that some milk producers in China had been diluting cow’s milk and adding the industrial chemical Melamine. This chemical was added because it artificially enhanced protein readings. Several infants died and others became seriously ill. Such adulteration is not new. Other countries have been adding Melamine to animal feed for at least 40 years for the same purpose, resulting in the death of animals.
Another kind of adulteration is when people add to God’s Word, “the pure milk of the Word” as Peter described it (1 Peter 2:2). The word pure means “unadulterated” or “uncontaminated.” The early church had to deal with those who considered circumcision necessary for salvation (Acts 15:1). That idea was rejected because it was not in accordance with the Word of God, which says that salvation is by grace alone. Peter encouraged his brethren in the Lord: “Why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples? . . . We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved” (Acts 15:10-11).
Examine carefully any teaching that asks you to do anything more than what is in God’s Word. Otherwise it can be deadly to your spiritual well-being. — C. P. Hia
The Lord has given man His Word,
His will He has made known;
Let man not try to change that Word
With words that are his own. —D. De Haan
God’s Word needs no additions or subtractions.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
March 21, 2010
Identified or Simply Interested?
| Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ:
I have been crucified with Christ . . . —Galatians 2:20
The inescapable spiritual need each of us has is the need to sign the death certificate of our sin nature. I must take my emotional opinions and intellectual beliefs and be willing to turn them into a moral verdict against the nature of sin; that is, against any claim I have to my right to myself. Paul said, "I have been crucified with Christ . . . ." He did not say, "I have made a determination to imitate Jesus Christ," or, "I will really make an effort to follow Him"-but-"I have been identified with Him in His death." Once I reach this moral decision and act on it, all that Christ accomplished for me on the Cross is accomplished in me. My unrestrained commitment of myself to God gives the Holy Spirit the opportunity to grant to me the holiness of Jesus Christ.
". . . it is no longer I who live . . . ." My individuality remains, but my primary motivation for living and the nature that rules me are radically changed. I have the same human body, but the old satanic right to myself has been destroyed.
". . . and the life which I now live in the flesh," not the life which I long to live or even pray that I live, but the life I now live in my mortal flesh-the life which others can see, "I live by faith in the Son of God . . . ." This faith was not Paul’s own faith in Jesus Christ, but the faith the Son God had given to him (see Ephesians 2:8 ). It is no longer a faith in faith, but a faith that transcends all imaginable limits-a faith that comes only from the Son of God.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Never More Human
Posted: 20 Mar 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“He poured out His soul unto death.” Isaiah 53:12 NKJV
The scene is very simple; you’ll recognize it quickly. A grove of twisted olive trees. Ground cluttered with large rocks. A low stone fence. A dark, dark night . . .
See that solitary figure? . . . Flat on the ground. Face stained with dirt and tears. Fists pounding the hard earth . . .
That’s Jesus . . . God was never more human than at this hour. God was never nearer to us than when he hurt.
Jeremiah 1
Demolish, and Then Start Over
1-4 The Message of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah of the family of priests who lived in Anathoth in the country of Benjamin. God's Message began to come to him during the thirteenth year that Josiah son of Amos reigned over Judah. It continued to come to him during the time Jehoiakim son of Josiah reigned over Judah. And it continued to come to him clear down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah over Judah, the year that Jerusalem was taken into exile. This is what God said:
5"Before I shaped you in the womb,
I knew all about you.
Before you saw the light of day,
I had holy plans for you:
A prophet to the nations—
that's what I had in mind for you."
6But I said, "Hold it, Master God! Look at me.
I don't know anything. I'm only a boy!"
7-8God told me, "Don't say, 'I'm only a boy.'
I'll tell you where to go and you'll go there.
I'll tell you what to say and you'll say it.
Don't be afraid of a soul.
I'll be right there, looking after you."
God's Decree.
9-10God reached out, touched my mouth, and said,
"Look! I've just put my words in your mouth—hand-delivered!
See what I've done? I've given you a job to do
among nations and governments—a red-letter day!
Your job is to pull up and tear down,
take apart and demolish,
And then start over,
building and planting."
Stand Up and Say Your Piece
11-12God's Message came to me: "What do you see, Jeremiah?"
I said, "A walking stick—that's all."
And God said, "Good eyes! I'm sticking with you.
I'll make every word I give you come true."
13-15God's Message came again: "So what do you see now?"
I said, "I see a boiling pot, tipped down toward us."
Then God told me, "Disaster will pour out of the north
on everyone living in this land.
Watch for this: I'm calling all the kings out of the north."
God's Decree.
15-16"They'll come and set up headquarters
facing Jerusalem's gates,
Facing all the city walls,
facing all the villages of Judah.
I'll pronounce my judgment on the people of Judah
for walking out on me—what a terrible thing to do!—
And courting other gods with their offerings,
worshiping as gods sticks they'd carved, stones they'd painted.
17"But you—up on your feet and get dressed for work!
Stand up and say your piece. Say exactly what I tell you to say.
Don't pull your punches
or I'll pull you out of the lineup.
18-19"Stand at attention while I prepare you for your work.
I'm making you as impregnable as a castle,
Immovable as a steel post,
solid as a concrete block wall.
You're a one-man defense system
against this culture,
Against Judah's kings and princes,
against the priests and local leaders.
They'll fight you, but they won't
even scratch you.
I'll back you up every inch of the way."
God's Decree.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Acts 15
To Let Outsiders Inside
1-2 It wasn't long before some Jews showed up from Judea insisting that everyone be circumcised: "If you're not circumcised in the Mosaic fashion, you can't be saved." Paul and Barnabas were up on their feet at once in fierce protest. The church decided to resolve the matter by sending Paul, Barnabas, and a few others to put it before the apostles and leaders in Jerusalem.
3After they were sent off and on their way, they told everyone they met as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria about the breakthrough to the non-Jewish outsiders. Everyone who heard the news cheered—it was terrific news!
4-5When they got to Jerusalem, Paul and Barnabas were graciously received by the whole church, including the apostles and leaders. They reported on their recent journey and how God had used them to open things up to the outsiders. Some Pharisees stood up to say their piece. They had become believers, but continued to hold to the hard party line of the Pharisees. "You have to circumcise the pagan converts," they said. "You must make them keep the Law of Moses."
6-9The apostles and leaders called a special meeting to consider the matter. The arguments went on and on, back and forth, getting more and more heated. Then Peter took the floor: "Friends, you well know that from early on God made it quite plain that he wanted the pagans to hear the Message of this good news and embrace it—and not in any secondhand or roundabout way, but firsthand, straight from my mouth. And God, who can't be fooled by any pretense on our part but always knows a person's thoughts, gave them the Holy Spirit exactly as he gave him to us. He treated the outsiders exactly as he treated us, beginning at the very center of who they were and working from that center outward, cleaning up their lives as they trusted and believed him.
10-11"So why are you now trying to out-god God, loading these new believers down with rules that crushed our ancestors and crushed us, too? Don't we believe that we are saved because the Master Jesus amazingly and out of sheer generosity moved to save us just as he did those from beyond our nation? So what are we arguing about?"
Acts 15:19-21
19-21"So here is my decision: We're not going to unnecessarily burden non-Jewish people who turn to the Master. We'll write them a letter and tell them, 'Be careful to not get involved in activities connected with idols, to guard the morality of sex and marriage, to not serve food offensive to Jewish Christians—blood, for instance.' This is basic wisdom from Moses, preached and honored for centuries now in city after city as we have met and kept the Sabbath."
March 21, 2010
Pure Milk
Listen Now | Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ: Acts 15:1-11,19-21
As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby. —1 Peter 2:2
Recently it was discovered that some milk producers in China had been diluting cow’s milk and adding the industrial chemical Melamine. This chemical was added because it artificially enhanced protein readings. Several infants died and others became seriously ill. Such adulteration is not new. Other countries have been adding Melamine to animal feed for at least 40 years for the same purpose, resulting in the death of animals.
Another kind of adulteration is when people add to God’s Word, “the pure milk of the Word” as Peter described it (1 Peter 2:2). The word pure means “unadulterated” or “uncontaminated.” The early church had to deal with those who considered circumcision necessary for salvation (Acts 15:1). That idea was rejected because it was not in accordance with the Word of God, which says that salvation is by grace alone. Peter encouraged his brethren in the Lord: “Why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples? . . . We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved” (Acts 15:10-11).
Examine carefully any teaching that asks you to do anything more than what is in God’s Word. Otherwise it can be deadly to your spiritual well-being. — C. P. Hia
The Lord has given man His Word,
His will He has made known;
Let man not try to change that Word
With words that are his own. —D. De Haan
God’s Word needs no additions or subtractions.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
March 21, 2010
Identified or Simply Interested?
| Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ:
I have been crucified with Christ . . . —Galatians 2:20
The inescapable spiritual need each of us has is the need to sign the death certificate of our sin nature. I must take my emotional opinions and intellectual beliefs and be willing to turn them into a moral verdict against the nature of sin; that is, against any claim I have to my right to myself. Paul said, "I have been crucified with Christ . . . ." He did not say, "I have made a determination to imitate Jesus Christ," or, "I will really make an effort to follow Him"-but-"I have been identified with Him in His death." Once I reach this moral decision and act on it, all that Christ accomplished for me on the Cross is accomplished in me. My unrestrained commitment of myself to God gives the Holy Spirit the opportunity to grant to me the holiness of Jesus Christ.
". . . it is no longer I who live . . . ." My individuality remains, but my primary motivation for living and the nature that rules me are radically changed. I have the same human body, but the old satanic right to myself has been destroyed.
". . . and the life which I now live in the flesh," not the life which I long to live or even pray that I live, but the life I now live in my mortal flesh-the life which others can see, "I live by faith in the Son of God . . . ." This faith was not Paul’s own faith in Jesus Christ, but the faith the Son God had given to him (see Ephesians 2:8 ). It is no longer a faith in faith, but a faith that transcends all imaginable limits-a faith that comes only from the Son of God.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)