Max Lucado Daily: Make The Right Choice
Make The Right Choice
Posted: 24 Jun 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“Everyone must die once and be judged.” Hebrews 9:27
Eternity is to be taken seriously. A judgement is coming.
Our task on earth is singular—to choose our eternal home. You can afford many wrong choices in life. You can choose the wrong career and survive, the wrong city and survive, the wrong house and survive. You can even choose the wrong mate and survive. But there is one choice that must be made correctly and that is your eternal destiny.
James 2
Favoritism Forbidden
1My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. 2Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. 3If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," 4have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
5Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?
8If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself,"[a] you are doing right. 9But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11For he who said, "Do not commit adultery,"[b] also said, "Do not murder."[c] If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
12Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!
Faith and Deeds
14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.
19You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
20You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless[d]? 21Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,"[e] and he was called God's friend. 24You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
25In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 Corinthians 12:7-18
7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
8 To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit,
9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit,
10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.
11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.
One Body, Many Parts
12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.
13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
14 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.
15 If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.
16 And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.
17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?
18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.
The Right People
June 25, 2010 — by Bill Crowder
God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. —1 Corinthians 12:18
The film Miracle tells the true story of the 1980 US Olympic ice hockey team as it marches to an improbable gold medal. At the outset of the story, coach Herb Brooks is shown selecting the players for his team. When he gives assistant coach Craig Patrick a list of names he has chosen, Craig says in surprise, “You’re missing some of the best players.” Brooks responds, “I’m not looking for the best players, Craig—just the right ones.”
Brooks knew that individual talent would take the team only so far. A willingness to fit into his style of selfless play would be far more important than talent. Clearly, team success, not individual glory, was the priority.
The biblical call to service has a similar emphasis. In God’s purposes, each believer does his or her part, but the results are team-oriented. After explaining the wide differences in the spiritual gifts of believers, Paul says, “the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all” (1 Cor. 12:7). When we use the skills God gives us, His purposes are accomplished, and He gets the glory. In God’s service, it’s not about being the best, the most talented, or the most gifted. It’s about being the right people—the ones God “set . . . in the body” (v.18)—joining together to serve the same team.
Christ builds His church with different stones
And makes each one secure;
All shapes and sizes fit in place
To make His church endure. —Anon.
There are no unimportant people in the body of Christ.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
June 25, 2010
Receiving Yourself in the Fires of Sorrow
. . what shall I say? ’Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. ’Father, glorify Your name’ —John 12:27-28
As a saint of God, my attitude toward sorrow and difficulty should not be to ask that they be prevented, but to ask that God protect me so that I may remain what He created me to be, in spite of all my fires of sorrow. Our Lord received Himself, accepting His position and realizing His purpose, in the midst of the fire of sorrow. He was saved not from the hour, but out of the hour.
We say that there ought to be no sorrow, but there is sorrow, and we have to accept and receive ourselves in its fires. If we try to evade sorrow, refusing to deal with it, we are foolish. Sorrow is one of the biggest facts in life, and there is no use in saying it should not be. Sin, sorrow, and suffering are, and it is not for us to say that God has made a mistake in allowing them.
Sorrow removes a great deal of a person’s shallowness, but it does not always make that person better. Suffering either gives me to myself or it destroys me. You cannot find or receive yourself through success, because you lose your head over pride. And you cannot receive yourself through the monotony of your daily life, because you give in to complaining. The only way to find yourself is in the fires of sorrow. Why it should be this way is immaterial. The fact is that it is true in the Scriptures and in human experience. You can always recognize who has been through the fires of sorrow and received himself, and you know that you can go to him in your moment of trouble and find that he has plenty of time for you. But if a person has not been through the fires of sorrow, he is apt to be contemptuous, having no respect or time for you, only turning you away. If you will receive yourself in the fires of sorrow, God will make you nourishment for other people.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Saying Goodbye to What's Been Holding You Back - #6120
Friday, June 25, 2010
Our daughter might still be sucking on her binky if we hadn't negotiated a deal. She was very attached to that pacifier, long after she really didn't need it anymore. Then my wife struck that bargain - the doll that our girl really wanted in exchange for her binky. From that day on, the binky was no more. I kept it in a drawer for my tough days. Not long ago, our son and daughter-in-law had a similar crossroads moment with our granddaughter. She could not imagine life without her binky, until Mommy and Daddy announced her Bye-Bye Binky Party. Did you ever go to one of those? On that day, she would surrender her binky and there would be a party in her honor with cake, decorations and even little presents. And suddenly, she didn't need her binky anymore!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Saying Goodbye to What's Been Holding You Back."
A child with their pacifier; Linus with his blanket - things they've depended on that they don't really need anymore. Even we grownup kids have things we depend on that are actually holding us back from what our life could be. But we hold on to it as stubbornly as a child to her binky or Linus to his blanket until someone comes along and shows us something better.
For me, for millions of people, that someone is Jesus Christ. He liberated people from what they needed so long when He was here on earth, and He's still doing it today. He wants to do it for you.
One example of how it works is recorded in Luke 5, beginning with verse 15. It's our word for today from the Word of God. "Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus." Then the Bible describes some extraordinary measures they had to employ to accomplish their mission, but they did get their paralyzed friend to Jesus. The story continues: "He said to the paralyzed man, 'I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.'" Can you imagine this? That mat has supported this man his whole life. It's been used to carry him where he couldn't walk himself. Suddenly, Jesus is telling him to get up and carry what's been carrying him all these years!
It says, "Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God." I could just imagine this man shouting, "I've needed this thing my whole life, but I don't need it anymore!" That is the kind of freedom Jesus wants to bring to you; freedom from always needing a man or a woman to make you feel valued and secure. Think of how they've let you down, freedom from being an approval junkie, from seeing yourself as a victim all the time, from trying to find your worth in your work or your performance, freedom from the bottle, the drug, the sex, or the applause that you thought you needed to complete you. They never have; they never will.
Then along comes Jesus, the Man who loves you enough to die to pay for the sin that keeps you from God; who's powerful enough to walk out of His grave. The Bible says of Jesus, "You are complete in Him" (Colossians 2:10) and only in Him, because the Bible tells us you were "...created by Him and for Him" (Colossians 1:16). Every other thing you've leaned on for love and significance and completeness is an unfulfilling substitute for the real thing - for Jesus.
And today, He's come to you and He's saying, "Get up. You don't need what you've used to support you for so long. I'm what you've needed all along." What a day this could be if you would make it your Jesus-day - the day you open your heart for Him to come in and forgive all the sin of your life and free you from the dependencies that have been holding you back. Just talk to Him where you are. Tell Him you're done driving your own life, that your only hope is Him and what He did on the cross for you, and that from this day on, you're His.
If that's what you want, I really hope you will check out our website. I've got a brief explanation there of just how to begin this life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ. A lot of people have found encouragement and help there. Maybe you will too. Just go to YoursForLife.net.
This can be your declaration of independence. The day you say, "The thing I've been depending on for so long - I don't need it anymore because I have Jesus now. I'm His, I'm complete, and I'm free!"
Friday, June 25, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
James 1, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily:
Eternal Happiness
“God has planted eternity in the hearts of men.” Ecclesiastes 3:10, TLB
You will never be completely happy on earth, simply because you were not made for earth. Oh, you will have your moments of joy. You will catch glimpses of light. You will know moments or even days of peace. But they simply do not compare with the happiness that lies ahead.
James 1
1James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:
Greetings.
Trials and Temptations
2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
9The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. 10But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. 11For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business.
12Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
13When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
16Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. 17Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
Listening and Doing
19My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. 21Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
22Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.
26If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. 27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 2 Corinthians 9:6-15
6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
9 As it is written:
"He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever."
10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.
11 You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.
13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.
14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you.
15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
Winners All
June 24, 2010 — by David C. McCasland
God loves a cheerful giver. —2 Corinthians 9:7
When the Los Angeles Times covered a 2008 conference championship soccer match between two Christian schools, Azusa Pacific University and Westmont College, it was about far more than winning the game. Three days earlier, a wildfire had swept through the Westmont campus, destroying several academic buildings, faculty homes, and student rooms. Unable to host the game, the rules required Westmont to forfeit. Instead, Azusa invited their opponents to play at their campus where they welcomed Westmont fans with free admission and lunch.
On the field, Westmont won an emotional 2-0 victory, while Azusa Pacific won admiration for their good will. LA Times reporter Bill Plaschke wrote: “Rarely in Southern California sports has there been a better show of sportsmanship than this, Azusa Pacific sacrificing its chance at a title defense to give Westmont a fair shot at taking it. As impressive as the resilience of the conquerors was the kindness of the conquered.”
So often we think only of money when the Bible calls us to give willingly and bountifully, “for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7). Giving others a chance and offering hospitality to those who hurt is generosity that makes winners of everyone involved.
The gifts that we may give,
The deeds that we may do,
Most truly honor Christ
When self is given too. —D. De Haan
The manner of giving shows the character of the giver more than the gift itself.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
June 24, 2010
Reconciling Yourself to the Fact of Sin
This is your hour, and the power of darkness —Luke 22:53
Not being reconciled to the fact of sin— not recognizing it and refusing to deal with it— produces all the disasters in life. You may talk about the lofty virtues of human nature, but there is something in human nature that will mockingly laugh in the face of every principle you have. If you refuse to agree with the fact that there is wickedness and selfishness, something downright hateful and wrong, in human beings, when it attacks your life, instead of reconciling yourself to it, you will compromise with it and say that it is of no use to battle against it. Have you taken this “hour, and the power of darkness” into account, or do you have a view of yourself which includes no recognition of sin whatsoever? In your human relationships and friendships, have you reconciled yourself to the fact of sin? If not, just around the next corner you will find yourself trapped and you will compromise with it. But if you will reconcile yourself to the fact of sin, you will realize the danger immediately and say, “Yes, I see what this sin would mean.” The recognition of sin does not destroy the basis of friendship— it simply establishes a mutual respect for the fact that the basis of sinful life is disastrous. Always beware of any assessment of life which does not recognize the fact that there is sin.
Jesus Christ never trusted human nature, yet He was never cynical nor suspicious, because He had absolute trust in what He could do for human nature. The pure man or woman is the one who is shielded from harm, not the innocent person. The so-called innocent man or woman is never safe. Men and women have no business trying to be innocent; God demands that they be pure and virtuous. Innocence is the characteristic of a child. Any person is deserving of blame if he is unwilling to reconcile himself to the fact of sin.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Deadly Detour - #6119
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Our friends Marv and Annie were with us at a convention in Chicago. They're from Denver; I was in my hometown. Annie's doctor had let her make the trip to Chicago even though she was eight months pregnant. At a reception our first night at the convention downtown, I jokingly told her, "Hey, if the baby decides to come tonight, just call our room. This is my city, girl. I'll take care of everything!" It didn't turn out to be a joke. The call came in the middle of the night, and minutes later we had a lady in hard labor in our back seat. I thought we would have time to get out to our obstetrician in the suburbs. Not a chance! I had no idea where hospitals were downtown. I finally found one, though - a veterans' hospital. No maternity ward! Well, eventually I found a hospital with great facilities - just in time. Today we all laugh about it. It's still not one of my proudest nights.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You about "Deadly Detour."
I almost messed up the beginning of a new life - all because I went the wrong direction. That's easy to do with what the Bible calls being "born again." If you belong to Jesus, I've got to believe that you know folks who don't, and that you want them to be in heaven with you. That can only happen if they're born into God's family by putting their trust in Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross for them.
But that rebirth can be aborted if you go the wrong direction in sharing Christ with someone. There's a detour on the road to Jesus that you have to avoid at all cost. I call it the trap - one that is so easy to fall into when you're having a spiritual conversation. When Jesus was talking with the Samaritan woman at the well, she tried to deflect Jesus' claim on her life with the trap.
In John 4, beginning with verse 20, she tries to get Jesus to start down that deadly detour. Here's what it is - talking religion. She said, "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." In other words, "The issue, Jesus, is that we have different religions." Sound familiar? Jesus refuses to go there. In verse 24, He says, "God is a spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." In other words, "This isn't about what religion you are, Ma'am. It's about your relationship with God." Then Jesus introduces Himself as the looked-for Messiah. Jesus makes Himself the issue, and He still is.
There's just too much at stake for you to allow yourself to fall into the trap of talking religion with someone who needs Jesus. The issue has nothing to do with your religion. It's whether or not you've ever had your sins forgiven so you can have a relationship with God. It's all about Jesus.
Paul said it all in 1 Corinthians 2:2 when he said, "I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." It's not about your religion, it's not about your religious rules, your rituals. It's not about attacking their lifestyle. It's all about Jesus. So stick to Jesus. Keep bringing it back to Jesus and His cross.
Your mission is clear. To take a person that you care about by the hand and lead them up Skull Hill to the foot of an old rugged cross, point to the Son of God dying for them, and tell them, "This is how much He loves you." Any other direction is the wrong direction - one that leads away from the Jesus that they need. So, take them straight to Him.
Eternal Happiness
“God has planted eternity in the hearts of men.” Ecclesiastes 3:10, TLB
You will never be completely happy on earth, simply because you were not made for earth. Oh, you will have your moments of joy. You will catch glimpses of light. You will know moments or even days of peace. But they simply do not compare with the happiness that lies ahead.
James 1
1James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:
Greetings.
Trials and Temptations
2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
9The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. 10But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. 11For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business.
12Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
13When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
16Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. 17Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
Listening and Doing
19My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. 21Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
22Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.
26If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. 27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 2 Corinthians 9:6-15
6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
9 As it is written:
"He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever."
10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.
11 You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.
13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.
14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you.
15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
Winners All
June 24, 2010 — by David C. McCasland
God loves a cheerful giver. —2 Corinthians 9:7
When the Los Angeles Times covered a 2008 conference championship soccer match between two Christian schools, Azusa Pacific University and Westmont College, it was about far more than winning the game. Three days earlier, a wildfire had swept through the Westmont campus, destroying several academic buildings, faculty homes, and student rooms. Unable to host the game, the rules required Westmont to forfeit. Instead, Azusa invited their opponents to play at their campus where they welcomed Westmont fans with free admission and lunch.
On the field, Westmont won an emotional 2-0 victory, while Azusa Pacific won admiration for their good will. LA Times reporter Bill Plaschke wrote: “Rarely in Southern California sports has there been a better show of sportsmanship than this, Azusa Pacific sacrificing its chance at a title defense to give Westmont a fair shot at taking it. As impressive as the resilience of the conquerors was the kindness of the conquered.”
So often we think only of money when the Bible calls us to give willingly and bountifully, “for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7). Giving others a chance and offering hospitality to those who hurt is generosity that makes winners of everyone involved.
The gifts that we may give,
The deeds that we may do,
Most truly honor Christ
When self is given too. —D. De Haan
The manner of giving shows the character of the giver more than the gift itself.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
June 24, 2010
Reconciling Yourself to the Fact of Sin
This is your hour, and the power of darkness —Luke 22:53
Not being reconciled to the fact of sin— not recognizing it and refusing to deal with it— produces all the disasters in life. You may talk about the lofty virtues of human nature, but there is something in human nature that will mockingly laugh in the face of every principle you have. If you refuse to agree with the fact that there is wickedness and selfishness, something downright hateful and wrong, in human beings, when it attacks your life, instead of reconciling yourself to it, you will compromise with it and say that it is of no use to battle against it. Have you taken this “hour, and the power of darkness” into account, or do you have a view of yourself which includes no recognition of sin whatsoever? In your human relationships and friendships, have you reconciled yourself to the fact of sin? If not, just around the next corner you will find yourself trapped and you will compromise with it. But if you will reconcile yourself to the fact of sin, you will realize the danger immediately and say, “Yes, I see what this sin would mean.” The recognition of sin does not destroy the basis of friendship— it simply establishes a mutual respect for the fact that the basis of sinful life is disastrous. Always beware of any assessment of life which does not recognize the fact that there is sin.
Jesus Christ never trusted human nature, yet He was never cynical nor suspicious, because He had absolute trust in what He could do for human nature. The pure man or woman is the one who is shielded from harm, not the innocent person. The so-called innocent man or woman is never safe. Men and women have no business trying to be innocent; God demands that they be pure and virtuous. Innocence is the characteristic of a child. Any person is deserving of blame if he is unwilling to reconcile himself to the fact of sin.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Deadly Detour - #6119
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Our friends Marv and Annie were with us at a convention in Chicago. They're from Denver; I was in my hometown. Annie's doctor had let her make the trip to Chicago even though she was eight months pregnant. At a reception our first night at the convention downtown, I jokingly told her, "Hey, if the baby decides to come tonight, just call our room. This is my city, girl. I'll take care of everything!" It didn't turn out to be a joke. The call came in the middle of the night, and minutes later we had a lady in hard labor in our back seat. I thought we would have time to get out to our obstetrician in the suburbs. Not a chance! I had no idea where hospitals were downtown. I finally found one, though - a veterans' hospital. No maternity ward! Well, eventually I found a hospital with great facilities - just in time. Today we all laugh about it. It's still not one of my proudest nights.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You about "Deadly Detour."
I almost messed up the beginning of a new life - all because I went the wrong direction. That's easy to do with what the Bible calls being "born again." If you belong to Jesus, I've got to believe that you know folks who don't, and that you want them to be in heaven with you. That can only happen if they're born into God's family by putting their trust in Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross for them.
But that rebirth can be aborted if you go the wrong direction in sharing Christ with someone. There's a detour on the road to Jesus that you have to avoid at all cost. I call it the trap - one that is so easy to fall into when you're having a spiritual conversation. When Jesus was talking with the Samaritan woman at the well, she tried to deflect Jesus' claim on her life with the trap.
In John 4, beginning with verse 20, she tries to get Jesus to start down that deadly detour. Here's what it is - talking religion. She said, "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." In other words, "The issue, Jesus, is that we have different religions." Sound familiar? Jesus refuses to go there. In verse 24, He says, "God is a spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." In other words, "This isn't about what religion you are, Ma'am. It's about your relationship with God." Then Jesus introduces Himself as the looked-for Messiah. Jesus makes Himself the issue, and He still is.
There's just too much at stake for you to allow yourself to fall into the trap of talking religion with someone who needs Jesus. The issue has nothing to do with your religion. It's whether or not you've ever had your sins forgiven so you can have a relationship with God. It's all about Jesus.
Paul said it all in 1 Corinthians 2:2 when he said, "I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." It's not about your religion, it's not about your religious rules, your rituals. It's not about attacking their lifestyle. It's all about Jesus. So stick to Jesus. Keep bringing it back to Jesus and His cross.
Your mission is clear. To take a person that you care about by the hand and lead them up Skull Hill to the foot of an old rugged cross, point to the Son of God dying for them, and tell them, "This is how much He loves you." Any other direction is the wrong direction - one that leads away from the Jesus that they need. So, take them straight to Him.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Galatians 6, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: We Are His
We Are His
Posted: 22 Jun 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“Thank you for your love, thank you for your faithfulness.” Psalm 138:2, The Message
We give more applause to a brawny ball-carrier than we do to the God who made us. We sing more songs to the moon than to the Christ who saved us . . .
Though we may not act like our Father, there is no greater truth than this: We are his. Unalterably. He loves us. Undyingly.
Galatians 6
Doing Good to All
1Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. 2Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, 5for each one should carry his own load.
6Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor.
7Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature[n]will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Not Circumcision but a New Creation
11See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!
12Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh. 14May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which[o] the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation. 16Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God.
17Finally, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.
18The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Acts 14:1-7,19-22
1 At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed.
2 But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.
3 So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders.
4 The people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles.
5 There was a plot afoot among the Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to mistreat them and stone them.
6 But they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding country,
7 where they continued to preach the good news.
19 Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead.
20 But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.
The Return to Antioch in Syria
21 They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch,
22 strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God," they said.
Briers And Buttercups
June 23, 2010 — by Julie Ackerman Link
We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God. —Acts 14:22
The buttercups in our backyard were unusually bright and beautiful due to the generous amount of spring rain God sent our way. I wanted to take some pictures of them before they faded, but I had trouble getting close enough because they were growing in a very soggy wetland. One sunny afternoon, I pulled on a pair of boots and trudged through briers and brambles toward buttercup bog. Before I got any pictures, I got muddy feet, multiple scratches, and numerous bug bites. But seeing the buttercups made my temporary discomfort worthwhile.
Much of life is about “getting through” the trials and troubles that are inevitable in our sinful world. One of these trials is persecution. The disciples certainly found this to be true. They knew the good things that Jesus has ready for those who follow Him, but they met harsh resistance when they tried to tell others (Acts 14:5).
Those of us who have chosen God’s way, and who know from experience that it’s “a more excellent way” (1 Cor. 12:31), will persevere even when we have to go through danger and difficulty. By doing so, we show others a beautiful picture of God’s peace, mercy, and forgiveness. The joy that awaits will make our temporary discomfort worthwhile.
As sure as night, life’s troubles come,
As sure as day, they’re past;
But surer still that endless joy
When heaven we reach at last. —D. De Haan
Earth—the land of trials; heaven—the land of joys.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
June 23, 2010
"Acquainted With Grief"
He is . . . a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief —Isaiah 53:3
We are not “acquainted with grief” in the same way our Lord was acquainted with it. We endure it and live through it, but we do not become intimate with it. At the beginning of our lives we do not bring ourselves to the point of dealing with the reality of sin. We look at life through the eyes of reason and say that if a person will control his instincts, and educate himself, he can produce a life that will slowly evolve into the life of God. But as we continue on through life, we find the presence of something which we have not yet taken into account, namely, sin— and it upsets all of our thinking and our plans. Sin has made the foundation of our thinking unpredictable, uncontrollable, and irrational.
We have to recognize that sin is a fact of life, not just a shortcoming. Sin is blatant mutiny against God, and either sin or God must die in my life. The New Testament brings us right down to this one issue— if sin rules in me, God’s life in me will be killed; if God rules in me, sin in me will be killed. There is nothing more fundamental than that. The culmination of sin was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and what was true in the history of God on earth will also be true in your history and in mine— that is, sin will kill the life of God in us. We must mentally bring ourselves to terms with this fact of sin. It is the only explanation why Jesus Christ came to earth, and it is the explanation of the grief and sorrow of life.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Washing in Water That Cannot Make You Clean - #6118
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
It was one very hot day, and my granddaughter and I were watching some horses. One-by-one they made their way to the little pond to take in some more water. Then this big old grey horse decided drinking wasn't enough. He didn't just get a little of the pond in him, he got into the pond and lay down in the water. He splashed around a little, stayed there for a while and finally pulled his big old body out of the water. Relating what she saw to her world, my granddaughter said, "He's taking a bath!" If that was his intention, I had bad news for that horse. He got out of that murky water with his light gray coat covered with dirt! So much for getting clean!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Washing in Water That Cannot Make You Clean."
No matter where you go in the world, no matter how primitive or advanced the culture, we humans have this sense in our soul that we have a problem with the Creator who put us here. In a sense, that's the reason most people practice whatever their religion is; to somehow do something to put us on God's good side to avoid whatever punishment we may deserve for the wrong things we've done. All of us have things we wish we hadn't done and things we know we should have done. We feel the guilt; we feel the shame of things that we thought we would never do; of things we've done that hurt other people - often people we love.
You might say we know we're dirty inside and that we'd better do something to get clean before we meet the Creator who decides our forever. The Bible tells the story of a military leader named Naaman who came down with terminal leprosy: corrosive spots all over his body. He was directed to God's prophet for a cure. He wanted to buy a cure. No way. He wanted to do something noble to be cured. No way, the prophet said. He told him to wash seven times in the muddy waters of the Jordan River.
Naaman was enraged. There were nicer rivers back home that he wanted to wash in. But there was only one way to get cured and get clean...wash where God said to wash. In the Bible's words, he did "as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy" (2 Kings 5:1-16).
We're all Naaman. We want to get right with God the way we want to get right with God: through doing good, through practicing our religion, through personal spirituality. But it's all water that can't make us clean. Here's why recorded in our word for today from the Word of God in Hebrews 9:22, "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." Sin is punishable by spiritual death. That is eternal separation from a sinless God. So only a death can pay for it. That's why all the religious water in the world will leave you unforgiven and unable to enter God's heaven.
A few verses later, God explains where our only hope really is. He says Jesus died "...to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself" (Hebrews 9:26). Only Jesus, the only sinless man that ever lived, could die in our place. And He loves you so much that He did - on an awful cross.
So, we have to come to God through the only way He's provided - His Son. Jesus alone can make you clean inside and right before a holy God. Jesus alone can get you into heaven. Not Christianity, not church, but Jesus. No other "water" can make you clean, however sincere your efforts to get clean. If you could have gotten clean any other way, believe me, God would have never put His Son through that brutal crucifixion.
You have a decision to make: the ultimate life-or-death decision. Will you put your total trust in what Jesus did to pay for your sins on the cross? Or will you put your hope in something else? The outcomes of that decision are heaven or hell, and God leaves it to you to choose. If you're ready to abandon all other hopes and hold onto Jesus like a drowning person would embrace a rescuer, would you tell Him that right now, right where you are? At that moment every wrong thing you've ever done will be forgiven by God and erased from His book. And your name will be entered in His "book of life" - the people who are going to be in heaven.
I would love to have you visit our website today and read a brief explanation there of how to be sure you've begun your relationship with Jesus. The website is YoursForLife.net.
Sin can't be repaid. It has to be removed. And Jesus stands ready to do that for you this very day, and you will be clean.
We Are His
Posted: 22 Jun 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“Thank you for your love, thank you for your faithfulness.” Psalm 138:2, The Message
We give more applause to a brawny ball-carrier than we do to the God who made us. We sing more songs to the moon than to the Christ who saved us . . .
Though we may not act like our Father, there is no greater truth than this: We are his. Unalterably. He loves us. Undyingly.
Galatians 6
Doing Good to All
1Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. 2Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, 5for each one should carry his own load.
6Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor.
7Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature[n]will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Not Circumcision but a New Creation
11See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!
12Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh. 14May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which[o] the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation. 16Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God.
17Finally, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.
18The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Acts 14:1-7,19-22
1 At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed.
2 But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.
3 So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders.
4 The people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles.
5 There was a plot afoot among the Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to mistreat them and stone them.
6 But they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding country,
7 where they continued to preach the good news.
19 Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead.
20 But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.
The Return to Antioch in Syria
21 They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch,
22 strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God," they said.
Briers And Buttercups
June 23, 2010 — by Julie Ackerman Link
We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God. —Acts 14:22
The buttercups in our backyard were unusually bright and beautiful due to the generous amount of spring rain God sent our way. I wanted to take some pictures of them before they faded, but I had trouble getting close enough because they were growing in a very soggy wetland. One sunny afternoon, I pulled on a pair of boots and trudged through briers and brambles toward buttercup bog. Before I got any pictures, I got muddy feet, multiple scratches, and numerous bug bites. But seeing the buttercups made my temporary discomfort worthwhile.
Much of life is about “getting through” the trials and troubles that are inevitable in our sinful world. One of these trials is persecution. The disciples certainly found this to be true. They knew the good things that Jesus has ready for those who follow Him, but they met harsh resistance when they tried to tell others (Acts 14:5).
Those of us who have chosen God’s way, and who know from experience that it’s “a more excellent way” (1 Cor. 12:31), will persevere even when we have to go through danger and difficulty. By doing so, we show others a beautiful picture of God’s peace, mercy, and forgiveness. The joy that awaits will make our temporary discomfort worthwhile.
As sure as night, life’s troubles come,
As sure as day, they’re past;
But surer still that endless joy
When heaven we reach at last. —D. De Haan
Earth—the land of trials; heaven—the land of joys.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
June 23, 2010
"Acquainted With Grief"
He is . . . a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief —Isaiah 53:3
We are not “acquainted with grief” in the same way our Lord was acquainted with it. We endure it and live through it, but we do not become intimate with it. At the beginning of our lives we do not bring ourselves to the point of dealing with the reality of sin. We look at life through the eyes of reason and say that if a person will control his instincts, and educate himself, he can produce a life that will slowly evolve into the life of God. But as we continue on through life, we find the presence of something which we have not yet taken into account, namely, sin— and it upsets all of our thinking and our plans. Sin has made the foundation of our thinking unpredictable, uncontrollable, and irrational.
We have to recognize that sin is a fact of life, not just a shortcoming. Sin is blatant mutiny against God, and either sin or God must die in my life. The New Testament brings us right down to this one issue— if sin rules in me, God’s life in me will be killed; if God rules in me, sin in me will be killed. There is nothing more fundamental than that. The culmination of sin was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and what was true in the history of God on earth will also be true in your history and in mine— that is, sin will kill the life of God in us. We must mentally bring ourselves to terms with this fact of sin. It is the only explanation why Jesus Christ came to earth, and it is the explanation of the grief and sorrow of life.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Washing in Water That Cannot Make You Clean - #6118
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
It was one very hot day, and my granddaughter and I were watching some horses. One-by-one they made their way to the little pond to take in some more water. Then this big old grey horse decided drinking wasn't enough. He didn't just get a little of the pond in him, he got into the pond and lay down in the water. He splashed around a little, stayed there for a while and finally pulled his big old body out of the water. Relating what she saw to her world, my granddaughter said, "He's taking a bath!" If that was his intention, I had bad news for that horse. He got out of that murky water with his light gray coat covered with dirt! So much for getting clean!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Washing in Water That Cannot Make You Clean."
No matter where you go in the world, no matter how primitive or advanced the culture, we humans have this sense in our soul that we have a problem with the Creator who put us here. In a sense, that's the reason most people practice whatever their religion is; to somehow do something to put us on God's good side to avoid whatever punishment we may deserve for the wrong things we've done. All of us have things we wish we hadn't done and things we know we should have done. We feel the guilt; we feel the shame of things that we thought we would never do; of things we've done that hurt other people - often people we love.
You might say we know we're dirty inside and that we'd better do something to get clean before we meet the Creator who decides our forever. The Bible tells the story of a military leader named Naaman who came down with terminal leprosy: corrosive spots all over his body. He was directed to God's prophet for a cure. He wanted to buy a cure. No way. He wanted to do something noble to be cured. No way, the prophet said. He told him to wash seven times in the muddy waters of the Jordan River.
Naaman was enraged. There were nicer rivers back home that he wanted to wash in. But there was only one way to get cured and get clean...wash where God said to wash. In the Bible's words, he did "as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy" (2 Kings 5:1-16).
We're all Naaman. We want to get right with God the way we want to get right with God: through doing good, through practicing our religion, through personal spirituality. But it's all water that can't make us clean. Here's why recorded in our word for today from the Word of God in Hebrews 9:22, "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." Sin is punishable by spiritual death. That is eternal separation from a sinless God. So only a death can pay for it. That's why all the religious water in the world will leave you unforgiven and unable to enter God's heaven.
A few verses later, God explains where our only hope really is. He says Jesus died "...to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself" (Hebrews 9:26). Only Jesus, the only sinless man that ever lived, could die in our place. And He loves you so much that He did - on an awful cross.
So, we have to come to God through the only way He's provided - His Son. Jesus alone can make you clean inside and right before a holy God. Jesus alone can get you into heaven. Not Christianity, not church, but Jesus. No other "water" can make you clean, however sincere your efforts to get clean. If you could have gotten clean any other way, believe me, God would have never put His Son through that brutal crucifixion.
You have a decision to make: the ultimate life-or-death decision. Will you put your total trust in what Jesus did to pay for your sins on the cross? Or will you put your hope in something else? The outcomes of that decision are heaven or hell, and God leaves it to you to choose. If you're ready to abandon all other hopes and hold onto Jesus like a drowning person would embrace a rescuer, would you tell Him that right now, right where you are? At that moment every wrong thing you've ever done will be forgiven by God and erased from His book. And your name will be entered in His "book of life" - the people who are going to be in heaven.
I would love to have you visit our website today and read a brief explanation there of how to be sure you've begun your relationship with Jesus. The website is YoursForLife.net.
Sin can't be repaid. It has to be removed. And Jesus stands ready to do that for you this very day, and you will be clean.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Galatians 5, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: He Wants You To Fly
“If you believe, you will get anything you ask for in prayer.” Matthew 21:22
Don’t reduce this grand statement to the category of new cars and paychecks . . .
God wants you to fly. He wants you to fly free of yesterday’s guilt. He wants you to fly free of today’s fears. He wants you to fly free of tomorrow’s grave. Sin, fear, and death. These are the mountains he has moved. These are the prayers he will answer.
Galatians 5
Freedom in Christ
1It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
2Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. 6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
7You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? 8That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. 9"A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough." 10I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be. 11Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. 12As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!
13You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature[l]; rather, serve one another in love. 14The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."[m] 15If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
Life by the Spirit
16So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
19The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Ecclesiastes 9:13-18
13 I also saw under the sun this example of wisdom that greatly impressed me:
14 There was once a small city with only a few people in it. And a powerful king came against it, surrounded it and built huge siegeworks against it.
15 Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembered that poor man.
16 So I said, "Wisdom is better than strength." But the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are no longer heeded.
17 The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of fools.
18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.
No One Remembered!
June 22, 2010 — by David H. Roper
He by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that same poor man. —Ecclesiastes 9:15
In a commentary on Ecclesiastes 9:15, Martin Luther cites the story of Themistocles, the soldier and statesman who commanded the Athenian squadron. Through his strategy, he won the Battle of Salamis, drove the Persian army from Greek soil, and saved his city. A few years later, he fell out of favor, was ostracized by his countrymen, and was banished from Athens. Thus, Luther concludes, “Themistocles did much good for his city, but received much ingratitude.”
The crowd, for some reason, seems to ignore or quickly forget the good that the poor and humble man accomplishes through his wisdom. No matter. “Wisdom is [still] better than strength” even if “the poor man’s wisdom is despised” (v.16). It’s better to be a quiet, honest sage who, though forgotten, leaves much good behind, than a swaggering, strident fool who, though many applaud him, “destroys much good” (v.18).
Accordingly, what matters in the end is not the recognition and gratitude we receive for the work we’ve done, but the souls of those gentle folk in whom we’ve sown the seeds of righteousness. Put another way: “Wisdom is justified by all her children” (Luke 7:35). Whom have you influenced through your wise and godly wisdom?
Help me to walk so close to Thee
That those who know me best can see
I live as godly as I pray,
And Christ is real from day to day. —Ryberg
A wise person sets his earthly goals on heavenly gains.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
June 22, 2010
The Unchanging Law of Judgment
With what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you —Matthew 7:2
This statement is not some haphazard theory, but it is an eternal law of God. Whatever judgment you give will be the very way you are judged. There is a difference between retaliation and retribution. Jesus said that the basis of life is retribution— “with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” If you have been shrewd in finding out the shortcomings of others, remember that will be exactly how you will be measured. The way you pay is the way life will pay you back. This eternal law works from God’s throne down to us (see Psalm 18:25-26 ).
Romans 2:1 applies it in even a more definite way by saying that the one who criticizes another is guilty of the very same thing. God looks not only at the act itself, but also at the possibility of committing it, which He sees by looking at our hearts. To begin with, we do not believe the statements of the Bible. For instance, do we really believe the statement that says we criticize in others the very things we are guilty of ourselves? The reason we see hypocrisy, deceit, and a lack of genuineness in others is that they are all in our own hearts. The greatest characteristic of a saint is humility, as evidenced by being able to say honestly and humbly, “Yes, all those, as well as other evils, would have been exhibited in me if it were not for the grace of God. Therefore, I have no right to judge.”
Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged” ( Matthew 7:1 ). He went on to say, in effect, “If you do judge, you will be judged in exactly the same way.” Who of us would dare to stand before God and say, “My God, judge me as I have judged others”? We have judged others as sinners— if God should judge us in the same way, we would be condemned to hell. Yet God judges us on the basis of the miraculous atonement by the Cross of Christ.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Healing Power of Making a Difference - #6117
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Bob is one senior who was a tremendous blessing to our ministry. He had been the kind of volunteer who had been there for every kind of project you can imagine. His whole life - it seems like he's been a warrior for the Lord. But then, he had some illnesses and an accident that slowed him down - even to the point of walking with a cane and, well, looking honestly a little more stooped than usual. We asked him if he could help oversee an important remodeling project at our Headquarters. Before we could finish the tour of the area that needed work, Bob was spouting out ideas about how it could be done. Later I saw Bob in the hallway - walking tall, walking fast, without a cane, like a man half his age!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Healing Power of Making a Difference."
A new spark, a new spring in his step - what made this almost overnight difference in our friend? I think it was, at least in part, the prospect of making a difference again! He's been re-energized by having a mission. You know, that might be just what the doctor - I mean, The Doctor - ordered for someone who's listening right now.
In Proverbs 11:24-25, our word for today from the Word of God, the Bible spells out this healing power of making a difference for other people. Here's what it says. "One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed." When you're all focused on yourself, your world is small, your hurts are big, you're claustrophobic, you're sometimes bitter and self-pitying. But when you're focused on people who need you, on things you can do to make a difference, it is literally life-giving. Jesus described this strange but ever-true equation: "Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will save it" (Luke 9:24).
Hold onto your life, you lose it. Give your life away, you find it. I've seen that proven true from teenagers to people way up in years. We all need a mission. It begins by looking around your world and asking, "Who needs me around here? Who can I help with what I know, or with what I've been through?" Often we're looking for someone to help us instead of someone to help. We're focused on who could meet our needs instead of whose needs we could help meet. And we're miserable. Nobody wants to come to our pity parties, and life looks ugly because we keep looking through a dirty window called "It's all about me."
Maybe it's time for you to think more about "giving your life away" - about a mission you could become involved in. You may have some very real limitations, and hurts, and handicaps. But there is someone you can help with what you know; whether it's in person, through letters, or emails, with the phone, at least you can tell them about your Jesus and help take them to heaven with you.
A young man once wrote to Mother Teresa, and he was asking her how he could have the kind of significance with his life that she was experiencing ministering to dying people in Calcutta's worst slums. She wrote back just a four-word reply: "Find your own Calcutta." That's the answer. Find a place where you are needed, where you can pour yourself into someone other than yourself, into something bigger than yourself. And, when you do, prepare to experience the awesome healing power of making a difference!
“If you believe, you will get anything you ask for in prayer.” Matthew 21:22
Don’t reduce this grand statement to the category of new cars and paychecks . . .
God wants you to fly. He wants you to fly free of yesterday’s guilt. He wants you to fly free of today’s fears. He wants you to fly free of tomorrow’s grave. Sin, fear, and death. These are the mountains he has moved. These are the prayers he will answer.
Galatians 5
Freedom in Christ
1It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
2Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. 6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
7You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? 8That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. 9"A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough." 10I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be. 11Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. 12As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!
13You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature[l]; rather, serve one another in love. 14The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."[m] 15If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
Life by the Spirit
16So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
19The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Ecclesiastes 9:13-18
13 I also saw under the sun this example of wisdom that greatly impressed me:
14 There was once a small city with only a few people in it. And a powerful king came against it, surrounded it and built huge siegeworks against it.
15 Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembered that poor man.
16 So I said, "Wisdom is better than strength." But the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are no longer heeded.
17 The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of fools.
18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.
No One Remembered!
June 22, 2010 — by David H. Roper
He by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that same poor man. —Ecclesiastes 9:15
In a commentary on Ecclesiastes 9:15, Martin Luther cites the story of Themistocles, the soldier and statesman who commanded the Athenian squadron. Through his strategy, he won the Battle of Salamis, drove the Persian army from Greek soil, and saved his city. A few years later, he fell out of favor, was ostracized by his countrymen, and was banished from Athens. Thus, Luther concludes, “Themistocles did much good for his city, but received much ingratitude.”
The crowd, for some reason, seems to ignore or quickly forget the good that the poor and humble man accomplishes through his wisdom. No matter. “Wisdom is [still] better than strength” even if “the poor man’s wisdom is despised” (v.16). It’s better to be a quiet, honest sage who, though forgotten, leaves much good behind, than a swaggering, strident fool who, though many applaud him, “destroys much good” (v.18).
Accordingly, what matters in the end is not the recognition and gratitude we receive for the work we’ve done, but the souls of those gentle folk in whom we’ve sown the seeds of righteousness. Put another way: “Wisdom is justified by all her children” (Luke 7:35). Whom have you influenced through your wise and godly wisdom?
Help me to walk so close to Thee
That those who know me best can see
I live as godly as I pray,
And Christ is real from day to day. —Ryberg
A wise person sets his earthly goals on heavenly gains.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
June 22, 2010
The Unchanging Law of Judgment
With what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you —Matthew 7:2
This statement is not some haphazard theory, but it is an eternal law of God. Whatever judgment you give will be the very way you are judged. There is a difference between retaliation and retribution. Jesus said that the basis of life is retribution— “with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” If you have been shrewd in finding out the shortcomings of others, remember that will be exactly how you will be measured. The way you pay is the way life will pay you back. This eternal law works from God’s throne down to us (see Psalm 18:25-26 ).
Romans 2:1 applies it in even a more definite way by saying that the one who criticizes another is guilty of the very same thing. God looks not only at the act itself, but also at the possibility of committing it, which He sees by looking at our hearts. To begin with, we do not believe the statements of the Bible. For instance, do we really believe the statement that says we criticize in others the very things we are guilty of ourselves? The reason we see hypocrisy, deceit, and a lack of genuineness in others is that they are all in our own hearts. The greatest characteristic of a saint is humility, as evidenced by being able to say honestly and humbly, “Yes, all those, as well as other evils, would have been exhibited in me if it were not for the grace of God. Therefore, I have no right to judge.”
Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged” ( Matthew 7:1 ). He went on to say, in effect, “If you do judge, you will be judged in exactly the same way.” Who of us would dare to stand before God and say, “My God, judge me as I have judged others”? We have judged others as sinners— if God should judge us in the same way, we would be condemned to hell. Yet God judges us on the basis of the miraculous atonement by the Cross of Christ.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Healing Power of Making a Difference - #6117
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Bob is one senior who was a tremendous blessing to our ministry. He had been the kind of volunteer who had been there for every kind of project you can imagine. His whole life - it seems like he's been a warrior for the Lord. But then, he had some illnesses and an accident that slowed him down - even to the point of walking with a cane and, well, looking honestly a little more stooped than usual. We asked him if he could help oversee an important remodeling project at our Headquarters. Before we could finish the tour of the area that needed work, Bob was spouting out ideas about how it could be done. Later I saw Bob in the hallway - walking tall, walking fast, without a cane, like a man half his age!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Healing Power of Making a Difference."
A new spark, a new spring in his step - what made this almost overnight difference in our friend? I think it was, at least in part, the prospect of making a difference again! He's been re-energized by having a mission. You know, that might be just what the doctor - I mean, The Doctor - ordered for someone who's listening right now.
In Proverbs 11:24-25, our word for today from the Word of God, the Bible spells out this healing power of making a difference for other people. Here's what it says. "One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed." When you're all focused on yourself, your world is small, your hurts are big, you're claustrophobic, you're sometimes bitter and self-pitying. But when you're focused on people who need you, on things you can do to make a difference, it is literally life-giving. Jesus described this strange but ever-true equation: "Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will save it" (Luke 9:24).
Hold onto your life, you lose it. Give your life away, you find it. I've seen that proven true from teenagers to people way up in years. We all need a mission. It begins by looking around your world and asking, "Who needs me around here? Who can I help with what I know, or with what I've been through?" Often we're looking for someone to help us instead of someone to help. We're focused on who could meet our needs instead of whose needs we could help meet. And we're miserable. Nobody wants to come to our pity parties, and life looks ugly because we keep looking through a dirty window called "It's all about me."
Maybe it's time for you to think more about "giving your life away" - about a mission you could become involved in. You may have some very real limitations, and hurts, and handicaps. But there is someone you can help with what you know; whether it's in person, through letters, or emails, with the phone, at least you can tell them about your Jesus and help take them to heaven with you.
A young man once wrote to Mother Teresa, and he was asking her how he could have the kind of significance with his life that she was experiencing ministering to dying people in Calcutta's worst slums. She wrote back just a four-word reply: "Find your own Calcutta." That's the answer. Find a place where you are needed, where you can pour yourself into someone other than yourself, into something bigger than yourself. And, when you do, prepare to experience the awesome healing power of making a difference!
Monday, June 21, 2010
Galatians 4, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily:
Time to Celebrate
“He will destroy death forever.” Isaiah 25:8
Jesus explained that the river of death was nothing to fear. The people wouldn’t believe him. He touched a boy and called him back to life . . . He let a dead man spend four days in a grave and then called him out. Is that enough? Apparently not. For it was necessary for him to . . . submerge himself in the water of death before people would believe that death had been conquered.
After he . . . came out on the other side of death’s river . . . it was time to celebrate.
Galatians 4
1What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. 2He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. 3So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. 4But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. 6Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba,[i] Father." 7So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.
Paul's Concern for the Galatians
8Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 9But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? 10You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! 11I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.
12I plead with you, brothers, become like me, for I became like you. You have done me no wrong. 13As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you. 14Even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself. 15What has happened to all your joy? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. 16Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?
17Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them. 18It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always and not just when I am with you. 19My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, 20how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!
Hagar and Sarah
21Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? 22For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. 23His son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary way; but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a promise.
24These things may be taken figuratively, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. 25Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. 26But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. 27For it is written:
"Be glad, O barren woman,
who bears no children;
break forth and cry aloud,
you who have no labor pains;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband."[j]
28Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29At that time the son born in the ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. 30But what does the Scripture say? "Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman's son."[k] 31Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Genesis 33:1-4
1 Jacob looked up and there was Esau, coming with his four hundred men; so he divided the children among Leah, Rachel and the two maidservants.
2 He put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear.
3 He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.
4 But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept.
An Imaginary Threat
June 21, 2010 — by Dennis Fisher
Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him. —Genesis 33:4
Last spring the window to one of the rooms in our house was repeatedly attacked by a robin. The bird would perch at the base of the window, ruffle its feathers, chirp loudly, and then fly headfirst into the glass.
I did some research and learned that robins are territorial. While nesting, they drive out any competing robins. This bird apparently saw its reflection in our window and thought it was another robin. The threat was not real; it was only an illusion.
In the Old Testament, we see an instance when Jacob imagined a threat that wasn’t really there. Years earlier, Jacob had stolen his brother Esau’s blessing by their father. Now, after many years of separation, they were going to meet again. Jacob thought Esau would harm him, so he sent gifts ahead as a peace offering of sorts. Then, when he saw Esau approaching with 400 men, Jacob panicked. Yet what Jacob thought was an attack force turned out to be a welcoming committee. “Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept” (Gen. 33:4).
In interpersonal relationships, we sometimes misinterpret a situation. We must ask the Lord for discernment so we don’t miss a friendship because of an imaginary threat.
I went outside to find a friend
But could not find one there;
I went outside to be a friend,
And friends were everywhere! —Payne
Don’t be afraid of a presumed enemy, but trust in the Lord to make a new friend.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
June 21, 2010
The Ministry of the Inner Life
You are . . . a royal priesthood . . . —1 Peter 2:9
By what right have we become “a royal priesthood”? It is by the right of the atonement by the Cross of Christ that this has been accomplished. Are we prepared to purposely disregard ourselves and to launch out into the priestly work of prayer? The continual inner-searching we do in an effort to see if we are what we ought to be generates a self-centered, sickly type of Christianity, not the vigorous and simple life of a child of God. Until we get into this right and proper relationship with God, it is simply a case of our “hanging on by the skin of our teeth,” although we say, “What a wonderful victory I have!” Yet there is nothing at all in that which indicates the miracle of redemption. Launch out in reckless, unrestrained belief that the redemption is complete. Then don’t worry anymore about yourself, but begin to do as Jesus Christ has said, in essence, “Pray for the friend who comes to you at midnight, pray for the saints of God, and pray for all men.” Pray with the realization that you are perfect only in Christ Jesus, not on the basis of this argument: “Oh, Lord, I have done my best; please hear me now.”
How long is it going to take God to free us from the unhealthy habit of thinking only about ourselves? We must get to the point of being sick to death of ourselves, until there is no longer any surprise at anything God might tell us about ourselves. We cannot reach and understand the depths of our own meagerness. There is only one place where we are right with God, and that is in Christ Jesus. Once we are there, we have to pour out our lives for all we are worth in this ministry of the inner life.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Choosing Your Battles - #6116
Monday, June 21, 2010
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Many Civil War scholars would consider the Battle of Gettysburg as the turning point - or certainly one of the turning points - of that bloody war. And Civil War buffs have discussed for decades what factors actually decided the outcome of the battle that may have decided the outcome of the war. One key factor happened before the real battle actually began those three days in July of 1863. Soldiers from both North and South were on the move as Lee's troops launched an invasion of Union territory. Union General Buford unintentionally encountered some of the advance Confederate forces. Well, he sized up the terrain around Gettysburg, and he decided that the ground called Cemetery Ridge would be decisive high ground when the forces of Blue and Gray finally came to blows. He determined to keep the advance Southern troops from having that ground, and he succeeded. In so doing, he secured for the North, ground that would indeed help decide the outcome of the Battle of Gettysburg.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Choosing Your Battles."
Throughout military history, victories have been won because someone knew which battle was worth fighting and which battleground was best to fight on. It might be an important part of whether or not you'll win in some of the battles you're fighting in right now as a parent, in your work, in keeping people together, or in your church.
King David was a veteran warrior, and he understood that it was important to be sure that you're fighting the right battles. In 2 Samuel 5 , beginning with verse 18, our word for today from the Word of God, the Bible says: "Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim; so David inquired of the Lord, 'Shall I go and attack the Philistines?'... The Lord answered him, 'Go, for I will surely hand the Philistines over to you.' So David went...and he defeated them."
Later, the Philistines invaded again. "So David inquired of the Lord, and He answered, 'Do not go straight up...'" Now, notice here, David did not undertake a battle until he had checked with God to see if this was a battle he should fight. That's a powerful model for you and me.
Some of us as parents - as leaders - tend to make everything a battle. We just can't keep our mouth shut, we can't let anything pass. And even if you're fighting good battles, if you're always fighting, people become immune to you. And when you've got a really important issue to fight for, they'll just say, "Here he goes again." That's not good. Some of us parents so want our kids to do the right thing that we're all over them all of the time. And they eventually just turn us off. Same with any of us who are always fighting.
So don't make every issue a battleground. Don't make everything a battle. Fight for the real issues, not over every incident. Don't try to settle issues based on an incident that's got everybody all inflamed right now. Deal with it at a time when there's not an incident. Save your ammunition for the battles that really matter. Above all, always check with God to see if this is His battle; one that He thinks is worth fighting. So that you can say with David against Goliath, "The battle is the Lord's." Choosing your battles, choosing your battlegrounds, and sometimes holding your fire. Those are keys to winning the battles that decide the war.
Time to Celebrate
“He will destroy death forever.” Isaiah 25:8
Jesus explained that the river of death was nothing to fear. The people wouldn’t believe him. He touched a boy and called him back to life . . . He let a dead man spend four days in a grave and then called him out. Is that enough? Apparently not. For it was necessary for him to . . . submerge himself in the water of death before people would believe that death had been conquered.
After he . . . came out on the other side of death’s river . . . it was time to celebrate.
Galatians 4
1What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. 2He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. 3So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. 4But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. 6Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba,[i] Father." 7So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.
Paul's Concern for the Galatians
8Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 9But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? 10You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! 11I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.
12I plead with you, brothers, become like me, for I became like you. You have done me no wrong. 13As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you. 14Even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself. 15What has happened to all your joy? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. 16Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?
17Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them. 18It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always and not just when I am with you. 19My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, 20how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!
Hagar and Sarah
21Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? 22For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. 23His son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary way; but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a promise.
24These things may be taken figuratively, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. 25Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. 26But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. 27For it is written:
"Be glad, O barren woman,
who bears no children;
break forth and cry aloud,
you who have no labor pains;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband."[j]
28Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29At that time the son born in the ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. 30But what does the Scripture say? "Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman's son."[k] 31Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Genesis 33:1-4
1 Jacob looked up and there was Esau, coming with his four hundred men; so he divided the children among Leah, Rachel and the two maidservants.
2 He put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear.
3 He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.
4 But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept.
An Imaginary Threat
June 21, 2010 — by Dennis Fisher
Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him. —Genesis 33:4
Last spring the window to one of the rooms in our house was repeatedly attacked by a robin. The bird would perch at the base of the window, ruffle its feathers, chirp loudly, and then fly headfirst into the glass.
I did some research and learned that robins are territorial. While nesting, they drive out any competing robins. This bird apparently saw its reflection in our window and thought it was another robin. The threat was not real; it was only an illusion.
In the Old Testament, we see an instance when Jacob imagined a threat that wasn’t really there. Years earlier, Jacob had stolen his brother Esau’s blessing by their father. Now, after many years of separation, they were going to meet again. Jacob thought Esau would harm him, so he sent gifts ahead as a peace offering of sorts. Then, when he saw Esau approaching with 400 men, Jacob panicked. Yet what Jacob thought was an attack force turned out to be a welcoming committee. “Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept” (Gen. 33:4).
In interpersonal relationships, we sometimes misinterpret a situation. We must ask the Lord for discernment so we don’t miss a friendship because of an imaginary threat.
I went outside to find a friend
But could not find one there;
I went outside to be a friend,
And friends were everywhere! —Payne
Don’t be afraid of a presumed enemy, but trust in the Lord to make a new friend.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
June 21, 2010
The Ministry of the Inner Life
You are . . . a royal priesthood . . . —1 Peter 2:9
By what right have we become “a royal priesthood”? It is by the right of the atonement by the Cross of Christ that this has been accomplished. Are we prepared to purposely disregard ourselves and to launch out into the priestly work of prayer? The continual inner-searching we do in an effort to see if we are what we ought to be generates a self-centered, sickly type of Christianity, not the vigorous and simple life of a child of God. Until we get into this right and proper relationship with God, it is simply a case of our “hanging on by the skin of our teeth,” although we say, “What a wonderful victory I have!” Yet there is nothing at all in that which indicates the miracle of redemption. Launch out in reckless, unrestrained belief that the redemption is complete. Then don’t worry anymore about yourself, but begin to do as Jesus Christ has said, in essence, “Pray for the friend who comes to you at midnight, pray for the saints of God, and pray for all men.” Pray with the realization that you are perfect only in Christ Jesus, not on the basis of this argument: “Oh, Lord, I have done my best; please hear me now.”
How long is it going to take God to free us from the unhealthy habit of thinking only about ourselves? We must get to the point of being sick to death of ourselves, until there is no longer any surprise at anything God might tell us about ourselves. We cannot reach and understand the depths of our own meagerness. There is only one place where we are right with God, and that is in Christ Jesus. Once we are there, we have to pour out our lives for all we are worth in this ministry of the inner life.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Choosing Your Battles - #6116
Monday, June 21, 2010
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Many Civil War scholars would consider the Battle of Gettysburg as the turning point - or certainly one of the turning points - of that bloody war. And Civil War buffs have discussed for decades what factors actually decided the outcome of the battle that may have decided the outcome of the war. One key factor happened before the real battle actually began those three days in July of 1863. Soldiers from both North and South were on the move as Lee's troops launched an invasion of Union territory. Union General Buford unintentionally encountered some of the advance Confederate forces. Well, he sized up the terrain around Gettysburg, and he decided that the ground called Cemetery Ridge would be decisive high ground when the forces of Blue and Gray finally came to blows. He determined to keep the advance Southern troops from having that ground, and he succeeded. In so doing, he secured for the North, ground that would indeed help decide the outcome of the Battle of Gettysburg.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Choosing Your Battles."
Throughout military history, victories have been won because someone knew which battle was worth fighting and which battleground was best to fight on. It might be an important part of whether or not you'll win in some of the battles you're fighting in right now as a parent, in your work, in keeping people together, or in your church.
King David was a veteran warrior, and he understood that it was important to be sure that you're fighting the right battles. In 2 Samuel 5 , beginning with verse 18, our word for today from the Word of God, the Bible says: "Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim; so David inquired of the Lord, 'Shall I go and attack the Philistines?'... The Lord answered him, 'Go, for I will surely hand the Philistines over to you.' So David went...and he defeated them."
Later, the Philistines invaded again. "So David inquired of the Lord, and He answered, 'Do not go straight up...'" Now, notice here, David did not undertake a battle until he had checked with God to see if this was a battle he should fight. That's a powerful model for you and me.
Some of us as parents - as leaders - tend to make everything a battle. We just can't keep our mouth shut, we can't let anything pass. And even if you're fighting good battles, if you're always fighting, people become immune to you. And when you've got a really important issue to fight for, they'll just say, "Here he goes again." That's not good. Some of us parents so want our kids to do the right thing that we're all over them all of the time. And they eventually just turn us off. Same with any of us who are always fighting.
So don't make every issue a battleground. Don't make everything a battle. Fight for the real issues, not over every incident. Don't try to settle issues based on an incident that's got everybody all inflamed right now. Deal with it at a time when there's not an incident. Save your ammunition for the battles that really matter. Above all, always check with God to see if this is His battle; one that He thinks is worth fighting. So that you can say with David against Goliath, "The battle is the Lord's." Choosing your battles, choosing your battlegrounds, and sometimes holding your fire. Those are keys to winning the battles that decide the war.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Galatians 3, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily:
To Be With
“After I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me.” John 14:3
Note the promise of Jesus. “I will come back and take you to be with me.” Jesus pledges to take us home. He does not delegate this task. He may send missionaries to teach you, angels to protect you, teachers to guide you, singers to inspire you, and physicians to heal you, but He sends no one to take you. He reserves this job for Himself.
Galatians 3
Trust in Christ, Not the Law
1 You crazy Galatians! Did someone put a hex on you? Have you taken leave of your senses? Something crazy has happened, for it's obvious that you no longer have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in your lives. His sacrifice on the cross was certainly set before you clearly enough.
2-4Let me put this question to you: How did your new life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding to God's Message to you? Are you going to continue this craziness? For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God. If you weren't smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it? Did you go through this whole painful learning process for nothing? It is not yet a total loss, but it certainly will be if you keep this up!
5-6Answer this question: Does the God who lavishly provides you with his own presence, his Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, does he do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust him to do them in you? Don't these things happen among you just as they happened with Abraham? He believed God, and that act of belief was turned into a life that was right with God.
7-8Is it not obvious to you that persons who put their trust in Christ (not persons who put their trust in the law!) are like Abraham: children of faith? It was all laid out beforehand in Scripture that God would set things right with non-Jews by faith. Scripture anticipated this in the promise to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed in you."
9-10So those now who live by faith are blessed along with Abraham, who lived by faith—this is no new doctrine! And that means that anyone who tries to live by his own effort, independent of God, is doomed to failure. Scripture backs this up: "Utterly cursed is every person who fails to carry out every detail written in the Book of the law."
11-12The obvious impossibility of carrying out such a moral program should make it plain that no one can sustain a relationship with God that way. The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him. Doing things for God is the opposite of entering into what God does for you. Habakkuk had it right: "The person who believes God, is set right by God—and that's the real life." Rule-keeping does not naturally evolve into living by faith, but only perpetuates itself in more and more rule-keeping, a fact observed in Scripture: "The one who does these things [rule-keeping] continues to live by them."
13-14Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into himself. Do you remember the Scripture that says, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"? That is what happened when Jesus was nailed to the cross: He became a curse, and at the same time dissolved the curse. And now, because of that, the air is cleared and we can see that Abraham's blessing is present and available for non-Jews, too. We are all able to receive God's life, his Spirit, in and with us by believing—just the way Abraham received it.
15-18Friends, let me give you an example from everyday affairs of the free life I am talking about. Once a person's will has been ratified, no one else can annul it or add to it. Now, the promises were made to Abraham and to his descendant. You will observe that Scripture, in the careful language of a legal document, does not say "to descendants," referring to everybody in general, but "to your descendant" (the noun, note, is singular), referring to Christ. This is the way I interpret this: A will, earlier ratified by God, is not annulled by an addendum attached 430 years later, thereby negating the promise of the will. No, this addendum, with its instructions and regulations, has nothing to do with the promised inheritance in the will.
18-20What is the point, then, of the law, the attached addendum? It was a thoughtful addition to the original covenant promises made to Abraham. The purpose of the law was to keep a sinful people in the way of salvation until Christ (the descendant) came, inheriting the promises and distributing them to us. Obviously this law was not a firsthand encounter with God. It was arranged by angelic messengers through a middleman, Moses. But if there is a middleman as there was at Sinai, then the people are not dealing directly with God, are they? But the original promise is the direct blessing of God, received by faith.
21-22If such is the case, is the law, then, an anti-promise, a negation of God's will for us? Not at all. Its purpose was to make obvious to everyone that we are, in ourselves, out of right relationship with God, and therefore to show us the futility of devising some religious system for getting by our own efforts what we can only get by waiting in faith for God to complete his promise. For if any kind of rule-keeping had power to create life in us, we would certainly have gotten it by this time.
23-24Until the time when we were mature enough to respond freely in faith to the living God, we were carefully surrounded and protected by the Mosaic law. The law was like those Greek tutors, with which you are familiar, who escort children to school and protect them from danger or distraction, making sure the children will really get to the place they set out for.
25-27But now you have arrived at your destination: By faith in Christ you are in direct relationship with God. Your baptism in Christ was not just washing you up for a fresh start. It also involved dressing you in an adult faith wardrobe—Christ's life, the fulfillment of God's original promise.
In Christ's Family
28-29In Christ's family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ. Also, since you are Christ's family, then you are Abraham's famous "descendant," heirs according to the covenant promises.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 Thess. 2:1-12
1 You know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a failure.
2 We had previously suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in spite of strong opposition.
3 For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you.
4 On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts.
5 You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed--God is our witness.
6 We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else. As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you,
7 but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children.
8 We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.
9 Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.
10 You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed.
11 For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children,
12 encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.
Thanks, Dad
June 20, 2010 — by Albert Lee
We exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children. —1 Thess. 2:11
In the US, more long distance calls are made on Mother’s Day than any other day. But on Father’s Day, the most collect calls are made. It seems that children still depend on their fathers to provide, even when they are far away from home.
Fathers are needed and wanted for much more than financial help. While 1 Thessalonians 2:10-12 is primarily directed toward church leaders, Paul talks about how their role is similar to a father’s. He states: “You know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children.”
Exhorted is “to call near.” It is easy for fathers to think that all that’s required of them is to bring home a paycheck. But children need their close encouragement.
The word comforted is “to console.” Nothing is more valuable to a child than the time given by a father to listen and talk. Without constant relating, relationships turn cold.
Charged is “to affirm.” Fathers challenge their children by affirming the truth of God’s Word as they live it out in front of them. And even in failings, they affirm what is right through the asking of forgiveness.
How thankful we can be for fathers who help their children “walk worthy of God” (v.12).
We’re thankful for our fathers, Lord,
They’re special gifts from You;
Help us to show we honor them
By what we say and do. —Sper
Good fathers reflect the heavenly Father.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
June 20, 2010
Have You Come to "When" Yet?
The Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends —Job 42:10
A pitiful, sickly, and self-centered kind of prayer and a determined effort and selfish desire to be right with God are never found in the New Testament. The fact that I am trying to be right with God is actually a sign that I am rebelling against the atonement by the Cross of Christ. I pray, “Lord, I will purify my heart if You will answer my prayer— I will walk rightly before You if You will help me.” But I cannot make myself right with God; I cannot make my life perfect. I can only be right with God if I accept the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ as an absolute gift. Am I humble enough to accept it? I have to surrender all my rights and demands, and cease from every self-effort. I must leave myself completely alone in His hands, and then I can begin to pour my life out in the priestly work of intercession. There is a great deal of prayer that comes from actual disbelief in the atonement. Jesus is not just beginning to save us— He has already saved us completely. It is an accomplished fact, and it is an insult to Him for us to ask Him to do what He has already done.
If you are not now receiving the “hundredfold” which Jesus promised (see Matthew 19:29 ), and not getting insight into God’s Word, then start praying for your friends— enter into the ministry of the inner life. “The Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends.” As a saved soul, the real business of your life is intercessory prayer. Whatever circumstances God may place you in, always pray immediately that His atonement may be recognized and as fully understood in the lives of others as it has been in yours. Pray for your friends now, and pray for those with whom you come in contact now.
To Be With
“After I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me.” John 14:3
Note the promise of Jesus. “I will come back and take you to be with me.” Jesus pledges to take us home. He does not delegate this task. He may send missionaries to teach you, angels to protect you, teachers to guide you, singers to inspire you, and physicians to heal you, but He sends no one to take you. He reserves this job for Himself.
Galatians 3
Trust in Christ, Not the Law
1 You crazy Galatians! Did someone put a hex on you? Have you taken leave of your senses? Something crazy has happened, for it's obvious that you no longer have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in your lives. His sacrifice on the cross was certainly set before you clearly enough.
2-4Let me put this question to you: How did your new life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding to God's Message to you? Are you going to continue this craziness? For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God. If you weren't smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it? Did you go through this whole painful learning process for nothing? It is not yet a total loss, but it certainly will be if you keep this up!
5-6Answer this question: Does the God who lavishly provides you with his own presence, his Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, does he do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust him to do them in you? Don't these things happen among you just as they happened with Abraham? He believed God, and that act of belief was turned into a life that was right with God.
7-8Is it not obvious to you that persons who put their trust in Christ (not persons who put their trust in the law!) are like Abraham: children of faith? It was all laid out beforehand in Scripture that God would set things right with non-Jews by faith. Scripture anticipated this in the promise to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed in you."
9-10So those now who live by faith are blessed along with Abraham, who lived by faith—this is no new doctrine! And that means that anyone who tries to live by his own effort, independent of God, is doomed to failure. Scripture backs this up: "Utterly cursed is every person who fails to carry out every detail written in the Book of the law."
11-12The obvious impossibility of carrying out such a moral program should make it plain that no one can sustain a relationship with God that way. The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him. Doing things for God is the opposite of entering into what God does for you. Habakkuk had it right: "The person who believes God, is set right by God—and that's the real life." Rule-keeping does not naturally evolve into living by faith, but only perpetuates itself in more and more rule-keeping, a fact observed in Scripture: "The one who does these things [rule-keeping] continues to live by them."
13-14Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into himself. Do you remember the Scripture that says, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"? That is what happened when Jesus was nailed to the cross: He became a curse, and at the same time dissolved the curse. And now, because of that, the air is cleared and we can see that Abraham's blessing is present and available for non-Jews, too. We are all able to receive God's life, his Spirit, in and with us by believing—just the way Abraham received it.
15-18Friends, let me give you an example from everyday affairs of the free life I am talking about. Once a person's will has been ratified, no one else can annul it or add to it. Now, the promises were made to Abraham and to his descendant. You will observe that Scripture, in the careful language of a legal document, does not say "to descendants," referring to everybody in general, but "to your descendant" (the noun, note, is singular), referring to Christ. This is the way I interpret this: A will, earlier ratified by God, is not annulled by an addendum attached 430 years later, thereby negating the promise of the will. No, this addendum, with its instructions and regulations, has nothing to do with the promised inheritance in the will.
18-20What is the point, then, of the law, the attached addendum? It was a thoughtful addition to the original covenant promises made to Abraham. The purpose of the law was to keep a sinful people in the way of salvation until Christ (the descendant) came, inheriting the promises and distributing them to us. Obviously this law was not a firsthand encounter with God. It was arranged by angelic messengers through a middleman, Moses. But if there is a middleman as there was at Sinai, then the people are not dealing directly with God, are they? But the original promise is the direct blessing of God, received by faith.
21-22If such is the case, is the law, then, an anti-promise, a negation of God's will for us? Not at all. Its purpose was to make obvious to everyone that we are, in ourselves, out of right relationship with God, and therefore to show us the futility of devising some religious system for getting by our own efforts what we can only get by waiting in faith for God to complete his promise. For if any kind of rule-keeping had power to create life in us, we would certainly have gotten it by this time.
23-24Until the time when we were mature enough to respond freely in faith to the living God, we were carefully surrounded and protected by the Mosaic law. The law was like those Greek tutors, with which you are familiar, who escort children to school and protect them from danger or distraction, making sure the children will really get to the place they set out for.
25-27But now you have arrived at your destination: By faith in Christ you are in direct relationship with God. Your baptism in Christ was not just washing you up for a fresh start. It also involved dressing you in an adult faith wardrobe—Christ's life, the fulfillment of God's original promise.
In Christ's Family
28-29In Christ's family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ. Also, since you are Christ's family, then you are Abraham's famous "descendant," heirs according to the covenant promises.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 Thess. 2:1-12
1 You know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a failure.
2 We had previously suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in spite of strong opposition.
3 For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you.
4 On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts.
5 You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed--God is our witness.
6 We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else. As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you,
7 but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children.
8 We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.
9 Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.
10 You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed.
11 For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children,
12 encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.
Thanks, Dad
June 20, 2010 — by Albert Lee
We exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children. —1 Thess. 2:11
In the US, more long distance calls are made on Mother’s Day than any other day. But on Father’s Day, the most collect calls are made. It seems that children still depend on their fathers to provide, even when they are far away from home.
Fathers are needed and wanted for much more than financial help. While 1 Thessalonians 2:10-12 is primarily directed toward church leaders, Paul talks about how their role is similar to a father’s. He states: “You know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children.”
Exhorted is “to call near.” It is easy for fathers to think that all that’s required of them is to bring home a paycheck. But children need their close encouragement.
The word comforted is “to console.” Nothing is more valuable to a child than the time given by a father to listen and talk. Without constant relating, relationships turn cold.
Charged is “to affirm.” Fathers challenge their children by affirming the truth of God’s Word as they live it out in front of them. And even in failings, they affirm what is right through the asking of forgiveness.
How thankful we can be for fathers who help their children “walk worthy of God” (v.12).
We’re thankful for our fathers, Lord,
They’re special gifts from You;
Help us to show we honor them
By what we say and do. —Sper
Good fathers reflect the heavenly Father.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
June 20, 2010
Have You Come to "When" Yet?
The Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends —Job 42:10
A pitiful, sickly, and self-centered kind of prayer and a determined effort and selfish desire to be right with God are never found in the New Testament. The fact that I am trying to be right with God is actually a sign that I am rebelling against the atonement by the Cross of Christ. I pray, “Lord, I will purify my heart if You will answer my prayer— I will walk rightly before You if You will help me.” But I cannot make myself right with God; I cannot make my life perfect. I can only be right with God if I accept the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ as an absolute gift. Am I humble enough to accept it? I have to surrender all my rights and demands, and cease from every self-effort. I must leave myself completely alone in His hands, and then I can begin to pour my life out in the priestly work of intercession. There is a great deal of prayer that comes from actual disbelief in the atonement. Jesus is not just beginning to save us— He has already saved us completely. It is an accomplished fact, and it is an insult to Him for us to ask Him to do what He has already done.
If you are not now receiving the “hundredfold” which Jesus promised (see Matthew 19:29 ), and not getting insight into God’s Word, then start praying for your friends— enter into the ministry of the inner life. “The Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends.” As a saved soul, the real business of your life is intercessory prayer. Whatever circumstances God may place you in, always pray immediately that His atonement may be recognized and as fully understood in the lives of others as it has been in yours. Pray for your friends now, and pray for those with whom you come in contact now.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Acts 14, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: Being Busy
Being Busy
“Those who believe in God will be careful to use their lives for doing good.” Titus 3:8
Being busy is not a sin. Jesus was busy. Paul was busy. Peter was busy. Nothing of significance is achieved without effort and hard work and weariness. That, in and of itself, is not a sin. But being busy in an endless pursuit of things that leave us empty and hollow and broken inside—that cannot be pleasing to God
Acts 14
1-3 When they got to Iconium they went, as they always did, to the meeting place of the Jews and gave their message. The Message convinced both Jews and non-Jews—and not just a few, either. But the unbelieving Jews worked up a whispering campaign against Paul and Barnabas, sowing mistrust and suspicion in the minds of the people in the street. The two apostles were there a long time, speaking freely, openly, and confidently as they presented the clear evidence of God's gifts, God corroborating their work with miracles and wonders.
4-7But then there was a split in public opinion, some siding with the Jews, some with the apostles. One day, learning that both the Jews and non-Jews had been organized by their leaders to beat them up, they escaped as best they could to the next towns—Lyconia, Lystra, Derbe, and that neighborhood—but then were right back at it again, getting out the Message.
Gods or Men?
8-10There was a man in Lystra who couldn't walk. He sat there, crippled since the day of his birth. He heard Paul talking, and Paul, looking him in the eye, saw that he was ripe for God's work, ready to believe. So he said, loud enough for everyone to hear, "Up on your feet!" The man was up in a flash—jumped up and walked around as if he'd been walking all his life.
11-13When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they went wild, calling out in their Lyconian dialect, "The gods have come down! These men are gods!" They called Barnabas "Zeus" and Paul "Hermes" (since Paul did most of the speaking). The priest of the local Zeus shrine got up a parade—bulls and banners and people lined right up to the gates, ready for the ritual of sacrifice.
14-15When Barnabas and Paul finally realized what was going on, they stopped them. Waving their arms, they interrupted the parade, calling out, "What do you think you're doing! We're not gods! We are men just like you, and we're here to bring you the Message, to persuade you to abandon these silly god-superstitions and embrace God himself, the living God. We don't make God; he makes us, and all of this—sky, earth, sea, and everything in them.
16-18"In the generations before us, God let all the different nations go their own way. But even then he didn't leave them without a clue, for he made a good creation, poured down rain and gave bumper crops. When your bellies were full and your hearts happy, there was evidence of good beyond your doing." Talking fast and hard like this, they prevented them from carrying out the sacrifice that would have honored them as gods—but just barely.
19-20Then some Jews from Antioch and Iconium caught up with them and turned the fickle crowd against them. They beat Paul unconscious, dragged him outside the town and left him for dead. But as the disciples gathered around him, he came to and got up. He went back into town and the next day left with Barnabas for Derbe.
Plenty of Hard Times
21-22After proclaiming the Message in Derbe and establishing a strong core of disciples, they retraced their steps to Lystra, then Iconium, and then Antioch, putting muscle and sinew in the lives of the disciples, urging them to stick with what they had begun to believe and not quit, making it clear to them that it wouldn't be easy: "Anyone signing up for the kingdom of God has to go through plenty of hard times."
23-26Paul and Barnabas handpicked leaders in each church. After praying— their prayers intensified by fasting—they presented these new leaders to the Master to whom they had entrusted their lives. Working their way back through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia and preached in Perga. Finally, they made it to Attalia and caught a ship back to Antioch, where it had all started—launched by God's grace and now safely home by God's grace. A good piece of work.
27-28On arrival, they got the church together and reported on their trip, telling in detail how God had used them to throw the door of faith wide open so people of all nations could come streaming in. Then they settled down for a long, leisurely visit with the disciples.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 90
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.
2 Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
3 You turn men back to dust, saying, "Return to dust, O sons of men."
4 For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.
5 You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning--
6 though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered.
7 We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation.
8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.
9 All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan.
10 The length of our days is seventy years-- or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
11 Who knows the power of your anger? For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.
12 Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
13 Relent, O Lord! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants.
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble.
16 May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children.
17 May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us-- yes, establish the work of our hands.
The Brevity Of Life
June 19, 2010 — by Bill Crowder
The days of our lives are seventy years; . . . yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. —Psalm 90:10
On October 19, 2008, I heard the news that Levi Stubbs, lead singer for Motown’s vocal group The Four Tops, had died at age 72. As a boy, I enjoyed the Four Tops, especially Stubbs’ emotion-filled, passionate voice. I had never met him or heard the group in concert, yet his passing affected me at an unexpected level.
Behind my sadness, I think, was the reminder that I too am getting older. The death of someone I listened to when I was young reminded me that time isn’t marching on—it’s running out!
In the only psalm attributed to Moses, he wrote, “The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away” (90:10). Those aren’t words we want to hear. We want to remain forever young, but Scripture reminds us that the years pass and death will one day arrive.
That leaves us to wrestle with two essential questions: Am I ready to “fly away” at life’s end, having trusted Christ as my Savior? And am I using my fleeting days to please the One who loves me eternally?
How are you doing—no matter what your age—with the challenges raised by the brevity of life?
Our vigor is fleeting, our best years are brief,
Our youth passes quickly—time’s ever a thief;
But hope yet becomes us—death’s sting holds no power;
We have a Redeemer—an unfailing Tower. —Gustafson
You can’t control the length of your life, but you can control its depth.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
June 19, 2010
My Utmost for His Highest
. . . do you love Me? . . . Tend My sheep —John 21:16
Jesus did not say to make converts to your way of thinking, but He said to look after His sheep, to see that they get nourished in the knowledge of Him. We consider what we do in the way of Christian work as service, yet Jesus Christ calls service to be what we are to Him, not what we do for Him. Discipleship is based solely on devotion to Jesus Christ, not on following after a particular belief or doctrine. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate . . . , he cannot be My disciple” ( Luke 14:26 ). In this verse, there is no argument and no pressure from Jesus to follow Him; He is simply saying, in effect, “If you want to be My disciple, you must be devoted solely to Me.” A person touched by the Spirit of God suddenly says, “Now I see who Jesus is!”— that is the source of devotion.
Today we have substituted doctrinal belief for personal belief, and that is why so many people are devoted to causes and so few are devoted to Jesus Christ. People do not really want to be devoted to Jesus, but only to the cause He started. Jesus Christ is deeply offensive to the educated minds of today, to those who only want Him to be their Friend, and who are unwilling to accept Him in any other way. Our Lord’s primary obedience was to the will of His Father, not to the needs of people— the saving of people was the natural outcome of His obedience to the Father. If I am devoted solely to the cause of humanity, I will soon be exhausted and come to the point where my love will waver and stumble. But if I love Jesus Christ personally and passionately, I can serve humanity, even though people may treat me like a “doormat.” The secret of a disciple’s life is devotion to Jesus Christ, and the characteristic of that life is its seeming insignificance and its meekness. Yet it is like a grain of wheat that “falls into the ground and dies”— it will spring up and change the entire landscape ( John 12:24 ).
Being Busy
“Those who believe in God will be careful to use their lives for doing good.” Titus 3:8
Being busy is not a sin. Jesus was busy. Paul was busy. Peter was busy. Nothing of significance is achieved without effort and hard work and weariness. That, in and of itself, is not a sin. But being busy in an endless pursuit of things that leave us empty and hollow and broken inside—that cannot be pleasing to God
Acts 14
1-3 When they got to Iconium they went, as they always did, to the meeting place of the Jews and gave their message. The Message convinced both Jews and non-Jews—and not just a few, either. But the unbelieving Jews worked up a whispering campaign against Paul and Barnabas, sowing mistrust and suspicion in the minds of the people in the street. The two apostles were there a long time, speaking freely, openly, and confidently as they presented the clear evidence of God's gifts, God corroborating their work with miracles and wonders.
4-7But then there was a split in public opinion, some siding with the Jews, some with the apostles. One day, learning that both the Jews and non-Jews had been organized by their leaders to beat them up, they escaped as best they could to the next towns—Lyconia, Lystra, Derbe, and that neighborhood—but then were right back at it again, getting out the Message.
Gods or Men?
8-10There was a man in Lystra who couldn't walk. He sat there, crippled since the day of his birth. He heard Paul talking, and Paul, looking him in the eye, saw that he was ripe for God's work, ready to believe. So he said, loud enough for everyone to hear, "Up on your feet!" The man was up in a flash—jumped up and walked around as if he'd been walking all his life.
11-13When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they went wild, calling out in their Lyconian dialect, "The gods have come down! These men are gods!" They called Barnabas "Zeus" and Paul "Hermes" (since Paul did most of the speaking). The priest of the local Zeus shrine got up a parade—bulls and banners and people lined right up to the gates, ready for the ritual of sacrifice.
14-15When Barnabas and Paul finally realized what was going on, they stopped them. Waving their arms, they interrupted the parade, calling out, "What do you think you're doing! We're not gods! We are men just like you, and we're here to bring you the Message, to persuade you to abandon these silly god-superstitions and embrace God himself, the living God. We don't make God; he makes us, and all of this—sky, earth, sea, and everything in them.
16-18"In the generations before us, God let all the different nations go their own way. But even then he didn't leave them without a clue, for he made a good creation, poured down rain and gave bumper crops. When your bellies were full and your hearts happy, there was evidence of good beyond your doing." Talking fast and hard like this, they prevented them from carrying out the sacrifice that would have honored them as gods—but just barely.
19-20Then some Jews from Antioch and Iconium caught up with them and turned the fickle crowd against them. They beat Paul unconscious, dragged him outside the town and left him for dead. But as the disciples gathered around him, he came to and got up. He went back into town and the next day left with Barnabas for Derbe.
Plenty of Hard Times
21-22After proclaiming the Message in Derbe and establishing a strong core of disciples, they retraced their steps to Lystra, then Iconium, and then Antioch, putting muscle and sinew in the lives of the disciples, urging them to stick with what they had begun to believe and not quit, making it clear to them that it wouldn't be easy: "Anyone signing up for the kingdom of God has to go through plenty of hard times."
23-26Paul and Barnabas handpicked leaders in each church. After praying— their prayers intensified by fasting—they presented these new leaders to the Master to whom they had entrusted their lives. Working their way back through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia and preached in Perga. Finally, they made it to Attalia and caught a ship back to Antioch, where it had all started—launched by God's grace and now safely home by God's grace. A good piece of work.
27-28On arrival, they got the church together and reported on their trip, telling in detail how God had used them to throw the door of faith wide open so people of all nations could come streaming in. Then they settled down for a long, leisurely visit with the disciples.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 90
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.
2 Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
3 You turn men back to dust, saying, "Return to dust, O sons of men."
4 For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.
5 You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning--
6 though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered.
7 We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation.
8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.
9 All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan.
10 The length of our days is seventy years-- or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
11 Who knows the power of your anger? For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.
12 Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
13 Relent, O Lord! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants.
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble.
16 May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children.
17 May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us-- yes, establish the work of our hands.
The Brevity Of Life
June 19, 2010 — by Bill Crowder
The days of our lives are seventy years; . . . yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. —Psalm 90:10
On October 19, 2008, I heard the news that Levi Stubbs, lead singer for Motown’s vocal group The Four Tops, had died at age 72. As a boy, I enjoyed the Four Tops, especially Stubbs’ emotion-filled, passionate voice. I had never met him or heard the group in concert, yet his passing affected me at an unexpected level.
Behind my sadness, I think, was the reminder that I too am getting older. The death of someone I listened to when I was young reminded me that time isn’t marching on—it’s running out!
In the only psalm attributed to Moses, he wrote, “The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away” (90:10). Those aren’t words we want to hear. We want to remain forever young, but Scripture reminds us that the years pass and death will one day arrive.
That leaves us to wrestle with two essential questions: Am I ready to “fly away” at life’s end, having trusted Christ as my Savior? And am I using my fleeting days to please the One who loves me eternally?
How are you doing—no matter what your age—with the challenges raised by the brevity of life?
Our vigor is fleeting, our best years are brief,
Our youth passes quickly—time’s ever a thief;
But hope yet becomes us—death’s sting holds no power;
We have a Redeemer—an unfailing Tower. —Gustafson
You can’t control the length of your life, but you can control its depth.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
June 19, 2010
My Utmost for His Highest
. . . do you love Me? . . . Tend My sheep —John 21:16
Jesus did not say to make converts to your way of thinking, but He said to look after His sheep, to see that they get nourished in the knowledge of Him. We consider what we do in the way of Christian work as service, yet Jesus Christ calls service to be what we are to Him, not what we do for Him. Discipleship is based solely on devotion to Jesus Christ, not on following after a particular belief or doctrine. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate . . . , he cannot be My disciple” ( Luke 14:26 ). In this verse, there is no argument and no pressure from Jesus to follow Him; He is simply saying, in effect, “If you want to be My disciple, you must be devoted solely to Me.” A person touched by the Spirit of God suddenly says, “Now I see who Jesus is!”— that is the source of devotion.
Today we have substituted doctrinal belief for personal belief, and that is why so many people are devoted to causes and so few are devoted to Jesus Christ. People do not really want to be devoted to Jesus, but only to the cause He started. Jesus Christ is deeply offensive to the educated minds of today, to those who only want Him to be their Friend, and who are unwilling to accept Him in any other way. Our Lord’s primary obedience was to the will of His Father, not to the needs of people— the saving of people was the natural outcome of His obedience to the Father. If I am devoted solely to the cause of humanity, I will soon be exhausted and come to the point where my love will waver and stumble. But if I love Jesus Christ personally and passionately, I can serve humanity, even though people may treat me like a “doormat.” The secret of a disciple’s life is devotion to Jesus Christ, and the characteristic of that life is its seeming insignificance and its meekness. Yet it is like a grain of wheat that “falls into the ground and dies”— it will spring up and change the entire landscape ( John 12:24 ).
Friday, June 18, 2010
Acts 13, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: What Love Says
What Love Says
Posted: 17 Jun 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“Love covers a multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:8, NASB
Have you ever heard anyone gossip about someone you know? . . . What do you have to say?
Here is what love says: Love says nothing. Love stays silent. “Love covers a multitude of sins.” Love doesn’t expose. It doesn’t gossip. If love says anything, love speaks words of defense. Words of kindness. Words of protection.
Acts 13
Barnabas, Saul, and Doctor Know-It-All
1-2The congregation in Antioch was blessed with a number of prophet-preachers and teachers:
Barnabas,
Simon, nicknamed Niger,
Lucius the Cyrenian,
Manaen, an advisor to the ruler Herod,
Saul.
One day as they were worshiping God—they were also fasting as they waited for guidance—the Holy Spirit spoke: "Take Barnabas and Saul and commission them for the work I have called them to do."
3So they commissioned them. In that circle of intensity and obedience, of fasting and praying, they laid hands on their heads and sent them off.
4-5Sent off on their new assignment by the Holy Spirit, Barnabas and Saul went down to Seleucia and caught a ship for Cyprus. The first thing they did when they put in at Salamis was preach God's Word in the Jewish meeting places. They had John along to help out as needed.
6-7They traveled the length of the island, and at Paphos came upon a Jewish wizard who had worked himself into the confidence of the governor, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man not easily taken in by charlatans. The wizard's name was Bar-Jesus. He was as crooked as a corkscrew.
7-11The governor invited Barnabas and Saul in, wanting to hear God's Word firsthand from them. But Dr. Know-It-All (that's the wizard's name in plain English) stirred up a ruckus, trying to divert the governor from becoming a believer. But Saul (or Paul), full of the Holy Spirit and looking him straight in the eye, said, "You bag of wind, you parody of a devil—why, you stay up nights inventing schemes to cheat people out of God. But now you've come up against God himself, and your game is up. You're about to go blind—no sunlight for you for a good long stretch." He was plunged immediately into a shadowy mist and stumbled around, begging people to take his hand and show him the way.
12When the governor saw what happened, he became a believer, full of enthusiasm over what they were saying about the Master.
Don't Take This Lightly
13-14From Paphos, Paul and company put out to sea, sailing on to Perga in Pamphylia. That's where John called it quits and went back to Jerusalem. From Perga the rest of them traveled on to Antioch in Pisidia.
14-15On the Sabbath they went to the meeting place and took their places. After the reading of the Scriptures—God's Law and the Prophets—the president of the meeting asked them, "Friends, do you have anything you want to say? A word of encouragement, perhaps?"
16-20Paul stood up, paused and took a deep breath, then said, "Fellow Israelites and friends of God, listen. God took a special interest in our ancestors, pulled our people who were beaten down in Egyptian exile to their feet, and led them out of there in grand style. He took good care of them for nearly forty years in that godforsaken wilderness and then, having wiped out seven enemies who stood in the way, gave them the land of Canaan for their very own—a span in all of about 450 years.
20-22"Up to the time of Samuel the prophet, God provided judges to lead them. But then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul, son of Kish, out of the tribe of Benjamin. After Saul had ruled forty years, God removed him from office and put King David in his place, with this commendation: 'I've searched the land and found this David, son of Jesse. He's a man whose heart beats to my heart, a man who will do what I tell him.'
23-25"From out of David's descendants God produced a Savior for Israel, Jesus, exactly as he promised—but only after John had thoroughly alerted the people to his arrival by preparing them for a total life-change. As John was finishing up his work, he said, 'Did you think I was the One? No, I'm not the One. But the One you've been waiting for all these years is just around the corner, about to appear. And I'm about to disappear.'
26-29"Dear brothers and sisters, children of Abraham, and friends of God, this message of salvation has been precisely targeted to you. The citizens and rulers in Jerusalem didn't recognize who he was and condemned him to death. They couldn't find a good reason, but demanded that Pilate execute him anyway. They did just what the prophets said they would do, but had no idea they were following to the letter the script of the prophets, even though those same prophets are read every Sabbath in their meeting places.
29-31"After they had done everything the prophets said they would do, they took him down from the cross and buried him. And then God raised him from death. There is no disputing that—he appeared over and over again many times and places to those who had known him well in the Galilean years, and these same people continue to give witness that he is alive.
32-35"And we're here today bringing you good news: the Message that what God promised the fathers has come true for the children—for us! He raised Jesus, exactly as described in the second Psalm:
My Son! My very own Son!
Today I celebrate you!
"When he raised him from the dead, he did it for good—no going back to that rot and decay for him. That's why Isaiah said, 'I'll give to all of you David's guaranteed blessings.' So also the psalmist's prayer: 'You'll never let your Holy One see death's rot and decay.'
36-39"David, of course, having completed the work God set out for him, has been in the grave, dust and ashes, a long time now. But the One God raised up—no dust and ashes for him! I want you to know, my very dear friends, that it is on account of this resurrected Jesus that the forgiveness of your sins can be promised. He accomplishes, in those who believe, everything that the Law of Moses could never make good on. But everyone who believes in this raised-up Jesus is declared good and right and whole before God.
40-41"Don't take this lightly. You don't want the prophet's sermon to describe you:
Watch out, cynics;
Look hard—watch your world fall to pieces.
I'm doing something right before your eyes
That you won't believe, though it's staring you in the face."
42-43When the service was over, Paul and Barnabas were invited back to preach again the next Sabbath. As the meeting broke up, a good many Jews and converts to Judaism went along with Paul and Barnabas, who urged them in long conversations to stick with what they'd started, this living in and by God's grace.
44-45When the next Sabbath came around, practically the whole city showed up to hear the Word of God. Some of the Jews, seeing the crowds, went wild with jealousy and tore into Paul, contradicting everything he was saying, making an ugly scene.
46-47But Paul and Barnabas didn't back down. Standing their ground they said, "It was required that God's Word be spoken first of all to you, the Jews. But seeing that you want no part of it—you've made it quite clear that you have no taste or inclination for eternal life—the door is open to all the outsiders. And we're on our way through it, following orders, doing what God commanded when he said,
I've set you up
as light to all nations.
You'll proclaim salvation
to the four winds and seven seas!"
48-49When the non-Jewish outsiders heard this, they could hardly believe their good fortune. All who were marked out for real life put their trust in God—they honored God's Word by receiving that life. And this Message of salvation spread like wildfire all through the region.
50-52Some of the Jews convinced the most respected women and leading men of the town that their precious way of life was about to be destroyed. Alarmed, they turned on Paul and Barnabas and forced them to leave. Paul and Barnabas shrugged their shoulders and went on to the next town, Iconium, brimming with joy and the Holy Spirit, two happy disciples.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 Tim. 6:6-10,17-19
17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.
19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
What Is Secure?
June 18, 2010 — by David C. McCasland
Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God. —1 Timothy 6:17
During the worldwide financial crisis of 2008, a widow lost a third of her income when her bank stocks no longer paid dividends after her trusted bank failed. The Wall Street Journal quoted her tearful response as an example of the feelings of many people who were similarly affected: “You just think, ‘This can’t be happening.’ What is secure anymore?”
Tragedy and hard times always jolt our thinking. Our best plans and hopes can be shattered by events beyond our control. We are reminded that there is only one source of true security in a changing world. With new appreciation, we consider Paul’s words: “Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life” (1 Tim. 6:17-19).
When our resources diminish, we can grow richer in good works, generosity, and sharing with others. If financial stability returns, we can hold more loosely what we are given, trusting solely in God.
We are secure in Him alone.
Though troubles assail, and dangers affright,
Though friends should all fail, and foes all unite,
Yet one thing secures us, whatever betide:
The Scripture assures us, “The Lord will provide.” —Newton
In uncertain times, our security is in God alone.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
June 18, 2010
Keep Recognizing Jesus
. . . Peter . . . walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid . . . —Matthew 14:29-30
The wind really was boisterous and the waves really were high, but Peter didn’t see them at first. He didn’t consider them at all; he simply recognized his Lord, stepped out in recognition of Him, and “walked on the water.” Then he began to take those things around him into account, and instantly, down he went. Why couldn’t our Lord have enabled him to walk at the bottom of the waves, as well as on top of them? He could have, yet neither could be done without Peter’s continuing recognition of the Lord Jesus.
We step right out with recognition of God in some things, then self-consideration enters our lives and down we go. If you are truly recognizing your Lord, you have no business being concerned about how and where He engineers your circumstances. The things surrounding you are real, but when you look at them you are immediately overwhelmed, and even unable to recognize Jesus. Then comes His rebuke, “. . . why did you doubt?” ( Matthew 14:31 ). Let your actual circumstances be what they may, but keep recognizing Jesus, maintaining complete reliance upon Him.
If you debate for even one second when God has spoken, it is all over for you. Never start to say, “Well, I wonder if He really did speak to me?” Be reckless immediately— totally unrestrained and willing to risk everything— by casting your all upon Him. You do not know when His voice will come to you, but whenever the realization of God comes, even in the faintest way imaginable, be determined to recklessly abandon yourself, surrendering everything to Him. It is only through abandonment of yourself and your circumstances that you will recognize Him. You will only recognize His voice more clearly through recklessness— being willing to risk your all.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The List Your Name is On - #6115
Friday, June 18, 2010
I'm kind of a strange tourist. When I was in Halifax, Nova Scotia, I asked to be taken to a graveyard that overlooks the ocean. There, I walked through rows of these grave markers that have no name but the same date on them - April 15, 1912. That's the night the Titanic sank, and those are some of its unidentified victims. Not too long ago, the Titanic showed up again on the evening news. Lillian Asplund, the last American survivor of the sinking of the Titanic, died at age 99. It's believed that there may be just two survivors left now, both in England. Those names and the name of every passenger are listed on a big wall at the end of what's called the Titanic Artifacts Exhibit. I got to experience that exhibit as it toured America's great museums. The list indicated whether the person was a first, second, or third class passenger, or a crewman. But no matter what their class, every one of those 2,200 people appeared on one of two lists.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The List Your Name is On."
Every person on the Titanic ended up listed one of two ways: saved or lost. Nothing else mattered. Every person on earth, and every person listening, is on one of two lists in God's records: saved or lost. As the last survivors of Titanic slip into eternity, they will be "saved" or "lost" forever. So will every one of us.
Our word for today from the Word of God makes the two lists very clear, along with what it is that makes a person either "saved" or "lost." In 1 John 5:11-12, the Bible says: "God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life (that's saved); he who does not have the Son of God does not have life (that's lost)." Our eternal destination is all contingent on one thing - whether or not we have the Son of God. Not whether or not we have religion or Christianity, but whether we have Jesus.
So how do you get Jesus? God's pretty clear about that. He says, for example, in John 3:36, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life (saved), but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him (lost)." God's wrath is because of what we've done with the life He gave us. In essence, we've made ourselves God by doing what we wanted to do with our life. Sure, we may have mixed in some religion to try to offset our taking over of our life, but religion in no way can pay the penalty for the hijacking of our life from the Creator of the universe. Sin is a capital crime, punishable by spiritual death; separation from God now and forever.
The Bible says that believing in God's Son, Jesus, can literally change which list we're on. When the Bible says "believe," the word is about total trust, complete reliance. And only total trust in Jesus can rescue us from our spiritual death penalty, because only Jesus could and only Jesus did die in our place. He said, "I will take their hell, Father, so they don't ever have to go there." He did that for you. That's how much He loves you.
So what's happening right now is so much bigger than you just listening to some guy on the radio. This is a holy opportunity to remove your name forever from the list that says "lost" and put it on the list that says "saved." Your name will be entered in what the Bible calls God's Book of Life the moment you reach for Jesus in total trust as your only hope of going to heaven.
That could be today you could do that. With eternity in the balance, I can't think of a good reason to risk one more day on the list that says "lost."
We'd consider it such a privilege to do for you what someone did for us one day. They explained to us how to begin this relationship with Jesus, and that's what our website is for. I invite you to go there; get that information. It's YoursForLife.net. Or just call for my little booklet Yours For Life. The number's toll free; it's 877-741-1200.
I'll leave you with just how the Bible describes what can happen to you this very day. It says that the man or woman who opens their life to Jesus "...has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life!" (John 5:24).
What Love Says
Posted: 17 Jun 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“Love covers a multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:8, NASB
Have you ever heard anyone gossip about someone you know? . . . What do you have to say?
Here is what love says: Love says nothing. Love stays silent. “Love covers a multitude of sins.” Love doesn’t expose. It doesn’t gossip. If love says anything, love speaks words of defense. Words of kindness. Words of protection.
Acts 13
Barnabas, Saul, and Doctor Know-It-All
1-2The congregation in Antioch was blessed with a number of prophet-preachers and teachers:
Barnabas,
Simon, nicknamed Niger,
Lucius the Cyrenian,
Manaen, an advisor to the ruler Herod,
Saul.
One day as they were worshiping God—they were also fasting as they waited for guidance—the Holy Spirit spoke: "Take Barnabas and Saul and commission them for the work I have called them to do."
3So they commissioned them. In that circle of intensity and obedience, of fasting and praying, they laid hands on their heads and sent them off.
4-5Sent off on their new assignment by the Holy Spirit, Barnabas and Saul went down to Seleucia and caught a ship for Cyprus. The first thing they did when they put in at Salamis was preach God's Word in the Jewish meeting places. They had John along to help out as needed.
6-7They traveled the length of the island, and at Paphos came upon a Jewish wizard who had worked himself into the confidence of the governor, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man not easily taken in by charlatans. The wizard's name was Bar-Jesus. He was as crooked as a corkscrew.
7-11The governor invited Barnabas and Saul in, wanting to hear God's Word firsthand from them. But Dr. Know-It-All (that's the wizard's name in plain English) stirred up a ruckus, trying to divert the governor from becoming a believer. But Saul (or Paul), full of the Holy Spirit and looking him straight in the eye, said, "You bag of wind, you parody of a devil—why, you stay up nights inventing schemes to cheat people out of God. But now you've come up against God himself, and your game is up. You're about to go blind—no sunlight for you for a good long stretch." He was plunged immediately into a shadowy mist and stumbled around, begging people to take his hand and show him the way.
12When the governor saw what happened, he became a believer, full of enthusiasm over what they were saying about the Master.
Don't Take This Lightly
13-14From Paphos, Paul and company put out to sea, sailing on to Perga in Pamphylia. That's where John called it quits and went back to Jerusalem. From Perga the rest of them traveled on to Antioch in Pisidia.
14-15On the Sabbath they went to the meeting place and took their places. After the reading of the Scriptures—God's Law and the Prophets—the president of the meeting asked them, "Friends, do you have anything you want to say? A word of encouragement, perhaps?"
16-20Paul stood up, paused and took a deep breath, then said, "Fellow Israelites and friends of God, listen. God took a special interest in our ancestors, pulled our people who were beaten down in Egyptian exile to their feet, and led them out of there in grand style. He took good care of them for nearly forty years in that godforsaken wilderness and then, having wiped out seven enemies who stood in the way, gave them the land of Canaan for their very own—a span in all of about 450 years.
20-22"Up to the time of Samuel the prophet, God provided judges to lead them. But then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul, son of Kish, out of the tribe of Benjamin. After Saul had ruled forty years, God removed him from office and put King David in his place, with this commendation: 'I've searched the land and found this David, son of Jesse. He's a man whose heart beats to my heart, a man who will do what I tell him.'
23-25"From out of David's descendants God produced a Savior for Israel, Jesus, exactly as he promised—but only after John had thoroughly alerted the people to his arrival by preparing them for a total life-change. As John was finishing up his work, he said, 'Did you think I was the One? No, I'm not the One. But the One you've been waiting for all these years is just around the corner, about to appear. And I'm about to disappear.'
26-29"Dear brothers and sisters, children of Abraham, and friends of God, this message of salvation has been precisely targeted to you. The citizens and rulers in Jerusalem didn't recognize who he was and condemned him to death. They couldn't find a good reason, but demanded that Pilate execute him anyway. They did just what the prophets said they would do, but had no idea they were following to the letter the script of the prophets, even though those same prophets are read every Sabbath in their meeting places.
29-31"After they had done everything the prophets said they would do, they took him down from the cross and buried him. And then God raised him from death. There is no disputing that—he appeared over and over again many times and places to those who had known him well in the Galilean years, and these same people continue to give witness that he is alive.
32-35"And we're here today bringing you good news: the Message that what God promised the fathers has come true for the children—for us! He raised Jesus, exactly as described in the second Psalm:
My Son! My very own Son!
Today I celebrate you!
"When he raised him from the dead, he did it for good—no going back to that rot and decay for him. That's why Isaiah said, 'I'll give to all of you David's guaranteed blessings.' So also the psalmist's prayer: 'You'll never let your Holy One see death's rot and decay.'
36-39"David, of course, having completed the work God set out for him, has been in the grave, dust and ashes, a long time now. But the One God raised up—no dust and ashes for him! I want you to know, my very dear friends, that it is on account of this resurrected Jesus that the forgiveness of your sins can be promised. He accomplishes, in those who believe, everything that the Law of Moses could never make good on. But everyone who believes in this raised-up Jesus is declared good and right and whole before God.
40-41"Don't take this lightly. You don't want the prophet's sermon to describe you:
Watch out, cynics;
Look hard—watch your world fall to pieces.
I'm doing something right before your eyes
That you won't believe, though it's staring you in the face."
42-43When the service was over, Paul and Barnabas were invited back to preach again the next Sabbath. As the meeting broke up, a good many Jews and converts to Judaism went along with Paul and Barnabas, who urged them in long conversations to stick with what they'd started, this living in and by God's grace.
44-45When the next Sabbath came around, practically the whole city showed up to hear the Word of God. Some of the Jews, seeing the crowds, went wild with jealousy and tore into Paul, contradicting everything he was saying, making an ugly scene.
46-47But Paul and Barnabas didn't back down. Standing their ground they said, "It was required that God's Word be spoken first of all to you, the Jews. But seeing that you want no part of it—you've made it quite clear that you have no taste or inclination for eternal life—the door is open to all the outsiders. And we're on our way through it, following orders, doing what God commanded when he said,
I've set you up
as light to all nations.
You'll proclaim salvation
to the four winds and seven seas!"
48-49When the non-Jewish outsiders heard this, they could hardly believe their good fortune. All who were marked out for real life put their trust in God—they honored God's Word by receiving that life. And this Message of salvation spread like wildfire all through the region.
50-52Some of the Jews convinced the most respected women and leading men of the town that their precious way of life was about to be destroyed. Alarmed, they turned on Paul and Barnabas and forced them to leave. Paul and Barnabas shrugged their shoulders and went on to the next town, Iconium, brimming with joy and the Holy Spirit, two happy disciples.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 Tim. 6:6-10,17-19
17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.
19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
What Is Secure?
June 18, 2010 — by David C. McCasland
Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God. —1 Timothy 6:17
During the worldwide financial crisis of 2008, a widow lost a third of her income when her bank stocks no longer paid dividends after her trusted bank failed. The Wall Street Journal quoted her tearful response as an example of the feelings of many people who were similarly affected: “You just think, ‘This can’t be happening.’ What is secure anymore?”
Tragedy and hard times always jolt our thinking. Our best plans and hopes can be shattered by events beyond our control. We are reminded that there is only one source of true security in a changing world. With new appreciation, we consider Paul’s words: “Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life” (1 Tim. 6:17-19).
When our resources diminish, we can grow richer in good works, generosity, and sharing with others. If financial stability returns, we can hold more loosely what we are given, trusting solely in God.
We are secure in Him alone.
Though troubles assail, and dangers affright,
Though friends should all fail, and foes all unite,
Yet one thing secures us, whatever betide:
The Scripture assures us, “The Lord will provide.” —Newton
In uncertain times, our security is in God alone.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
June 18, 2010
Keep Recognizing Jesus
. . . Peter . . . walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid . . . —Matthew 14:29-30
The wind really was boisterous and the waves really were high, but Peter didn’t see them at first. He didn’t consider them at all; he simply recognized his Lord, stepped out in recognition of Him, and “walked on the water.” Then he began to take those things around him into account, and instantly, down he went. Why couldn’t our Lord have enabled him to walk at the bottom of the waves, as well as on top of them? He could have, yet neither could be done without Peter’s continuing recognition of the Lord Jesus.
We step right out with recognition of God in some things, then self-consideration enters our lives and down we go. If you are truly recognizing your Lord, you have no business being concerned about how and where He engineers your circumstances. The things surrounding you are real, but when you look at them you are immediately overwhelmed, and even unable to recognize Jesus. Then comes His rebuke, “. . . why did you doubt?” ( Matthew 14:31 ). Let your actual circumstances be what they may, but keep recognizing Jesus, maintaining complete reliance upon Him.
If you debate for even one second when God has spoken, it is all over for you. Never start to say, “Well, I wonder if He really did speak to me?” Be reckless immediately— totally unrestrained and willing to risk everything— by casting your all upon Him. You do not know when His voice will come to you, but whenever the realization of God comes, even in the faintest way imaginable, be determined to recklessly abandon yourself, surrendering everything to Him. It is only through abandonment of yourself and your circumstances that you will recognize Him. You will only recognize His voice more clearly through recklessness— being willing to risk your all.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The List Your Name is On - #6115
Friday, June 18, 2010
I'm kind of a strange tourist. When I was in Halifax, Nova Scotia, I asked to be taken to a graveyard that overlooks the ocean. There, I walked through rows of these grave markers that have no name but the same date on them - April 15, 1912. That's the night the Titanic sank, and those are some of its unidentified victims. Not too long ago, the Titanic showed up again on the evening news. Lillian Asplund, the last American survivor of the sinking of the Titanic, died at age 99. It's believed that there may be just two survivors left now, both in England. Those names and the name of every passenger are listed on a big wall at the end of what's called the Titanic Artifacts Exhibit. I got to experience that exhibit as it toured America's great museums. The list indicated whether the person was a first, second, or third class passenger, or a crewman. But no matter what their class, every one of those 2,200 people appeared on one of two lists.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The List Your Name is On."
Every person on the Titanic ended up listed one of two ways: saved or lost. Nothing else mattered. Every person on earth, and every person listening, is on one of two lists in God's records: saved or lost. As the last survivors of Titanic slip into eternity, they will be "saved" or "lost" forever. So will every one of us.
Our word for today from the Word of God makes the two lists very clear, along with what it is that makes a person either "saved" or "lost." In 1 John 5:11-12, the Bible says: "God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life (that's saved); he who does not have the Son of God does not have life (that's lost)." Our eternal destination is all contingent on one thing - whether or not we have the Son of God. Not whether or not we have religion or Christianity, but whether we have Jesus.
So how do you get Jesus? God's pretty clear about that. He says, for example, in John 3:36, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life (saved), but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him (lost)." God's wrath is because of what we've done with the life He gave us. In essence, we've made ourselves God by doing what we wanted to do with our life. Sure, we may have mixed in some religion to try to offset our taking over of our life, but religion in no way can pay the penalty for the hijacking of our life from the Creator of the universe. Sin is a capital crime, punishable by spiritual death; separation from God now and forever.
The Bible says that believing in God's Son, Jesus, can literally change which list we're on. When the Bible says "believe," the word is about total trust, complete reliance. And only total trust in Jesus can rescue us from our spiritual death penalty, because only Jesus could and only Jesus did die in our place. He said, "I will take their hell, Father, so they don't ever have to go there." He did that for you. That's how much He loves you.
So what's happening right now is so much bigger than you just listening to some guy on the radio. This is a holy opportunity to remove your name forever from the list that says "lost" and put it on the list that says "saved." Your name will be entered in what the Bible calls God's Book of Life the moment you reach for Jesus in total trust as your only hope of going to heaven.
That could be today you could do that. With eternity in the balance, I can't think of a good reason to risk one more day on the list that says "lost."
We'd consider it such a privilege to do for you what someone did for us one day. They explained to us how to begin this relationship with Jesus, and that's what our website is for. I invite you to go there; get that information. It's YoursForLife.net. Or just call for my little booklet Yours For Life. The number's toll free; it's 877-741-1200.
I'll leave you with just how the Bible describes what can happen to you this very day. It says that the man or woman who opens their life to Jesus "...has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life!" (John 5:24).
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