Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
October 12
I want to know Christ.
Philippians 3:10 (NCV)
The Fort Knox of faith is Christ. Fellowship with him. Walking with
him. Pondering him. Exploring him. The heart-stopping realization that in him you are part of something ancient, endless, unstoppable, and unfathomable.
And that he, who can dig the Grand Canyon with his pinkie, thinks you're
worth his death on Roman timber.
Christ is the reward of Christianity.
Revelation 9
1The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. 2When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. 3And out of the smoke locusts came down upon the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. 4They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5They were not given power to kill them, but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man. 6During those days men will seek death, but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.
7The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. 8Their hair was like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth. 9They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. 10They had tails and stings like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months. 11They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon.[a]
12The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.
13The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the horns[b] of the golden altar that is before God. 14It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates." 15And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. 16The number of the mounted troops was two hundred million. I heard their number.
17The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur. 18A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. 19The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury.
20The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. 21Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Psalm 119:9-16
9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By living according to your word.
10 I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
11 I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
12 Praise be to you, O LORD;
teach me your decrees.
13 With my lips I recount
all the laws that come from your mouth.
14 I rejoice in following your statutes
as one rejoices in great riches.
15 I meditate on your precepts
and consider your ways.
16 I delight in your decrees;
I will not neglect your word.
October 12, 2008
Life According To Plumb
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Psalm 119:9-16
Your Word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You. —Psalm 119:11
Charlie Riggs has been called “the man behind Billy Graham.” For nearly 40 years, Riggs was the director of counseling and follow-up for Mr. Graham’s evangelistic meetings. In his counselor training classes, Charlie taught thousands of people the basic principles of how to live for Christ and share their faith with others.
At Charlie’s 90th birthday celebration, many tributes mentioned his lifelong practice of memorizing Scripture. His goal was not merely to know the Bible, but to know Christ and live by His Word.
Charlie followed Psalm 119:9-11, “How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your Word. . . . Your Word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” He likened the Scriptures to “plumb bobs” for his heart. Like the weight that holds a builder’s plumb line straight and true, these divine principles never change, no matter what the circumstances. He sought to measure his own thoughts, feelings, and behavior by God’s Word, not the other way around.
Charlie Riggs’ life was quiet and steady behind the scenes. His example challenges us today to hide God’s Word in our hearts and let it guide our lives. Charlie demonstrated what it means to live according to plumb. — David C. McCasland
The Bible will transform our lives
And turn us from our sin,
If we will read it and obey
God’s principles within. —Sper
The Bible: Know it in your head, stow it in your heart, show it in your life, sow it in the world.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 12, 2008
Getting into God’s Stride
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READ:
Enoch walked with God . . . —Genesis 5:24
The true test of a person’s spiritual life and character is not what he does in the extraordinary moments of life, but what he does during the ordinary times when there is nothing tremendous or exciting happening. A person’s worth is revealed in his attitude toward the ordinary things of life when he is not under the spotlight (seeJohn 1:35-37 and John 3:30 ). It is painful work to get in step with God and to keep pace with Him— it means getting your second wind spiritually. In learning to walk with God, there is always the difficulty of getting into His stride, but once we have done so, the only characteristic that exhibits itself is the very life of God Himself. The individual person is merged into a personal oneness with God, and God’s stride and His power alone are exhibited.
It is difficult to get into stride with God, because as soon as we start walking with Him we find that His pace has surpassed us before we have even taken three steps. He has different ways of doing things, and we have to be trained and disciplined in His ways. It was said of Jesus— "He will not fail nor be discouraged . . ." (Isaiah 42:4 ) because He never worked from His own individual standpoint, but always worked from the standpoint of His Father. And we must learn to do the same. Spiritual truth is learned through the atmosphere that surrounds us, not through intellectual reasoning. It is God’s Spirit that changes the atmosphere of our way of looking at things, and then things begin to be possible which before were impossible. Getting into God’s stride means nothing less than oneness with Him. It takes a long time to get there, but keep at it. Don’t give up because the pain is intense right now— get on with it, and before long you will find that you have a new vision and a new purpose.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Revelation 8, daily readings and devotions\
Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
October 11
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 2:5 (NKJV)
What does it mean to be just like Jesus?
The world has never known a heart so pure, a character so flawless. His spiritual hearing was so keen He never missed a heavenly whisper. His mercy so abundant He never missed a chance to forgive. No lie left His lips, no distraction marred His vision. He touched when others recoiled. He endured when others quit.
Jesus is the ultimate model for every person.
Revelation 8
The Seventh Seal and the Golden Censer
1When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
2And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.
3Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. 4The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel's hand. 5Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.
The Trumpets
6Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.
7The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
8The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, 9a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
10The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water— 11the name of the star is Wormwood.[a] A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.
12The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.
13As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: "Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!"
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Matthew 4:18-25
The Calling of the First Disciples
18As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." 20At once they left their nets and followed him.
21Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Jesus Heals the Sick
23Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them. 25Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis,[a] Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.
October 11, 2008
The Art Of Common People
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Matthew 4:18-25
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. —Luke 5:32
The 16th-century Italian painter Caravaggio received scathing criticism in his day for depicting people of the Bible as common. His critics reflected a time when only members of royalty and aristocracy were considered appropriate subjects for the “immortality” of art. His commissioned canvas of St. Matthew and the Angel so offended church leaders that it had to be redone. They could not accept seeing Matthew with the physical features of an everyday laborer.
According to one biographer, what the church fathers did not understand was that “Caravaggio, in elevating this humble figure, was copying Christ, who had Himself raised Matthew from the street.”
Caravaggio was right about the people of the Bible. Jesus Himself grew up in the home of a laborer. When His time came to go public, He was announced by a weather-worn man of the wilderness known as John the Baptizer. His disciples were fishermen and common people.
Jesus lived, loved, and died for wealthy people too. But by befriending those who had been demon-possessed, lepers, fishermen, and even despised tax collectors, the teacher from Nazareth showed that no one is too poor, too sinful, or too insignificant to be His friend. — Mart De Haan
What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer! —Scriven
Jesus wants you for a friend.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 11, 2008
God’s Silence— Then What?
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READ:
When He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was —John 11:6
Has God trusted you with His silence— a silence that has great meaning? God’s silences are actually His answers. Just think of those days of absolute silence in the home at Bethany! Is there anything comparable to those days in your life? Can God trust you like that, or are you still asking Him for a visible answer? God will give you the very blessings you ask if you refuse to go any further without them, but His silence is the sign that He is bringing you into an even more wonderful understanding of Himself. Are you mourning before God because you have not had an audible response? When you cannot hear God, you will find that He has trusted you in the most intimate way possible— with absolute silence, not a silence of despair, but one of pleasure, because He saw that you could withstand an even bigger revelation. If God has given you a silence, then praise Him— He is bringing you into the mainstream of His purposes. The actual evidence of the answer in time is simply a matter of God’s sovereignty. Time is nothing to God. For a while you may have said, "I asked God to give me bread, but He gave me a stone instead" (see Matthew 7:9 ). He did not give you a stone, and today you find that He gave you the "bread of life" ( John 6:35 ).
A wonderful thing about God’s silence is that His stillness is contagious— it gets into you, causing you to become perfectly confident so that you can honestly say, "I know that God has heard me." His silence is the very proof that He has. As long as you have the idea that God will always bless you in answer to prayer, He will do it, but He will never give you the grace of His silence. If Jesus Christ is bringing you into the understanding that prayer is for the glorifying of His Father, then He will give you the first sign of His intimacy— silence.
The Place of Obedience
By Os Hillman
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Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. - Acts 9:8a
There is a place of obedience for all of us. For Paul, it was being struck blind on the Damascus road. God literally knocked him to the ground with a blinding light. A voice from Heaven asked Paul why he was persecuting Him (Jesus). When Paul arose, he could not see. Jesus told him to go to Damascus and meet a man named Ananias. There, Jesus restored Paul's sight through Ananias.
Each of us has a place of obedience. For some, it requires only a nudge of pressure to gently lead us toward God. For others of us, a lightning bolt is necessary to get our undivided attention. Many who are hard-hearted rebel against the living God. Yet God's love for these individuals is so great that He takes extreme measures to gain their attention -- and their hearts. When you come in contact with people like this, do not fear their arrogance. Instead, see them as God sees them as people who need the Savior and who could be a powerful force in the Kingdom if God saved them. It is a sign to begin praying for them.
We've all heard the saying, "The bigger they are, the harder they fall." In many cases this is true. God has called many hard cases into His Kingdom through miraculous circumstances in order to save their lives from the pit of hell and transform them into a sweet-smelling fragrance. Do not let the hard exterior fool you. These are needy people who are crying out for help in their own prideful way.
Whenever God begins this process in the life of a sinner, He has others standing by to assist. Ananias was the person in Paul's life. He found it unbelievable that Paul really could have been saved. An angel had to convince him. Has God placed such an individual in your path? Perhaps God desires to use you to be an "Ananias" in the life of one of His wayward children. To do so requires a willingness to come alongside that one who needs your help. Who knows, that person could be the next apostle Paul.
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
October 11
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 2:5 (NKJV)
What does it mean to be just like Jesus?
The world has never known a heart so pure, a character so flawless. His spiritual hearing was so keen He never missed a heavenly whisper. His mercy so abundant He never missed a chance to forgive. No lie left His lips, no distraction marred His vision. He touched when others recoiled. He endured when others quit.
Jesus is the ultimate model for every person.
Revelation 8
The Seventh Seal and the Golden Censer
1When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
2And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.
3Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. 4The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel's hand. 5Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.
The Trumpets
6Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.
7The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
8The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, 9a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
10The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water— 11the name of the star is Wormwood.[a] A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.
12The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.
13As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: "Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!"
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Matthew 4:18-25
The Calling of the First Disciples
18As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." 20At once they left their nets and followed him.
21Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Jesus Heals the Sick
23Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them. 25Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis,[a] Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.
October 11, 2008
The Art Of Common People
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Matthew 4:18-25
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. —Luke 5:32
The 16th-century Italian painter Caravaggio received scathing criticism in his day for depicting people of the Bible as common. His critics reflected a time when only members of royalty and aristocracy were considered appropriate subjects for the “immortality” of art. His commissioned canvas of St. Matthew and the Angel so offended church leaders that it had to be redone. They could not accept seeing Matthew with the physical features of an everyday laborer.
According to one biographer, what the church fathers did not understand was that “Caravaggio, in elevating this humble figure, was copying Christ, who had Himself raised Matthew from the street.”
Caravaggio was right about the people of the Bible. Jesus Himself grew up in the home of a laborer. When His time came to go public, He was announced by a weather-worn man of the wilderness known as John the Baptizer. His disciples were fishermen and common people.
Jesus lived, loved, and died for wealthy people too. But by befriending those who had been demon-possessed, lepers, fishermen, and even despised tax collectors, the teacher from Nazareth showed that no one is too poor, too sinful, or too insignificant to be His friend. — Mart De Haan
What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer! —Scriven
Jesus wants you for a friend.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 11, 2008
God’s Silence— Then What?
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
When He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was —John 11:6
Has God trusted you with His silence— a silence that has great meaning? God’s silences are actually His answers. Just think of those days of absolute silence in the home at Bethany! Is there anything comparable to those days in your life? Can God trust you like that, or are you still asking Him for a visible answer? God will give you the very blessings you ask if you refuse to go any further without them, but His silence is the sign that He is bringing you into an even more wonderful understanding of Himself. Are you mourning before God because you have not had an audible response? When you cannot hear God, you will find that He has trusted you in the most intimate way possible— with absolute silence, not a silence of despair, but one of pleasure, because He saw that you could withstand an even bigger revelation. If God has given you a silence, then praise Him— He is bringing you into the mainstream of His purposes. The actual evidence of the answer in time is simply a matter of God’s sovereignty. Time is nothing to God. For a while you may have said, "I asked God to give me bread, but He gave me a stone instead" (see Matthew 7:9 ). He did not give you a stone, and today you find that He gave you the "bread of life" ( John 6:35 ).
A wonderful thing about God’s silence is that His stillness is contagious— it gets into you, causing you to become perfectly confident so that you can honestly say, "I know that God has heard me." His silence is the very proof that He has. As long as you have the idea that God will always bless you in answer to prayer, He will do it, but He will never give you the grace of His silence. If Jesus Christ is bringing you into the understanding that prayer is for the glorifying of His Father, then He will give you the first sign of His intimacy— silence.
The Place of Obedience
By Os Hillman
Powered By Marketplace Leaders
Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. - Acts 9:8a
There is a place of obedience for all of us. For Paul, it was being struck blind on the Damascus road. God literally knocked him to the ground with a blinding light. A voice from Heaven asked Paul why he was persecuting Him (Jesus). When Paul arose, he could not see. Jesus told him to go to Damascus and meet a man named Ananias. There, Jesus restored Paul's sight through Ananias.
Each of us has a place of obedience. For some, it requires only a nudge of pressure to gently lead us toward God. For others of us, a lightning bolt is necessary to get our undivided attention. Many who are hard-hearted rebel against the living God. Yet God's love for these individuals is so great that He takes extreme measures to gain their attention -- and their hearts. When you come in contact with people like this, do not fear their arrogance. Instead, see them as God sees them as people who need the Savior and who could be a powerful force in the Kingdom if God saved them. It is a sign to begin praying for them.
We've all heard the saying, "The bigger they are, the harder they fall." In many cases this is true. God has called many hard cases into His Kingdom through miraculous circumstances in order to save their lives from the pit of hell and transform them into a sweet-smelling fragrance. Do not let the hard exterior fool you. These are needy people who are crying out for help in their own prideful way.
Whenever God begins this process in the life of a sinner, He has others standing by to assist. Ananias was the person in Paul's life. He found it unbelievable that Paul really could have been saved. An angel had to convince him. Has God placed such an individual in your path? Perhaps God desires to use you to be an "Ananias" in the life of one of His wayward children. To do so requires a willingness to come alongside that one who needs your help. Who knows, that person could be the next apostle Paul.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Revelation 7, daily readings and devotions
Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
October 10
Short Cuts
They continue saying things that mean nothing, thinking that God will hear them because of their many words.
Matthew 6:7 (NCV)
I love the short sentence....What follows are cuts from some of my books and a couple of others. Keep the ones you like. Forgive the ones you don't. Share them when you can.
Pray all the time. If necessary, use words.
God forgets the past. Imitate him.
Greed I've often regretted. Generosity--never.
Don't ask God to do what you want. Ask God to do what is right.
No one is useless to God. No one.
Nails didn't hold God to a cross. Love did.
You will never forgive anyone more than God has already forgiven you.
Revelation 7
144,000 Sealed
1After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. 2Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: 3"Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God." 4Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.
5From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed,
from the tribe of Reuben 12,000,
from the tribe of Gad 12,000,
6from the tribe of Asher 12,000,
from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000,
from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000,
7from the tribe of Simeon 12,000,
from the tribe of Levi 12,000,
from the tribe of Issachar 12,000,
8from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000,
from the tribe of Joseph 12,000,
from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.
The Great Multitude in White Robes
9After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10And they cried out in a loud voice:
"Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb." 11All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12saying:
"Amen!
Praise and glory
and wisdom and thanks and honor
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!"
13Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?"
14I answered, "Sir, you know."
And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15Therefore,
"they are before the throne of God
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them.
16Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat upon them,
nor any scorching heat.
17For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd;
he will lead them to springs of living water.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Psalm 105
1 Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name;
make known among the nations what he has done.
2 Sing to him, sing praise to him;
tell of all his wonderful acts.
3 Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
4 Look to the LORD and his strength;
seek his face always.
5 Remember the wonders he has done,
his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,
6 O descendants of Abraham his servant,
O sons of Jacob, his chosen ones.
October 10, 2008
A Handful Of Thorns
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Psalm 105:1-6
Give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! —Psalm 107:21
Jeremy Taylor was a 17th-century English cleric who was severely persecuted for his faith. But though his house was plundered, his family left destitute, and his property confiscated, he continued to count the blessings he could not lose.
He wrote: “They have not taken away my merry countenance, my cheerful spirit, and a good conscience; they have still left me with the providence of God, and all His promises . . . my hopes of Heaven, and my charity to them, too, and still I sleep and digest, I eat and drink, I read and meditate. And he that hath so many causes of joy, and so great should never choose to sit down upon his little handful of thorns.”
Although we may not be afflicted with the grievous difficulties that Jeremy Taylor endured, all of us face trials and troubles. Are we grumbling? Or do we refuse to let our “little handful of thorns,” our troubles, obscure the overwhelming abundance of our blessings?
When we feel like complaining, let’s remember God’s faithfulness and “give thanks to the LORD! Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples! . . . Remember His marvelous works which He has done!” (Ps. 105:1,5). — Vernon C. Grounds
When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost;
Count your many blessings—name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done. —Oatman
Spend your time counting your blessings, not airing your complaints.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 10, 2008
How Will I Know?
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
Jesus answered and said, ’I thank You, Father . . . that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes’ —Matthew 11:25
We do not grow into a spiritual relationship step by step— we either have a relationship or we do not. God does not continue to cleanse us more and more from sin— "But if we walk in the light," we are cleansed "from all sin" ( 1 John 1:7 ). It is a matter of obedience, and once we obey, the relationship is instantly perfected. But if we turn away from obedience for even one second, darkness and death are immediately at work again.
All of God’s revealed truths are sealed until they are opened to us through obedience. You will never open them through philosophy or thinking. But once you obey, a flash of light comes immediately. Let God’s truth work into you by immersing yourself in it, not by worrying into it. The only way you can get to know the truth of God is to stop trying to find out and by being born again. If you obey God in the first thing He shows you, then He instantly opens up the next truth to you. You could read volumes on the work of the Holy Spirit, when five minutes of total, uncompromising obedience would make things as clear as sunlight. Don’t say, "I suppose I will understand these things someday!" You can understand them now. And it is not study that brings understanding to you, but obedience. Even the smallest bit of obedience opens heaven, and the deepest truths of God immediately become yours. Yet God will never reveal more truth about Himself to you, until you have obeyed what you know already. Beware of becoming one of the "wise and prudent." "If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know . . ." (John 7:17 ).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Problem With Just Looking - #5675 - October 10, 2008
Category: Your Most Important Relationship
Friday, October 10, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Maybe I'm just too sensitive about it, but I always feel a little sheepish when I walk into a store, knowing that I won't buy anything. I'll just be browsing along and some bored salesperson stands up and starts moving my direction. Maybe that's what makes me feel bad. It's her look of hope, of expectancy, of "at last I can justify my existence." "At last I can accomplish what I'm here to do." So the salesperson pleasantly asks, "May I help you?" To which I answer with the two most hated words in the life of a salesperson, "Just looking." I am such a disappointment.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Problem With Just Looking."
It's not just sales people who are bored by folks who are "just looking." Jesus is troubled by people, often people like you and me, who aren't interested in buying spiritually. They're "just looking." Like the people in our word for today from the Word of God in John 9:13.
Now, this follows Jesus' amazing miracle of healing a man who had been blind from birth. It should have been amazing to the religious leaders, the Pharisees. But all they could see was that Jesus had healed this man on the Sabbath, which they considered a violation of their laws.
The Bible says, "They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been born blind. Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man's eyes was a Sabbath. Therefore, the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. 'He put mud on my eyes,' the man replied, 'and I washed, and now I see." Awesome, huh? Not to the Pharisees. Their reaction? "Some of the Pharisees said, 'This man is not from God, for He does not keep the Sabbath.'"
Obviously men - very religious men - have no intention of buying into what Jesus is doing here. They're just looking. Actually, everywhere Jesus did miracles there seemed to be two groups: the expecters who are looking for Jesus to do something, and the dissecters who are just looking at what Jesus is doing. What bothers me is that the dissecters were the religious folks, the spiritual veterans. Like me and maybe you. They were always so busy analyzing what Jesus was doing that they missed what Jesus was doing. That could be happening to you.
As you get more settled into Christian things, as you know more Christian ideas, as you do more Christian activity, this subtle numbness can start to creep in. You go to church, not so much to have God speak to you but to watch God speak to others. You make spiritual events happen but you seldom let them happen to you. You start to become a discusser of God's working rather than an experiencer of God at work. You start to become critical of other leaders and other methods.
Can you feel that creeping sleep in your soul? Somewhere you stepped out of the middle of God's life-changing work and you moved to the edges to watch, to analyze, to categorize, to criticize, or to help it happen. And it's cold out there, isn't it? You show up at Jesus' store, you look around, but you just don't buy into the wonder of it all. The great revivalist Gipsy Smith started preaching when he was 17 and he quit when he was 82 because he died. When people used to ask him why he was as excited and passionate in his preaching even like when he was a young man, he simply said, "I have never lost the wonder."
Maybe you have. It's time to get back into the mainstream where the miracles are...where the powerful works of God are. Drop your analyzer's detachment and return to your original love, your original excitement about Jesus. Let God happen to you again! When Jesus is offering such supernatural merchandise, it would be a shame if you're just on the edges "just looking."
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
October 10
Short Cuts
They continue saying things that mean nothing, thinking that God will hear them because of their many words.
Matthew 6:7 (NCV)
I love the short sentence....What follows are cuts from some of my books and a couple of others. Keep the ones you like. Forgive the ones you don't. Share them when you can.
Pray all the time. If necessary, use words.
God forgets the past. Imitate him.
Greed I've often regretted. Generosity--never.
Don't ask God to do what you want. Ask God to do what is right.
No one is useless to God. No one.
Nails didn't hold God to a cross. Love did.
You will never forgive anyone more than God has already forgiven you.
Revelation 7
144,000 Sealed
1After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. 2Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: 3"Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God." 4Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.
5From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed,
from the tribe of Reuben 12,000,
from the tribe of Gad 12,000,
6from the tribe of Asher 12,000,
from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000,
from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000,
7from the tribe of Simeon 12,000,
from the tribe of Levi 12,000,
from the tribe of Issachar 12,000,
8from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000,
from the tribe of Joseph 12,000,
from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.
The Great Multitude in White Robes
9After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10And they cried out in a loud voice:
"Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb." 11All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12saying:
"Amen!
Praise and glory
and wisdom and thanks and honor
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!"
13Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?"
14I answered, "Sir, you know."
And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15Therefore,
"they are before the throne of God
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them.
16Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat upon them,
nor any scorching heat.
17For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd;
he will lead them to springs of living water.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Psalm 105
1 Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name;
make known among the nations what he has done.
2 Sing to him, sing praise to him;
tell of all his wonderful acts.
3 Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
4 Look to the LORD and his strength;
seek his face always.
5 Remember the wonders he has done,
his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,
6 O descendants of Abraham his servant,
O sons of Jacob, his chosen ones.
October 10, 2008
A Handful Of Thorns
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Psalm 105:1-6
Give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! —Psalm 107:21
Jeremy Taylor was a 17th-century English cleric who was severely persecuted for his faith. But though his house was plundered, his family left destitute, and his property confiscated, he continued to count the blessings he could not lose.
He wrote: “They have not taken away my merry countenance, my cheerful spirit, and a good conscience; they have still left me with the providence of God, and all His promises . . . my hopes of Heaven, and my charity to them, too, and still I sleep and digest, I eat and drink, I read and meditate. And he that hath so many causes of joy, and so great should never choose to sit down upon his little handful of thorns.”
Although we may not be afflicted with the grievous difficulties that Jeremy Taylor endured, all of us face trials and troubles. Are we grumbling? Or do we refuse to let our “little handful of thorns,” our troubles, obscure the overwhelming abundance of our blessings?
When we feel like complaining, let’s remember God’s faithfulness and “give thanks to the LORD! Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples! . . . Remember His marvelous works which He has done!” (Ps. 105:1,5). — Vernon C. Grounds
When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost;
Count your many blessings—name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done. —Oatman
Spend your time counting your blessings, not airing your complaints.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 10, 2008
How Will I Know?
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
Jesus answered and said, ’I thank You, Father . . . that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes’ —Matthew 11:25
We do not grow into a spiritual relationship step by step— we either have a relationship or we do not. God does not continue to cleanse us more and more from sin— "But if we walk in the light," we are cleansed "from all sin" ( 1 John 1:7 ). It is a matter of obedience, and once we obey, the relationship is instantly perfected. But if we turn away from obedience for even one second, darkness and death are immediately at work again.
All of God’s revealed truths are sealed until they are opened to us through obedience. You will never open them through philosophy or thinking. But once you obey, a flash of light comes immediately. Let God’s truth work into you by immersing yourself in it, not by worrying into it. The only way you can get to know the truth of God is to stop trying to find out and by being born again. If you obey God in the first thing He shows you, then He instantly opens up the next truth to you. You could read volumes on the work of the Holy Spirit, when five minutes of total, uncompromising obedience would make things as clear as sunlight. Don’t say, "I suppose I will understand these things someday!" You can understand them now. And it is not study that brings understanding to you, but obedience. Even the smallest bit of obedience opens heaven, and the deepest truths of God immediately become yours. Yet God will never reveal more truth about Himself to you, until you have obeyed what you know already. Beware of becoming one of the "wise and prudent." "If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know . . ." (John 7:17 ).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Problem With Just Looking - #5675 - October 10, 2008
Category: Your Most Important Relationship
Friday, October 10, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Maybe I'm just too sensitive about it, but I always feel a little sheepish when I walk into a store, knowing that I won't buy anything. I'll just be browsing along and some bored salesperson stands up and starts moving my direction. Maybe that's what makes me feel bad. It's her look of hope, of expectancy, of "at last I can justify my existence." "At last I can accomplish what I'm here to do." So the salesperson pleasantly asks, "May I help you?" To which I answer with the two most hated words in the life of a salesperson, "Just looking." I am such a disappointment.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Problem With Just Looking."
It's not just sales people who are bored by folks who are "just looking." Jesus is troubled by people, often people like you and me, who aren't interested in buying spiritually. They're "just looking." Like the people in our word for today from the Word of God in John 9:13.
Now, this follows Jesus' amazing miracle of healing a man who had been blind from birth. It should have been amazing to the religious leaders, the Pharisees. But all they could see was that Jesus had healed this man on the Sabbath, which they considered a violation of their laws.
The Bible says, "They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been born blind. Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man's eyes was a Sabbath. Therefore, the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. 'He put mud on my eyes,' the man replied, 'and I washed, and now I see." Awesome, huh? Not to the Pharisees. Their reaction? "Some of the Pharisees said, 'This man is not from God, for He does not keep the Sabbath.'"
Obviously men - very religious men - have no intention of buying into what Jesus is doing here. They're just looking. Actually, everywhere Jesus did miracles there seemed to be two groups: the expecters who are looking for Jesus to do something, and the dissecters who are just looking at what Jesus is doing. What bothers me is that the dissecters were the religious folks, the spiritual veterans. Like me and maybe you. They were always so busy analyzing what Jesus was doing that they missed what Jesus was doing. That could be happening to you.
As you get more settled into Christian things, as you know more Christian ideas, as you do more Christian activity, this subtle numbness can start to creep in. You go to church, not so much to have God speak to you but to watch God speak to others. You make spiritual events happen but you seldom let them happen to you. You start to become a discusser of God's working rather than an experiencer of God at work. You start to become critical of other leaders and other methods.
Can you feel that creeping sleep in your soul? Somewhere you stepped out of the middle of God's life-changing work and you moved to the edges to watch, to analyze, to categorize, to criticize, or to help it happen. And it's cold out there, isn't it? You show up at Jesus' store, you look around, but you just don't buy into the wonder of it all. The great revivalist Gipsy Smith started preaching when he was 17 and he quit when he was 82 because he died. When people used to ask him why he was as excited and passionate in his preaching even like when he was a young man, he simply said, "I have never lost the wonder."
Maybe you have. It's time to get back into the mainstream where the miracles are...where the powerful works of God are. Drop your analyzer's detachment and return to your original love, your original excitement about Jesus. Let God happen to you again! When Jesus is offering such supernatural merchandise, it would be a shame if you're just on the edges "just looking."
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Revelation 6, daily readings and devotions
Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
October 9
It’s Not Up to You
The Spirit speaks to God for his people in the way God wants.
Romans 8:27 (NCV)
None of us pray as much as we should, but all of us pray more than we think, because the Holy Spirit turns our sighs into petitions and tears into entreaties. He speaks for you and protects you. He makes sure you get heard.
Now, suppose a person never…learns about the sealing and intercession of the Spirit. This individual thinks that salvation security resides in self, not God, that prayer power depends on the person, not the Spirit. What kind of life will this person lead? A parched and prayerless one.
But what if you believe in the work of the Spirit? Will you be different as a result? You bet your sweet Sunday you will. Your shoulders will lift as you lower the buckling weight of self-salvation. Your knees will bend as you discover the buoyant power of the praying Spirit. Higher walk. Deeper prayers. And, most of all, a quiet confidence that comes from knowing it’s not up to you.
Revelation 6
The Seals
1I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, "Come!" 2I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.
3When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!" 4Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword.
5When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 6Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart[a] of wheat for a day's wages,[b] and three quarts of barley for a day's wages,[c] and do not damage the oil and the wine!"
7When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" 8I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.
9When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" 11Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.
12I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, 13and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. 14The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.
15Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?"
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Matthew 6:9-15
9"This, then, is how you should pray:
" 'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11Give us today our daily bread.
12Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.[a]' 14For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Footnotes:
Matthew 6:13 Or from evil; some late manuscripts one, / for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
October 9, 2008
The Chain Of Ungrace
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Matthew 6:9-15
Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. —Matthew 6:12
When I feel wronged, I can contrive a hundred reasons against forgiveness. “He needs to learn a lesson.” “I’ll let her stew for a while; it’ll do her good.” “It’s not up to me to make the first move.” When I finally soften to the point of granting forgiveness, it seems a leap from hard logic to mushy sentiment.
One factor that motivates me to forgive is that as a Christian I am commanded to, as the child of a Father who forgives. Jesus said, “If you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses” (Mark 11:25).
But beyond that, I can identify three pragmatic reasons. First, forgiveness halts the cycle of blame and pain, breaking the chain of ungrace. Without it we remain bound to the people we can’t forgive, held in their vise grip.
Second, forgiveness loosens the stranglehold of guilt in the perpetrator. It allows the possibility of transformation in the guilty party, even if a just punishment is still required.
And third, forgiveness creates a remarkable linkage, placing the forgiver on the same side as the party who did the wrong. We are not as different from the wrongdoer as we would like to think, for we too must ask our heavenly Father, “Forgive us our debts” (Matt. 6:12). — Philip Yancey
When I consider Calvary’s dismay—
The shame, the scorn, the scourging borne by You—
Resentment melts; I am compelled to say,
“Forgive them, Lord, they know not what they do!” —Mollon
He who cannot forgive others burns the bridge over which he himself must pass. —Herbert
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 9, 2008
Building on the Atonement
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
. . . present . . . your members as instruments of righteousness to God —Romans 6:13
I cannot save and sanctify myself; I cannot make atonement for sin; I cannot redeem the world; I cannot right what is wrong, purify what is impure, or make holy what is unholy. That is all the sovereign work of God. Do I have faith in what Jesus Christ has done? He has made the perfect atonement for sin. Am I in the habit of constantly realizing it? The greatest need we have is not to do things, but to believe things. The redemption of Christ is not an experience, it is the great act of God which He has performed through Christ, and I have to build my faith on it. If I construct my faith on my own experience, I produce the most unscriptural kind of life— an isolated life, with my eyes focused solely on my own holiness. Beware of that human holiness that is not based on the atonement of the Lord. It has no value for anything except a life of isolation— it is useless to God and a nuisance to man. Measure every kind of experience you have by our Lord Himself. We cannot do anything pleasing to God unless we deliberately build on the foundation of the atonement by the Cross of Christ.
The atonement of Jesus must be exhibited in practical, unassuming ways in my life. Every time I obey, the absolute deity of God is on my side, so that the grace of God and my natural obedience are in perfect agreement. Obedience means that I have completely placed my trust in the atonement, and my obedience is immediately met by the delight of the supernatural grace of God.
Beware of the human holiness that denies the reality of the natural life— it is a fraud. Continually bring yourself to the trial or test of the atonement and ask, "Where is the discernment of the atonement in this, and in that?"
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Walking too Fast to Talk - #5674 - October 9, 2008
Category: Your Relationships
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
I always enjoyed walking the beautiful three-mile walk around the local lake we used to live near. And my wife enjoyed it too. Walking together is good. It not only improves your physical condition, but it gives you a chance to talk. Well, theoretically. The problem is I'm into covering that ground as fast as possible. That's maximum aerobic effect, calorie burn. You know. But when my wife and I would chug up and down our local hills at my hyper pace, she had a question: "Weren't we going to talk?" "Sure." Then comes her all too legitimate complaint: "You're walking too fast to talk." It's not just about when we're on a hike. And I don't think I'm alone.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Walking too Fast to Talk."
Our word for today from the Word of God - now, let me warn you, I call it elbow verses. When you read them in church, husbands and wives start elbowing each other. "Hey, this is for you!" The wives get it in the earlier verses that talk about wives submitting to their husbands. But Mr. Husband is the focus of our word for today from Ephesians 5:25, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her. Husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church."
No doubt about what the word husband means to God. It's selfless love that continually puts a wife's needs and a wife's welfare ahead of his own. It's sacrificial love, like Jesus' love - love that's expressed by caring for her in a thousand little and big ways. A woman needs to be loved, she need to be valued, and what's the biggest single way she can tell she's loved and valued? By knowing she is important enough to be heard by her man. A woman has no greater need, I think, than to know she's being heard by the man to whom she has entrusted her life.
Which means she needs time. Guess what a man has the hardest time giving? Time! Especially time to listen. Why? Because he's walking or running too fast to talk or listen. If she can catch me, she can talk to me. If she can keep it to a three-minute summary, she can have my attention. That's not love.
If you're a married man or a man otherwise in love, the woman you love needs regular time to be heard. When a woman feels unheard, she talks louder, longer and more often. If you're wondering why she's becoming a nag, maybe you should look in the mirror.
Your listening time with your wife has to be a deliberate choice, a sacrifice choice, a regular choice. "I'm all yours, honey, and I'm yours for a while." That kind of love will create a home where there are no unpleasant surprises; where frustrations don't build into unmanageable avalanches; where a woman has that harbor that her heart has always longed for.
But it won't happen if you just keep going at the same speed you've been going. As my wife has taught me on our little walks, you have to slow down in order to talk. You have to slow down in order to listen. You know what? My wife's language of love, and I think every woman's language of love is pretty bottom line. It's your willingness to listen.
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
October 9
It’s Not Up to You
The Spirit speaks to God for his people in the way God wants.
Romans 8:27 (NCV)
None of us pray as much as we should, but all of us pray more than we think, because the Holy Spirit turns our sighs into petitions and tears into entreaties. He speaks for you and protects you. He makes sure you get heard.
Now, suppose a person never…learns about the sealing and intercession of the Spirit. This individual thinks that salvation security resides in self, not God, that prayer power depends on the person, not the Spirit. What kind of life will this person lead? A parched and prayerless one.
But what if you believe in the work of the Spirit? Will you be different as a result? You bet your sweet Sunday you will. Your shoulders will lift as you lower the buckling weight of self-salvation. Your knees will bend as you discover the buoyant power of the praying Spirit. Higher walk. Deeper prayers. And, most of all, a quiet confidence that comes from knowing it’s not up to you.
Revelation 6
The Seals
1I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, "Come!" 2I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.
3When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!" 4Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword.
5When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 6Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart[a] of wheat for a day's wages,[b] and three quarts of barley for a day's wages,[c] and do not damage the oil and the wine!"
7When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" 8I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.
9When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" 11Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.
12I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, 13and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. 14The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.
15Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?"
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Matthew 6:9-15
9"This, then, is how you should pray:
" 'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11Give us today our daily bread.
12Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.[a]' 14For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Footnotes:
Matthew 6:13 Or from evil; some late manuscripts one, / for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
October 9, 2008
The Chain Of Ungrace
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Matthew 6:9-15
Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. —Matthew 6:12
When I feel wronged, I can contrive a hundred reasons against forgiveness. “He needs to learn a lesson.” “I’ll let her stew for a while; it’ll do her good.” “It’s not up to me to make the first move.” When I finally soften to the point of granting forgiveness, it seems a leap from hard logic to mushy sentiment.
One factor that motivates me to forgive is that as a Christian I am commanded to, as the child of a Father who forgives. Jesus said, “If you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses” (Mark 11:25).
But beyond that, I can identify three pragmatic reasons. First, forgiveness halts the cycle of blame and pain, breaking the chain of ungrace. Without it we remain bound to the people we can’t forgive, held in their vise grip.
Second, forgiveness loosens the stranglehold of guilt in the perpetrator. It allows the possibility of transformation in the guilty party, even if a just punishment is still required.
And third, forgiveness creates a remarkable linkage, placing the forgiver on the same side as the party who did the wrong. We are not as different from the wrongdoer as we would like to think, for we too must ask our heavenly Father, “Forgive us our debts” (Matt. 6:12). — Philip Yancey
When I consider Calvary’s dismay—
The shame, the scorn, the scourging borne by You—
Resentment melts; I am compelled to say,
“Forgive them, Lord, they know not what they do!” —Mollon
He who cannot forgive others burns the bridge over which he himself must pass. —Herbert
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 9, 2008
Building on the Atonement
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READ:
. . . present . . . your members as instruments of righteousness to God —Romans 6:13
I cannot save and sanctify myself; I cannot make atonement for sin; I cannot redeem the world; I cannot right what is wrong, purify what is impure, or make holy what is unholy. That is all the sovereign work of God. Do I have faith in what Jesus Christ has done? He has made the perfect atonement for sin. Am I in the habit of constantly realizing it? The greatest need we have is not to do things, but to believe things. The redemption of Christ is not an experience, it is the great act of God which He has performed through Christ, and I have to build my faith on it. If I construct my faith on my own experience, I produce the most unscriptural kind of life— an isolated life, with my eyes focused solely on my own holiness. Beware of that human holiness that is not based on the atonement of the Lord. It has no value for anything except a life of isolation— it is useless to God and a nuisance to man. Measure every kind of experience you have by our Lord Himself. We cannot do anything pleasing to God unless we deliberately build on the foundation of the atonement by the Cross of Christ.
The atonement of Jesus must be exhibited in practical, unassuming ways in my life. Every time I obey, the absolute deity of God is on my side, so that the grace of God and my natural obedience are in perfect agreement. Obedience means that I have completely placed my trust in the atonement, and my obedience is immediately met by the delight of the supernatural grace of God.
Beware of the human holiness that denies the reality of the natural life— it is a fraud. Continually bring yourself to the trial or test of the atonement and ask, "Where is the discernment of the atonement in this, and in that?"
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Walking too Fast to Talk - #5674 - October 9, 2008
Category: Your Relationships
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
I always enjoyed walking the beautiful three-mile walk around the local lake we used to live near. And my wife enjoyed it too. Walking together is good. It not only improves your physical condition, but it gives you a chance to talk. Well, theoretically. The problem is I'm into covering that ground as fast as possible. That's maximum aerobic effect, calorie burn. You know. But when my wife and I would chug up and down our local hills at my hyper pace, she had a question: "Weren't we going to talk?" "Sure." Then comes her all too legitimate complaint: "You're walking too fast to talk." It's not just about when we're on a hike. And I don't think I'm alone.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Walking too Fast to Talk."
Our word for today from the Word of God - now, let me warn you, I call it elbow verses. When you read them in church, husbands and wives start elbowing each other. "Hey, this is for you!" The wives get it in the earlier verses that talk about wives submitting to their husbands. But Mr. Husband is the focus of our word for today from Ephesians 5:25, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her. Husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church."
No doubt about what the word husband means to God. It's selfless love that continually puts a wife's needs and a wife's welfare ahead of his own. It's sacrificial love, like Jesus' love - love that's expressed by caring for her in a thousand little and big ways. A woman needs to be loved, she need to be valued, and what's the biggest single way she can tell she's loved and valued? By knowing she is important enough to be heard by her man. A woman has no greater need, I think, than to know she's being heard by the man to whom she has entrusted her life.
Which means she needs time. Guess what a man has the hardest time giving? Time! Especially time to listen. Why? Because he's walking or running too fast to talk or listen. If she can catch me, she can talk to me. If she can keep it to a three-minute summary, she can have my attention. That's not love.
If you're a married man or a man otherwise in love, the woman you love needs regular time to be heard. When a woman feels unheard, she talks louder, longer and more often. If you're wondering why she's becoming a nag, maybe you should look in the mirror.
Your listening time with your wife has to be a deliberate choice, a sacrifice choice, a regular choice. "I'm all yours, honey, and I'm yours for a while." That kind of love will create a home where there are no unpleasant surprises; where frustrations don't build into unmanageable avalanches; where a woman has that harbor that her heart has always longed for.
But it won't happen if you just keep going at the same speed you've been going. As my wife has taught me on our little walks, you have to slow down in order to talk. You have to slow down in order to listen. You know what? My wife's language of love, and I think every woman's language of love is pretty bottom line. It's your willingness to listen.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Revelation 5, daily readings and devotions
Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
October 8
Set Apart
The Spirit produces the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Galatians 5:22-23 (NCV)
In the third century, St. Cyprian wrote to a friend named Donatus:
This seems a cheerful world, Donatus, when I view it from this fair
garden.... But if I climbed some great mountain and looked out... you know
very well what I would see; brigands on the high road, pirates on the seas, in
the amphitheaters men murdered to please the applauding crowds....
Yet in the midst of it, I have found a quiet and holy people.... They are
despised and persecuted, but they care not. They have overcome the world.
These people, Donatus, are Christians....
What a compliment! A, quiet and holy people....
Quiet. . . . Not obnoxious. Not boastful. Not demanding. Just quiet....
Holy.... Set apart. Pure. Decent. Honest. Wholesome....
Revelation 5
The Scroll and the Lamb
1Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. 2And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, "Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?" 3But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. 4I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. 5Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals."
6Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits[a] of God sent out into all the earth. 7He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 8And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9And they sang a new song:
"You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased men for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation.
10You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth."
11Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12In a loud voice they sang:
"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!"
13Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:
"To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!" 14The four living creatures said, "Amen," and the elders fell down and worshiped.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Matthew 5:21-26
Murder
21"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder,[a] and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' 22But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother[b]will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,[c]' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.
23"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
25"Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.[d]
October 8, 2008
Erev Yom Kippur
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Matthew 5:21-26
First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. —Matthew 5:24
In Judaism, the holiest day of the year is Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. On that day, the nation seeks God’s forgiveness for sins both personal and national.
What is interesting, however, is the day before Yom Kippur, known as Erev Yom Kippur. It represents a person’s last opportunity to seek forgiveness from other people before Yom Kippur begins. This is important because, in Jewish thought, you must seek forgiveness from other people before you can seek the forgiveness of God.
Today, we are called to do the same. Jesus pointed out that in order to worship Him with all our heart, we first need to resolve matters with others. In Matthew 5:23-24, He said, “If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”
Even in a matter so basic as our giving, the ability to truly worship God is hindered by the reality of relationships broken by our wrong actions, attitudes, and words.
So that our worship can be pleasing and acceptable to God, let us make every effort to be reconciled to one another—today. — Bill Crowder
Have you hurt a friend or brother?
Go at once and make things right;
From your heart say, “Please forgive me.”
How these words bring God delight! —D. De Haan
An offense against your neighbor is a fence between you and God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 8, 2008
Coming to Jesus
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READ:
Come to Me . . . —Matthew 11:28
Isn’t it humiliating to be told that we must come to Jesus! Think of the things about which we will not come to Jesus Christ. If you want to know how real you are, test yourself by these words— "Come to Me . . . ." In every dimension in which you are not real, you will argue or evade the issue altogether rather than come; you will go through sorrow rather than come; and you will do anything rather than come the last lap of the race of seemingly unspeakable foolishness and say, "Just as I am, I come." As long as you have even the least bit of spiritual disrespect, it will always reveal itself in the fact that you are expecting God to tell you to do something very big, and yet all He is telling you to do is to "Come . . . ."
"Come to Me . . . ." When you hear those words, you will know that something must happen in you before you can come. The Holy Spirit will show you what you have to do, and it will involve anything that will uproot whatever is preventing you from getting through to Jesus. And you will never get any further until you are willing to do that very thing. The Holy Spirit will search out that one immovable stronghold within you, but He cannot budge it unless you are willing to let Him do so.
How often have you come to God with your requests and gone away thinking, "I’ve really received what I wanted this time!" And yet you go away with nothing, while all the time God has stood with His hands outstretched not only to take you but also for you to take Him. Just think of the invincible, unconquerable, and untiring patience of Jesus, who lovingly says, "Come to Me. . . ."
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Rewards of Not Moving - #5673 - October 8, 2008
Category: Your Most Important Relationship
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Over many years of flying commercially, I really learned to like those frequent flyer miles, you know, that they give to high mileage passengers. You know, it's getting a little tougher with those, but I'll tell you what, I think it was a great idea. When it was time to book another flight, I didn't have to think twice about which airline I'd try first. I would just stick to the one particular airline. And you know what? I'm not even going to do free advertising for them. Unless the schedule or the fare was out of line, I'd go with that airline. Why? I'm just a loyal kind of guy? No. Because they credited me with mileage awards that convert into discounts, upgrades, and free trips. That bonus incentive really succeeded in getting me to stay with one carrier. It worked on millions of other flyers like me, as well. It's a pretty good system - the biggest rewards are for those who stick with the same carrier.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want A Word With You today about "The Rewards of Not Moving."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Hebrews 10:35-36. "Do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what was promised." Notice the principle here about your relationship with God, about so many areas of your life: "Persevere so that you will receive." This was originally addressed to people whose commitment to Christ was being tested by some very hard times. Times that might make it tempting to change carriers. But God says, "The rewards are for those who stay put." If you fly with Jesus some of the time but don't stay with Him, you will miss His wonderful rewards that are reserved for those who persevere with Him.
That "persevere so you will receive" principle applies to many areas of your life. It's sure true of marriage, for example. Today, many people make a commitment to fly the rest of their life with one person, but one day they start getting restless, they get frustrated, they look at what seems to be greener grass on the other side.
My wife and I have enjoyed a lot of years together. I'll tell you, as millions of others would, that the best of married love and friendship and intimacy isn't in the passionate days of courtship - the honeymoon - it comes from the long years of weathering storms together, facing problems, praying through situations, learning each other's languages of love. One day the sun rises on a deep trust, a belonging, a sense of safety that you can only know by staying with the same partner. It's a joy and love that the bailer-outers will never know. You persevere; you receive the reward.
I've seen the same principle at work in ministry. People who jump from place to place never know the tremendous payoff of sticking it out in one place. There's a harvest that comes only through patient, persevering work. So often the jumpers leave just before the real harvest starts to come. They put in the work, but they don't get to see the bonuses because they change carriers before they hit the reward level.
This persevering payoff is about friendship, too, the great rewards of being someone's friend come from staying with that friend no matter what and not changing friends all the time. The principle applies to making a commitment to a cause and sticking with it; to seeing a job through. But most important of all, it's a key to following Christ patiently, stubbornly, every day even when it's tempting to leave Him for another loyalty. The songwriter captured it beautifully, "The longer I serve Him, the sweeter He grows."
Stay with the one you started with. You'll love the rewards that belong to the ones that do.
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
October 8
Set Apart
The Spirit produces the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Galatians 5:22-23 (NCV)
In the third century, St. Cyprian wrote to a friend named Donatus:
This seems a cheerful world, Donatus, when I view it from this fair
garden.... But if I climbed some great mountain and looked out... you know
very well what I would see; brigands on the high road, pirates on the seas, in
the amphitheaters men murdered to please the applauding crowds....
Yet in the midst of it, I have found a quiet and holy people.... They are
despised and persecuted, but they care not. They have overcome the world.
These people, Donatus, are Christians....
What a compliment! A, quiet and holy people....
Quiet. . . . Not obnoxious. Not boastful. Not demanding. Just quiet....
Holy.... Set apart. Pure. Decent. Honest. Wholesome....
Revelation 5
The Scroll and the Lamb
1Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. 2And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, "Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?" 3But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. 4I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. 5Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals."
6Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits[a] of God sent out into all the earth. 7He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 8And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9And they sang a new song:
"You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased men for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation.
10You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth."
11Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12In a loud voice they sang:
"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!"
13Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:
"To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!" 14The four living creatures said, "Amen," and the elders fell down and worshiped.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Matthew 5:21-26
Murder
21"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder,[a] and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' 22But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother[b]will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,[c]' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.
23"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
25"Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.[d]
October 8, 2008
Erev Yom Kippur
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Matthew 5:21-26
First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. —Matthew 5:24
In Judaism, the holiest day of the year is Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. On that day, the nation seeks God’s forgiveness for sins both personal and national.
What is interesting, however, is the day before Yom Kippur, known as Erev Yom Kippur. It represents a person’s last opportunity to seek forgiveness from other people before Yom Kippur begins. This is important because, in Jewish thought, you must seek forgiveness from other people before you can seek the forgiveness of God.
Today, we are called to do the same. Jesus pointed out that in order to worship Him with all our heart, we first need to resolve matters with others. In Matthew 5:23-24, He said, “If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”
Even in a matter so basic as our giving, the ability to truly worship God is hindered by the reality of relationships broken by our wrong actions, attitudes, and words.
So that our worship can be pleasing and acceptable to God, let us make every effort to be reconciled to one another—today. — Bill Crowder
Have you hurt a friend or brother?
Go at once and make things right;
From your heart say, “Please forgive me.”
How these words bring God delight! —D. De Haan
An offense against your neighbor is a fence between you and God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 8, 2008
Coming to Jesus
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
Come to Me . . . —Matthew 11:28
Isn’t it humiliating to be told that we must come to Jesus! Think of the things about which we will not come to Jesus Christ. If you want to know how real you are, test yourself by these words— "Come to Me . . . ." In every dimension in which you are not real, you will argue or evade the issue altogether rather than come; you will go through sorrow rather than come; and you will do anything rather than come the last lap of the race of seemingly unspeakable foolishness and say, "Just as I am, I come." As long as you have even the least bit of spiritual disrespect, it will always reveal itself in the fact that you are expecting God to tell you to do something very big, and yet all He is telling you to do is to "Come . . . ."
"Come to Me . . . ." When you hear those words, you will know that something must happen in you before you can come. The Holy Spirit will show you what you have to do, and it will involve anything that will uproot whatever is preventing you from getting through to Jesus. And you will never get any further until you are willing to do that very thing. The Holy Spirit will search out that one immovable stronghold within you, but He cannot budge it unless you are willing to let Him do so.
How often have you come to God with your requests and gone away thinking, "I’ve really received what I wanted this time!" And yet you go away with nothing, while all the time God has stood with His hands outstretched not only to take you but also for you to take Him. Just think of the invincible, unconquerable, and untiring patience of Jesus, who lovingly says, "Come to Me. . . ."
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Rewards of Not Moving - #5673 - October 8, 2008
Category: Your Most Important Relationship
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Over many years of flying commercially, I really learned to like those frequent flyer miles, you know, that they give to high mileage passengers. You know, it's getting a little tougher with those, but I'll tell you what, I think it was a great idea. When it was time to book another flight, I didn't have to think twice about which airline I'd try first. I would just stick to the one particular airline. And you know what? I'm not even going to do free advertising for them. Unless the schedule or the fare was out of line, I'd go with that airline. Why? I'm just a loyal kind of guy? No. Because they credited me with mileage awards that convert into discounts, upgrades, and free trips. That bonus incentive really succeeded in getting me to stay with one carrier. It worked on millions of other flyers like me, as well. It's a pretty good system - the biggest rewards are for those who stick with the same carrier.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want A Word With You today about "The Rewards of Not Moving."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Hebrews 10:35-36. "Do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what was promised." Notice the principle here about your relationship with God, about so many areas of your life: "Persevere so that you will receive." This was originally addressed to people whose commitment to Christ was being tested by some very hard times. Times that might make it tempting to change carriers. But God says, "The rewards are for those who stay put." If you fly with Jesus some of the time but don't stay with Him, you will miss His wonderful rewards that are reserved for those who persevere with Him.
That "persevere so you will receive" principle applies to many areas of your life. It's sure true of marriage, for example. Today, many people make a commitment to fly the rest of their life with one person, but one day they start getting restless, they get frustrated, they look at what seems to be greener grass on the other side.
My wife and I have enjoyed a lot of years together. I'll tell you, as millions of others would, that the best of married love and friendship and intimacy isn't in the passionate days of courtship - the honeymoon - it comes from the long years of weathering storms together, facing problems, praying through situations, learning each other's languages of love. One day the sun rises on a deep trust, a belonging, a sense of safety that you can only know by staying with the same partner. It's a joy and love that the bailer-outers will never know. You persevere; you receive the reward.
I've seen the same principle at work in ministry. People who jump from place to place never know the tremendous payoff of sticking it out in one place. There's a harvest that comes only through patient, persevering work. So often the jumpers leave just before the real harvest starts to come. They put in the work, but they don't get to see the bonuses because they change carriers before they hit the reward level.
This persevering payoff is about friendship, too, the great rewards of being someone's friend come from staying with that friend no matter what and not changing friends all the time. The principle applies to making a commitment to a cause and sticking with it; to seeing a job through. But most important of all, it's a key to following Christ patiently, stubbornly, every day even when it's tempting to leave Him for another loyalty. The songwriter captured it beautifully, "The longer I serve Him, the sweeter He grows."
Stay with the one you started with. You'll love the rewards that belong to the ones that do.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Revelation 4, daily readings and devotions
Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
October 7
Let Him Change Your Mind
Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
Colossians 3:2 (NASB)
God…changes the man by changing the mind. And how does it happen? By…considering the glory of Christ….
To behold him is to become like him. As Christ dominates your thoughts, he changes you from one degree of glory to another until—hang on!—you are ready to live with him.
Heaven is the land of sinless minds….Absolute trust. No fear or anger. Shame and second-guessing are practices of a prior life. Heaven will be wonderful, not because the streets are gold, but because our thoughts will be pure.
So what are you waiting on?…Give him your best thoughts, and see if he doesn’t change your mind.
Revelation 4
The Throne in Heaven
1After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." 2At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. 4Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits[a] of God. 6Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.
In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." 9Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
11"You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
1 Corinthians 12:14-27
14Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
21The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" 22On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
October 7, 2008
Unused Muscles
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: 1 Corinthians 12:14-27
The manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. —1 Corinthians 12:7
My wife recently visited a physiotherapist to seek relief for her neck and shoulder pain. When the problem did not go away after several visits, she asked why. She was told that her pain was because of some “lazy neck muscles.”
Apparently, the neck muscles that were supposed to hold her head upright were not doing their job. As a result, her shoulder muscles had to take over the function of holding up her head. This caused unnaturally stiffened shoulder muscles. The solution? Exercises were prescribed to train her neck muscles to do what they were designed to do.
In a way, her problem depicts what happens in the body of Christ. God has given each believer gifts that are to be exercised for the common good of the church (1 Cor. 12:7). But when some don’t pull their weight, others far less gifted in those areas must pitch in. Although the body of Christ continues to function, it is not functioning at its best. There are some overworked Christians around!
God wants us to use our spiritual gifts to benefit others in the church. When we work together, we keep the body strong. What has God gifted you to do so that you can help relieve the strain the church is suffering? — C. P. Hia
All Christians have been gifted
By grace from God above,
Equipped to build and strengthen
The church in faith and love. —Fitzhugh
Teamwork divides the effort and multiplies the effect.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 7, 2008
The Nature of Reconciliation
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him —2 Corinthians 5:21
Sin is a fundamental relationship— it is not wrong doing, but wrong being— it is deliberate and determined independence from God. The Christian faith bases everything on the extreme, self-confident nature of sin. Other faiths deal with sins— the Bible alone deals with sin. The first thing Jesus Christ confronted in people was the heredity of sin, and it is because we have ignored this in our presentation of the gospel that the message of the gospel has lost its sting and its explosive power.
The revealed truth of the Bible is not that Jesus Christ took on Himself our fleshly sins, but that He took on Himself the heredity of sin that no man can even touch. God made His own Son "to be sin" that He might make the sinner into a saint. It is revealed throughout the Bible that our Lord took on Himself the sin of the world through identification with us, not through sympathy for us. He deliberately took on His own shoulders, and endured in His own body, the complete, cumulative sin of the human race. "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us. . ." and by so doing He placed salvation for the entire human race solely on the basis of redemption. Jesus Christ reconciled the human race, putting it back to where God designed it to be. And now anyone can experience that reconciliation, being brought into oneness with God, on the basis of what our Lord has done on the cross.
A man cannot redeem himself— redemption is the work of God, and is absolutely finished and complete. And its application to individual people is a matter of their own individual action or response to it. A distinction must always be made between the revealed truth of redemption and the actual conscious experience of salvation in a person’s life.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Why Always Right is Wrong - #5672 - October 7, 2008
Category: Your Relationships
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Over the years when the Hutchcraft family moved into a motel room for a night we had the same experience: we walk in, the room is neat and tidy. The five Hutchcrafts are there and all the work that the room fairy did to make the room neat is destroyed in a matter of minutes. You see, each person has unpacked their clothes which some put in drawers, most just start littering the beds and the chairs. And as people start using the sink, that becomes chaotic too! We've got brushes and drinking cups and various toiletries, hopelessly intermingled. Now, I'm a firstborn. I value order, you know, and this drives me nuts. So I developed a simple system to at least make it clear which was my stuff. I announced that my things would always be on the right; the cup on the right was my cup, the toothbrush on the right was my toothbrush, the towel on the right was my towel. And how do you expect your family to always remember that you might ask. Well, I gave them a simple motto to remember, one that I thought would serve them well for many years to come, I just simply said, "Remember guys, Dad is always right!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why Always Right is Wrong."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Ephesians 6:4. It's a parents verse. It says, "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." Now, that word "exasperate" is interesting. It's ex-asperate. It's like you're out of oxygen. It's when your kids are going (deep breathing), "Mom! Dad!" I mean, you've really frustrated them. And few things are more exasperating than a parent who says, or acts like, "I'm always right." That kind of parent seldom listens, seldom if ever apologizes, seldom makes a child feel competent, or confident, or adequate, or worthwhile. Now, my use of that phrase, "Dad is always right" was meant to create some order. When a parent is serious about always having to come out right, that does anything but create order. It creates terrible frustration, anger and seething rebellion.
Now, you may have grown up around a parent who never could admit he or she was wrong. Did that make you respect them more or less? Someone who insists on always being right loses the very respect they're trying to maintain. A healthy human being doesn't care who was right, they only care about what is right. I've had to kneel by the bed of a five year old son and say, "Son, I'm sorry for what I said to you and I said to your Mom, would you please forgive me?" Now, he knew I was wrong, my wife knew I was wrong, I knew I was wrong, but I had to admit it in order for there to be healing.
James 5:16 says, "Confess your faults to each other, pray for each other so that you may be healed." Do you know how many marriages could have been saved if someone could have been wrong? How many children could have been saved if someone could have admitted they were wrong? There's awesome healing power in those three words, "I was wrong." There's even more in three other words, "Please forgive me."
I remember the night that Ed finally told his daughter Sandy that he'd been wrong. It was in the emergency room. They were pumping Sandy's stomach to save her life when they told her she had overdosed. And that night Ed said, "I've been copying my father Sandy, doing some of the same things he did that hurt me, and I've been wrong. Would you please forgive me?" And she did. And a new relationship was born between Sandy and her father on the night she almost died.
Don't wait for the emergency room, or the explosion, or the rebellion. You see, Dad isn't always right. Mom isn't always right. And in spite of my motel room motto, we're wrong sometimes. Don't be too proud to admit it. The price for that kind of pride is just too high to pay.
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
October 7
Let Him Change Your Mind
Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
Colossians 3:2 (NASB)
God…changes the man by changing the mind. And how does it happen? By…considering the glory of Christ….
To behold him is to become like him. As Christ dominates your thoughts, he changes you from one degree of glory to another until—hang on!—you are ready to live with him.
Heaven is the land of sinless minds….Absolute trust. No fear or anger. Shame and second-guessing are practices of a prior life. Heaven will be wonderful, not because the streets are gold, but because our thoughts will be pure.
So what are you waiting on?…Give him your best thoughts, and see if he doesn’t change your mind.
Revelation 4
The Throne in Heaven
1After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." 2At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. 4Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits[a] of God. 6Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.
In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." 9Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
11"You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
1 Corinthians 12:14-27
14Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
21The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" 22On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
October 7, 2008
Unused Muscles
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: 1 Corinthians 12:14-27
The manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. —1 Corinthians 12:7
My wife recently visited a physiotherapist to seek relief for her neck and shoulder pain. When the problem did not go away after several visits, she asked why. She was told that her pain was because of some “lazy neck muscles.”
Apparently, the neck muscles that were supposed to hold her head upright were not doing their job. As a result, her shoulder muscles had to take over the function of holding up her head. This caused unnaturally stiffened shoulder muscles. The solution? Exercises were prescribed to train her neck muscles to do what they were designed to do.
In a way, her problem depicts what happens in the body of Christ. God has given each believer gifts that are to be exercised for the common good of the church (1 Cor. 12:7). But when some don’t pull their weight, others far less gifted in those areas must pitch in. Although the body of Christ continues to function, it is not functioning at its best. There are some overworked Christians around!
God wants us to use our spiritual gifts to benefit others in the church. When we work together, we keep the body strong. What has God gifted you to do so that you can help relieve the strain the church is suffering? — C. P. Hia
All Christians have been gifted
By grace from God above,
Equipped to build and strengthen
The church in faith and love. —Fitzhugh
Teamwork divides the effort and multiplies the effect.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 7, 2008
The Nature of Reconciliation
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him —2 Corinthians 5:21
Sin is a fundamental relationship— it is not wrong doing, but wrong being— it is deliberate and determined independence from God. The Christian faith bases everything on the extreme, self-confident nature of sin. Other faiths deal with sins— the Bible alone deals with sin. The first thing Jesus Christ confronted in people was the heredity of sin, and it is because we have ignored this in our presentation of the gospel that the message of the gospel has lost its sting and its explosive power.
The revealed truth of the Bible is not that Jesus Christ took on Himself our fleshly sins, but that He took on Himself the heredity of sin that no man can even touch. God made His own Son "to be sin" that He might make the sinner into a saint. It is revealed throughout the Bible that our Lord took on Himself the sin of the world through identification with us, not through sympathy for us. He deliberately took on His own shoulders, and endured in His own body, the complete, cumulative sin of the human race. "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us. . ." and by so doing He placed salvation for the entire human race solely on the basis of redemption. Jesus Christ reconciled the human race, putting it back to where God designed it to be. And now anyone can experience that reconciliation, being brought into oneness with God, on the basis of what our Lord has done on the cross.
A man cannot redeem himself— redemption is the work of God, and is absolutely finished and complete. And its application to individual people is a matter of their own individual action or response to it. A distinction must always be made between the revealed truth of redemption and the actual conscious experience of salvation in a person’s life.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Why Always Right is Wrong - #5672 - October 7, 2008
Category: Your Relationships
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Over the years when the Hutchcraft family moved into a motel room for a night we had the same experience: we walk in, the room is neat and tidy. The five Hutchcrafts are there and all the work that the room fairy did to make the room neat is destroyed in a matter of minutes. You see, each person has unpacked their clothes which some put in drawers, most just start littering the beds and the chairs. And as people start using the sink, that becomes chaotic too! We've got brushes and drinking cups and various toiletries, hopelessly intermingled. Now, I'm a firstborn. I value order, you know, and this drives me nuts. So I developed a simple system to at least make it clear which was my stuff. I announced that my things would always be on the right; the cup on the right was my cup, the toothbrush on the right was my toothbrush, the towel on the right was my towel. And how do you expect your family to always remember that you might ask. Well, I gave them a simple motto to remember, one that I thought would serve them well for many years to come, I just simply said, "Remember guys, Dad is always right!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why Always Right is Wrong."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Ephesians 6:4. It's a parents verse. It says, "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." Now, that word "exasperate" is interesting. It's ex-asperate. It's like you're out of oxygen. It's when your kids are going (deep breathing), "Mom! Dad!" I mean, you've really frustrated them. And few things are more exasperating than a parent who says, or acts like, "I'm always right." That kind of parent seldom listens, seldom if ever apologizes, seldom makes a child feel competent, or confident, or adequate, or worthwhile. Now, my use of that phrase, "Dad is always right" was meant to create some order. When a parent is serious about always having to come out right, that does anything but create order. It creates terrible frustration, anger and seething rebellion.
Now, you may have grown up around a parent who never could admit he or she was wrong. Did that make you respect them more or less? Someone who insists on always being right loses the very respect they're trying to maintain. A healthy human being doesn't care who was right, they only care about what is right. I've had to kneel by the bed of a five year old son and say, "Son, I'm sorry for what I said to you and I said to your Mom, would you please forgive me?" Now, he knew I was wrong, my wife knew I was wrong, I knew I was wrong, but I had to admit it in order for there to be healing.
James 5:16 says, "Confess your faults to each other, pray for each other so that you may be healed." Do you know how many marriages could have been saved if someone could have been wrong? How many children could have been saved if someone could have admitted they were wrong? There's awesome healing power in those three words, "I was wrong." There's even more in three other words, "Please forgive me."
I remember the night that Ed finally told his daughter Sandy that he'd been wrong. It was in the emergency room. They were pumping Sandy's stomach to save her life when they told her she had overdosed. And that night Ed said, "I've been copying my father Sandy, doing some of the same things he did that hurt me, and I've been wrong. Would you please forgive me?" And she did. And a new relationship was born between Sandy and her father on the night she almost died.
Don't wait for the emergency room, or the explosion, or the rebellion. You see, Dad isn't always right. Mom isn't always right. And in spite of my motel room motto, we're wrong sometimes. Don't be too proud to admit it. The price for that kind of pride is just too high to pay.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Revelation 3, daily readings and devotions
Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
October 6
Our Problem Is Sin
Fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out.
Romans 12:2 (MSG)
Real change is an inside job. You might alter things a day or two with money and systems, but the heart of the matter is and always will be, the matter of the heart.
Allow me to get specific. Our problem is sin. Not finances. Not budgets.... Our problem is sin. We are in rebellion against our Creator. We are separated from our Father. We are cut off from the source of life. A new president or policy won't fix that. It can only be solved by God.
That's why the Bible uses drastic terms like conversion, repentance, and lost and found. Society may renovate, but only God re-creates.
Revelation 3
To the Church in Sardis
1"To the angel[a] of the church in Sardis write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits[b]of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. 3Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. 4Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. 5He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. 6He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
To the Church in Philadelphia
7"To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:
These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. 8I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. 9I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. 10Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth. 11I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. 12Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name. 13He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
To the Church in Laodicea
14"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. 15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. 21To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Ephesians 3:14-21
A Prayer for the Ephesians
14For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
October 6, 2008
Not Much In Between
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Ephesians 3:14-21
That you may be filled with all the fullness of God. —Ephesians 3:19
In the western panhandle of Texas is a small town named Texline. It had an ostentatious beginning in the late 1800s as a thriving center along a new railroad line. Within a few years, though, most of the shops had closed and the town’s population shriveled to about 400. In 2000, the population was still just over 500.
One online description of Texline says that it has “a city limits sign at one end, another at the other end, and not much in between.”
What a waste if the same description could be given of our spiritual journey! The journey of the Christian life on earth begins at the moment of faith in Jesus and ends when the believer goes to be with the Lord. This raises an important question: What happens in between?
A rich and full life is available to all who believe in and serve Jesus. The apostle Paul prayed that believers would “be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:19). He wanted them to know life “abundantly” (John 10:10). But how many of us experience even a small part of the abundant life Christ promised to those who are faithful to Him?
God desires to give us a marvelous beginning with salvation and a great ending in Glory—with much in between. — David C. Egner
Lord, thank You for all that You have done for me.
I commit myself to making the most of my spiritual journey.
I want to experience as much as I can of You and all
You have to offer to me. Amen.
A life given fully to God becomes a God-filled life.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 6, 2008
The Nature of Regeneration
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
When it pleased God . . . to reveal His Son in me . . . —Galatians 1:15-16
If Jesus Christ is going to regenerate me, what is the problem He faces? It is simply this— I have a heredity in which I had no say or decision; I am not holy, nor am I likely to be; and if all Jesus Christ can do is tell me that I must be holy, His teaching only causes me to despair. But if Jesus Christ is truly a regenerator, someone who can put His own heredity of holiness into me, then I can begin to see what He means when He says that I have to be holy. Redemption means that Jesus Christ can put into anyone the hereditary nature that was in Himself, and all the standards He gives us are based on that nature— His teaching is meant to be applied to the life which He puts within us. The proper action on my part is simply to agree with God’s verdict on sin as judged on the Cross of Christ.
The New Testament teaching about regeneration is that when a person is hit by his own sense of need, God will put the Holy Spirit into his spirit, and his personal spirit will be energized by the Spirit of the Son of God— ". . . until Christ is formed in you" (Galatians 4:19 ). The moral miracle of redemption is that God can put a new nature into me through which I can live a totally new life. When I finally reach the edge of my need and know my own limitations, then Jesus says, "Blessed are you . . ." ( Matthew 5:11 ). But I must get to that point. God cannot put into me, the responsible moral person that I am, the nature that was in Jesus Christ unless I am aware of my need for it.
Just as the nature of sin entered into the human race through one man, the Holy Spirit entered into the human race through another Man (see Romans 5:12-19 ). And redemption means that I can be delivered from the heredity of sin, and that through Jesus Christ I can receive a pure and spotless heredity, namely, the Holy Spirit.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Reason for Your Bumpy Landings - #5671 - October 6, 2008
Category: Your Most Important Relationship
Monday, October 6, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
I was on an early morning flight into Pittsburgh. It's the kind where most of the passengers are real veteran flyers, you know, like business people. And wouldn't you know, we got one of those two-for-the-price-of-one landings. Yeah, it's one of those bumpy, bouncy ones. You know? I mean, even with the seasoned flyers aboard, that landing got everyone's heads out of their papers and their briefcases - including mine. I couldn't wait to hear what the flight attendant was going to say. And, fortunately, we got one of the few that could show a sense of humor. He came on and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, now that I have your attention, I'd like to make a few announcements!" That's great! Believe me, after a landing like that, he had our attention!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Reason for Your Bumpy Landings."
You may have been experiencing a few bumpy landings lately yourself. It might be medical, or marital, economic, romantic, maybe it's parental issues or relationship issues. You're wondering why things have been so rocky. There could be many reasons, but we know that ultimately God is in charge of things. So, why has He sent or allowed these bumpy landings? Could it be He's trying to get your attention? Maybe if you could hear God's voice audibly right now, you'd hear Him saying, "Now that I have your attention, I'd like to make a few announcements."
One of King David's Psalms in the Old Testament is about how our bumpy landings can serve as spiritual wakeup calls. In our word for today from the Word of God in Psalm 32:1, he says, "Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered...When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer."
David says the best position you can be in in your life is to have all your sins forgiven, your moral mistakes forgiven and cleaned up and to know you're OK with God and that you have a new beginning. But he goes on to say that he wasn't really dealing with the junk that was between him and God until he hit some bumpy landings. Until he started hurting physically, emotionally, until he felt God's heavy hand on him...until he was shot. That's when God got his attention and showed him that he needed to face his sin problem which was the ultimate cause of all his other problems.
It could be God is trying to make the same kind of announcement to you right now. I hope that through your bumpy landings Jesus can finally get your attention. His announcements? Well, things you might otherwise not have listened to or considered. He's using the trouble to say to you things like, "You are not enough, you need something lasting, you've tried it long enough without Me, or I love you so much." And He stands ready to do for you what you have needed and maybe avoided for years - to remove what's between you and the God that you need so much.
Jesus can do that because He absorbed all the guilt and all the hell of all your sin when He paid for it on the cross. And your bumpy landings may be all to bring you to the place that you've missed all these years - that cross where He loved you enough to die for you. All the journey of your life has been to bring you to this moment where you could finally commit yourself to the Savior you were made by, the Savior you were made for, the Savior who loves you so very much. Then you will be able to say as King David did, "Lord, You forgave the guilt of my sin."
If you've missed Jesus all these years, if you don't want to miss Him any longer, you want to begin your personal relationship with Him, tell Him that right now. And I'd invite you to check out our website sometime as soon as you can today. It's YoursForLife.net. Because I've tried to lay out there simply and non-religiously as I could how you can be sure you belong to Jesus Christ. Or you can call and get the booklet that I wrote Yours For Life toll free at 877-741-1200.
Your bumpy landings may have shaken up your life, but only so you would turn your attention to the Son of God so He could finally bring you safely home.
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
October 6
Our Problem Is Sin
Fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out.
Romans 12:2 (MSG)
Real change is an inside job. You might alter things a day or two with money and systems, but the heart of the matter is and always will be, the matter of the heart.
Allow me to get specific. Our problem is sin. Not finances. Not budgets.... Our problem is sin. We are in rebellion against our Creator. We are separated from our Father. We are cut off from the source of life. A new president or policy won't fix that. It can only be solved by God.
That's why the Bible uses drastic terms like conversion, repentance, and lost and found. Society may renovate, but only God re-creates.
Revelation 3
To the Church in Sardis
1"To the angel[a] of the church in Sardis write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits[b]of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. 3Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. 4Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. 5He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. 6He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
To the Church in Philadelphia
7"To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:
These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. 8I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. 9I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. 10Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth. 11I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. 12Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name. 13He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
To the Church in Laodicea
14"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. 15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. 21To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Ephesians 3:14-21
A Prayer for the Ephesians
14For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
October 6, 2008
Not Much In Between
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Ephesians 3:14-21
That you may be filled with all the fullness of God. —Ephesians 3:19
In the western panhandle of Texas is a small town named Texline. It had an ostentatious beginning in the late 1800s as a thriving center along a new railroad line. Within a few years, though, most of the shops had closed and the town’s population shriveled to about 400. In 2000, the population was still just over 500.
One online description of Texline says that it has “a city limits sign at one end, another at the other end, and not much in between.”
What a waste if the same description could be given of our spiritual journey! The journey of the Christian life on earth begins at the moment of faith in Jesus and ends when the believer goes to be with the Lord. This raises an important question: What happens in between?
A rich and full life is available to all who believe in and serve Jesus. The apostle Paul prayed that believers would “be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:19). He wanted them to know life “abundantly” (John 10:10). But how many of us experience even a small part of the abundant life Christ promised to those who are faithful to Him?
God desires to give us a marvelous beginning with salvation and a great ending in Glory—with much in between. — David C. Egner
Lord, thank You for all that You have done for me.
I commit myself to making the most of my spiritual journey.
I want to experience as much as I can of You and all
You have to offer to me. Amen.
A life given fully to God becomes a God-filled life.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 6, 2008
The Nature of Regeneration
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
When it pleased God . . . to reveal His Son in me . . . —Galatians 1:15-16
If Jesus Christ is going to regenerate me, what is the problem He faces? It is simply this— I have a heredity in which I had no say or decision; I am not holy, nor am I likely to be; and if all Jesus Christ can do is tell me that I must be holy, His teaching only causes me to despair. But if Jesus Christ is truly a regenerator, someone who can put His own heredity of holiness into me, then I can begin to see what He means when He says that I have to be holy. Redemption means that Jesus Christ can put into anyone the hereditary nature that was in Himself, and all the standards He gives us are based on that nature— His teaching is meant to be applied to the life which He puts within us. The proper action on my part is simply to agree with God’s verdict on sin as judged on the Cross of Christ.
The New Testament teaching about regeneration is that when a person is hit by his own sense of need, God will put the Holy Spirit into his spirit, and his personal spirit will be energized by the Spirit of the Son of God— ". . . until Christ is formed in you" (Galatians 4:19 ). The moral miracle of redemption is that God can put a new nature into me through which I can live a totally new life. When I finally reach the edge of my need and know my own limitations, then Jesus says, "Blessed are you . . ." ( Matthew 5:11 ). But I must get to that point. God cannot put into me, the responsible moral person that I am, the nature that was in Jesus Christ unless I am aware of my need for it.
Just as the nature of sin entered into the human race through one man, the Holy Spirit entered into the human race through another Man (see Romans 5:12-19 ). And redemption means that I can be delivered from the heredity of sin, and that through Jesus Christ I can receive a pure and spotless heredity, namely, the Holy Spirit.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Reason for Your Bumpy Landings - #5671 - October 6, 2008
Category: Your Most Important Relationship
Monday, October 6, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
I was on an early morning flight into Pittsburgh. It's the kind where most of the passengers are real veteran flyers, you know, like business people. And wouldn't you know, we got one of those two-for-the-price-of-one landings. Yeah, it's one of those bumpy, bouncy ones. You know? I mean, even with the seasoned flyers aboard, that landing got everyone's heads out of their papers and their briefcases - including mine. I couldn't wait to hear what the flight attendant was going to say. And, fortunately, we got one of the few that could show a sense of humor. He came on and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, now that I have your attention, I'd like to make a few announcements!" That's great! Believe me, after a landing like that, he had our attention!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Reason for Your Bumpy Landings."
You may have been experiencing a few bumpy landings lately yourself. It might be medical, or marital, economic, romantic, maybe it's parental issues or relationship issues. You're wondering why things have been so rocky. There could be many reasons, but we know that ultimately God is in charge of things. So, why has He sent or allowed these bumpy landings? Could it be He's trying to get your attention? Maybe if you could hear God's voice audibly right now, you'd hear Him saying, "Now that I have your attention, I'd like to make a few announcements."
One of King David's Psalms in the Old Testament is about how our bumpy landings can serve as spiritual wakeup calls. In our word for today from the Word of God in Psalm 32:1, he says, "Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered...When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer."
David says the best position you can be in in your life is to have all your sins forgiven, your moral mistakes forgiven and cleaned up and to know you're OK with God and that you have a new beginning. But he goes on to say that he wasn't really dealing with the junk that was between him and God until he hit some bumpy landings. Until he started hurting physically, emotionally, until he felt God's heavy hand on him...until he was shot. That's when God got his attention and showed him that he needed to face his sin problem which was the ultimate cause of all his other problems.
It could be God is trying to make the same kind of announcement to you right now. I hope that through your bumpy landings Jesus can finally get your attention. His announcements? Well, things you might otherwise not have listened to or considered. He's using the trouble to say to you things like, "You are not enough, you need something lasting, you've tried it long enough without Me, or I love you so much." And He stands ready to do for you what you have needed and maybe avoided for years - to remove what's between you and the God that you need so much.
Jesus can do that because He absorbed all the guilt and all the hell of all your sin when He paid for it on the cross. And your bumpy landings may be all to bring you to the place that you've missed all these years - that cross where He loved you enough to die for you. All the journey of your life has been to bring you to this moment where you could finally commit yourself to the Savior you were made by, the Savior you were made for, the Savior who loves you so very much. Then you will be able to say as King David did, "Lord, You forgave the guilt of my sin."
If you've missed Jesus all these years, if you don't want to miss Him any longer, you want to begin your personal relationship with Him, tell Him that right now. And I'd invite you to check out our website sometime as soon as you can today. It's YoursForLife.net. Because I've tried to lay out there simply and non-religiously as I could how you can be sure you belong to Jesus Christ. Or you can call and get the booklet that I wrote Yours For Life toll free at 877-741-1200.
Your bumpy landings may have shaken up your life, but only so you would turn your attention to the Son of God so He could finally bring you safely home.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Revelation 2, daily readings and devotions
Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
October 5
The moment I called out, you stepped in; you made my life large with strength.
Psalm 138:3 (The Message)
Where is God when we hurt? Where is he when sleep won’t come? Where is he when we awaken in a hospital bed with pain that won’t subside? He’s right here!
He hung on the gallows to prove once and for all, with pierced hands and
blood-stained-face—that he’s here—that he didn’t create the hurt, but he came to take it away.
When you hurt, God hurts with you.
Revelation 2
To the church in Ephesus
1"To the angel[a] of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands: 2I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. 5Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
To the Church in Smyrna
8"To the angel of the church in Smyrna write:
These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. 9I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death.
To the Church in Pergamum
12"To the angel of the church in Pergamum write:
These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. 13I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives. 14Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality. 15Likewise you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. 17He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.
To the Church in Thyatira
18"To the angel of the church in Thyatira write:
These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. 19I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. 20Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. 21I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. 22So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. 23I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds. 24Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan's so-called deep secrets (I will not impose any other burden on you): 25Only hold on to what you have until I come. 26To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations—
27'He will rule them with an iron scepter;
he will dash them to pieces like pottery'[b]— just as I have received authority from my Father. 28I will also give him the morning star. 29He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Ephesians 3
Paul the Preacher to the Gentiles
1For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—
2Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you, 3that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. 6This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
7I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power.
October 5, 2008
Rosetta Stone
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Ephesians 3:1-7
The mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, . . . has now been revealed by the Spirit. —Ephesians 3:4-5
For centuries, the hieroglyphic word pictures painted on Egyptian ruins were a mystery. Then in 1799 a French archaeological expedition at the Egyptian harbor of Rosetta discovered an ancient stone. It weighed 1,676 pounds and reflected beautiful dark gray, blue, and pink hues. But that is not what made it valuable.
The stone was inscribed with an identical message in different ancient scripts. Among them were hieroglyphics and classical Greek. Using Greek to translate, scholars soon understood the meaning of the hieroglyphics. They were no longer a mystery.
The Bible has also contained an ancient mystery. For centuries, it seemed as if God’s purposes were limited to the Jews. Yet with the appearance of Jesus of Nazareth, the promise to Abraham to bless the whole world came to light (Gen. 12:1-3). Paul wrote: “The mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known . . . has now been revealed by the Spirit” (Eph. 3:4-5). God provides salvation to all people who repent and believe in His Son (Gal. 3:8-9,28).
The revelation of the New Testament describes a glorious future when people from every ethnic group, nation, and language will share in the inheritance of the children of God (Rev. 5:9). — Dennis Fisher
O glorious mystery of love,
That I, a child of earth,
May dwell by faith with Christ above,
The Lamb of matchless worth! —Christiansen
The Christian’s inheritance is guaranteed forever!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 5, 2008
The Nature of Degeneration
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
Just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned . . . —Romans 5:12
The Bible does not say that God punished the human race for one man’s sin, but that the nature of sin, namely, my claim to my right to myself, entered into the human race through one man. But it also says that another Man took upon Himself the sin of the human race and put it away— an infinitely more profound revelation (see Hebrews 9:26 ). The nature of sin is not immorality and wrongdoing, but the nature of self-realization which leads us to say, "I am my own god." This nature may exhibit itself in proper morality or in improper immorality, but it always has a common basis— my claim to my right to myself. When our Lord faced either people with all the forces of evil in them, or people who were clean-living, moral, and upright, He paid no attention to the moral degradation of one, nor any attention to the moral attainment of the other. He looked at something we do not see, namely, the nature of man (see John 2:25 ).
Sin is something I am born with and cannot touch— only God touches sin through redemption. It is through the Cross of Christ that God redeemed the entire human race from the possibility of damnation through the heredity of sin. God nowhere holds a person responsible for having the heredity of sin, and does not condemn anyone because of it. Condemnation comes when I realize that Jesus Christ came to deliver me from this heredity of sin, and yet I refuse to let Him do so. From that moment I begin to get the seal of damnation. "This is the condemnation [and the critical moment], that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light . . . " ( John 3:19 ).
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
October 5
The moment I called out, you stepped in; you made my life large with strength.
Psalm 138:3 (The Message)
Where is God when we hurt? Where is he when sleep won’t come? Where is he when we awaken in a hospital bed with pain that won’t subside? He’s right here!
He hung on the gallows to prove once and for all, with pierced hands and
blood-stained-face—that he’s here—that he didn’t create the hurt, but he came to take it away.
When you hurt, God hurts with you.
Revelation 2
To the church in Ephesus
1"To the angel[a] of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands: 2I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. 5Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
To the Church in Smyrna
8"To the angel of the church in Smyrna write:
These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. 9I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death.
To the Church in Pergamum
12"To the angel of the church in Pergamum write:
These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. 13I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives. 14Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality. 15Likewise you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. 17He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.
To the Church in Thyatira
18"To the angel of the church in Thyatira write:
These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. 19I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. 20Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. 21I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. 22So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. 23I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds. 24Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan's so-called deep secrets (I will not impose any other burden on you): 25Only hold on to what you have until I come. 26To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations—
27'He will rule them with an iron scepter;
he will dash them to pieces like pottery'[b]— just as I have received authority from my Father. 28I will also give him the morning star. 29He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Ephesians 3
Paul the Preacher to the Gentiles
1For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—
2Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you, 3that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. 6This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
7I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power.
October 5, 2008
Rosetta Stone
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Ephesians 3:1-7
The mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, . . . has now been revealed by the Spirit. —Ephesians 3:4-5
For centuries, the hieroglyphic word pictures painted on Egyptian ruins were a mystery. Then in 1799 a French archaeological expedition at the Egyptian harbor of Rosetta discovered an ancient stone. It weighed 1,676 pounds and reflected beautiful dark gray, blue, and pink hues. But that is not what made it valuable.
The stone was inscribed with an identical message in different ancient scripts. Among them were hieroglyphics and classical Greek. Using Greek to translate, scholars soon understood the meaning of the hieroglyphics. They were no longer a mystery.
The Bible has also contained an ancient mystery. For centuries, it seemed as if God’s purposes were limited to the Jews. Yet with the appearance of Jesus of Nazareth, the promise to Abraham to bless the whole world came to light (Gen. 12:1-3). Paul wrote: “The mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known . . . has now been revealed by the Spirit” (Eph. 3:4-5). God provides salvation to all people who repent and believe in His Son (Gal. 3:8-9,28).
The revelation of the New Testament describes a glorious future when people from every ethnic group, nation, and language will share in the inheritance of the children of God (Rev. 5:9). — Dennis Fisher
O glorious mystery of love,
That I, a child of earth,
May dwell by faith with Christ above,
The Lamb of matchless worth! —Christiansen
The Christian’s inheritance is guaranteed forever!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 5, 2008
The Nature of Degeneration
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
Just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned . . . —Romans 5:12
The Bible does not say that God punished the human race for one man’s sin, but that the nature of sin, namely, my claim to my right to myself, entered into the human race through one man. But it also says that another Man took upon Himself the sin of the human race and put it away— an infinitely more profound revelation (see Hebrews 9:26 ). The nature of sin is not immorality and wrongdoing, but the nature of self-realization which leads us to say, "I am my own god." This nature may exhibit itself in proper morality or in improper immorality, but it always has a common basis— my claim to my right to myself. When our Lord faced either people with all the forces of evil in them, or people who were clean-living, moral, and upright, He paid no attention to the moral degradation of one, nor any attention to the moral attainment of the other. He looked at something we do not see, namely, the nature of man (see John 2:25 ).
Sin is something I am born with and cannot touch— only God touches sin through redemption. It is through the Cross of Christ that God redeemed the entire human race from the possibility of damnation through the heredity of sin. God nowhere holds a person responsible for having the heredity of sin, and does not condemn anyone because of it. Condemnation comes when I realize that Jesus Christ came to deliver me from this heredity of sin, and yet I refuse to let Him do so. From that moment I begin to get the seal of damnation. "This is the condemnation [and the critical moment], that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light . . . " ( John 3:19 ).
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Revelation 1, daily readings and devotions
Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
October 4
Ask, and God will give to you. Search, and you will find.
Matthew 7:7 (NCV)
Countless copies of Scripture sit unread on bookshelves and nightstands simply because people don't know how to read it. What can we do to make the Bible real in our lives?
The clearest answer is found in the words of Jesus. "Ask and God will give it to you."
The first step in understanding the Bible is asking God to help us.
Revelation 1
Prologue
1The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 3Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.
Greetings and doxology
4John,
To the seven churches in the province of Asia:
Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits[a] before his throne, 5and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
7Look, he is coming with the clouds,
and every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him;
and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.
8"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."
One like a Son of Man
9I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11which said: "Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea."
12I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13and among the lampstands was someone "like a son of man,"[b]dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 14His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
17When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
19"Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. 20The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels[c] of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
John 9
Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind
1As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
3"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. 4As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
6Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. 7"Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
8His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, "Isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg?" 9Some claimed that he was.
Others said, "No, he only looks like him."
But he himself insisted, "I am the man."
10"How then were your eyes opened?" they demanded.
11He replied, "The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see."
12"Where is this man?" they asked him.
"I don't know," he said.
October 4, 2008
Curiosity Or Compassion?
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: John 9:1-12
[Jesus’] disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” —John 9:2
Why is it that when we hear about someone who is suffering, we are more interested in the details of what, why, when, and where than we are about how we can help?
When the disciples passed the blind beggar (John 9:1), their curiosity about why he was suffering outweighed the prospect of reaching out to help him. “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” they asked (v.2). Their pop-quiz for Jesus revealed that they were dreadfully out of step with their
Master’s heart. In fact, lurking beneath their question was a judgmental spirit—a desire to know whom to blame—as if that would make anyone feel better!
Thankfully, Jesus modeled a compassionate response. Rather than speculation and condemnation, He marshaled His resources to help, which in this case meant complete healing. He made it clear that the man’s blindness was intended to provide a moment for God to be magnified through Jesus’ compassionate touch.
Feeling curious about somebody’s problem? Shift into Jesus’ mode and move past the point of curiosity to his or her point of need. Reach out and touch someone’s pain. Show the compassionate love of Jesus in action. — Joe Stowell
Amid the snares misfortune lays
Unseen, beneath the steps of all,
Blest is the Love that seeks to raise
And stay and strengthen those who fall. —Bryant
Do you want to be like Jesus? Replace curiosity with compassion.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 4, 2008
The Vision and The Reality
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
. . . to those who are . . . called to be saints . . . —1 Corinthians 1:2
Thank God for being able to see all that you have not yet been. You have had the vision, but you are not yet to the reality of it by any means. It is when we are in the valley, where we prove whether we will be the choice ones, that most of us turn back. We are not quite prepared for the bumps and bruises that must come if we are going to be turned into the shape of the vision. We have seen what we are not, and what God wants us to be, but are we willing to be battered into the shape of the vision to be used by God? The beatings will always come in the most common, everyday ways and through common, everyday people.
There are times when we do know what God’s purpose is; whether we will let the vision be turned into actual character depends on us, not on God. If we prefer to relax on the mountaintop and live in the memory of the vision, then we will be of no real use in the ordinary things of which human life is made. We have to learn to live in reliance upon what we saw in the vision, not simply live in ecstatic delight and conscious reflection upon God. This means living the realities of our lives in the light of the vision until the truth of the vision is actually realized in us. Every bit of our training is in that direction. Learn to thank God for making His demands known.
Our little "I am" always sulks and pouts when God says do. Let your little "I am" be shriveled up in God’s wrath and indignation--"I AM WHO I AM . . . has sent me to you" ( Exodus 3:14 ). He must dominate. Isn’t it piercing to realize that God not only knows where we live, but also knows the gutters into which we crawl! He will hunt us down as fast as a flash of lightning. No human being knows human beings as God does.
A Fine-tuned Instrument
by Os Hillman
...I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name and I will answer them; I will say, "They are My people," and they will say, "The Lord is our God." - Zechariah 13:9
My former business career was as an owner of an advertising agency. Over the years, I had the privilege to work on many different and prestigious accounts. One of those accounts was Steinway Pianos, the maker of the world's finest pianos. Each piano has always been made from scratch; it takes over a year to make one Steinway. The most impressive scene as I toured the manufacturing plant was the place where the soundboard is stretched to its maximum tolerance and allowed to sit for an extended period until it remains in the curved design. This was done in an off-to-the-corner part of the plant. If the wood were alive, it would be crying out for mercy.
After an extended time of stretching, the wood will never spring back to its original state. It is permanently changed. The piano is becoming a fine-tuned instrument. After this process takes place, the next step requires another point of stress. It takes 11 tons of pressure on a piano to tune it. Each step in the process moves the piano closer to a finished product that will ultimately be played by the world's finest musicians. These musicians desire a particular sound that only a piano like this can make.
God looks at each of us as a fine-tuned instrument. However, we begin as rough wood that He desires to transform into gold. Tuning us requires certain experiences that will stretch our faith, our frame, and our very life. Sainthood springs out of suffering. If we can stand the strain of this intense process, we will come forth as gold-as a sweet-smelling offering to our Maker. When we are in the midst of these times, it feels like fire. It is painful to be stretched beyond our perceived limits, but the Lord knows this is necessary for us to become an instrument that can play a beautiful song that others will seek after.
Let the master Craftsman have His way in your life today. You will be pleased with the instrument He fashions.
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
October 4
Ask, and God will give to you. Search, and you will find.
Matthew 7:7 (NCV)
Countless copies of Scripture sit unread on bookshelves and nightstands simply because people don't know how to read it. What can we do to make the Bible real in our lives?
The clearest answer is found in the words of Jesus. "Ask and God will give it to you."
The first step in understanding the Bible is asking God to help us.
Revelation 1
Prologue
1The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 3Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.
Greetings and doxology
4John,
To the seven churches in the province of Asia:
Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits[a] before his throne, 5and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
7Look, he is coming with the clouds,
and every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him;
and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.
8"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."
One like a Son of Man
9I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11which said: "Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea."
12I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13and among the lampstands was someone "like a son of man,"[b]dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 14His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
17When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
19"Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. 20The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels[c] of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
John 9
Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind
1As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
3"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. 4As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
6Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. 7"Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
8His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, "Isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg?" 9Some claimed that he was.
Others said, "No, he only looks like him."
But he himself insisted, "I am the man."
10"How then were your eyes opened?" they demanded.
11He replied, "The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see."
12"Where is this man?" they asked him.
"I don't know," he said.
October 4, 2008
Curiosity Or Compassion?
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: John 9:1-12
[Jesus’] disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” —John 9:2
Why is it that when we hear about someone who is suffering, we are more interested in the details of what, why, when, and where than we are about how we can help?
When the disciples passed the blind beggar (John 9:1), their curiosity about why he was suffering outweighed the prospect of reaching out to help him. “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” they asked (v.2). Their pop-quiz for Jesus revealed that they were dreadfully out of step with their
Master’s heart. In fact, lurking beneath their question was a judgmental spirit—a desire to know whom to blame—as if that would make anyone feel better!
Thankfully, Jesus modeled a compassionate response. Rather than speculation and condemnation, He marshaled His resources to help, which in this case meant complete healing. He made it clear that the man’s blindness was intended to provide a moment for God to be magnified through Jesus’ compassionate touch.
Feeling curious about somebody’s problem? Shift into Jesus’ mode and move past the point of curiosity to his or her point of need. Reach out and touch someone’s pain. Show the compassionate love of Jesus in action. — Joe Stowell
Amid the snares misfortune lays
Unseen, beneath the steps of all,
Blest is the Love that seeks to raise
And stay and strengthen those who fall. —Bryant
Do you want to be like Jesus? Replace curiosity with compassion.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 4, 2008
The Vision and The Reality
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
. . . to those who are . . . called to be saints . . . —1 Corinthians 1:2
Thank God for being able to see all that you have not yet been. You have had the vision, but you are not yet to the reality of it by any means. It is when we are in the valley, where we prove whether we will be the choice ones, that most of us turn back. We are not quite prepared for the bumps and bruises that must come if we are going to be turned into the shape of the vision. We have seen what we are not, and what God wants us to be, but are we willing to be battered into the shape of the vision to be used by God? The beatings will always come in the most common, everyday ways and through common, everyday people.
There are times when we do know what God’s purpose is; whether we will let the vision be turned into actual character depends on us, not on God. If we prefer to relax on the mountaintop and live in the memory of the vision, then we will be of no real use in the ordinary things of which human life is made. We have to learn to live in reliance upon what we saw in the vision, not simply live in ecstatic delight and conscious reflection upon God. This means living the realities of our lives in the light of the vision until the truth of the vision is actually realized in us. Every bit of our training is in that direction. Learn to thank God for making His demands known.
Our little "I am" always sulks and pouts when God says do. Let your little "I am" be shriveled up in God’s wrath and indignation--"I AM WHO I AM . . . has sent me to you" ( Exodus 3:14 ). He must dominate. Isn’t it piercing to realize that God not only knows where we live, but also knows the gutters into which we crawl! He will hunt us down as fast as a flash of lightning. No human being knows human beings as God does.
A Fine-tuned Instrument
by Os Hillman
...I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name and I will answer them; I will say, "They are My people," and they will say, "The Lord is our God." - Zechariah 13:9
My former business career was as an owner of an advertising agency. Over the years, I had the privilege to work on many different and prestigious accounts. One of those accounts was Steinway Pianos, the maker of the world's finest pianos. Each piano has always been made from scratch; it takes over a year to make one Steinway. The most impressive scene as I toured the manufacturing plant was the place where the soundboard is stretched to its maximum tolerance and allowed to sit for an extended period until it remains in the curved design. This was done in an off-to-the-corner part of the plant. If the wood were alive, it would be crying out for mercy.
After an extended time of stretching, the wood will never spring back to its original state. It is permanently changed. The piano is becoming a fine-tuned instrument. After this process takes place, the next step requires another point of stress. It takes 11 tons of pressure on a piano to tune it. Each step in the process moves the piano closer to a finished product that will ultimately be played by the world's finest musicians. These musicians desire a particular sound that only a piano like this can make.
God looks at each of us as a fine-tuned instrument. However, we begin as rough wood that He desires to transform into gold. Tuning us requires certain experiences that will stretch our faith, our frame, and our very life. Sainthood springs out of suffering. If we can stand the strain of this intense process, we will come forth as gold-as a sweet-smelling offering to our Maker. When we are in the midst of these times, it feels like fire. It is painful to be stretched beyond our perceived limits, but the Lord knows this is necessary for us to become an instrument that can play a beautiful song that others will seek after.
Let the master Craftsman have His way in your life today. You will be pleased with the instrument He fashions.
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