Daniel 1
Daniel's Training in Babylon 1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia [a] and put in the treasure house of his god. 3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility- 4 young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king's palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. [b] 5 The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king's table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king's service.
6 Among these were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 7 The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.
8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. 9 Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel, 10 but the official told Daniel, "I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your [c] food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you."
11 Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 12 "Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see." 14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.
15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. 16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
17 To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.
18 At the end of the time set by the king to bring them in, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. 19 The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king's service. 20 In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.
21 And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.
Our Daily Bread
Habakkuk 1 1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet received.
Habakkuk's Complaint 2 How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save? 3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.
4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.
The Lord 's Answer 5 "Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.
November 26, 2007
Hiding My Face
READ: Habakkuk 1:1-5
You are of purer eyes than to behold evil. —Habakkuk 1:13 About this cover I’m a news junkie. I like knowing what’s going on in the world. But sometimes the atrocities of life make me feel as if I’m a kid watching a scary movie. I don’t want to see what happens. I want to turn away to avoid watching.
God reacts to evil in a similar way. Years ago, He warned the Israelites that He would turn away from them if they turned toward evil (Deut. 31:18). They did, and He did (Ezek. 39:24).
The prophet Habakkuk had not forsaken God, but he suffered along with those who had. “Why do You show me iniquity,” he asked the Lord, “and cause me to see trouble?” (Hab. 1:3).
God’s response to His confused prophet indicates that even when evil obscures the face of God, our inability to see Him does not mean He is uninvolved. God said, “Look among the nations and watch—be utterly astounded! For I will work a work in your days which you would not believe, though it were told you” (v.5). God would judge Judah, but He would also judge the invading Babylonians for their evil (see Hab. 2). And through it all, “The just shall live by his faith” (2:4).
When world events cause you to despair, turn off the news and turn to Scripture. The end of the story has been written by our holy God. Evil will not prevail. —Julie Ackerman Link
Lord, we praise You for Your displays of power in thepast and Your promises of victory in the future,for they replace our fear of the worldwith confidence in You. Amen.
My Utmost for His Highest
Don’t despair because of evil; God will have the last word.
November 26, 2007
The Focal Point of Spiritual PowerLISTEN: READ:
. . . except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . —Galatians 6:14 About this cover If you want to know the power of God (that is, the resurrection life of Jesus) in your human flesh, you must dwell on the tragedy of God. Break away from your personal concern over your own spiritual condition, and with a completely open spirit consider the tragedy of God. Instantly the power of God will be in you. "Look to Me. . ." (Isaiah 45:22). Pay attention to the external Source and the internal power will be there. We lose power because we don’t focus on the right thing. The effect of the Cross is salvation, sanctification, healing, etc., but we are not to preach any of these. We are to preach "Jesus Christ and Him crucified" ( 1 Corinthians 2:2 ). The proclaiming of Jesus will do its own work. Concentrate on God’s focal point in your preaching, and even if your listeners seem to pay it no attention, they will never be the same again. If I share my own words, they are of no more importance than your words are to me. But if we share the truth of God with one another, we will encounter it again and again. We have to focus on the great point of spiritual power— the Cross. If we stay in contact with that center of power, its energy is released in our lives. In holiness movements and spiritual experience meetings, the focus tends to be put not on the Cross of Christ but on the effects of the Cross.
The feebleness of the church is being criticized today, and the criticism is justified. One reason for the feebleness is that there has not been this focus on the true center of spiritual power. We have not dwelt enough on the tragedy of Calvary or on the meaning of redemption.
A Word with You, Ron Hutchcraft:
Remove Your Mask Before You Enter - #5446 Monday, November 26, 2007
I had to stop at a convenience store one Halloween night. I was not "trick or treating." I was just trying to pay for the gas I put in my car. That's when I saw this interesting sign they had posted; it was a sign I had never seen anywhere else before. It simply said, "Please remove your mask before you enter." I wasn't wearing one. For one unhappy moment, I did remember what they used to tell me in school long after Halloween, "Hey, Halloween's over, Ron! Take off your mask." I wasn't wearing one then either. But the sign was no joke. Obviously, they didn't want someone to try to pull off a Halloween heist, wearing a mask that would conceal their identity from the security cameras. I didn't see anyone in the store that night with a mask.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Remove Your Mask Before You Enter."
I can almost imagine a sign like that one at the store, displayed at the entrance to the Throne Room of Almighty God which we enter when we pray. "Please remove your mask before you enter." God is not impressed by our religious words or our religious image. He is not interested in seeing the masks that we sometimes wear around various groups of people. He does not want to hear a recitation of the same tired old prayer script that we often repeat without thinking. He insists that we come as we really are - completely unmasked. The real God can only help the real you.
The futility of pretending or masquerading before God is abundantly clear in our word for today from the Word of God in Hebrews 4, beginning with verse 13. It says: "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." So it's useless to come before God pretending we feel how we're "supposed" to feel instead of how we really do feel. It's a waste of time to come with our rationalizations, our excuses and our cover-ups. We are laid bare before Him.
There's no point in putting on a tie when you're spiritually and emotionally naked before Him. Tell it all. Let it go. Be real with Him. He won't love you less. He already knows what's behind the mask you show everyone else. You won't shock Him. You won't surprise Him, but God operates on an invitation basis. He comes into a part of your life when you open it up to Him. So He's asking you to check your mask at the door of His Throne Room and come, as the hymn says, "Just as I am, without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me."
That passage goes on to tell us that "we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence so we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Come in with your burdens and leave with His grace, which is always greater than the burdens. But come honestly.
It may be that you've prayed many times, acting as if you really belong to God, as if He's really your Father, when in fact, you've never really put all your trust in His Son, Jesus, to be your personal rescuer from the death penalty for your sins. You've never turned your back on the sin that killed Jesus and said, "Jesus, You're my only hope of having my sins forgiven." So while everyone around you may think you really know Jesus, even though you may have fooled them and maybe even yourself, for years, you've never had your moment of personal surrender to Jesus.
The longer you wait, the harder your heart is and the greater the danger that you will die without Christ in your heart. In your head maybe, but not in your heart. This very day, the only one you can be sure you'll have, you need to "remove your mask before entering." Park your religion at the door and let God know you're in desperate need of His Son as your Savior. If that's what you want, I’d love to send you my little booklet. You can ask for it just by going to yoursforlife.net or calling us at 877-741-1200.
When you come to God honestly, and when you admit your need and begin your relationship with Him, you'll enter His presence lost. But you'll leave found, and you’ll know you finally belong to Him for real.
To find out how you can begin a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, please visit: yoursforlife.net or call 1-888-966-7325.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Ezekiel 48 and more
Ezekiel 48
The Division of the Land 1 "These are the tribes, listed by name: At the northern frontier, Dan will have one portion; it will follow the Hethlon road to Lebo [a] Hamath; Hazar Enan and the northern border of Damascus next to Hamath will be part of its border from the east side to the west side. 2 "Asher will have one portion; it will border the territory of Dan from east to west.
3 "Naphtali will have one portion; it will border the territory of Asher from east to west.
4 "Manasseh will have one portion; it will border the territory of Naphtali from east to west.
5 "Ephraim will have one portion; it will border the territory of Manasseh from east to west.
6 "Reuben will have one portion; it will border the territory of Ephraim from east to west.
7 "Judah will have one portion; it will border the territory of Reuben from east to west.
8 "Bordering the territory of Judah from east to west will be the portion you are to present as a special gift. It will be 25,000 cubits [b] wide, and its length from east to west will equal one of the tribal portions; the sanctuary will be in the center of it.
9 "The special portion you are to offer to the LORD will be 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits [c] wide. 10 This will be the sacred portion for the priests. It will be 25,000 cubits long on the north side, 10,000 cubits wide on the west side, 10,000 cubits wide on the east side and 25,000 cubits long on the south side. In the center of it will be the sanctuary of the LORD. 11 This will be for the consecrated priests, the Zadokites, who were faithful in serving me and did not go astray as the Levites did when the Israelites went astray. 12 It will be a special gift to them from the sacred portion of the land, a most holy portion, bordering the territory of the Levites.
13 "Alongside the territory of the priests, the Levites will have an allotment 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits wide. Its total length will be 25,000 cubits and its width 10,000 cubits. 14 They must not sell or exchange any of it. This is the best of the land and must not pass into other hands, because it is holy to the LORD.
15 "The remaining area, 5,000 cubits wide and 25,000 cubits long, will be for the common use of the city, for houses and for pastureland. The city will be in the center of it 16 and will have these measurements: the north side 4,500 cubits, the south side 4,500 cubits, the east side 4,500 cubits, and the west side 4,500 cubits. 17 The pastureland for the city will be 250 cubits on the north, 250 cubits on the south, 250 cubits on the east, and 250 cubits on the west. 18 What remains of the area, bordering on the sacred portion and running the length of it, will be 10,000 cubits on the east side and 10,000 cubits on the west side. Its produce will supply food for the workers of the city. 19 The workers from the city who farm it will come from all the tribes of Israel. 20 The entire portion will be a square, 25,000 cubits on each side. As a special gift you will set aside the sacred portion, along with the property of the city.
21 "What remains on both sides of the area formed by the sacred portion and the city property will belong to the prince. It will extend eastward from the 25,000 cubits of the sacred portion to the eastern border, and westward from the 25,000 cubits to the western border. Both these areas running the length of the tribal portions will belong to the prince, and the sacred portion with the temple sanctuary will be in the center of them. 22 So the property of the Levites and the property of the city will lie in the center of the area that belongs to the prince. The area belonging to the prince will lie between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin.
23 "As for the rest of the tribes: Benjamin will have one portion; it will extend from the east side to the west side.
24 "Simeon will have one portion; it will border the territory of Benjamin from east to west.
25 "Issachar will have one portion; it will border the territory of Simeon from east to west.
26 "Zebulun will have one portion; it will border the territory of Issachar from east to west.
27 "Gad will have one portion; it will border the territory of Zebulun from east to west.
28 "The southern boundary of Gad will run south from Tamar to the waters of Meribah Kadesh, then along the Wadi of Egypt to the Great Sea. [d]
29 "This is the land you are to allot as an inheritance to the tribes of Israel, and these will be their portions," declares the Sovereign LORD.
The Gates of the City 30 "These will be the exits of the city: Beginning on the north side, which is 4,500 cubits long, 31 the gates of the city will be named after the tribes of Israel. The three gates on the north side will be the gate of Reuben, the gate of Judah and the gate of Levi. 32 "On the east side, which is 4,500 cubits long, will be three gates: the gate of Joseph, the gate of Benjamin and the gate of Dan.
33 "On the south side, which measures 4,500 cubits, will be three gates: the gate of Simeon, the gate of Issachar and the gate of Zebulun.
34 "On the west side, which is 4,500 cubits long, will be three gates: the gate of Gad, the gate of Asher and the gate of Naphtali.
35 "The distance all around will be 18,000 cubits. "And the name of the city from that time on will be: The LORD is There ."
Our Daily Bread:
Romans 1:14-17
14I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. 15That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome.
16I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 17For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,[a] just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."[b]
November 25, 2007
Too Old?READ: Romans 1:14-17
You are the light of the world. —Matthew 5:14 About this cover God has limitless ways of reaching people. So if you feel that you don’t have the ability to reach others for Christ, think about 76-year-old Ethel Hatfield. Desiring to serve her Lord, she asked her pastor if she could teach a Sunday school class. He informed her that he thought she was too old! She went home heavy-hearted and disappointed.
Then one day as Ethel was tending her rose garden, a Chinese student from the nearby university stopped to comment on the beauty of her flowers. She invited him in for a cup of tea. As they talked together, she had the opportunity to tell him about Jesus and His love. He returned the next day with another student, and that was the beginning of Ethel’s ministry.
Ethel was delighted to share the gospel of Christ with these students, because she knew He has the power to change lives. His gospel “is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16).
Precisely because of Ethel’s age, Chinese students listened to her with respect and appreciation. When she died, a group of 70 Chinese believers sat together at her funeral. They had been won to Christ by a woman who was thought to be too old to teach a Sunday school class! —Vernon C Grounds
In the strength of the Lord let me labor and pray,Let me watch as a winner of souls,That bright stars may be mine in the glorious dayWhen His praise like the sea-billow rolls. —Hewitt
My Utmost for His Highest
No one is too old to be a witness for Christ.
November 25, 2007
The Secret of Spiritual ConsistencyLISTEN: READ:
God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . —Galatians 6:14 About this cover When a person is newly born again, he seems inconsistent due to his unrelated emotions and the state of the external things or circumstances in his life. The apostle Paul had a strong and steady underlying consistency in his life. Consequently, he could let his external life change without internal distress because he was rooted and grounded in God. Most of us are not consistent spiritually because we are more concerned about being consistent externally. In the external expression of things, Paul lived in the basement, while his critics lived on the upper level. And these two levels do not begin to touch each other. But Paul’s consistency was down deep in the fundamentals. The great basis of his consistency was the agony of God in the redemption of the world, namely, the Cross of Christ.
State your beliefs to yourself again. Get back to the foundation of the Cross of Christ, doing away with any belief not based on it. In secular history the Cross is an infinitesimally small thing, but from the biblical perspective it is of more importance than all the empires of the world. If we get away from dwelling on the tragedy of God on the Cross in our preaching, our preaching produces nothing. It will not transmit the energy of God to man; it may be interesting, but it will have no power. However, when we preach the Cross, the energy of God is released. ". . . it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. . . . we preach Christ crucified . . ." ( 1 Corinthians 1:21, 23 ).
TGIF devotional
Are you in a place of adversity? Click here to download the first chapter of Os Hillman's book, The Upside of Adversity for free and find other helpful resources.
Enlarging Your Territory
by Os Hillman
..."Oh, that You would bless me and enlarge my territory!...." - 1 Chronicles 4:10
He is mentioned only once in a brief description in the Old Testament, yet what he says and what his life bespeaks could fill volumes. He was a man whom God saw as worthy of a request that had significant consequences for him and his family. His name was Jabez. Here is how the Scripture describes him:
Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, "I gave birth to him in pain." Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that You would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let Your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request (1 Chronicles 4:9-10).
When you think of territory, you probably think of land or some area in which you have dominion. Jesus often spoke about giving responsibility based on what we do with the little things first. Jabez must have been a very responsible person. God describes him as honorable. Jabez must have understood what it really means to be blessed by God. He was a man who knew what it meant to press into God and ask for God's favor with passion. God saw the heart of this man and gave him his request. His borders were enlarged! He lived a life free from pain. Imagine that!
The only reason God will enlarge a person's territory is that He knows that person will use it responsibly. He will steward what is given in light of God's Kingdom. God truly wants to increase our territory to have greater influence in the world around us. That territory can mean personal influence and/or physical territories.
It is rare to have a life without pain. Pain is often necessary to mold us and shape us. This is the only exception I have seen in Scripture. Jabez must have been quite a man with incredible integrity and purity of heart.
Are you this kind of person? Can God enlarge your territory and entrust you to use it for His purposes? Ask God today to enlarge your territory. Ask Him to make you the kind of man or woman who is worthy of such trust.
The Division of the Land 1 "These are the tribes, listed by name: At the northern frontier, Dan will have one portion; it will follow the Hethlon road to Lebo [a] Hamath; Hazar Enan and the northern border of Damascus next to Hamath will be part of its border from the east side to the west side. 2 "Asher will have one portion; it will border the territory of Dan from east to west.
3 "Naphtali will have one portion; it will border the territory of Asher from east to west.
4 "Manasseh will have one portion; it will border the territory of Naphtali from east to west.
5 "Ephraim will have one portion; it will border the territory of Manasseh from east to west.
6 "Reuben will have one portion; it will border the territory of Ephraim from east to west.
7 "Judah will have one portion; it will border the territory of Reuben from east to west.
8 "Bordering the territory of Judah from east to west will be the portion you are to present as a special gift. It will be 25,000 cubits [b] wide, and its length from east to west will equal one of the tribal portions; the sanctuary will be in the center of it.
9 "The special portion you are to offer to the LORD will be 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits [c] wide. 10 This will be the sacred portion for the priests. It will be 25,000 cubits long on the north side, 10,000 cubits wide on the west side, 10,000 cubits wide on the east side and 25,000 cubits long on the south side. In the center of it will be the sanctuary of the LORD. 11 This will be for the consecrated priests, the Zadokites, who were faithful in serving me and did not go astray as the Levites did when the Israelites went astray. 12 It will be a special gift to them from the sacred portion of the land, a most holy portion, bordering the territory of the Levites.
13 "Alongside the territory of the priests, the Levites will have an allotment 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits wide. Its total length will be 25,000 cubits and its width 10,000 cubits. 14 They must not sell or exchange any of it. This is the best of the land and must not pass into other hands, because it is holy to the LORD.
15 "The remaining area, 5,000 cubits wide and 25,000 cubits long, will be for the common use of the city, for houses and for pastureland. The city will be in the center of it 16 and will have these measurements: the north side 4,500 cubits, the south side 4,500 cubits, the east side 4,500 cubits, and the west side 4,500 cubits. 17 The pastureland for the city will be 250 cubits on the north, 250 cubits on the south, 250 cubits on the east, and 250 cubits on the west. 18 What remains of the area, bordering on the sacred portion and running the length of it, will be 10,000 cubits on the east side and 10,000 cubits on the west side. Its produce will supply food for the workers of the city. 19 The workers from the city who farm it will come from all the tribes of Israel. 20 The entire portion will be a square, 25,000 cubits on each side. As a special gift you will set aside the sacred portion, along with the property of the city.
21 "What remains on both sides of the area formed by the sacred portion and the city property will belong to the prince. It will extend eastward from the 25,000 cubits of the sacred portion to the eastern border, and westward from the 25,000 cubits to the western border. Both these areas running the length of the tribal portions will belong to the prince, and the sacred portion with the temple sanctuary will be in the center of them. 22 So the property of the Levites and the property of the city will lie in the center of the area that belongs to the prince. The area belonging to the prince will lie between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin.
23 "As for the rest of the tribes: Benjamin will have one portion; it will extend from the east side to the west side.
24 "Simeon will have one portion; it will border the territory of Benjamin from east to west.
25 "Issachar will have one portion; it will border the territory of Simeon from east to west.
26 "Zebulun will have one portion; it will border the territory of Issachar from east to west.
27 "Gad will have one portion; it will border the territory of Zebulun from east to west.
28 "The southern boundary of Gad will run south from Tamar to the waters of Meribah Kadesh, then along the Wadi of Egypt to the Great Sea. [d]
29 "This is the land you are to allot as an inheritance to the tribes of Israel, and these will be their portions," declares the Sovereign LORD.
The Gates of the City 30 "These will be the exits of the city: Beginning on the north side, which is 4,500 cubits long, 31 the gates of the city will be named after the tribes of Israel. The three gates on the north side will be the gate of Reuben, the gate of Judah and the gate of Levi. 32 "On the east side, which is 4,500 cubits long, will be three gates: the gate of Joseph, the gate of Benjamin and the gate of Dan.
33 "On the south side, which measures 4,500 cubits, will be three gates: the gate of Simeon, the gate of Issachar and the gate of Zebulun.
34 "On the west side, which is 4,500 cubits long, will be three gates: the gate of Gad, the gate of Asher and the gate of Naphtali.
35 "The distance all around will be 18,000 cubits. "And the name of the city from that time on will be: The LORD is There ."
Our Daily Bread:
Romans 1:14-17
14I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. 15That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome.
16I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 17For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,[a] just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."[b]
November 25, 2007
Too Old?READ: Romans 1:14-17
You are the light of the world. —Matthew 5:14 About this cover God has limitless ways of reaching people. So if you feel that you don’t have the ability to reach others for Christ, think about 76-year-old Ethel Hatfield. Desiring to serve her Lord, she asked her pastor if she could teach a Sunday school class. He informed her that he thought she was too old! She went home heavy-hearted and disappointed.
Then one day as Ethel was tending her rose garden, a Chinese student from the nearby university stopped to comment on the beauty of her flowers. She invited him in for a cup of tea. As they talked together, she had the opportunity to tell him about Jesus and His love. He returned the next day with another student, and that was the beginning of Ethel’s ministry.
Ethel was delighted to share the gospel of Christ with these students, because she knew He has the power to change lives. His gospel “is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16).
Precisely because of Ethel’s age, Chinese students listened to her with respect and appreciation. When she died, a group of 70 Chinese believers sat together at her funeral. They had been won to Christ by a woman who was thought to be too old to teach a Sunday school class! —Vernon C Grounds
In the strength of the Lord let me labor and pray,Let me watch as a winner of souls,That bright stars may be mine in the glorious dayWhen His praise like the sea-billow rolls. —Hewitt
My Utmost for His Highest
No one is too old to be a witness for Christ.
November 25, 2007
The Secret of Spiritual ConsistencyLISTEN: READ:
God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . —Galatians 6:14 About this cover When a person is newly born again, he seems inconsistent due to his unrelated emotions and the state of the external things or circumstances in his life. The apostle Paul had a strong and steady underlying consistency in his life. Consequently, he could let his external life change without internal distress because he was rooted and grounded in God. Most of us are not consistent spiritually because we are more concerned about being consistent externally. In the external expression of things, Paul lived in the basement, while his critics lived on the upper level. And these two levels do not begin to touch each other. But Paul’s consistency was down deep in the fundamentals. The great basis of his consistency was the agony of God in the redemption of the world, namely, the Cross of Christ.
State your beliefs to yourself again. Get back to the foundation of the Cross of Christ, doing away with any belief not based on it. In secular history the Cross is an infinitesimally small thing, but from the biblical perspective it is of more importance than all the empires of the world. If we get away from dwelling on the tragedy of God on the Cross in our preaching, our preaching produces nothing. It will not transmit the energy of God to man; it may be interesting, but it will have no power. However, when we preach the Cross, the energy of God is released. ". . . it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. . . . we preach Christ crucified . . ." ( 1 Corinthians 1:21, 23 ).
TGIF devotional
Are you in a place of adversity? Click here to download the first chapter of Os Hillman's book, The Upside of Adversity for free and find other helpful resources.
Enlarging Your Territory
by Os Hillman
..."Oh, that You would bless me and enlarge my territory!...." - 1 Chronicles 4:10
He is mentioned only once in a brief description in the Old Testament, yet what he says and what his life bespeaks could fill volumes. He was a man whom God saw as worthy of a request that had significant consequences for him and his family. His name was Jabez. Here is how the Scripture describes him:
Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, "I gave birth to him in pain." Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that You would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let Your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request (1 Chronicles 4:9-10).
When you think of territory, you probably think of land or some area in which you have dominion. Jesus often spoke about giving responsibility based on what we do with the little things first. Jabez must have been a very responsible person. God describes him as honorable. Jabez must have understood what it really means to be blessed by God. He was a man who knew what it meant to press into God and ask for God's favor with passion. God saw the heart of this man and gave him his request. His borders were enlarged! He lived a life free from pain. Imagine that!
The only reason God will enlarge a person's territory is that He knows that person will use it responsibly. He will steward what is given in light of God's Kingdom. God truly wants to increase our territory to have greater influence in the world around us. That territory can mean personal influence and/or physical territories.
It is rare to have a life without pain. Pain is often necessary to mold us and shape us. This is the only exception I have seen in Scripture. Jabez must have been quite a man with incredible integrity and purity of heart.
Are you this kind of person? Can God enlarge your territory and entrust you to use it for His purposes? Ask God today to enlarge your territory. Ask Him to make you the kind of man or woman who is worthy of such trust.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Ezekiel 47 and others
Ezekiel 47
The River From the Temple 1 The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. 2 He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was flowing from the south side. 3 As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits [a] and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. 4 He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. 5 He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross. 6 He asked me, "Son of man, do you see this?" Then he led me back to the bank of the river. 7 When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. 8 He said to me, "This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, [b] where it enters the Sea. [c] When it empties into the Sea, [d] the water there becomes fresh. 9 Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. 10 Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Great Sea. [e] 11 But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. 12 Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing."
The Boundaries of the Land 13 This is what the Sovereign LORD says: "These are the boundaries by which you are to divide the land for an inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel, with two portions for Joseph. 14 You are to divide it equally among them. Because I swore with uplifted hand to give it to your forefathers, this land will become your inheritance. 15 "This is to be the boundary of the land: "On the north side it will run from the Great Sea by the Hethlon road past Lebo [f] Hamath to Zedad, 16 Berothah [g] and Sibraim (which lies on the border between Damascus and Hamath), as far as Hazer Hatticon, which is on the border of Hauran. 17 The boundary will extend from the sea to Hazar Enan, [h] along the northern border of Damascus, with the border of Hamath to the north. This will be the north boundary.
18 "On the east side the boundary will run between Hauran and Damascus, along the Jordan between Gilead and the land of Israel, to the eastern sea and as far as Tamar. [i] This will be the east boundary.
19 "On the south side it will run from Tamar as far as the waters of Meribah Kadesh, then along the Wadi of Egypt to the Great Sea. This will be the south boundary.
20 "On the west side, the Great Sea will be the boundary to a point opposite Lebo [j] Hamath. This will be the west boundary.
21 "You are to distribute this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. 22 You are to allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the aliens who have settled among you and who have children. You are to consider them as native-born Israelites; along with you they are to be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. 23 In whatever tribe the alien settles
Titus 3Doing What is Good 1Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, 2to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men. 3At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. 4But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
November 24, 2007
Anonymous Has ComeREAD: Titus 3:1-7
The kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared. —Titus 3:4 About this cover Years ago I received a cylinder in the mail that turned out to be an exquisite, custom-made Jim Schaaf bamboo fly rod and Bill Ballan classic reel—costly fishing gear that I could not have afforded. An enclosed handwritten note said simply, “I wanted to do something for you.” To this day I have no idea who sent it.
Poet William Cowper also had an anonymous friend who sent gifts to him but never revealed his name. Cowper’s comment on receiving each gift was always the same: “Anonymous has come.” I think of that phrase often whenever I fish with that rod: “Anonymous has come.” I will always be grateful to my unnamed friend for his kindness and love to me.
All through our lives God showers us with His goodness—gifts of truth, beauty, friendship, love, and laughter, to name but a few—and we behave as if we don’t know the source. God has been our anonymous Friend.
But He doesn’t wish to remain anonymous. If you want to know more about your secret Friend, read the Gospels, for He is seen most clearly in Jesus. Love has always been in God’s heart, but in Jesus it “appeared.” God, revealed in Jesus, is your kind and merciful Friend. Will you acknowledge and thank Him today? —David H. Roper
With thankful hearts give praise to JesusFor His blessings without end;Let’s give to Him our full devotion;He’s our Savior and our Friend. —D. De Haan
Our dearest friend is but a shadow compared to Jesus.
November 24, 2007
Direction of FocusLISTEN: READ:
Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters . . . , so our eyes look to the Lord our God . . . —Psalm 123:2 About this cover This verse is a description of total reliance on God. Just as the eyes of a servant are riveted on his master, our eyes should be directed to and focused on God. This is how knowledge of His countenance is gained and how God reveals Himself to us (seeIsaiah 53:1 ). Our spiritual strength begins to be drained when we stop lifting our eyes to Him. Our stamina is sapped, not so much through external troubles surrounding us but through problems in our thinking. We wrongfully think, "I suppose I’ve been stretching myself a little too much, standing too tall and trying to look like God instead of being an ordinary humble person." We have to realize that no effort can be too high.
For example, you came to a crisis in your life, took a stand for God, and even had the witness of the Spirit as a confirmation that what you did was right. But now, maybe weeks or years have gone by, and you are slowly coming to the conclusion— "Well, maybe what I did showed too much pride or was superficial. Was I taking a stand a bit too high for me?" Your "rational" friends come and say, "Don’t be silly. We knew when you first talked about this spiritual awakening that it was a passing impulse, that you couldn’t hold up under the strain. And anyway, God doesn’t expect you to endure." You respond by saying, "Well, I suppose I was expecting too much." That sounds humble to say, but it means that your reliance on God is gone, and you are now relying on worldly opinion. The danger comes when, no longer relying on God, you neglect to focus your eyes on Him. Only when God brings you to a sudden stop will you realize that you have been the loser. Whenever there is a spiritual drain in your life, correct it immediately. Realize that something has been coming between you and God, and change or remove it at once.Check Under the Hood
by Os Hillman
But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. - Colossians 3:8
"The root issue you are dealing with is fear. The physical symptom is control, and when you cannot control, you get angry because of unmet expectations." These were the words I spoke during a conversation in a restaurant to my friend who was separated from his wife. He described his anger and how he never saw some of these characteristics in his life until he entered this marriage.
A friend once said to me, "Anger is like the lights on a dashboard. They tell you something is going on under the hood. You must find out the source of the problem." Whenever we have expectations of another person and those expectations do not materialize, our tendency is to get angry. The source of the anger is often the fear that the unmet expectation will negatively impact us. We fear that our finances, our well-being, our image, or any number of things may be impacted by the unmet expectation. My friend's wife had not met his expectations in many areas of his life, so then, many times it resulted in harsh words that damaged his wife's self-esteem. Now, it was leading to a marriage crisis.
Jesus often spoke of living as though we were dead. How can you live as though you are dead? "In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 6:11). It is a choice each of us must make. Once you become dead to that which stirs an emotion in you, God is free to change that situation. Until then, you can expect God to allow that situation to remain until you reckon yourself dead to the effects of the issue that causes you to struggle.
Is there something that causes anger within you? Ask God what the source of that anger is. You might be surprised at what you find. Then ask God to give you the grace to reckon yourself dead to that issue. You will find new freedom in your relationships and your own peace of mind.
The River From the Temple 1 The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. 2 He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was flowing from the south side. 3 As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits [a] and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. 4 He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. 5 He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross. 6 He asked me, "Son of man, do you see this?" Then he led me back to the bank of the river. 7 When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. 8 He said to me, "This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, [b] where it enters the Sea. [c] When it empties into the Sea, [d] the water there becomes fresh. 9 Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. 10 Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Great Sea. [e] 11 But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. 12 Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing."
The Boundaries of the Land 13 This is what the Sovereign LORD says: "These are the boundaries by which you are to divide the land for an inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel, with two portions for Joseph. 14 You are to divide it equally among them. Because I swore with uplifted hand to give it to your forefathers, this land will become your inheritance. 15 "This is to be the boundary of the land: "On the north side it will run from the Great Sea by the Hethlon road past Lebo [f] Hamath to Zedad, 16 Berothah [g] and Sibraim (which lies on the border between Damascus and Hamath), as far as Hazer Hatticon, which is on the border of Hauran. 17 The boundary will extend from the sea to Hazar Enan, [h] along the northern border of Damascus, with the border of Hamath to the north. This will be the north boundary.
18 "On the east side the boundary will run between Hauran and Damascus, along the Jordan between Gilead and the land of Israel, to the eastern sea and as far as Tamar. [i] This will be the east boundary.
19 "On the south side it will run from Tamar as far as the waters of Meribah Kadesh, then along the Wadi of Egypt to the Great Sea. This will be the south boundary.
20 "On the west side, the Great Sea will be the boundary to a point opposite Lebo [j] Hamath. This will be the west boundary.
21 "You are to distribute this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. 22 You are to allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the aliens who have settled among you and who have children. You are to consider them as native-born Israelites; along with you they are to be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. 23 In whatever tribe the alien settles
Titus 3Doing What is Good 1Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, 2to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men. 3At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. 4But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
November 24, 2007
Anonymous Has ComeREAD: Titus 3:1-7
The kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared. —Titus 3:4 About this cover Years ago I received a cylinder in the mail that turned out to be an exquisite, custom-made Jim Schaaf bamboo fly rod and Bill Ballan classic reel—costly fishing gear that I could not have afforded. An enclosed handwritten note said simply, “I wanted to do something for you.” To this day I have no idea who sent it.
Poet William Cowper also had an anonymous friend who sent gifts to him but never revealed his name. Cowper’s comment on receiving each gift was always the same: “Anonymous has come.” I think of that phrase often whenever I fish with that rod: “Anonymous has come.” I will always be grateful to my unnamed friend for his kindness and love to me.
All through our lives God showers us with His goodness—gifts of truth, beauty, friendship, love, and laughter, to name but a few—and we behave as if we don’t know the source. God has been our anonymous Friend.
But He doesn’t wish to remain anonymous. If you want to know more about your secret Friend, read the Gospels, for He is seen most clearly in Jesus. Love has always been in God’s heart, but in Jesus it “appeared.” God, revealed in Jesus, is your kind and merciful Friend. Will you acknowledge and thank Him today? —David H. Roper
With thankful hearts give praise to JesusFor His blessings without end;Let’s give to Him our full devotion;He’s our Savior and our Friend. —D. De Haan
Our dearest friend is but a shadow compared to Jesus.
November 24, 2007
Direction of FocusLISTEN: READ:
Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters . . . , so our eyes look to the Lord our God . . . —Psalm 123:2 About this cover This verse is a description of total reliance on God. Just as the eyes of a servant are riveted on his master, our eyes should be directed to and focused on God. This is how knowledge of His countenance is gained and how God reveals Himself to us (seeIsaiah 53:1 ). Our spiritual strength begins to be drained when we stop lifting our eyes to Him. Our stamina is sapped, not so much through external troubles surrounding us but through problems in our thinking. We wrongfully think, "I suppose I’ve been stretching myself a little too much, standing too tall and trying to look like God instead of being an ordinary humble person." We have to realize that no effort can be too high.
For example, you came to a crisis in your life, took a stand for God, and even had the witness of the Spirit as a confirmation that what you did was right. But now, maybe weeks or years have gone by, and you are slowly coming to the conclusion— "Well, maybe what I did showed too much pride or was superficial. Was I taking a stand a bit too high for me?" Your "rational" friends come and say, "Don’t be silly. We knew when you first talked about this spiritual awakening that it was a passing impulse, that you couldn’t hold up under the strain. And anyway, God doesn’t expect you to endure." You respond by saying, "Well, I suppose I was expecting too much." That sounds humble to say, but it means that your reliance on God is gone, and you are now relying on worldly opinion. The danger comes when, no longer relying on God, you neglect to focus your eyes on Him. Only when God brings you to a sudden stop will you realize that you have been the loser. Whenever there is a spiritual drain in your life, correct it immediately. Realize that something has been coming between you and God, and change or remove it at once.Check Under the Hood
by Os Hillman
But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. - Colossians 3:8
"The root issue you are dealing with is fear. The physical symptom is control, and when you cannot control, you get angry because of unmet expectations." These were the words I spoke during a conversation in a restaurant to my friend who was separated from his wife. He described his anger and how he never saw some of these characteristics in his life until he entered this marriage.
A friend once said to me, "Anger is like the lights on a dashboard. They tell you something is going on under the hood. You must find out the source of the problem." Whenever we have expectations of another person and those expectations do not materialize, our tendency is to get angry. The source of the anger is often the fear that the unmet expectation will negatively impact us. We fear that our finances, our well-being, our image, or any number of things may be impacted by the unmet expectation. My friend's wife had not met his expectations in many areas of his life, so then, many times it resulted in harsh words that damaged his wife's self-esteem. Now, it was leading to a marriage crisis.
Jesus often spoke of living as though we were dead. How can you live as though you are dead? "In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 6:11). It is a choice each of us must make. Once you become dead to that which stirs an emotion in you, God is free to change that situation. Until then, you can expect God to allow that situation to remain until you reckon yourself dead to the effects of the issue that causes you to struggle.
Is there something that causes anger within you? Ask God what the source of that anger is. You might be surprised at what you find. Then ask God to give you the grace to reckon yourself dead to that issue. You will find new freedom in your relationships and your own peace of mind.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Ezekiel 46
Ezekiel 46 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The east gateway of the inner courtyard will be closed during the six workdays each week, but it will be open on Sabbath days and the days of new moon celebrations. 2 The prince will enter the entry room of the gateway from the outside. Then he will stand by the gatepost while the priest offers his burnt offering and peace offering. He will bow down in worship inside the gateway passage and then go back out the way he came. The gateway will not be closed until evening. 3 The common people will bow down and worship the Lord in front of this gateway on Sabbath days and the days of new moon celebrations.
4 “Each Sabbath day the prince will present to the Lord a burnt offering of six lambs and one ram, all with no defects. 5 He will present a grain offering of a basket of choice flour to go with the ram and whatever amount of flour he chooses to go with each lamb, and he is to offer one gallon of olive oil[a] for each basket of flour. 6 At the new moon celebrations, he will bring one young bull, six lambs, and one ram, all with no defects. 7 With the young bull he must bring a basket of choice flour for a grain offering. With the ram he must bring another basket of flour. And with each lamb he is to bring whatever amount of flour he chooses to give. With each basket of flour he must offer one gallon of olive oil.
8 “The prince must enter the gateway through the entry room, and he must leave the same way. 9 But when the people come in through the north gateway to worship the Lord during the religious festivals, they must leave by the south gateway. And those who entered through the south gateway must leave by the north gateway. They must never leave by the same gateway they came in, but must always use the opposite gateway. 10 The prince will enter and leave with the people on these occasions.
11 “So at the special feasts and sacred festivals, the grain offering will be a basket of choice flour with each young bull, another basket of flour with each ram, and as much flour as the prince chooses to give with each lamb. Give one gallon of olive oil with each basket of flour. 12 When the prince offers a voluntary burnt offering or peace offering to the Lord, the east gateway to the inner courtyard will be opened for him, and he will offer his sacrifices as he does on Sabbath days. Then he will leave, and the gateway will be shut behind him.
13 “Each morning you must sacrifice a one-year-old lamb with no defects as a burnt offering to the Lord. 14 With the lamb, a grain offering must also be given to the Lord—about three quarts of flour with a third of a gallon of olive oil[b] to moisten the choice flour. This will be a permanent law for you. 15 The lamb, the grain offering, and the olive oil must be given as a daily sacrifice every morning without fail.
16 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: If the prince gives a gift of land to one of his sons as his inheritance, it will belong to him and his descendants forever. 17 But if the prince gives a gift of land from his inheritance to one of his servants, the servant may keep it only until the Year of Jubilee, which comes every fiftieth year.[c] At that time the land will return to the prince. But when the prince gives gifts to his sons, those gifts will be permanent. 18 And the prince may never take anyone’s property by force. If he gives property to his sons, it must be from his own land, for I do not want any of my people unjustly evicted from their property.”
The Temple Kitchens 19 In my vision, the man brought me through the entrance beside the gateway and led me to the sacred rooms assigned to the priests, which faced toward the north. He showed me a place at the extreme west end of these rooms. 20 He explained, “This is where the priests will cook the meat from the guilt offerings and sin offerings and bake the flour from the grain offerings into bread. They will do it here to avoid carrying the sacrifices through the outer courtyard and endangering the people by transmitting holiness to them.” 21 Then he brought me back to the outer courtyard and led me to each of its four corners. In each corner I saw an enclosure. 22 Each of these enclosures was 70 feet long and 52½ feet wide,[d] surrounded by walls. 23 Along the inside of these walls was a ledge of stone with fireplaces under the ledge all the way around. 24 The man said to me, “These are the kitchens to be used by the Temple assistants to boil the sacrifices offered by the people.”
Genesis 27:19-33 (New International Version)New International Version (NIV)Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
19 Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may give me your blessing."
20 Isaac asked his son, "How did you find it so quickly, my son?" "The LORD your God gave me success," he replied.
21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not."
22 Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau." 23 He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him. 24 "Are you really my son Esau?" he asked. "I am," he replied.
25 Then he said, "My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing." Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come here, my son, and kiss me."
27 So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said, "Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed.
28 May God give you of heaven's dew and of earth's richness— an abundance of grain and new wine.
29 May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed."
30 After Isaac finished blessing him and Jacob had scarcely left his father's presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. 31 He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, "My father, sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing."
32 His father Isaac asked him, "Who are you?" "I am your son," he answered, "your firstborn, Esau."
33 Isaac trembled violently and said, "Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him—and indeed he will be blessed!"
November 23, 2007
The Pretender
ODB RADIO: Listen Now Download
READ: Genesis 27:19-33
Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. —James 5:16 About this cover When a waitress in Ohio asked to see a customer’s driver’s license, she was shocked when she saw the photo on the ID. It was her own picture! The waitress had lost her driver’s license a month earlier, and this young woman was using it so she’d have “proof” she was old enough to drink alcohol. The police were called, and the customer was arrested for identity theft. Trying to gain what she wanted, she pretended to be someone she wasn’t.
Jacob, in the Old Testament, did some pretending too. With his mother Rebekah’s help, he fooled his dying father into believing he was his brother Esau so he could gain the blessing meant for the elder son (Gen. 27). Jacob got caught after his deceitful act, but it was too late for Esau to receive the blessing.
Pretending goes on in our churches today. Some people put on a false front. They use the right “Christian” words, attend church almost every Sunday, and even pray before meals. They pretend they “have it all together” in order to gain the approval of others. But inside they’re struggling with brokenness, guilt, doubt, or an addiction or other persistent sin.
God placed us in a body of believers to support one another. Admit that you aren’t perfect. Then seek the counsel of a godly brother or sister in Christ. —Anne Cetas
Don’t hide your sin and cover up,Pretending there is nothing wrong;Instead, confess it and repent,Then God will fill your heart with song. —Sper
Be what God intends you to be—don’t pretend to be what you’re not.
November 23, 2007
The Distraction of ContemptLISTEN: READ:
Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us! For we are exceedingly filled with contempt —Psalm 123:3 About this cover What we must beware of is not damage to our belief in God but damage to our Christian disposition or state of mind. "Take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously" ( Malachi 2:16 ). Our state of mind is powerful in its effects. It can be the enemy that penetrates right into our soul and distracts our mind from God. There are certain attitudes we should never dare to indulge. If we do, we will find they have distracted us from faith in God. Until we get back into a quiet mood before Him, our faith is of no value, and our confidence in the flesh and in human ingenuity is what rules our lives.
Beware of "the cares of this world . . ." ( Mark 4:19 ). They are the very things that produce the wrong attitudes in our soul. It is incredible what enormous power there is in simple things to distract our attention away from God. Refuse to be swamped by "the cares of this world."
Another thing that distracts us is our passion for vindication. St. Augustine prayed, "O Lord, deliver me from this lust of always vindicating myself." Such a need for constant vindication destroys our soul’s faith in God. Don’t say, "I must explain myself," or, "I must get people to understand." Our Lord never explained anything— He left the misunderstandings or misconceptions of others to correct themselves.
When we discern that other people are not growing spiritually and allow that discernment to turn to criticism, we block our fellowship with God. God never gives us discernment so that we may criticize, but that we may intercede.
-- No author assigned in CUT
How Much You Matter - #5445 Friday, November 23, 2007
I got every baseball card but the one with my hero on it. When I was a kid, I'd go to the vacant lot near our apartment on the south side of Chicago and I'd collect old pop bottles. Then I'd go to the little store on the corner, trade the bottles for money and the money for as many baseball cards as I could afford. My team was the Chicago White Sox. My hero was an All-Star, Hall of Fame-bound second baseman named Nellie Fox. I got every White Sox player except one. I could never find a Nellie Fox card. Fast forward about 25 years. My nine-year-old son is now a determined baseball card collector. He has saved all his allowances for a while to go with me to a special baseball card show. At one of the first tables we visited, my son said, "Dad, look!" And there he was, under glass - Nellie. My Nellie! The card did exist after all. But being all grown up now and needing every dollar, I looked but I didn't buy. My son and I agreed to meet a few minutes later up front. He came with his hand behind his back. I said, "What did you get?" He looked up at me with those huge blue eyes, held out his hand, and handed me that Nellie Fox baseball card. Needless to say, I was a mess.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How Much You Matter."
I could not have felt more loved by my boy. He had literally spent everything he had on me! That's how God feels about you. He loves you very much, and He proved it. He spent everything He had on you. He gave His one and only Son for you. His love is the love you've been looking for your whole life. His love is the only thing that will fill the hole in your heart that has never gone away.
That love is expressed in our word for today from the Word of God in Romans 8, beginning with verse 32. It says: "He ... did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us ... neither death nor life, neither angels or demons, neither the present or the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Do you realize what God's offering you? A love that spared nothing for you. A love you can never lose. You can lose the love of a husband or wife, of a boyfriend or girlfriend, of a good friend, of a mom or dad - and maybe you have. But God says "nothing in all creation" can separate you from His love!
He spent it all on you. That's why what you do with Jesus is the most important decision you will ever make. All eternity - your heaven or hell - hinges on whether or not you take what He bought for you with His life. He paid for your sin. He paid the price for you to have eternal life. He's the only One who can give it to you because He's the only One who paid for it.
Imagine my son coming to me with the love gift that he had spent everything on and me saying, "That's nice, son, but I don't care." It's ugly to reject a gift that's been purchased at a high price. But if you've never reached out and received from Jesus what He died to give you, you are, in reality, saying, "That's nice, Jesus, but I'm not taking it." You are rejecting the greatest love there is. Forgiveness and heaven and a life that means something - bought with the blood of the Son of God.
Today He holds out to you His gift of eternal life. And you have a clear-cut choice to make. You don't need to outright reject Him to miss what He died to give you. You can just smile politely and do nothing. You're still rejecting what He did. And that could cost you heaven.
Today, won't you reach out and receive the gift He bought with everything He had? Tell Him, "Jesus, I'll not turn my back on love like this. I don't deserve your love, but I receive your love because you died for what I've done. Here I am, Jesus. I'm yours."
If that's what you want, I want to send you a little booklet I wrote about beginning with Jesus, about belonging to Jesus. It's called Yours For Life. If you think it might help, just let me know you want it at our website, yoursforlife.net or by calling 877-741-1200.
The gift is in His hand. He spent everything He had on you. Don't just walk away. He loves you.
To find out how you can begin a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, please visit: yoursforlife.net or call 1-888-966-7325.
4 “Each Sabbath day the prince will present to the Lord a burnt offering of six lambs and one ram, all with no defects. 5 He will present a grain offering of a basket of choice flour to go with the ram and whatever amount of flour he chooses to go with each lamb, and he is to offer one gallon of olive oil[a] for each basket of flour. 6 At the new moon celebrations, he will bring one young bull, six lambs, and one ram, all with no defects. 7 With the young bull he must bring a basket of choice flour for a grain offering. With the ram he must bring another basket of flour. And with each lamb he is to bring whatever amount of flour he chooses to give. With each basket of flour he must offer one gallon of olive oil.
8 “The prince must enter the gateway through the entry room, and he must leave the same way. 9 But when the people come in through the north gateway to worship the Lord during the religious festivals, they must leave by the south gateway. And those who entered through the south gateway must leave by the north gateway. They must never leave by the same gateway they came in, but must always use the opposite gateway. 10 The prince will enter and leave with the people on these occasions.
11 “So at the special feasts and sacred festivals, the grain offering will be a basket of choice flour with each young bull, another basket of flour with each ram, and as much flour as the prince chooses to give with each lamb. Give one gallon of olive oil with each basket of flour. 12 When the prince offers a voluntary burnt offering or peace offering to the Lord, the east gateway to the inner courtyard will be opened for him, and he will offer his sacrifices as he does on Sabbath days. Then he will leave, and the gateway will be shut behind him.
13 “Each morning you must sacrifice a one-year-old lamb with no defects as a burnt offering to the Lord. 14 With the lamb, a grain offering must also be given to the Lord—about three quarts of flour with a third of a gallon of olive oil[b] to moisten the choice flour. This will be a permanent law for you. 15 The lamb, the grain offering, and the olive oil must be given as a daily sacrifice every morning without fail.
16 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: If the prince gives a gift of land to one of his sons as his inheritance, it will belong to him and his descendants forever. 17 But if the prince gives a gift of land from his inheritance to one of his servants, the servant may keep it only until the Year of Jubilee, which comes every fiftieth year.[c] At that time the land will return to the prince. But when the prince gives gifts to his sons, those gifts will be permanent. 18 And the prince may never take anyone’s property by force. If he gives property to his sons, it must be from his own land, for I do not want any of my people unjustly evicted from their property.”
The Temple Kitchens 19 In my vision, the man brought me through the entrance beside the gateway and led me to the sacred rooms assigned to the priests, which faced toward the north. He showed me a place at the extreme west end of these rooms. 20 He explained, “This is where the priests will cook the meat from the guilt offerings and sin offerings and bake the flour from the grain offerings into bread. They will do it here to avoid carrying the sacrifices through the outer courtyard and endangering the people by transmitting holiness to them.” 21 Then he brought me back to the outer courtyard and led me to each of its four corners. In each corner I saw an enclosure. 22 Each of these enclosures was 70 feet long and 52½ feet wide,[d] surrounded by walls. 23 Along the inside of these walls was a ledge of stone with fireplaces under the ledge all the way around. 24 The man said to me, “These are the kitchens to be used by the Temple assistants to boil the sacrifices offered by the people.”
Genesis 27:19-33 (New International Version)New International Version (NIV)Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
19 Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may give me your blessing."
20 Isaac asked his son, "How did you find it so quickly, my son?" "The LORD your God gave me success," he replied.
21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not."
22 Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau." 23 He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him. 24 "Are you really my son Esau?" he asked. "I am," he replied.
25 Then he said, "My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing." Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come here, my son, and kiss me."
27 So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said, "Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed.
28 May God give you of heaven's dew and of earth's richness— an abundance of grain and new wine.
29 May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed."
30 After Isaac finished blessing him and Jacob had scarcely left his father's presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. 31 He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, "My father, sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing."
32 His father Isaac asked him, "Who are you?" "I am your son," he answered, "your firstborn, Esau."
33 Isaac trembled violently and said, "Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him—and indeed he will be blessed!"
November 23, 2007
The Pretender
ODB RADIO: Listen Now Download
READ: Genesis 27:19-33
Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. —James 5:16 About this cover When a waitress in Ohio asked to see a customer’s driver’s license, she was shocked when she saw the photo on the ID. It was her own picture! The waitress had lost her driver’s license a month earlier, and this young woman was using it so she’d have “proof” she was old enough to drink alcohol. The police were called, and the customer was arrested for identity theft. Trying to gain what she wanted, she pretended to be someone she wasn’t.
Jacob, in the Old Testament, did some pretending too. With his mother Rebekah’s help, he fooled his dying father into believing he was his brother Esau so he could gain the blessing meant for the elder son (Gen. 27). Jacob got caught after his deceitful act, but it was too late for Esau to receive the blessing.
Pretending goes on in our churches today. Some people put on a false front. They use the right “Christian” words, attend church almost every Sunday, and even pray before meals. They pretend they “have it all together” in order to gain the approval of others. But inside they’re struggling with brokenness, guilt, doubt, or an addiction or other persistent sin.
God placed us in a body of believers to support one another. Admit that you aren’t perfect. Then seek the counsel of a godly brother or sister in Christ. —Anne Cetas
Don’t hide your sin and cover up,Pretending there is nothing wrong;Instead, confess it and repent,Then God will fill your heart with song. —Sper
Be what God intends you to be—don’t pretend to be what you’re not.
November 23, 2007
The Distraction of ContemptLISTEN: READ:
Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us! For we are exceedingly filled with contempt —Psalm 123:3 About this cover What we must beware of is not damage to our belief in God but damage to our Christian disposition or state of mind. "Take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously" ( Malachi 2:16 ). Our state of mind is powerful in its effects. It can be the enemy that penetrates right into our soul and distracts our mind from God. There are certain attitudes we should never dare to indulge. If we do, we will find they have distracted us from faith in God. Until we get back into a quiet mood before Him, our faith is of no value, and our confidence in the flesh and in human ingenuity is what rules our lives.
Beware of "the cares of this world . . ." ( Mark 4:19 ). They are the very things that produce the wrong attitudes in our soul. It is incredible what enormous power there is in simple things to distract our attention away from God. Refuse to be swamped by "the cares of this world."
Another thing that distracts us is our passion for vindication. St. Augustine prayed, "O Lord, deliver me from this lust of always vindicating myself." Such a need for constant vindication destroys our soul’s faith in God. Don’t say, "I must explain myself," or, "I must get people to understand." Our Lord never explained anything— He left the misunderstandings or misconceptions of others to correct themselves.
When we discern that other people are not growing spiritually and allow that discernment to turn to criticism, we block our fellowship with God. God never gives us discernment so that we may criticize, but that we may intercede.
-- No author assigned in CUT
How Much You Matter - #5445 Friday, November 23, 2007
I got every baseball card but the one with my hero on it. When I was a kid, I'd go to the vacant lot near our apartment on the south side of Chicago and I'd collect old pop bottles. Then I'd go to the little store on the corner, trade the bottles for money and the money for as many baseball cards as I could afford. My team was the Chicago White Sox. My hero was an All-Star, Hall of Fame-bound second baseman named Nellie Fox. I got every White Sox player except one. I could never find a Nellie Fox card. Fast forward about 25 years. My nine-year-old son is now a determined baseball card collector. He has saved all his allowances for a while to go with me to a special baseball card show. At one of the first tables we visited, my son said, "Dad, look!" And there he was, under glass - Nellie. My Nellie! The card did exist after all. But being all grown up now and needing every dollar, I looked but I didn't buy. My son and I agreed to meet a few minutes later up front. He came with his hand behind his back. I said, "What did you get?" He looked up at me with those huge blue eyes, held out his hand, and handed me that Nellie Fox baseball card. Needless to say, I was a mess.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How Much You Matter."
I could not have felt more loved by my boy. He had literally spent everything he had on me! That's how God feels about you. He loves you very much, and He proved it. He spent everything He had on you. He gave His one and only Son for you. His love is the love you've been looking for your whole life. His love is the only thing that will fill the hole in your heart that has never gone away.
That love is expressed in our word for today from the Word of God in Romans 8, beginning with verse 32. It says: "He ... did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us ... neither death nor life, neither angels or demons, neither the present or the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Do you realize what God's offering you? A love that spared nothing for you. A love you can never lose. You can lose the love of a husband or wife, of a boyfriend or girlfriend, of a good friend, of a mom or dad - and maybe you have. But God says "nothing in all creation" can separate you from His love!
He spent it all on you. That's why what you do with Jesus is the most important decision you will ever make. All eternity - your heaven or hell - hinges on whether or not you take what He bought for you with His life. He paid for your sin. He paid the price for you to have eternal life. He's the only One who can give it to you because He's the only One who paid for it.
Imagine my son coming to me with the love gift that he had spent everything on and me saying, "That's nice, son, but I don't care." It's ugly to reject a gift that's been purchased at a high price. But if you've never reached out and received from Jesus what He died to give you, you are, in reality, saying, "That's nice, Jesus, but I'm not taking it." You are rejecting the greatest love there is. Forgiveness and heaven and a life that means something - bought with the blood of the Son of God.
Today He holds out to you His gift of eternal life. And you have a clear-cut choice to make. You don't need to outright reject Him to miss what He died to give you. You can just smile politely and do nothing. You're still rejecting what He did. And that could cost you heaven.
Today, won't you reach out and receive the gift He bought with everything He had? Tell Him, "Jesus, I'll not turn my back on love like this. I don't deserve your love, but I receive your love because you died for what I've done. Here I am, Jesus. I'm yours."
If that's what you want, I want to send you a little booklet I wrote about beginning with Jesus, about belonging to Jesus. It's called Yours For Life. If you think it might help, just let me know you want it at our website, yoursforlife.net or by calling 877-741-1200.
The gift is in His hand. He spent everything He had on you. Don't just walk away. He loves you.
To find out how you can begin a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, please visit: yoursforlife.net or call 1-888-966-7325.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Ezekiel 45
Ezekiel 45
Division of the Land 1 " 'When you allot the land as an inheritance, you are to present to the LORD a portion of the land as a sacred district, 25,000 cubits long and 20,000 [a] cubits wide; the entire area will be holy. 2 Of this, a section 500 cubits square is to be for the sanctuary, with 50 cubits around it for open land. 3 In the sacred district, measure off a section 25,000 cubits [b] long and 10,000 cubits [c] wide. In it will be the sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. 4 It will be the sacred portion of the land for the priests, who minister in the sanctuary and who draw near to minister before the LORD. It will be a place for their houses as well as a holy place for the sanctuary. 5 An area 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits wide will belong to the Levites, who serve in the temple, as their possession for towns to live in. [d] 6 " 'You are to give the city as its property an area 5,000 cubits wide and 25,000 cubits long, adjoining the sacred portion; it will belong to the whole house of Israel.
7 " 'The prince will have the land bordering each side of the area formed by the sacred district and the property of the city. It will extend westward from the west side and eastward from the east side, running lengthwise from the western to the eastern border parallel to one of the tribal portions. 8 This land will be his possession in Israel. And my princes will no longer oppress my people but will allow the house of Israel to possess the land according to their tribes.
9 " 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: You have gone far enough, O princes of Israel! Give up your violence and oppression and do what is just and right. Stop dispossessing my people, declares the Sovereign LORD. 10 You are to use accurate scales, an accurate ephah [e] and an accurate bath. [f] 11 The ephah and the bath are to be the same size, the bath containing a tenth of a homer [g] and the ephah a tenth of a homer; the homer is to be the standard measure for both. 12 The shekel [h] is to consist of twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels equal one mina. [i]
Offerings and Holy Days 13 " 'This is the special gift you are to offer: a sixth of an ephah from each homer of wheat and a sixth of an ephah from each homer of barley. 14 The prescribed portion of oil, measured by the bath, is a tenth of a bath from each cor (which consists of ten baths or one homer, for ten baths are equivalent to a homer). 15 Also one sheep is to be taken from every flock of two hundred from the well-watered pastures of Israel. These will be used for the grain offerings, burnt offerings and fellowship offerings [j] to make atonement for the people, declares the Sovereign LORD. 16 All the people of the land will participate in this special gift for the use of the prince in Israel. 17 It will be the duty of the prince to provide the burnt offerings, grain offerings and drink offerings at the festivals, the New Moons and the Sabbaths—at all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel. He will provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel. 18 " 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: In the first month on the first day you are to take a young bull without defect and purify the sanctuary. 19 The priest is to take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the temple, on the four corners of the upper ledge of the altar and on the gateposts of the inner court. 20 You are to do the same on the seventh day of the month for anyone who sins unintentionally or through ignorance; so you are to make atonement for the temple.
21 " 'In the first month on the fourteenth day you are to observe the Passover, a feast lasting seven days, during which you shall eat bread made without yeast. 22 On that day the prince is to provide a bull as a sin offering for himself and for all the people of the land. 23 Every day during the seven days of the Feast he is to provide seven bulls and seven rams without defect as a burnt offering to the LORD, and a male goat for a sin offering. 24 He is to provide as a grain offering an ephah for each bull and an ephah for each ram, along with a hin [k] of oil for each ephah.
25 " 'During the seven days of the Feast, which begins in the seventh month on the fifteenth day, he is to make the same provision for sin offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings and oil.
Our Daily Bread, Devotion
James 4:13-17
Boasting About Tomorrow 13Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." 16As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. 17Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.
James 5:7-11
Patience in Suffering 7Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. 8You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near. 9Don't grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! 10Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
November 22, 2007
Harvest Home
READ: James 4:13-17; 5:7-11
You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. —James 5:8 About this cover The hymn “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come” is often sung at Christian services of thanksgiving. Written in 1844 by Henry Alford, it begins with thanks to God for crops safely gathered in before winter. But it is more than gratefulness for the bounty of the land. The hymn ends by focusing on God’s “harvest” of His people when Christ returns:
Even so, Lord, quickly comeTo Thy final harvest-home:Gather Thou Thy people in,Free from sorrow, free from sin;There, forever purified,In Thy presence to abide:Come, with all Thine angels, come—Raise the glorious harvest-home.
As we give thanks for material needs supplied, it’s essential to remember that our plans are uncertain and our lives are a vapor that quickly disappear (James 4:14). James encourages us to be like a farmer waiting for his crops to grow and mature. “You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand” (5:8).
As we thank God for His faithful provision for our needs, let’s turn our thoughts to the promised return of Jesus Christ. In patient expectation, we live for Him and look for the day when He will come to gather His glorious harvest home. —David C. McCasland
Work and pray! Continue faithWhen the Savior calleth, “Come,”Till at last we all are garneredTo that heavenly harvest-home. —Stinson
Even so, come, Lord Jesus! —Revelation 22:20
Utmost for My Highest, Oswald Chambers
November 22, 2007
Shallow and ProfoundLISTEN: READ:
Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God —1 Corinthians 10:31 About this cover Beware of allowing yourself to think that the shallow aspects of life are not ordained by God; they are ordained by Him equally as much as the profound. We sometimes refuse to be shallow, not out of our deep devotion to God but because we wish to impress other people with the fact that we are not shallow. This is a sure sign of spiritual pride. We must be careful, for this is how contempt for others is produced in our lives. And it causes us to be a walking rebuke to other people because they are more shallow than we are. Beware of posing as a profound person— God became a baby.
To be shallow is not a sign of being sinful, nor is shallowness an indication that there is no depth to your life at all— the ocean has a shore. Even the shallow things of life, such as eating and drinking, walking and talking, are ordained by God. These are all things our Lord did. He did them as the Son of God, and He said, "A disciple is not above his teacher . . ." ( Matthew 10:24 ).
We are safeguarded by the shallow things of life. We have to live the surface, commonsense life in a commonsense way. Then when God gives us the deeper things, they are obviously separated from the shallow concerns. Never show the depth of your life to anyone but God. We are so nauseatingly serious, so desperately interested in our own character and reputation, we refuse to behave like Christians in the shallow concerns of life.
Make a determination to take no one seriously except God. You may find that the first person you must be the most critical with, as being the greatest fraud you have ever known, is yourself.
A word with You, Ron Hutchcraft
So Big, So Far, So Doable - #5444 Thursday, November 22, 2007
Each winter, certain parts of America get hammered with monster snowstorms. And when it's our turn, we all have stories about how we survived the winter of whatever year it is. Well, no one's got a story like a Norwegian explorer named Boerge Ousland. For 64 days, he saw little more than white. He recently became the first person to ever cross the continent of Antarctica alone and unaided. It took him 64 days to cover those frozen 1,675 miles. He harnessed Antarctica's fierce winds by strapping himself to this parachute-like sail. With the winds in his favor, he could ski as much as 140 miles a day. All the while, he's towing a sled carrying about 400 pounds of supplies, enduring monotony and even temperatures that dipped to 40 degrees below zero. After his incredible journey, Ousland talked about the huge mental challenge of facing seemingly endless fields of snow. But here's how he did it, in his own words, "It's so big and so far - you have to keep concentrating on the near future and make every day a victory." Wow!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "So Big, So Far, So Doable."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 6:25 and following, "Do not worry about your life ... look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' Your Heavenly Father knows you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
Jesus' orders here are real clear - repeated three times, "Do not worry." What makes us worry? Things that are, in the words of that Antarctic explorer, "so big and so far." In fact, right now you may be facing a situation like that - maybe several of them. They look as huge as the vast expanse of Antarctica must have looked to that explorer. You're looking at or maybe you're worrying about an overwhelming challenge in your finances, or your family, maybe your health, your responsibilities, or a relationship. But your anxiety is contributing absolutely nothing to managing this situation. If anything, worry is actually paralyzing you, or distorting your judgment, or robbing you of the energy you need for this challenge.
Listen to the teaching of your Master - don't keep dragging your tomorrows into your today. Worry is trying to live your tomorrow before you get there; before you have the grace for that day that God only issues in 24-hour increments. Jesus is saying, "Just do today!" That's how one man handled the seemingly endless winter of his Antarctic journey. He said, "You have to keep concentrating on the near future." Yes, like today!
He said, "Make every day a victory." That's how you deal with a child who's taking everything you've got as a parent. It's how you beat a sin that's conquered you for so long. It's how you dig your way out of a mountain of debt. It's how you manage the unmanageable. "Make every day a victory." And on those days that don't exactly turn out to be victorious, put that day behind you and start fresh on that next new day. Remember, the Bible says, "His mercies are new every morning."
When you stop worrying about tomorrow and you focus on today - and on your Heavenly Father who knows what you need - what seems so big and so far becomes so doable.
Division of the Land 1 " 'When you allot the land as an inheritance, you are to present to the LORD a portion of the land as a sacred district, 25,000 cubits long and 20,000 [a] cubits wide; the entire area will be holy. 2 Of this, a section 500 cubits square is to be for the sanctuary, with 50 cubits around it for open land. 3 In the sacred district, measure off a section 25,000 cubits [b] long and 10,000 cubits [c] wide. In it will be the sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. 4 It will be the sacred portion of the land for the priests, who minister in the sanctuary and who draw near to minister before the LORD. It will be a place for their houses as well as a holy place for the sanctuary. 5 An area 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits wide will belong to the Levites, who serve in the temple, as their possession for towns to live in. [d] 6 " 'You are to give the city as its property an area 5,000 cubits wide and 25,000 cubits long, adjoining the sacred portion; it will belong to the whole house of Israel.
7 " 'The prince will have the land bordering each side of the area formed by the sacred district and the property of the city. It will extend westward from the west side and eastward from the east side, running lengthwise from the western to the eastern border parallel to one of the tribal portions. 8 This land will be his possession in Israel. And my princes will no longer oppress my people but will allow the house of Israel to possess the land according to their tribes.
9 " 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: You have gone far enough, O princes of Israel! Give up your violence and oppression and do what is just and right. Stop dispossessing my people, declares the Sovereign LORD. 10 You are to use accurate scales, an accurate ephah [e] and an accurate bath. [f] 11 The ephah and the bath are to be the same size, the bath containing a tenth of a homer [g] and the ephah a tenth of a homer; the homer is to be the standard measure for both. 12 The shekel [h] is to consist of twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels equal one mina. [i]
Offerings and Holy Days 13 " 'This is the special gift you are to offer: a sixth of an ephah from each homer of wheat and a sixth of an ephah from each homer of barley. 14 The prescribed portion of oil, measured by the bath, is a tenth of a bath from each cor (which consists of ten baths or one homer, for ten baths are equivalent to a homer). 15 Also one sheep is to be taken from every flock of two hundred from the well-watered pastures of Israel. These will be used for the grain offerings, burnt offerings and fellowship offerings [j] to make atonement for the people, declares the Sovereign LORD. 16 All the people of the land will participate in this special gift for the use of the prince in Israel. 17 It will be the duty of the prince to provide the burnt offerings, grain offerings and drink offerings at the festivals, the New Moons and the Sabbaths—at all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel. He will provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel. 18 " 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: In the first month on the first day you are to take a young bull without defect and purify the sanctuary. 19 The priest is to take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the temple, on the four corners of the upper ledge of the altar and on the gateposts of the inner court. 20 You are to do the same on the seventh day of the month for anyone who sins unintentionally or through ignorance; so you are to make atonement for the temple.
21 " 'In the first month on the fourteenth day you are to observe the Passover, a feast lasting seven days, during which you shall eat bread made without yeast. 22 On that day the prince is to provide a bull as a sin offering for himself and for all the people of the land. 23 Every day during the seven days of the Feast he is to provide seven bulls and seven rams without defect as a burnt offering to the LORD, and a male goat for a sin offering. 24 He is to provide as a grain offering an ephah for each bull and an ephah for each ram, along with a hin [k] of oil for each ephah.
25 " 'During the seven days of the Feast, which begins in the seventh month on the fifteenth day, he is to make the same provision for sin offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings and oil.
Our Daily Bread, Devotion
James 4:13-17
Boasting About Tomorrow 13Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." 16As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. 17Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.
James 5:7-11
Patience in Suffering 7Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. 8You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near. 9Don't grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! 10Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
November 22, 2007
Harvest Home
READ: James 4:13-17; 5:7-11
You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. —James 5:8 About this cover The hymn “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come” is often sung at Christian services of thanksgiving. Written in 1844 by Henry Alford, it begins with thanks to God for crops safely gathered in before winter. But it is more than gratefulness for the bounty of the land. The hymn ends by focusing on God’s “harvest” of His people when Christ returns:
Even so, Lord, quickly comeTo Thy final harvest-home:Gather Thou Thy people in,Free from sorrow, free from sin;There, forever purified,In Thy presence to abide:Come, with all Thine angels, come—Raise the glorious harvest-home.
As we give thanks for material needs supplied, it’s essential to remember that our plans are uncertain and our lives are a vapor that quickly disappear (James 4:14). James encourages us to be like a farmer waiting for his crops to grow and mature. “You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand” (5:8).
As we thank God for His faithful provision for our needs, let’s turn our thoughts to the promised return of Jesus Christ. In patient expectation, we live for Him and look for the day when He will come to gather His glorious harvest home. —David C. McCasland
Work and pray! Continue faithWhen the Savior calleth, “Come,”Till at last we all are garneredTo that heavenly harvest-home. —Stinson
Even so, come, Lord Jesus! —Revelation 22:20
Utmost for My Highest, Oswald Chambers
November 22, 2007
Shallow and ProfoundLISTEN: READ:
Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God —1 Corinthians 10:31 About this cover Beware of allowing yourself to think that the shallow aspects of life are not ordained by God; they are ordained by Him equally as much as the profound. We sometimes refuse to be shallow, not out of our deep devotion to God but because we wish to impress other people with the fact that we are not shallow. This is a sure sign of spiritual pride. We must be careful, for this is how contempt for others is produced in our lives. And it causes us to be a walking rebuke to other people because they are more shallow than we are. Beware of posing as a profound person— God became a baby.
To be shallow is not a sign of being sinful, nor is shallowness an indication that there is no depth to your life at all— the ocean has a shore. Even the shallow things of life, such as eating and drinking, walking and talking, are ordained by God. These are all things our Lord did. He did them as the Son of God, and He said, "A disciple is not above his teacher . . ." ( Matthew 10:24 ).
We are safeguarded by the shallow things of life. We have to live the surface, commonsense life in a commonsense way. Then when God gives us the deeper things, they are obviously separated from the shallow concerns. Never show the depth of your life to anyone but God. We are so nauseatingly serious, so desperately interested in our own character and reputation, we refuse to behave like Christians in the shallow concerns of life.
Make a determination to take no one seriously except God. You may find that the first person you must be the most critical with, as being the greatest fraud you have ever known, is yourself.
A word with You, Ron Hutchcraft
So Big, So Far, So Doable - #5444 Thursday, November 22, 2007
Each winter, certain parts of America get hammered with monster snowstorms. And when it's our turn, we all have stories about how we survived the winter of whatever year it is. Well, no one's got a story like a Norwegian explorer named Boerge Ousland. For 64 days, he saw little more than white. He recently became the first person to ever cross the continent of Antarctica alone and unaided. It took him 64 days to cover those frozen 1,675 miles. He harnessed Antarctica's fierce winds by strapping himself to this parachute-like sail. With the winds in his favor, he could ski as much as 140 miles a day. All the while, he's towing a sled carrying about 400 pounds of supplies, enduring monotony and even temperatures that dipped to 40 degrees below zero. After his incredible journey, Ousland talked about the huge mental challenge of facing seemingly endless fields of snow. But here's how he did it, in his own words, "It's so big and so far - you have to keep concentrating on the near future and make every day a victory." Wow!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "So Big, So Far, So Doable."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 6:25 and following, "Do not worry about your life ... look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' Your Heavenly Father knows you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
Jesus' orders here are real clear - repeated three times, "Do not worry." What makes us worry? Things that are, in the words of that Antarctic explorer, "so big and so far." In fact, right now you may be facing a situation like that - maybe several of them. They look as huge as the vast expanse of Antarctica must have looked to that explorer. You're looking at or maybe you're worrying about an overwhelming challenge in your finances, or your family, maybe your health, your responsibilities, or a relationship. But your anxiety is contributing absolutely nothing to managing this situation. If anything, worry is actually paralyzing you, or distorting your judgment, or robbing you of the energy you need for this challenge.
Listen to the teaching of your Master - don't keep dragging your tomorrows into your today. Worry is trying to live your tomorrow before you get there; before you have the grace for that day that God only issues in 24-hour increments. Jesus is saying, "Just do today!" That's how one man handled the seemingly endless winter of his Antarctic journey. He said, "You have to keep concentrating on the near future." Yes, like today!
He said, "Make every day a victory." That's how you deal with a child who's taking everything you've got as a parent. It's how you beat a sin that's conquered you for so long. It's how you dig your way out of a mountain of debt. It's how you manage the unmanageable. "Make every day a victory." And on those days that don't exactly turn out to be victorious, put that day behind you and start fresh on that next new day. Remember, the Bible says, "His mercies are new every morning."
When you stop worrying about tomorrow and you focus on today - and on your Heavenly Father who knows what you need - what seems so big and so far becomes so doable.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Ezekiel 44
Ezekiel 44
The Prince, the Levites, the Priests 1 Then the man brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, the one facing east, and it was shut. 2 The LORD said to me, "This gate is to remain shut. It must not be opened; no one may enter through it. It is to remain shut because the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered through it. 3 The prince himself is the only one who may sit inside the gateway to eat in the presence of the LORD. He is to enter by way of the portico of the gateway and go out the same way." 4 Then the man brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple. I looked and saw the glory of the LORD filling the temple of the LORD, and I fell facedown.
5 The LORD said to me, "Son of man, look carefully, listen closely and give attention to everything I tell you concerning all the regulations regarding the temple of the LORD. Give attention to the entrance of the temple and all the exits of the sanctuary. 6 Say to the rebellious house of Israel, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Enough of your detestable practices, O house of Israel! 7 In addition to all your other detestable practices, you brought foreigners uncircumcised in heart and flesh into my sanctuary, desecrating my temple while you offered me food, fat and blood, and you broke my covenant. 8 Instead of carrying out your duty in regard to my holy things, you put others in charge of my sanctuary. 9 This is what the Sovereign LORD says: No foreigner uncircumcised in heart and flesh is to enter my sanctuary, not even the foreigners who live among the Israelites.
10 " 'The Levites who went far from me when Israel went astray and who wandered from me after their idols must bear the consequences of their sin. 11 They may serve in my sanctuary, having charge of the gates of the temple and serving in it; they may slaughter the burnt offerings and sacrifices for the people and stand before the people and serve them. 12 But because they served them in the presence of their idols and made the house of Israel fall into sin, therefore I have sworn with uplifted hand that they must bear the consequences of their sin, declares the Sovereign LORD. 13 They are not to come near to serve me as priests or come near any of my holy things or my most holy offerings; they must bear the shame of their detestable practices. 14 Yet I will put them in charge of the duties of the temple and all the work that is to be done in it.
15 " 'But the priests, who are Levites and descendants of Zadok and who faithfully carried out the duties of my sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from me, are to come near to minister before me; they are to stand before me to offer sacrifices of fat and blood, declares the Sovereign LORD. 16 They alone are to enter my sanctuary; they alone are to come near my table to minister before me and perform my service.
17 " 'When they enter the gates of the inner court, they are to wear linen clothes; they must not wear any woolen garment while ministering at the gates of the inner court or inside the temple. 18 They are to wear linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments around their waists. They must not wear anything that makes them perspire. 19 When they go out into the outer court where the people are, they are to take off the clothes they have been ministering in and are to leave them in the sacred rooms, and put on other clothes, so that they do not consecrate the people by means of their garments.
20 " 'They must not shave their heads or let their hair grow long, but they are to keep the hair of their heads trimmed. 21 No priest is to drink wine when he enters the inner court. 22 They must not marry widows or divorced women; they may marry only virgins of Israelite descent or widows of priests. 23 They are to teach my people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.
24 " 'In any dispute, the priests are to serve as judges and decide it according to my ordinances. They are to keep my laws and my decrees for all my appointed feasts, and they are to keep my Sabbaths holy.
25 " 'A priest must not defile himself by going near a dead person; however, if the dead person was his father or mother, son or daughter, brother or unmarried sister, then he may defile himself. 26 After he is cleansed, he must wait seven days. 27 On the day he goes into the inner court of the sanctuary to minister in the sanctuary, he is to offer a sin offering for himself, declares the Sovereign LORD.
28 " 'I am to be the only inheritance the priests have. You are to give them no possession in Israel; I will be their possession. 29 They will eat the grain offerings, the sin offerings and the guilt offerings; and everything in Israel devoted [a] to the LORD will belong to them. 30 The best of all the firstfruits and of all your special gifts will belong to the priests. You are to give them the first portion of your ground meal so that a blessing may rest on your household. 31 The priests must not eat anything, bird or animal, found dead or torn by wild animals.
My Utmost for My Highest:
November 21st.
IT IS FINISHED
"I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do." John 17:4
The Death of Jesus Christ is the performance in history of the very Mind of God. There is no room for looking on Jesus Christ as a martyr; His death was not something that happened to Him which might have been prevented: His death was the very reason why He came.
Never build your preaching of forgiveness on the fact that God is our Father and He will forgive us because He loves us. It is untrue to Jesus Christ's revelation of God; it makes the Cross unnecessary, and the Redemption "much ado about nothing." If God does forgive sin, it is because of the Death of Christ. God could forgive men in no other way than by the death of His Son, and Jesus is exalted to be Saviour because of His death. "We see Jesus because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour." The greatest note of triumph that ever sounded in the ears of a startled universe was that sounded on the Cross of Christ - "It is finished." That is the last word in the Redemption of man.
Anything that belittles or obliterates the holiness of God by a false view of the love of God, is untrue to the revelation of God given by Jesus Christ. Never allow the thought that Jesus Christ stands with us against God out of pity and compassion; that He became a curse for us out of sympathy with us. Jesus Christ became a curse for us by the Divine decree. Our portion of realizing the terrific meaning of the curse is conviction of sin, the gift of shame and penitence is given us - this is the great mercy of God. Jesus Christ hates the wrong in man, and Calvary is the estimate of His hatred. Do You Truly Know God's Calling On Your Life? A new experience is available to help you discover the strengths, interests, gifts, and skills God wired into you to fulfill your calling. Also excellent for young adults and teens. Learn MoreA Business Problem
TGIF Devotion:
Leads to a Call
by Os Hillman
Now the donkeys belonging to Saul's father Kish were lost, and Kish said to his son Saul, "Take one of the servants with you and go and look for the donkeys." - 1 Samuel 9:3
The people of Israel wanted a king. God finally agreed. Samuel was the prophet of Israel who was to anoint the man God had chosen. God selected a young man to be the first king of Israel-his name was Saul.
It is interesting to look at the circumstances in which God called Saul into his new vocation. It seems that Saul's father had a business that used donkeys. During these times, donkeys were often used for commerce. It was obviously important to the father to find these lost donkeys, so he sent Saul and his servant out to find them.
They went from region to region, unable to find the donkeys. Finally, Saul told his servant that they should go back. He thought that his father would be worried.
But the servant replied, "Look, in this town there is a man of God; he is highly respected, and everything he says comes true. Let's go there now. Perhaps he will tell us what way to take" (1 Samuel 9:6).
Saul took his advice. Near the town they met some young girls who told them that Samuel had just come to their town that day.
When they arrived, they met Samuel who told them that the donkeys were safe and he would also tell Saul the next morning all that was in his heart. He then informed Saul of his new calling to be the next king of Israel.
Can you see what circumstances led to Saul's receiving his call? It started with a business problem - lost donkeys. It led to connecting Saul with Samuel through a number of divine appointments and circumstances. God still does this today.
God will provide the necessary circumstances to accomplish His purposes in your life. You must realize that a business problem may lead to a new calling for your life. Saul had no idea lost donkeys would be the instrument used to change his life. So, too, we must realize God's ways are not our ways.
A Word with You, Ron Hutchcraft:
Unplugging the Vending Machine - #5443 Wednesday, November 21, 2007
When I travel - which seems to be most of the time - I always try to carry some quarters. I think it started when the kids were growing up. It says in the Dad's Job Description, "must have quarters at all times." Now I carry them partially because you never know when you're going to be needing a vending machine - actually, you're going to want a vending machine. I'm in a hotel, I'm working late, and I want a snack, I want a cold drink, I want today's newspaper. I go through the familiar ritual: put the quarters in, hit the selection button, something good comes out. At least it better. It's pretty annoying if you put your money in and don't get anything back. Why, I probably won't put any more money in that machine!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Unplugging the Vending Machine."
A report came out recently on the giving of American Christians, and it was very revealing. The survey discovered, the report says, that American Christians expect to get something back when they give. Sounds like that vending machine, doesn't it? For example, the survey found that when they give to their church, they expect to get it back in things like new drapes, new hymnbooks, a better choir, better parking. Put something in - get something out. And don't put any money into a machine that doesn't give you anything back. The researchers call that consumer giving. They could call it vending machine giving.
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Mark 12:41. "Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and He watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling His disciples to Him, Jesus said, 'I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything - all she had to live on."
So what kind of giving did Jesus honor? Sacrificial giving. He's far more interested in the size of the sacrifice than the size of the gift. nd what kind of giving did Jesus model? Sacrificial giving. Aren't you glad Jesus wasn't a consumer giver? We would all still be headed for eternal death. But He gave everything with no thought of return.
So maybe consumer giving is an oxymoron. Someone might say, "OK, so we like to give to things where we get something back - where it does something for us. So what?" Maybe that's why it's taking missionaries, now, two or three years to get their support raised, while people keep dying without Christ on their mission field. Or why the missions conference is fighting for its' life in many churches. Or one reason why the American missionary force in the world dropped by 20% in five years - the lowest point since World War II. After all, what's in it for me to give to some missionary out there?
Is it any wonder that so many ministries are struggling financially as never before; especially those who are called to evangelism? After all, the lost are those people, not my people. But those people are why Jesus came! In many cases, Satan's attempts to stop Jesus' warriors have failed - so have his attempts to stop their attacks on His kingdom. But when all else fails, stop their supplies! A soldier without bullets can't wage much of a war.
It's time for each of us to examine our own priorities before the Lord, because He's the one we answer to and see if we're giving to get. The holy work of Jesus Christ is not a vending machine. It's an eternal investment that may not pay off now, but will reap incalculable dividends forever!
The Prince, the Levites, the Priests 1 Then the man brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, the one facing east, and it was shut. 2 The LORD said to me, "This gate is to remain shut. It must not be opened; no one may enter through it. It is to remain shut because the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered through it. 3 The prince himself is the only one who may sit inside the gateway to eat in the presence of the LORD. He is to enter by way of the portico of the gateway and go out the same way." 4 Then the man brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple. I looked and saw the glory of the LORD filling the temple of the LORD, and I fell facedown.
5 The LORD said to me, "Son of man, look carefully, listen closely and give attention to everything I tell you concerning all the regulations regarding the temple of the LORD. Give attention to the entrance of the temple and all the exits of the sanctuary. 6 Say to the rebellious house of Israel, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Enough of your detestable practices, O house of Israel! 7 In addition to all your other detestable practices, you brought foreigners uncircumcised in heart and flesh into my sanctuary, desecrating my temple while you offered me food, fat and blood, and you broke my covenant. 8 Instead of carrying out your duty in regard to my holy things, you put others in charge of my sanctuary. 9 This is what the Sovereign LORD says: No foreigner uncircumcised in heart and flesh is to enter my sanctuary, not even the foreigners who live among the Israelites.
10 " 'The Levites who went far from me when Israel went astray and who wandered from me after their idols must bear the consequences of their sin. 11 They may serve in my sanctuary, having charge of the gates of the temple and serving in it; they may slaughter the burnt offerings and sacrifices for the people and stand before the people and serve them. 12 But because they served them in the presence of their idols and made the house of Israel fall into sin, therefore I have sworn with uplifted hand that they must bear the consequences of their sin, declares the Sovereign LORD. 13 They are not to come near to serve me as priests or come near any of my holy things or my most holy offerings; they must bear the shame of their detestable practices. 14 Yet I will put them in charge of the duties of the temple and all the work that is to be done in it.
15 " 'But the priests, who are Levites and descendants of Zadok and who faithfully carried out the duties of my sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from me, are to come near to minister before me; they are to stand before me to offer sacrifices of fat and blood, declares the Sovereign LORD. 16 They alone are to enter my sanctuary; they alone are to come near my table to minister before me and perform my service.
17 " 'When they enter the gates of the inner court, they are to wear linen clothes; they must not wear any woolen garment while ministering at the gates of the inner court or inside the temple. 18 They are to wear linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments around their waists. They must not wear anything that makes them perspire. 19 When they go out into the outer court where the people are, they are to take off the clothes they have been ministering in and are to leave them in the sacred rooms, and put on other clothes, so that they do not consecrate the people by means of their garments.
20 " 'They must not shave their heads or let their hair grow long, but they are to keep the hair of their heads trimmed. 21 No priest is to drink wine when he enters the inner court. 22 They must not marry widows or divorced women; they may marry only virgins of Israelite descent or widows of priests. 23 They are to teach my people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.
24 " 'In any dispute, the priests are to serve as judges and decide it according to my ordinances. They are to keep my laws and my decrees for all my appointed feasts, and they are to keep my Sabbaths holy.
25 " 'A priest must not defile himself by going near a dead person; however, if the dead person was his father or mother, son or daughter, brother or unmarried sister, then he may defile himself. 26 After he is cleansed, he must wait seven days. 27 On the day he goes into the inner court of the sanctuary to minister in the sanctuary, he is to offer a sin offering for himself, declares the Sovereign LORD.
28 " 'I am to be the only inheritance the priests have. You are to give them no possession in Israel; I will be their possession. 29 They will eat the grain offerings, the sin offerings and the guilt offerings; and everything in Israel devoted [a] to the LORD will belong to them. 30 The best of all the firstfruits and of all your special gifts will belong to the priests. You are to give them the first portion of your ground meal so that a blessing may rest on your household. 31 The priests must not eat anything, bird or animal, found dead or torn by wild animals.
My Utmost for My Highest:
November 21st.
IT IS FINISHED
"I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do." John 17:4
The Death of Jesus Christ is the performance in history of the very Mind of God. There is no room for looking on Jesus Christ as a martyr; His death was not something that happened to Him which might have been prevented: His death was the very reason why He came.
Never build your preaching of forgiveness on the fact that God is our Father and He will forgive us because He loves us. It is untrue to Jesus Christ's revelation of God; it makes the Cross unnecessary, and the Redemption "much ado about nothing." If God does forgive sin, it is because of the Death of Christ. God could forgive men in no other way than by the death of His Son, and Jesus is exalted to be Saviour because of His death. "We see Jesus because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour." The greatest note of triumph that ever sounded in the ears of a startled universe was that sounded on the Cross of Christ - "It is finished." That is the last word in the Redemption of man.
Anything that belittles or obliterates the holiness of God by a false view of the love of God, is untrue to the revelation of God given by Jesus Christ. Never allow the thought that Jesus Christ stands with us against God out of pity and compassion; that He became a curse for us out of sympathy with us. Jesus Christ became a curse for us by the Divine decree. Our portion of realizing the terrific meaning of the curse is conviction of sin, the gift of shame and penitence is given us - this is the great mercy of God. Jesus Christ hates the wrong in man, and Calvary is the estimate of His hatred. Do You Truly Know God's Calling On Your Life? A new experience is available to help you discover the strengths, interests, gifts, and skills God wired into you to fulfill your calling. Also excellent for young adults and teens. Learn MoreA Business Problem
TGIF Devotion:
Leads to a Call
by Os Hillman
Now the donkeys belonging to Saul's father Kish were lost, and Kish said to his son Saul, "Take one of the servants with you and go and look for the donkeys." - 1 Samuel 9:3
The people of Israel wanted a king. God finally agreed. Samuel was the prophet of Israel who was to anoint the man God had chosen. God selected a young man to be the first king of Israel-his name was Saul.
It is interesting to look at the circumstances in which God called Saul into his new vocation. It seems that Saul's father had a business that used donkeys. During these times, donkeys were often used for commerce. It was obviously important to the father to find these lost donkeys, so he sent Saul and his servant out to find them.
They went from region to region, unable to find the donkeys. Finally, Saul told his servant that they should go back. He thought that his father would be worried.
But the servant replied, "Look, in this town there is a man of God; he is highly respected, and everything he says comes true. Let's go there now. Perhaps he will tell us what way to take" (1 Samuel 9:6).
Saul took his advice. Near the town they met some young girls who told them that Samuel had just come to their town that day.
When they arrived, they met Samuel who told them that the donkeys were safe and he would also tell Saul the next morning all that was in his heart. He then informed Saul of his new calling to be the next king of Israel.
Can you see what circumstances led to Saul's receiving his call? It started with a business problem - lost donkeys. It led to connecting Saul with Samuel through a number of divine appointments and circumstances. God still does this today.
God will provide the necessary circumstances to accomplish His purposes in your life. You must realize that a business problem may lead to a new calling for your life. Saul had no idea lost donkeys would be the instrument used to change his life. So, too, we must realize God's ways are not our ways.
A Word with You, Ron Hutchcraft:
Unplugging the Vending Machine - #5443 Wednesday, November 21, 2007
When I travel - which seems to be most of the time - I always try to carry some quarters. I think it started when the kids were growing up. It says in the Dad's Job Description, "must have quarters at all times." Now I carry them partially because you never know when you're going to be needing a vending machine - actually, you're going to want a vending machine. I'm in a hotel, I'm working late, and I want a snack, I want a cold drink, I want today's newspaper. I go through the familiar ritual: put the quarters in, hit the selection button, something good comes out. At least it better. It's pretty annoying if you put your money in and don't get anything back. Why, I probably won't put any more money in that machine!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Unplugging the Vending Machine."
A report came out recently on the giving of American Christians, and it was very revealing. The survey discovered, the report says, that American Christians expect to get something back when they give. Sounds like that vending machine, doesn't it? For example, the survey found that when they give to their church, they expect to get it back in things like new drapes, new hymnbooks, a better choir, better parking. Put something in - get something out. And don't put any money into a machine that doesn't give you anything back. The researchers call that consumer giving. They could call it vending machine giving.
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Mark 12:41. "Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and He watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling His disciples to Him, Jesus said, 'I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything - all she had to live on."
So what kind of giving did Jesus honor? Sacrificial giving. He's far more interested in the size of the sacrifice than the size of the gift. nd what kind of giving did Jesus model? Sacrificial giving. Aren't you glad Jesus wasn't a consumer giver? We would all still be headed for eternal death. But He gave everything with no thought of return.
So maybe consumer giving is an oxymoron. Someone might say, "OK, so we like to give to things where we get something back - where it does something for us. So what?" Maybe that's why it's taking missionaries, now, two or three years to get their support raised, while people keep dying without Christ on their mission field. Or why the missions conference is fighting for its' life in many churches. Or one reason why the American missionary force in the world dropped by 20% in five years - the lowest point since World War II. After all, what's in it for me to give to some missionary out there?
Is it any wonder that so many ministries are struggling financially as never before; especially those who are called to evangelism? After all, the lost are those people, not my people. But those people are why Jesus came! In many cases, Satan's attempts to stop Jesus' warriors have failed - so have his attempts to stop their attacks on His kingdom. But when all else fails, stop their supplies! A soldier without bullets can't wage much of a war.
It's time for each of us to examine our own priorities before the Lord, because He's the one we answer to and see if we're giving to get. The holy work of Jesus Christ is not a vending machine. It's an eternal investment that may not pay off now, but will reap incalculable dividends forever!
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Ezekiel 43 and more
Ezekiel 43
The Glory Returns to the Temple 1 Then the man brought me to the gate facing east, 2 and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory. 3 The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when he [a] came to destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown. 4 The glory of the LORD entered the temple through the gate facing east. 5 Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. 6 While the man was standing beside me, I heard someone speaking to me from inside the temple. 7 He said: "Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet. This is where I will live among the Israelites forever. The house of Israel will never again defile my holy name—neither they nor their kings—by their prostitution [b] and the lifeless idols [c] of their kings at their high places. 8 When they placed their threshold next to my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall between me and them, they defiled my holy name by their detestable practices. So I destroyed them in my anger. 9 Now let them put away from me their prostitution and the lifeless idols of their kings, and I will live among them forever.
10 "Son of man, describe the temple to the people of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their sins. Let them consider the plan, 11 and if they are ashamed of all they have done, make known to them the design of the temple—its arrangement, its exits and entrances—its whole design and all its regulations [d] and laws. Write these down before them so that they may be faithful to its design and follow all its regulations.
12 "This is the law of the temple: All the surrounding area on top of the mountain will be most holy. Such is the law of the temple.
The Altar 13 "These are the measurements of the altar in long cubits, that cubit being a cubit [e] and a handbreadth [f] : Its gutter is a cubit deep and a cubit wide, with a rim of one span [g] around the edge. And this is the height of the altar: 14 From the gutter on the ground up to the lower ledge it is two cubits high and a cubit wide, and from the smaller ledge up to the larger ledge it is four cubits high and a cubit wide. 15 The altar hearth is four cubits high, and four horns project upward from the hearth. 16 The altar hearth is square, twelve cubits long and twelve cubits wide. 17 The upper ledge also is square, fourteen cubits long and fourteen cubits wide, with a rim of half a cubit and a gutter of a cubit all around. The steps of the altar face east." 18 Then he said to me, "Son of man, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: These will be the regulations for sacrificing burnt offerings and sprinkling blood upon the altar when it is built: 19 You are to give a young bull as a sin offering to the priests, who are Levites, of the family of Zadok, who come near to minister before me, declares the Sovereign LORD. 20 You are to take some of its blood and put it on the four horns of the altar and on the four corners of the upper ledge and all around the rim, and so purify the altar and make atonement for it. 21 You are to take the bull for the sin offering and burn it in the designated part of the temple area outside the sanctuary.
22 "On the second day you are to offer a male goat without defect for a sin offering, and the altar is to be purified as it was purified with the bull. 23 When you have finished purifying it, you are to offer a young bull and a ram from the flock, both without defect. 24 You are to offer them before the LORD, and the priests are to sprinkle salt on them and sacrifice them as a burnt offering to the LORD.
25 "For seven days you are to provide a male goat daily for a sin offering; you are also to provide a young bull and a ram from the flock, both without defect. 26 For seven days they are to make atonement for the altar and cleanse it; thus they will dedicate it. 27 At the end of these days, from the eighth day on, the priests are to present your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings [h] on the altar. Then I will accept you, declares the Sovereign LORD."
Utmost for My Highest
November 20th.
THE FORGIVENESS OF GOD
"In whom we have . . . the forgiveness of sins." Ephesians 1:7
Beware of the pleasant view of the Fatherhood of God - God is so kind and loving that of course He will forgive us. That sentiment has no place whatever in the New Testament. The only ground on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the Cross of Christ; to put forgiveness on any other ground is unconscious blasphemy. The only ground on which God can forgive sin and reinstate us in His favour is through the Cross of Christ, and in no other way. Forgiveness, which is so easy for us to accept, cost the agony of Calvary. It is possible to take the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and our sanctification with the simplicity of faith, and to forget at what enormous cost to God it was all made ours.
Forgiveness is the divine miracle of grace; it cost God the Cross of Jesus Christ before He could forgive sin and remain a holy God. Never accept a view of the Fatherhood of God if it blots out the Atonement. The revelation of God is that He cannot forgive; He would contradict His nature if He did. The only way we can be forgiven is by being brought back to God by the Atonement. God's forgiveness is only natural in the supernatural domain.
Compared with the miracle of the forgiveness of sin, the experience of sanctification is slight. Sanctification is simply the marvellous expression of the forgiveness of sins in a human life, but the thing that awakens the deepest well of gratitude in a human being is that God has forgiven sin. Paul never got away from this. When once you realize all that it cost God to forgive you, you will be held as in a vice, constrained by the love of God.
TGIF devotion
Starting Over
by Os Hillman
The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. - James 1:9
Do you find yourself in humble circumstances? If so, James tells us that we are to take pride in this "high" position. These two things would seem to be an oxymoron. Most of us would not consider humble circumstances a high position. Successful business tells us that being on top means being wealthy, attaining favor and status, or having power to influence. However, Jesus influenced not from power, but from weakness.
J.C. Penney is a name synonymous with department store. He first launched his chain of "The Golden Rule" stores in 1907. In 1910 his first wife died. Three years later, he incorporated as the J.C. Penney company. In 1923 his second wife died giving birth to his son. In 1929 the stock market crashed and he lost $40 million.
By 1932, he had to sell out to satisfy...creditors. This left [Penney] virtually broke. ...Crushed in spirit from his loss and his health suddenly failing, Penney wound up in a Battle Creek, Michigan sanitarium. One morning he heard the distant singing of employees who gathered to start the day with God: Be not dismayed, whate'er betide, God will take care of you.... Penney followed the music to its source and slipped into a back row. He left a short time later a changed man, his health and spirit renewed, and ready to start the long climb back at age fifty-six.
By 1951 there was a J.C. Penney store in every state, and for the first time sales surpassed $1 billion a year. [John Woodbridge, ed., More Than Conquerors (Chicago, Illinois: Moody Press, 1992), 340-343.]
The success of J.C. Penney can be traced to God's mercy in his life to bring him out of his humble circumstance. Do you find yourself in a humble circumstance? God is the only one who can help you see your humble circumstance from His viewpoint--a high position. It is a high position because of what God is going to teach you in this place. He does not intend you to stay there; it is merely a stopping place to learn some important things you would not learn otherwise. Press into God and trust Him for the outcome to your circumstances.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft:
The Big Little People - #5442 Tuesday, November 20, 2007
I was in my office, trying to crawl out of an avalanche of papers on my desk. Suddenly, there was a knock on my door - and in came one of our team members with his wife and their bright-eyed eight-month-old little boy, Zachary. My wife then joined our little Zachary party and proceeded to plop this animated little bundle right in the middle of my desk - in the middle of a mountain of paper work - right where I couldn't ignore him. And you know something, I didn't mind one bit. Little Zachary and I had a great conversation. That means I did all the talking. We played, we laughed, and Zachary creatively reorganized (shall we say) the project I was working on. It was one of the best things that happened that day. It took me a while to reconstruct my project, but it was fun having that little guy right in the middle of everything!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Big Little People."
Jesus had a pretty radical view of who the VIPs in the world are. Our word for today from the Word of God, Matthew 19:13-14 - "Then little children were brought to Jesus for Him to place His hands on them and pray for them." Now, Jesus didn't have a desk, but this is sort of the equivalent of plopping the children right down in the middle of Jesus' work. Another account suggests that Jesus was meeting with some of the "big shots" from Jerusalem at this time. So, it's no wonder that "the disciples rebuked those who had brought them." Don't bother Jesus! He's with the important people.
Then, "Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.' When He had placed His hands on them, He went on from there." You see, Jesus drops everything for the children. We should too. Children don't have money, they don't have votes, they don't have influence to give you, but they are numero uno to Jesus.
That day in my office, little Zachary was right in the middle, where I couldn't ignore him. That's exactly where God intends for us to put the children in our world - right in the middle. It could be that a child in your world has been pushed to the edge by all your work, when all your work should be pushed to the edge for that child. Churches need to focus on the children and the young people. After all, three-fourths of the people who ever come to Jesus Christ do it by the age of 18. We don't have anything more important to do than to reach them. But too many churches allow the kids to be pushed to the back for the "important" people - the adults. Jesus would probably put the children right back in the middle of everything.
Maybe some child or some children in your world have become more of a nuisance to you, an interruption, a problem. Interestingly enough, if you do not put a child where he or she belongs - where they are not ignored - that child will do whatever it takes to not be ignored by you; even if it drives you crazy or breaks your heart. They shouldn't have to fight for your attention. A Jesus-heart puts the children and the young people first. They are His little big people. Do you notice that whenever a child came to Jesus they were blessed by being in His presence? Whenever a child or a young person is in your presence, if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, I hope you'll have that same impact. I hope that they'll be blessed by being with you.
One grandmother summed it up in a prayer that she has on a plaque on her wall. It really emphasizes why the children must be where we do not ignore them in our lives. Here's the prayer. I think you'll like it. "It is my greatest prayer that on that resurrection day, I may stand before my Savior and say, 'Here am I ... and the children You gave me.'"
The Glory Returns to the Temple 1 Then the man brought me to the gate facing east, 2 and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory. 3 The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when he [a] came to destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown. 4 The glory of the LORD entered the temple through the gate facing east. 5 Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. 6 While the man was standing beside me, I heard someone speaking to me from inside the temple. 7 He said: "Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet. This is where I will live among the Israelites forever. The house of Israel will never again defile my holy name—neither they nor their kings—by their prostitution [b] and the lifeless idols [c] of their kings at their high places. 8 When they placed their threshold next to my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall between me and them, they defiled my holy name by their detestable practices. So I destroyed them in my anger. 9 Now let them put away from me their prostitution and the lifeless idols of their kings, and I will live among them forever.
10 "Son of man, describe the temple to the people of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their sins. Let them consider the plan, 11 and if they are ashamed of all they have done, make known to them the design of the temple—its arrangement, its exits and entrances—its whole design and all its regulations [d] and laws. Write these down before them so that they may be faithful to its design and follow all its regulations.
12 "This is the law of the temple: All the surrounding area on top of the mountain will be most holy. Such is the law of the temple.
The Altar 13 "These are the measurements of the altar in long cubits, that cubit being a cubit [e] and a handbreadth [f] : Its gutter is a cubit deep and a cubit wide, with a rim of one span [g] around the edge. And this is the height of the altar: 14 From the gutter on the ground up to the lower ledge it is two cubits high and a cubit wide, and from the smaller ledge up to the larger ledge it is four cubits high and a cubit wide. 15 The altar hearth is four cubits high, and four horns project upward from the hearth. 16 The altar hearth is square, twelve cubits long and twelve cubits wide. 17 The upper ledge also is square, fourteen cubits long and fourteen cubits wide, with a rim of half a cubit and a gutter of a cubit all around. The steps of the altar face east." 18 Then he said to me, "Son of man, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: These will be the regulations for sacrificing burnt offerings and sprinkling blood upon the altar when it is built: 19 You are to give a young bull as a sin offering to the priests, who are Levites, of the family of Zadok, who come near to minister before me, declares the Sovereign LORD. 20 You are to take some of its blood and put it on the four horns of the altar and on the four corners of the upper ledge and all around the rim, and so purify the altar and make atonement for it. 21 You are to take the bull for the sin offering and burn it in the designated part of the temple area outside the sanctuary.
22 "On the second day you are to offer a male goat without defect for a sin offering, and the altar is to be purified as it was purified with the bull. 23 When you have finished purifying it, you are to offer a young bull and a ram from the flock, both without defect. 24 You are to offer them before the LORD, and the priests are to sprinkle salt on them and sacrifice them as a burnt offering to the LORD.
25 "For seven days you are to provide a male goat daily for a sin offering; you are also to provide a young bull and a ram from the flock, both without defect. 26 For seven days they are to make atonement for the altar and cleanse it; thus they will dedicate it. 27 At the end of these days, from the eighth day on, the priests are to present your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings [h] on the altar. Then I will accept you, declares the Sovereign LORD."
Utmost for My Highest
November 20th.
THE FORGIVENESS OF GOD
"In whom we have . . . the forgiveness of sins." Ephesians 1:7
Beware of the pleasant view of the Fatherhood of God - God is so kind and loving that of course He will forgive us. That sentiment has no place whatever in the New Testament. The only ground on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the Cross of Christ; to put forgiveness on any other ground is unconscious blasphemy. The only ground on which God can forgive sin and reinstate us in His favour is through the Cross of Christ, and in no other way. Forgiveness, which is so easy for us to accept, cost the agony of Calvary. It is possible to take the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and our sanctification with the simplicity of faith, and to forget at what enormous cost to God it was all made ours.
Forgiveness is the divine miracle of grace; it cost God the Cross of Jesus Christ before He could forgive sin and remain a holy God. Never accept a view of the Fatherhood of God if it blots out the Atonement. The revelation of God is that He cannot forgive; He would contradict His nature if He did. The only way we can be forgiven is by being brought back to God by the Atonement. God's forgiveness is only natural in the supernatural domain.
Compared with the miracle of the forgiveness of sin, the experience of sanctification is slight. Sanctification is simply the marvellous expression of the forgiveness of sins in a human life, but the thing that awakens the deepest well of gratitude in a human being is that God has forgiven sin. Paul never got away from this. When once you realize all that it cost God to forgive you, you will be held as in a vice, constrained by the love of God.
TGIF devotion
Starting Over
by Os Hillman
The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. - James 1:9
Do you find yourself in humble circumstances? If so, James tells us that we are to take pride in this "high" position. These two things would seem to be an oxymoron. Most of us would not consider humble circumstances a high position. Successful business tells us that being on top means being wealthy, attaining favor and status, or having power to influence. However, Jesus influenced not from power, but from weakness.
J.C. Penney is a name synonymous with department store. He first launched his chain of "The Golden Rule" stores in 1907. In 1910 his first wife died. Three years later, he incorporated as the J.C. Penney company. In 1923 his second wife died giving birth to his son. In 1929 the stock market crashed and he lost $40 million.
By 1932, he had to sell out to satisfy...creditors. This left [Penney] virtually broke. ...Crushed in spirit from his loss and his health suddenly failing, Penney wound up in a Battle Creek, Michigan sanitarium. One morning he heard the distant singing of employees who gathered to start the day with God: Be not dismayed, whate'er betide, God will take care of you.... Penney followed the music to its source and slipped into a back row. He left a short time later a changed man, his health and spirit renewed, and ready to start the long climb back at age fifty-six.
By 1951 there was a J.C. Penney store in every state, and for the first time sales surpassed $1 billion a year. [John Woodbridge, ed., More Than Conquerors (Chicago, Illinois: Moody Press, 1992), 340-343.]
The success of J.C. Penney can be traced to God's mercy in his life to bring him out of his humble circumstance. Do you find yourself in a humble circumstance? God is the only one who can help you see your humble circumstance from His viewpoint--a high position. It is a high position because of what God is going to teach you in this place. He does not intend you to stay there; it is merely a stopping place to learn some important things you would not learn otherwise. Press into God and trust Him for the outcome to your circumstances.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft:
The Big Little People - #5442 Tuesday, November 20, 2007
I was in my office, trying to crawl out of an avalanche of papers on my desk. Suddenly, there was a knock on my door - and in came one of our team members with his wife and their bright-eyed eight-month-old little boy, Zachary. My wife then joined our little Zachary party and proceeded to plop this animated little bundle right in the middle of my desk - in the middle of a mountain of paper work - right where I couldn't ignore him. And you know something, I didn't mind one bit. Little Zachary and I had a great conversation. That means I did all the talking. We played, we laughed, and Zachary creatively reorganized (shall we say) the project I was working on. It was one of the best things that happened that day. It took me a while to reconstruct my project, but it was fun having that little guy right in the middle of everything!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Big Little People."
Jesus had a pretty radical view of who the VIPs in the world are. Our word for today from the Word of God, Matthew 19:13-14 - "Then little children were brought to Jesus for Him to place His hands on them and pray for them." Now, Jesus didn't have a desk, but this is sort of the equivalent of plopping the children right down in the middle of Jesus' work. Another account suggests that Jesus was meeting with some of the "big shots" from Jerusalem at this time. So, it's no wonder that "the disciples rebuked those who had brought them." Don't bother Jesus! He's with the important people.
Then, "Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.' When He had placed His hands on them, He went on from there." You see, Jesus drops everything for the children. We should too. Children don't have money, they don't have votes, they don't have influence to give you, but they are numero uno to Jesus.
That day in my office, little Zachary was right in the middle, where I couldn't ignore him. That's exactly where God intends for us to put the children in our world - right in the middle. It could be that a child in your world has been pushed to the edge by all your work, when all your work should be pushed to the edge for that child. Churches need to focus on the children and the young people. After all, three-fourths of the people who ever come to Jesus Christ do it by the age of 18. We don't have anything more important to do than to reach them. But too many churches allow the kids to be pushed to the back for the "important" people - the adults. Jesus would probably put the children right back in the middle of everything.
Maybe some child or some children in your world have become more of a nuisance to you, an interruption, a problem. Interestingly enough, if you do not put a child where he or she belongs - where they are not ignored - that child will do whatever it takes to not be ignored by you; even if it drives you crazy or breaks your heart. They shouldn't have to fight for your attention. A Jesus-heart puts the children and the young people first. They are His little big people. Do you notice that whenever a child came to Jesus they were blessed by being in His presence? Whenever a child or a young person is in your presence, if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, I hope you'll have that same impact. I hope that they'll be blessed by being with you.
One grandmother summed it up in a prayer that she has on a plaque on her wall. It really emphasizes why the children must be where we do not ignore them in our lives. Here's the prayer. I think you'll like it. "It is my greatest prayer that on that resurrection day, I may stand before my Savior and say, 'Here am I ... and the children You gave me.'"
Monday, November 19, 2007
Ezekiel 42
Ezekiel 42
Rooms for the Priests 1 Then the man led me northward into the outer court and brought me to the rooms opposite the temple courtyard and opposite the outer wall on the north side. 2 The building whose door faced north was a hundred cubits [a] long and fifty cubits wide. 3 Both in the section twenty cubits from the inner court and in the section opposite the pavement of the outer court, gallery faced gallery at the three levels. 4 In front of the rooms was an inner passageway ten cubits wide and a hundred cubits [b] long. Their doors were on the north. 5 Now the upper rooms were narrower, for the galleries took more space from them than from the rooms on the lower and middle floors of the building. 6 The rooms on the third floor had no pillars, as the courts had; so they were smaller in floor space than those on the lower and middle floors. 7 There was an outer wall parallel to the rooms and the outer court; it extended in front of the rooms for fifty cubits. 8 While the row of rooms on the side next to the outer court was fifty cubits long, the row on the side nearest the sanctuary was a hundred cubits long. 9 The lower rooms had an entrance on the east side as one enters them from the outer court. 10 On the south side [c] along the length of the wall of the outer court, adjoining the temple courtyard and opposite the outer wall, were rooms 11 with a passageway in front of them. These were like the rooms on the north; they had the same length and width, with similar exits and dimensions. Similar to the doorways on the north 12 were the doorways of the rooms on the south. There was a doorway at the beginning of the passageway that was parallel to the corresponding wall extending eastward, by which one enters the rooms.
13 Then he said to me, "The north and south rooms facing the temple courtyard are the priests' rooms, where the priests who approach the LORD will eat the most holy offerings. There they will put the most holy offerings—the grain offerings, the sin offerings and the guilt offerings—for the place is holy. 14 Once the priests enter the holy precincts, they are not to go into the outer court until they leave behind the garments in which they minister, for these are holy. They are to put on other clothes before they go near the places that are for the people."
15 When he had finished measuring what was inside the temple area, he led me out by the east gate and measured the area all around: 16 He measured the east side with the measuring rod; it was five hundred cubits. [d] 17 He measured the north side; it was five hundred cubits [e] by the measuring rod. 18 He measured the south side; it was five hundred cubits by the measuring rod. 19 Then he turned to the west side and measured; it was five hundred cubits by the measuring rod. 20 So he measured the area on all four sides. It had a wall around it, five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits wide, to separate the holy from the common.
Matthew 6:25-34 (New International Version)New International Version (NIV)Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
Do Not Worry 25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[a]? 28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
November 19, 2007
Don’t Worry
ODB RADIO: Listen Now Download
READ: Matthew 6:25-34
Do not worry . . . . Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. —Matthew 6:31-32 About this cover My nephew’s job was soon to be eliminated, so I was glad to hear from his wife that he had just accepted an offer for a new position.
“We prayed, I worried, and Eric was determined to get another job,” Angie wrote in an e-mail, explaining the journey they’d been on for the last few months.
It’s easy for us to panic when we face serious concerns—the loss of a job, a family member with cancer, a wayward child.
So we pray. And we get busy. We start doing everything we can think of to move forward in a positive way.
And we worry. We know it’s a waste of time. Yet a lot of us find ourselves in this dilemma—we know we should trust God, but we wonder just what He’s going to do.
That’s when we turn to His Word—to remind us that He is walking with us and inviting us to hand over to Him our worries and burdens. Scripture tells us, “[Cast] all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7), and “God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19).
When your mind turns to anxious thoughts about the future, remember that “your heavenly Father knows” (Matt. 6:32) and will give you what you need. —Cindy Hess Kasper
I don’t know about tomorrow,It may bring me poverty;But the One who feeds the sparrowIs the One who stands by me. —Stanphill© 1950 by Ira Stanphill
Worry is a burden God never intended us to bear.
November 19th.
WHEN HE IS COME
"And when He is come, He will convict the world of sin. . . ." John 16:8 (R.V.)
Very few of us know anything about conviction of sin; we know the experience of being disturbed because of having done wrong things; but conviction of sin by the Holy Ghost blots out every relationship on earth and leaves one relationship only - "Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned!" When a man is convicted of sin in this way, he knows with every power of his conscience that God dare not forgive him; if God did forgive him, the man would have a stronger sense of justice than God. God does forgive, but it cost the rending of His heart in the Death of Christ to enable Him to do so. The great miracle of the grace of God is that He forgives sin, and it is the death of Jesus Christ alone that enables the Divine nature to forgive and to remain true to itself in doing so. It is shallow nonsense to say that God forgives us because He is love. When we have been convicted of sin we will never say this again. The love of God means Calvary, and nothing less; the love of God is spelt on the Cross and nowhere else. The only ground on which God can forgive me is through the Cross of my Lord. There, His conscience is satisfied.
Forgiveness means not merely that I am saved from hell and made right for heaven (no man would accept forgiveness on such a level); forgiveness means that I am forgiven into a recreated relationship, into identification with God in Christ. The miracle of Redemption is that God turns me, the unholy one, into the standard of Himself, the Holy One, by putting into me a new disposition, the disposition of Jesus Christ.
Your Opportunity to Live Forever - #5441 Monday, November 19, 2007
"Please help us." That's what the people stranded on the roof of their house had written on the sign that they waved over their heads. They represented so many thousands of New Orleans residents who were left stranded and in deadly danger by the floods of Hurricane Katrina. The wind and the rain of that category four hurricane were bad enough - but it was when the levees broke that suddenly major parts of the city were underwater, literally up to the rooftops. Harrowing stories began to unfold of how people had moved from a first floor to a second floor to escape the toxic waters. Then, as the second floor filled with water, how they moved to their last point of refuge - the roof. And many were stranded there, without food, without water, and increasingly without hope. And then hope showed up - in the shape of a Coast Guard helicopter, hovering over their rooftop refuge. Hope was a man coming down a cable to where they were; a man who secured their rescue and saved their lives.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Opportunity to Live Forever."
There was no way those folks could save themselves. Literally, their only hope was a rescuer. That's our only hope, too - spiritually, that is. Because whether we realize it or not, whether or not we want to admit it, we are that man or woman who is facing certain death unless a rescuer comes and does for us what we could never do for ourselves.
Now we may like to think of ourselves as being in pretty good shape spiritually. After all, we're religious, we live better than most folks, and we may even know a lot about the Bible. We even listen to Christian radio sometimes! But here's how God sees our spiritual condition: "He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand" (Psalm 40:2). The Bible clearly spells out that our sin has placed us in an inescapable pit, in mud and mire that we can't get ourselves out of. Our only hope, like the desperate people on those New Orleans rooftops, is if He "lifts me out."
I wonder if you've ever asked Him to do that. God has shown us in His book how deadly our situation is. All of us - including the most religious of us - have essentially hijacked our life from the One who gave it to us and insisted on running it our way instead of His way. We are spiritual rebels, defying by our lives the God of the universe. And the Bible makes it very clear that "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23) - eternal death, separated from God - separated from His love. But then here comes the hope in our word for today from the Word of God in Romans 5:6, 8. "At just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Jesus literally poured out His love for you by dying for you - by taking your place, taking all your punishment for all your sin when He died on the cross. And this very day, the Rescuer from above is coming to you, extending His hand, offering you a chance to live forever instead of perishing in your sin. John 3:16 in the Bible promises that "whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." But you have to grab Jesus as your only hope - just as those people on the rooftops grabbed the one who had come to rescue them. Jesus wants to bring you out of the pit and the penalty of your sin and to bring you into a never-ending love relationship with the God who made you.
But you have to grab the Rescuer. That's what "believing in Him" is all about. You can do that right where you are because He's coming to you right where you are. You tell Him, "Jesus, You really are my only hope of having my sins forgiven, of being right with God, of going to heaven when I die. So with all the faith I've got, Lord, I'm yours."
If you're ready to belong to Jesus, if you're ready to be rescued by Jesus, I've got something I'd like to send you that I think will help you really understand this life-saving relationship. It's a little booklet called Yours For Life and I'll send it to you without any obligation if you'll just let me know you want it. Just go to our website at yoursforlife.net or call us toll free at 877-741-1200.
Your rescue cost the Rescuer His life. And now He's come to you, His hand is reaching for you. Grab it - while there's time.
To find out how you can begin a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, please visit: yoursforlife.net or call 1-888-966-7325.
Rooms for the Priests 1 Then the man led me northward into the outer court and brought me to the rooms opposite the temple courtyard and opposite the outer wall on the north side. 2 The building whose door faced north was a hundred cubits [a] long and fifty cubits wide. 3 Both in the section twenty cubits from the inner court and in the section opposite the pavement of the outer court, gallery faced gallery at the three levels. 4 In front of the rooms was an inner passageway ten cubits wide and a hundred cubits [b] long. Their doors were on the north. 5 Now the upper rooms were narrower, for the galleries took more space from them than from the rooms on the lower and middle floors of the building. 6 The rooms on the third floor had no pillars, as the courts had; so they were smaller in floor space than those on the lower and middle floors. 7 There was an outer wall parallel to the rooms and the outer court; it extended in front of the rooms for fifty cubits. 8 While the row of rooms on the side next to the outer court was fifty cubits long, the row on the side nearest the sanctuary was a hundred cubits long. 9 The lower rooms had an entrance on the east side as one enters them from the outer court. 10 On the south side [c] along the length of the wall of the outer court, adjoining the temple courtyard and opposite the outer wall, were rooms 11 with a passageway in front of them. These were like the rooms on the north; they had the same length and width, with similar exits and dimensions. Similar to the doorways on the north 12 were the doorways of the rooms on the south. There was a doorway at the beginning of the passageway that was parallel to the corresponding wall extending eastward, by which one enters the rooms.
13 Then he said to me, "The north and south rooms facing the temple courtyard are the priests' rooms, where the priests who approach the LORD will eat the most holy offerings. There they will put the most holy offerings—the grain offerings, the sin offerings and the guilt offerings—for the place is holy. 14 Once the priests enter the holy precincts, they are not to go into the outer court until they leave behind the garments in which they minister, for these are holy. They are to put on other clothes before they go near the places that are for the people."
15 When he had finished measuring what was inside the temple area, he led me out by the east gate and measured the area all around: 16 He measured the east side with the measuring rod; it was five hundred cubits. [d] 17 He measured the north side; it was five hundred cubits [e] by the measuring rod. 18 He measured the south side; it was five hundred cubits by the measuring rod. 19 Then he turned to the west side and measured; it was five hundred cubits by the measuring rod. 20 So he measured the area on all four sides. It had a wall around it, five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits wide, to separate the holy from the common.
Matthew 6:25-34 (New International Version)New International Version (NIV)Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
Do Not Worry 25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[a]? 28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
November 19, 2007
Don’t Worry
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READ: Matthew 6:25-34
Do not worry . . . . Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. —Matthew 6:31-32 About this cover My nephew’s job was soon to be eliminated, so I was glad to hear from his wife that he had just accepted an offer for a new position.
“We prayed, I worried, and Eric was determined to get another job,” Angie wrote in an e-mail, explaining the journey they’d been on for the last few months.
It’s easy for us to panic when we face serious concerns—the loss of a job, a family member with cancer, a wayward child.
So we pray. And we get busy. We start doing everything we can think of to move forward in a positive way.
And we worry. We know it’s a waste of time. Yet a lot of us find ourselves in this dilemma—we know we should trust God, but we wonder just what He’s going to do.
That’s when we turn to His Word—to remind us that He is walking with us and inviting us to hand over to Him our worries and burdens. Scripture tells us, “[Cast] all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7), and “God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19).
When your mind turns to anxious thoughts about the future, remember that “your heavenly Father knows” (Matt. 6:32) and will give you what you need. —Cindy Hess Kasper
I don’t know about tomorrow,It may bring me poverty;But the One who feeds the sparrowIs the One who stands by me. —Stanphill© 1950 by Ira Stanphill
Worry is a burden God never intended us to bear.
November 19th.
WHEN HE IS COME
"And when He is come, He will convict the world of sin. . . ." John 16:8 (R.V.)
Very few of us know anything about conviction of sin; we know the experience of being disturbed because of having done wrong things; but conviction of sin by the Holy Ghost blots out every relationship on earth and leaves one relationship only - "Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned!" When a man is convicted of sin in this way, he knows with every power of his conscience that God dare not forgive him; if God did forgive him, the man would have a stronger sense of justice than God. God does forgive, but it cost the rending of His heart in the Death of Christ to enable Him to do so. The great miracle of the grace of God is that He forgives sin, and it is the death of Jesus Christ alone that enables the Divine nature to forgive and to remain true to itself in doing so. It is shallow nonsense to say that God forgives us because He is love. When we have been convicted of sin we will never say this again. The love of God means Calvary, and nothing less; the love of God is spelt on the Cross and nowhere else. The only ground on which God can forgive me is through the Cross of my Lord. There, His conscience is satisfied.
Forgiveness means not merely that I am saved from hell and made right for heaven (no man would accept forgiveness on such a level); forgiveness means that I am forgiven into a recreated relationship, into identification with God in Christ. The miracle of Redemption is that God turns me, the unholy one, into the standard of Himself, the Holy One, by putting into me a new disposition, the disposition of Jesus Christ.
Your Opportunity to Live Forever - #5441 Monday, November 19, 2007
"Please help us." That's what the people stranded on the roof of their house had written on the sign that they waved over their heads. They represented so many thousands of New Orleans residents who were left stranded and in deadly danger by the floods of Hurricane Katrina. The wind and the rain of that category four hurricane were bad enough - but it was when the levees broke that suddenly major parts of the city were underwater, literally up to the rooftops. Harrowing stories began to unfold of how people had moved from a first floor to a second floor to escape the toxic waters. Then, as the second floor filled with water, how they moved to their last point of refuge - the roof. And many were stranded there, without food, without water, and increasingly without hope. And then hope showed up - in the shape of a Coast Guard helicopter, hovering over their rooftop refuge. Hope was a man coming down a cable to where they were; a man who secured their rescue and saved their lives.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Opportunity to Live Forever."
There was no way those folks could save themselves. Literally, their only hope was a rescuer. That's our only hope, too - spiritually, that is. Because whether we realize it or not, whether or not we want to admit it, we are that man or woman who is facing certain death unless a rescuer comes and does for us what we could never do for ourselves.
Now we may like to think of ourselves as being in pretty good shape spiritually. After all, we're religious, we live better than most folks, and we may even know a lot about the Bible. We even listen to Christian radio sometimes! But here's how God sees our spiritual condition: "He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand" (Psalm 40:2). The Bible clearly spells out that our sin has placed us in an inescapable pit, in mud and mire that we can't get ourselves out of. Our only hope, like the desperate people on those New Orleans rooftops, is if He "lifts me out."
I wonder if you've ever asked Him to do that. God has shown us in His book how deadly our situation is. All of us - including the most religious of us - have essentially hijacked our life from the One who gave it to us and insisted on running it our way instead of His way. We are spiritual rebels, defying by our lives the God of the universe. And the Bible makes it very clear that "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23) - eternal death, separated from God - separated from His love. But then here comes the hope in our word for today from the Word of God in Romans 5:6, 8. "At just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Jesus literally poured out His love for you by dying for you - by taking your place, taking all your punishment for all your sin when He died on the cross. And this very day, the Rescuer from above is coming to you, extending His hand, offering you a chance to live forever instead of perishing in your sin. John 3:16 in the Bible promises that "whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." But you have to grab Jesus as your only hope - just as those people on the rooftops grabbed the one who had come to rescue them. Jesus wants to bring you out of the pit and the penalty of your sin and to bring you into a never-ending love relationship with the God who made you.
But you have to grab the Rescuer. That's what "believing in Him" is all about. You can do that right where you are because He's coming to you right where you are. You tell Him, "Jesus, You really are my only hope of having my sins forgiven, of being right with God, of going to heaven when I die. So with all the faith I've got, Lord, I'm yours."
If you're ready to belong to Jesus, if you're ready to be rescued by Jesus, I've got something I'd like to send you that I think will help you really understand this life-saving relationship. It's a little booklet called Yours For Life and I'll send it to you without any obligation if you'll just let me know you want it. Just go to our website at yoursforlife.net or call us toll free at 877-741-1200.
Your rescue cost the Rescuer His life. And now He's come to you, His hand is reaching for you. Grab it - while there's time.
To find out how you can begin a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, please visit: yoursforlife.net or call 1-888-966-7325.
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