Numbers 17, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: A Guilt-Free You

If you are in Christ, your sin is gone. It was last seen on the back of your Sin Bearer as he headed out to Death Valley. When Jesus cried on the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"-he entered the wilderness on your behalf. He carried your sin away.
Open yourself to the idea of a guilt-free you. This may be difficult. You have dragged around your past for so long you can't imagine yourself with it. Jesus sees a revision of your script. Give God your guilt! Pray this simple "pocket prayer."
"Father you are good. I need help. Forgive me. Place your guilt on the back of your Sin Bearer!
Before amen-comes the power of a simple prayer! My challenge to you? Every day for 4 weeks, pray 4 minutes-a simple prayer. Join me at BeforeAmen.com-it'll change your life forever!
From Before Amen

Numbers 17

The Budding of Aaron’s Staff

[a]Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell the people of Israel to bring you twelve wooden staffs, one from each leader of Israel’s ancestral tribes, and inscribe each leader’s name on his staff. 3 Inscribe Aaron’s name on the staff of the tribe of Levi, for there must be one staff for the leader of each ancestral tribe. 4 Place these staffs in the Tabernacle in front of the Ark containing the tablets of the Covenant,[b] where I meet with you. 5 Buds will sprout on the staff belonging to the man I choose. Then I will finally put an end to the people’s murmuring and complaining against you.”

6 So Moses gave the instructions to the people of Israel, and each of the twelve tribal leaders, including Aaron, brought Moses a staff. 7 Moses placed the staffs in the Lord’s presence in the Tabernacle of the Covenant.[c] 8 When he went into the Tabernacle of the Covenant the next day, he found that Aaron’s staff, representing the tribe of Levi, had sprouted, budded, blossomed, and produced ripe almonds!

9 When Moses brought all the staffs out from the Lord’s presence, he showed them to the people. Each man claimed his own staff. 10 And the Lord said to Moses: “Place Aaron’s staff permanently before the Ark of the Covenant[d] to serve as a warning to rebels. This should put an end to their complaints against me and prevent any further deaths.” 11 So Moses did as the Lord commanded him.

12 Then the people of Israel said to Moses, “Look, we are doomed! We are dead! We are ruined! 13 Everyone who even comes close to the Tabernacle of the Lord dies. Are we all doomed to die?”

17:1 Verses 17:1-13 are numbered 17:16-28 in Hebrew text.
17:4 Hebrew in the Tent of Meeting before the Testimony. The Hebrew word for “testimony” refers to the terms of the Lord’s covenant with Israel as written on stone tablets, which were kept in the Ark, and also to the covenant itself.
17:7 Or Tabernacle of the Testimony; also in 17:8.
17:10 Hebrew before the Testimony; see note on 17:4.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Read: Numbers 11:1-10

The People Complain to Moses

Soon the people began to complain about their hardship, and the Lord heard everything they said. Then the Lord’s anger blazed against them, and he sent a fire to rage among them, and he destroyed some of the people in the outskirts of the camp. 2 Then the people screamed to Moses for help, and when he prayed to the Lord, the fire stopped. 3 After that, the area was known as Taberah (which means “the place of burning”), because fire from the Lord had burned among them there.

4 Then the foreign rabble who were traveling with the Israelites began to crave the good things of Egypt. And the people of Israel also began to complain. “Oh, for some meat!” they exclaimed. 5 “We remember the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. And we had all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic we wanted. 6 But now our appetites are gone. All we ever see is this manna!”

7 The manna looked like small coriander seeds, and it was pale yellow like gum resin. 8 The people would go out and gather it from the ground. They made flour by grinding it with hand mills or pounding it in mortars. Then they boiled it in a pot and made it into flat cakes. These cakes tasted like pastries baked with olive oil. 9 The manna came down on the camp with the dew during the night.

10 Moses heard all the families standing in the doorways of their tents whining, and the Lord became extremely angry. Moses was also very aggravated.

Insight
When they faced difficulties, the Israelites often complained against Moses (see Ex. 16:2; 17:3; Num. 14:2; 16:41; 20:3). Their first complaint was made just 3 days out of Egypt (Ex. 15:22-24). Paul warned us not to follow their critical spirit (1 Cor. 10:1-10), for they were sinning against the Lord (Ex. 16:8).

Goodbye
By Marvin Williams

When the people complained, it displeased the Lord; for the Lord heard it, and His anger was aroused. —Numbers 11:1

When Max Lucado participated in a half-Ironman triathlon, he experienced the negative power of complaint. He said, “After the 1.2-mile swim and the 56-mile bike ride, I didn’t have much energy left for the 13.1-mile run. Neither did the fellow jogging next to me. He said, ‘This stinks. This race is the dumbest decision I’ve ever made.’ I said, ‘Goodbye.’ ” Max knew that if he listened too long, he would start agreeing with him. So he said goodbye and kept running.

Among the Israelites, too many people listened too long to complaints and began to agree with them. This displeased God, and for good reason. God had delivered the Israelites from slavery, and agreed to live in their midst, but they still complained. Beyond the hardship of the desert, they were dissatisfied with God’s provision of manna. In their complaint, Israel forgot that the manna was a gift to them from God’s loving hand (Num. 11:6). Because complaining poisons the heart with ingratitude and can be a contagion, God had to judge it.

This is a sure way to say “goodbye” to complaining and ingratitude: Each day, let’s rehearse the faithfulness and goodness of God to us.

Lord, You have given us so much. Forgive us for our
short memories and bad attitudes. Help us to
remember and be grateful for all that You have
provided. And help us to tell others of the good things You have done for us.
Proclaiming God’s faithfulness silences discontentment.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, November 19, 2014

“When He Has Come”

When He has come, He will convict the world of sin… —John 16:8

Very few of us know anything about conviction of sin. We know the experience of being disturbed because we have done wrong things. But conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit blots out every relationship on earth and makes us aware of only one— “Against You, You only, have I sinned…” (Psalm 51:4). When a person is convicted of sin in this way, he knows with every bit of his conscience that God would not dare to forgive him. If God did forgive him, then this person would have a stronger sense of justice than God. God does forgive, but it cost the breaking of His heart with grief in the death of Christ to enable Him to do so. The great miracle of the grace of God is that He forgives sin, and it is the death of Jesus Christ alone that enables the divine nature to forgive and to remain true to itself in doing so. It is shallow nonsense to say that God forgives us because He is love. Once we have been convicted of sin, we will never say this again. The love of God means Calvary— nothing less! The love of God is spelled out on the Cross and nowhere else. The only basis for which God can forgive me is the Cross of Christ. It is there that His conscience is satisfied.

Forgiveness doesn’t merely mean that I am saved from hell and have been made ready for heaven (no one would accept forgiveness on that level). Forgiveness means that I am forgiven into a newly created relationship which identifies me with God in Christ. The miracle of redemption is that God turns me, the unholy one, into the standard of Himself, the Holy One. He does this by putting into me a new nature, the nature of Jesus Christ.


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, November 19, 2014

The Ticket Will Be There - #7268

If I'm going to fly somewhere I usually have my ticket well before the trip. And of course you get the e-tickets today but years ago there weren't e-tickets and boy I was looking for it in the mail and it hadn't come. I called them and they said, "Well, we have your reservation here. I'm sure everything will be fine." Thank you for that reassurance, but it does take a ticket to get on the plane. I was scheduled to leave on a Friday, Wednesday was a real important day. Well I checked the mail again. No ticket. I called again and they said, "It's on the way." Yeah great. I've had people say, "The check is in the mail" too. And it wasn't. So I wasn't quite sure. Well, I know you're really worried. Good news! It was there, ready for me, on Thursday afternoon. I was worried because I didn't have it in my hand. But the airline assured me I was okay all those days before, and I did get what I needed but I got it just when I needed it and no sooner.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Ticket Will Be There."

Our word for today from the Word of God, we are in Hebrews 4:16. This is such a great verse, I love it. "Let us then approach the Throne of Grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Okay let's go back through this verse and take it apart a little bit. It talks about, "Let's approach" what do we approach? That's the invitation. We're to approach what? "the Throne of Grace." Well what's grace? Well, I'm not going to give you a big sophisticated seminary definition. Let me give you the working definition out of my own life. God's grace is God's intervening love when you're on empty. Have you ever been there: out of ideas, out of strength, out of any way out of this, out of any means to pay for it, out of money?

Well, when you're on empty, grace, God's intervening love, with His resources. "Let us approach the Throne of Grace for God's intervening love when we're on empty." Now it says to "come with confidence." That word actually means to be outspoken with someone who's in a position of authority. I can go to God in an outspoken way and tell Him my need.

And then it promises grace to help in this particular unique moment of my need. That word "to help" is used only one other time in the Bible; the Greek form of it in the New Testament. It's in Acts 27 where they put supports underneath a ship to hold it together in a storm. So God's grace holds you together in your storm.

I have a friend right now who is facing a storm. His life has changed dramatically because his wife is battling against cancer. He said, "Ron, when I think about what might be ahead, I can't think about it, it's tough." We talked about how God gives His grace in 24-hour installments. See if you try to deal with next month's load before you get next month's grace, you'll sink. You're dealing with today's load, which will be perfectly matched with today's grace.

Corrie ten Boom courageously faced years in a Nazi concentration camp. Well she lost many people she loved and that was all because she helped harbor Jews in her home in Holland. Told her witness around the world for many years thereafter. Corrie said when she was a little girl, her Dad was tucking her into bed, and she said, "Daddy, I'm scared because some day if Jesus asks me to suffer or die for Him, I don't think I'd have the courage." He said, "Corrie, when I ask you to take the train with me from Harlem to Amsterdam, do I give you the ticket three weeks in advance?" And she said, "Well no, Daddy." "Do I give it to you a week in advance?" "No." He said, "Honey, when do I give you the ticket?" She said, "Well Daddy, you give me the ticket just before the train comes. That's when I need it." He said, "Honey, that's when God will give you what you need. You'll always have your ticket when the train comes."

So will you. You may be dreading what's ahead. You will have the Grace you need at the moment you need it. You say, "Well I've never had that much Grace before." You've never needed that much before. And He has it. Because His throne is a Throne of Grace. Because of the love of your savior, you will never have an assignment where the load is greater than His Grace. But you won't get it early. You'll have what you need, when you need it. Guaranteed. The ticket will be there.

Mark 14:54-72, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: A Prayer of Confession

Confession isn't a punishment for sin; it's an isolation of sin so it can be exposed and extracted. Exactly what is it that you need forgiveness for? For being a bad person? That's too general. For losing your patience in the business meeting and calling your coworker a creep? There, you can confess that.
Be firm in a prayer of confession. Satan traffics in guilt and will not give up an addict without a fight. Exercise your authority as a child of God. Tell guilt where to get off. "I left you at the cross, you evil spirit. Stay there!"
Then for heaven's sake, stop tormenting yourself. Jesus is strong enough to carry your sin. Psalm 103:12 says, "He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west."
Before you say amen-comes the power of a simple prayer.
From Before Amen

Mark 14:54-72

Meanwhile, Peter followed him at a distance and went right into the high priest’s courtyard. There he sat with the guards, warming himself by the fire.

55 Inside, the leading priests and the entire high council[a] were trying to find evidence against Jesus, so they could put him to death. But they couldn’t find any. 56 Many false witnesses spoke against him, but they contradicted each other. 57 Finally, some men stood up and gave this false testimony: 58 “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this Temple made with human hands, and in three days I will build another, made without human hands.’” 59 But even then they didn’t get their stories straight!

60 Then the high priest stood up before the others and asked Jesus, “Well, aren’t you going to answer these charges? What do you have to say for yourself?” 61 But Jesus was silent and made no reply. Then the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”

62 Jesus said, “I am.[b] And you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand[c] and coming on the clouds of heaven.[d]”

63 Then the high priest tore his clothing to show his horror and said, “Why do we need other witnesses? 64 You have all heard his blasphemy. What is your verdict?”

“Guilty!” they all cried. “He deserves to die!”

65 Then some of them began to spit at him, and they blindfolded him and beat him with their fists. “Prophesy to us,” they jeered. And the guards slapped him as they took him away.

Peter Denies Jesus
66 Meanwhile, Peter was in the courtyard below. One of the servant girls who worked for the high priest came by 67 and noticed Peter warming himself at the fire. She looked at him closely and said, “You were one of those with Jesus of Nazareth.[e]”

68 But Peter denied it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, and he went out into the entryway. Just then, a rooster crowed.[f]

69 When the servant girl saw him standing there, she began telling the others, “This man is definitely one of them!” 70 But Peter denied it again.

A little later some of the other bystanders confronted Peter and said, “You must be one of them, because you are a Galilean.”

71 Peter swore, “A curse on me if I’m lying—I don’t know this man you’re talking about!” 72 And immediately the rooster crowed the second time.

Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me.” And he broke down and wept.

Footnotes:

14:55 Greek the Sanhedrin.
14:62a Or The ‘I am’ is here; or I am the Lord. See Exod 3:14.
14:62b Greek seated at the right hand of the power. See Ps 110:1.
14:62c See Dan 7:13.
14:67 Or Jesus the Nazarene.
14:68 Some manuscripts do not include Just then, a rooster crowed.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Read: Hebrews 13:15-25

 Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name. 16 And don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God.

17 Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit.

18 Pray for us, for our conscience is clear and we want to live honorably in everything we do. 19 And especially pray that I will be able to come back to you soon.

20 Now may the God of peace—
    who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus,
the great Shepherd of the sheep,
    and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood—
21 may he equip you with all you need
    for doing his will.
May he produce in you,[a]
    through the power of Jesus Christ,
every good thing that is pleasing to him.
    All glory to him forever and ever! Amen.
22 I urge you, dear brothers and sisters,[b] to pay attention to what I have written in this brief exhortation.

23 I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been released from jail. If he comes here soon, I will bring him with me to see you.

24 Greet all your leaders and all the believers there.[c] The believers from Italy send you their greetings.

25 May God’s grace be with you all.

Footnotes:

13:21 Some manuscripts read in us.
13:22 Greek brothers.
13:24 Greek all of God’s holy people.

Insight
If we were left to our own devices and determination, even the brief instructions in today’s passage would be more than we could live up to. Fortunately, we are not left to ourselves. God works in us to make us complete (vv.20-21).

Rooted Love
By Joe Stowell

Do not forget to do good and to share. —Hebrews 13:16

When I think of all the wonders of God’s magnificent creation, I am especially awed by the giant sequoia tree. These amazing behemoths of the forest can grow to around 300 feet tall with a diameter that exceeds 20 feet. They can live over 3,000 years and are even fire resistant. In fact, forest fires pop the sequoia cones open, distributing their seeds on the forest floor that has been fertilized by the ashes. Perhaps the most amazing fact is that these trees can grow in just 3 feet of soil and withstand high winds. Their strength lies in the fact that their roots intertwine with other sequoias, providing mutual strength and shared resources.

God’s plan for us is like that. Our ability to stand tall in spite of the buffeting winds of life is directly related to the love and support we receive from God and one another. And then, as the writer of Hebrews says, we are to “do good and to share” (13:16). Think of how tough it would be to withstand adversity if someone were not sharing the roots of their strength with us.

There is great power in the entwining gifts of words of encouragement, prayers of intercession, weeping together, holding each other, and sometimes just sitting with one another sharing the presence of our love.

Lord, thank You for entwining Your strength
into my life. Lead me today to someone
who needs the love of shared strength from
resources that You have given to me.
Let the roots of God’s love in your life be entwined with others who need your support.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Winning into Freedom

If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. —John 8:36

If there is even a trace of individual self-satisfaction left in us, it always says, “I can’t surrender,” or “I can’t be free.” But the spiritual part of our being never says “I can’t”; it simply soaks up everything around it. Our spirit hungers for more and more. It is the way we are built. We are designed with a great capacity for God, but sin, our own individuality, and wrong thinking keep us from getting to Him. God delivers us from sin— we have to deliver ourselves from our individuality. This means offering our natural life to God and sacrificing it to Him, so He may transform it into spiritual life through our obedience.

God pays no attention to our natural individuality in the development of our spiritual life. His plan runs right through our natural life. We must see to it that we aid and assist God, and not stand against Him by saying, “I can’t do that.” God will not discipline us; we must discipline ourselves. God will not bring our “arguments…and every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5)— we have to do it. Don’t say, “Oh, Lord, I suffer from wandering thoughts.” Don’t suffer from wandering thoughts. Stop listening to the tyranny of your individual natural life and win freedom into the spiritual life.

“If the Son makes you free….” Do not substitute Savior for Son in this passage. The Savior has set us free from sin, but this is the freedom that comes from being set free from myself by the Son. It is what Paul meant in Galatians 2:20 when he said, “I have been crucified with Christ….” His individuality had been broken and his spirit had been united with his Lord; not just merged into Him, but made one with Him. “…you shall be free indeed”— free to the very core of your being; free from the inside to the outside. We tend to rely on our own energy, instead of being energized by the power that comes from identification with Jesus.

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, November 18, 2014

The Boss Is the Issue - #7267

You know, flying commercial airlines isn't as much fun as it used to be. I mean it's more of a hassle. A lot of people who have to fly seem to agree with that. There are overbooked flights, and long lines at security, and cancelled flights, and crowded flights, and equipment problems, and all kinds of frustrating delays. Now if you don't like something about the way the airline is performing, guess who usually gets all the grief? I've seen it happen in the airport over and over again. That poor ticket agent.

See, the ticket agent usually has nothing to do with causing the problem, but you can go to almost any airport, go to some desk and find an agent being besieged by people yelling, waving their arms, threatening, using various forms of unpleasant language. I want to say, "Hey, don't blame the agent! Take your complaints to someone in charge." The representative isn't the issue. You need to deal with the person in charge.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Boss Is the Issue."

Alright, our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 16, beginning at verse 13. "Jesus asked His disciples, 'Who do people say the Son of Man is?' They replied, 'Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; still others say Jeremiah or one of the prophets.' 'But what about you,' He asked. 'Who do you say I am?' Then Peter replied, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.'"

Now Jesus says here the issue is "Who do you say I am? See, the issue is Me." Well you know, the issue still is Jesus. The disciples kind of give the answer in the local Gallop Survey, "35% say You are John the Baptist, 22% say You are Elijah..." Well, finally Jesus closes in and says, "Who do you say I am?" See that's the real issue. A lot of people are dealing with the representative of Jesus rather than dealing with the boss.

Jim is the son of some friends of ours, and they said that he has been really wandering from the Lord. He said to them other day, "What if I had grown up in a different family? Maybe I'd be another religion. I'm not sure I believe any of this any more." And I said, "Would you tell him that Jesus would still be who He claims He is, wherever that guy grew up. You guys get out of the middle! Don't make your faith the issue with your son. Don't make parent's religion the issue. Don't let church be the issue. Let Jim know the issue isn't his parent's beliefs. It's a Savior who's been there for 2,000 years before His parents were born, before that church existed. Jesus is the issue and He's saying, 'Who do you say I am?'"

Some other friends came to us about their son, and he had said to them, "I don't know if I believe it any more." And I said, "Well don't let him get away with that. The 'It' in Christianity is a Him-it's Jesus. I don't believe Him any more. Don't look at Christians, don't look at the church, don't look at Christian leaders, or your background, or your friends. They're just His representatives. Jesus is the issue. He said "follow Me." The only reason not to be with Jesus is something about Jesus. I remember talking to a cabbie from another religion. He said to me, "If you could only study our book with our greatest scholars, you would believe." And I said to him, "But at the end of my life, I would still not have a Savior from my sin, and I would end my life at the grave of a dead prophet instead of a risen Savior."

Listen, don't let people become the issue. Don't let religion become the issue. Go back 2,000 years before all of these things existed and there on the middle cross is the Son of God paying the price for every sin you ever committed. If you're rejecting Christianity or rebelling in some way, don't deal with smoke screens. It's God's Son, who gave His life for you, who blew the doors off of death when He walked out of the grave, He's the issue. Not His representatives, not His agent. Would you go directly to the person in charge? The issue is Jesus.

This day, in spite of a back turned to Him for many years, He waits with open arms, to welcome you into His love, expressed and proven by the price He paid on a cross for you. I want you to know this Jesus. Not His religion, Jesus. If you want to belong to Him then I would love to point you in that direction. Would you go to our website ANewStory.com and find for yourself, this Jesus who's been transforming lives for 2,000 years, and who walked out of His grave, so He could walk into your life today?

Numbers 16, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Give God Your Guilt

Is guilt having its way with you? If so, here is a promise from Isaiah 1:18: "No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can take it out and make you as clean as freshly fallen snow." God can do what no one else can.  He can extract every last mark from your soul.
Give God your guilt. Pray simply, "Father you are good. I need help. Forgive me. . ." Tell Jesus what you did. Do it as often as needed. One time, two times, ten times a day? By all means! Hold nothing back. No sin is too ancient or recent, too evil or insignificant.
Before amen-comes the power of a simple prayer. Sign on at BeforeAmen.com. Commit every day for 4 weeks, to pray 4 minutes. Then get ready to connect with God like never before!
From Before Amen

Numbers 16

Korah, Dathan and Abiram

Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—became insolent[h] 2 and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council. 3 They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?”

4 When Moses heard this, he fell facedown. 5 Then he said to Korah and all his followers: “In the morning the Lord will show who belongs to him and who is holy, and he will have that person come near him. The man he chooses he will cause to come near him. 6 You, Korah, and all your followers are to do this: Take censers 7 and tomorrow put burning coals and incense in them before the Lord. The man the Lord chooses will be the one who is holy. You Levites have gone too far!”

8 Moses also said to Korah, “Now listen, you Levites! 9 Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the Israelite community and brought you near himself to do the work at the Lord’s tabernacle and to stand before the community and minister to them? 10 He has brought you and all your fellow Levites near himself, but now you are trying to get the priesthood too. 11 It is against the Lord that you and all your followers have banded together. Who is Aaron that you should grumble against him?”

12 Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. But they said, “We will not come! 13 Isn’t it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? And now you also want to lord it over us! 14 Moreover, you haven’t brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Do you want to treat these men like slaves[i]? No, we will not come!”

15 Then Moses became very angry and said to the Lord, “Do not accept their offering. I have not taken so much as a donkey from them, nor have I wronged any of them.”

16 Moses said to Korah, “You and all your followers are to appear before the Lord tomorrow—you and they and Aaron. 17 Each man is to take his censer and put incense in it—250 censers in all—and present it before the Lord. You and Aaron are to present your censers also.” 18 So each of them took his censer, put burning coals and incense in it, and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 19 When Korah had gathered all his followers in opposition to them at the entrance to the tent of meeting, the glory of the Lord appeared to the entire assembly. 20 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 21 “Separate yourselves from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.”

22 But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and cried out, “O God, the God who gives breath to all living things, will you be angry with the entire assembly when only one man sins?”

23 Then the Lord said to Moses, 24 “Say to the assembly, ‘Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.’”

25 Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. 26 He warned the assembly, “Move back from the tents of these wicked men! Do not touch anything belonging to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.” 27 So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing with their wives, children and little ones at the entrances to their tents.

28 Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea: 29 If these men die a natural death and suffer the fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me. 30 But if the Lord brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the realm of the dead, then you will know that these men have treated the Lord with contempt.”

31 As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart 32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, and all those associated with Korah, together with their possessions. 33 They went down alive into the realm of the dead, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community. 34 At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, “The earth is going to swallow us too!”

35 And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.

36 The Lord said to Moses, 37 “Tell Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, to remove the censers from the charred remains and scatter the coals some distance away, for the censers are holy— 38 the censers of the men who sinned at the cost of their lives. Hammer the censers into sheets to overlay the altar, for they were presented before the Lord and have become holy. Let them be a sign to the Israelites.”

39 So Eleazar the priest collected the bronze censers brought by those who had been burned to death, and he had them hammered out to overlay the altar, 40 as the Lord directed him through Moses. This was to remind the Israelites that no one except a descendant of Aaron should come to burn incense before the Lord, or he would become like Korah and his followers.

41 The next day the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. “You have killed the Lord’s people,” they said.

42 But when the assembly gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron and turned toward the tent of meeting, suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord appeared. 43 Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the tent of meeting, 44 and the Lord said to Moses, 45 “Get away from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.” And they fell facedown.

46 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer and put incense in it, along with burning coals from the altar, and hurry to the assembly to make atonement for them. Wrath has come out from the Lord; the plague has started.” 47 So Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly. The plague had already started among the people, but Aaron offered the incense and made atonement for them. 48 He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped. 49 But 14,700 people died from the plague, in addition to those who had died because of Korah. 50 Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting, for the plague had stopped.[j]

Numbers 16:1 Or Peleth—took men
Numbers 16:14 Or to deceive these men; Hebrew Will you gouge out the eyes of these men
Numbers 16:50 In Hebrew texts 16:36-50 is numbered 17:1-15.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, November 17, 2014

Read: Ephesians 6:10-18

The Whole Armor of God

 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. 12 For we[a] are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

13 Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. 14 Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. 15 For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared.[b] 16 In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.[c] 17 Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

18 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.[d]

Footnotes:

6:12 Some manuscripts read you.
6:15 Or For shoes, put on the readiness to preach the Good News of peace with God.
6:16 Greek the evil one.
6:18 Greek all of God’s holy people.

Insight
The church at Ephesus, to whom the letter of Ephesians was written, was begun by the apostle Paul after he visited the city (Acts 18:18-21). Paul’s work there was followed by that of Apollos (vv.24-26), a man who had great passion but an incomplete understanding of the way of Christ. This prompted two of Paul’s colleagues, Aquila and Priscilla (v.26), to take Apollos under their wing and mentor him. This collaboration in ministry reveals how the work of the early church, so often focused on Paul’s work, was a true team effort.

Defeated Adversary
By Cindy Hess Kasper

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. —1 Peter 5:8

The roaring lion is the legendary “king of the jungle.” But the only lions many of us see are the lethargic felines that reside in zoos. Their days are filled with lots of rest, and their dinner is served to them without the lions having to lift a single paw.

In their natural habitat, however, lions aren’t always living a laid-back life. Their hunger tells them to go hunting, and in doing so they seek the young, weak, sick, or injured. Crouching in tall grasses, they slowly creep forward. Then with a sudden pounce, they clamp their jaws to the body of their victim.

Peter used “a roaring lion” as a metaphor for Satan. He is a confident predator, looking for easy prey to devour (1 Peter 5:8). In dealing with this adversary, God’s children must be vigilant at putting “on the whole armor of God” and thus they can “be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might” (Eph. 6:10-11).

The good news is that Satan is a defeated adversary. While he is a powerful foe, those who are protected by salvation, prayer, and the Word of God need not be paralyzed in fear at this roaring lion. We are “kept by the power of God” (1 Peter 1:5). James 4:7 assures us: “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

Lord, we know that our enemy seeks to devour us.
Please protect us from him. We believe Your
Word that He who is in us is greater than he
who is in the world.
No evil can penetrate the armor of God.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, November 17, 2014

The Eternal Goal

By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing…I will bless you… —Genesis 22:16-17

Abraham, at this point, has reached where he is in touch with the very nature of God. He now understands the reality of God.

My goal is God Himself…
At any cost, dear Lord, by any road.

“At any cost…by any road” means submitting to God’s way of bringing us to the goal.

There is no possibility of questioning God when He speaks, if He speaks to His own nature in me. Prompt obedience is the only result. When Jesus says, “Come,” I simply come; when He says, “Let go,” I let go; when He says, “Trust God in this matter,” I trust. This work of obedience is the evidence that the nature of God is in me.

God’s revelation of Himself to me is influenced by my character, not by God’s character.

’Tis because I am ordinary,
Thy ways so often look ordinary to me.

It is through the discipline of obedience that I get to the place where Abraham was and I see who God is. God will never be real to me until I come face to face with Him in Jesus Christ. Then I will know and can boldly proclaim, “In all the world, my God, there is none but Thee, there is none but Thee.”

The promises of God are of no value to us until, through obedience, we come to understand the nature of God. We may read some things in the Bible every day for a year and they may mean nothing to us. Then, because we have been obedient to God in some small detail, we suddenly see what God means and His nature is instantly opened up to us. “All the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen…” (2 Corinthians 1:20). Our “Yes” must be born of obedience; when by obedience we ratify a promise of God by saying, “Amen,” or, “So be it.” That promise becomes ours.

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, November 17, 2014

A Soldier of Your Own - #7266

So who cares about the weather in Afghanistan, or Germany, or the Middle East, or Asia? Well...if you've got a soldier there, you care. All of the sudden you want to know what's going on, the news about that place is very important to you. You know, when you know and love someone, you're following all the news very closely from the part of the world that is now their home. It's amazing how your interests, how your involvement changes when you have a soldier of your own.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Soldier of Your Own."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Philippians 1, and we're reading the words of Paul; one of God's greatest warriors. We'll begin reading at verse 3. Now remember, this is written from prison, "I thank my God every time I remember you, and all my prayers for all of you. I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the Gospel, from the first day until now." Now verse 7, "It is right for me to feel this way about all of you since I have you in my heart whether I'm in chains or defending and confirming the Gospel. All of you share in God's grace with me."

Paul's great human source of strength in prison seems to be his brothers and sisters at the church in Philippi. In a sense, those Christians had attached themselves to a frontline warrior named Paul. They gave him prayer support. They gave him financial support. They gave him affection, encouragement, they cared about his work, they cared about his health, and they took an interest in the places he went. They had a soldier of their own! Do you?

See I believe God wants to lay on the heart of every believer, one of his frontline soldiers. So that you have someone for whom you feel some personal responsibility: missions, missionaries, who are reaching some corner of a lost world. And all of that that you hear about in missions messages and that's just a concept to you of missions and the great commission and going and making disciples of all nations, that all comes to life when you allow God to make you a personal partner with one of His warriors. What did Paul say? "I always pray with Joy because of your partnership in the Gospel." Who would call YOU a partner with them in the Gospel? See then it's not just pictures and missionary letters, and some detached general concern.

My wife and I have friends who are in various parts of the world representing Christ. We pray intensely for them. I think our kids grew up knowing the meaning of missions because missions had names for them. They were guests in our house. Those are the letters that we read in that stack of mail. We write letters to them.

See, each of us needs a deeply personal attachment to the cause of telling a dying world about Jesus. The Great Commission with a name on it. That's what happens when you partner with a missionary. That's what it means to know that you have someone like a Paul that's a missionary, that's on the frontlines. And if you are a Paul, if you are that missionary; you know what it means to have someone like those Philippian Christians. It's a source of strength when you need it most. I cannot tell you how much it has meant to us personally. In critical moments in ministry, in intense battles, in what seemed impossible situations, to know that there are people who said, "Ron, we pray for you every day." It is the greatest gift you could give me; it's the greatest gift you can give to anyone in God's work.

So, would you take some initiative to find a Paul that you could get involved with? God wants to do a divine matchup between a missionary who needs you and a missionary you need. You know what, we wake up to a part of the world when we have someone there that we love, when we have a soldier there. The Lord of the Harvest wants to give you a stake in some corner of this lost world because you've got a soldier of your own.

Numbers 15 , bible reading and devotionals.

MaxLucado.com: Crazy Idea?

My family consisted of me, two sisters and a brother.  We were siblings because we came from the same family.  I’m sure there have been times when they did not want to call me their brother, but they didn’t have that choice.  Nor do we.  When I see someone calling God Father and Jesus Savior,  I meet a brother or a sister—regardless of the name of their church or denomination.

What would happen—I know this is a crazy thought—but what would happen if all the churches agreed, on a given day, to change their names to simply “church?”   What if reference to any denomination were removed and we were all just Christians?  Then we Christians wouldn’t be known for what divides us; instead we’d be known for what unites us—our common Father.

Crazy idea?  Perhaps.  But I think God would like it.  It was his to begin with.

“Christ accepted you, so you should accept each other, which will bring glory to God.” (Rom. 15:7)

 From A Gentle Thunder

Numbers 15

Laws concerning Offerings

Then the Lord told Moses, 2 “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel.

“When you finally settle in the land I am giving you, 3 you will offer special gifts as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. These gifts may take the form of a burnt offering, a sacrifice to fulfill a vow, a voluntary offering, or an offering at any of your annual festivals, and they may be taken from your herds of cattle or your flocks of sheep and goats. 4 When you present these offerings, you must also give the Lord a grain offering of two quarts[a] of choice flour mixed with one quart[b] of olive oil. 5 For each lamb offered as a burnt offering or a special sacrifice, you must also present one quart of wine as a liquid offering.

6 “If the sacrifice is a ram, give a grain offering of four quarts[c] of choice flour mixed with a third of a gallon[d] of olive oil, 7 and give a third of a gallon of wine as a liquid offering. This will be a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

8 “When you present a young bull as a burnt offering or as a sacrifice to fulfill a vow or as a peace offering to the Lord, 9 you must also give a grain offering of six quarts[e] of choice flour mixed with two quarts[f] of olive oil, 10 and give two quarts of wine as a liquid offering. This will be a special gift, a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

11 “Each sacrifice of a bull, ram, lamb, or young goat should be prepared in this way. 12 Follow these instructions with each offering you present. 13 All of you native-born Israelites must follow these instructions when you offer a special gift as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 14 And if any foreigners visit you or live among you and want to present a special gift as a pleasing aroma to the Lord, they must follow these same procedures. 15 Native-born Israelites and foreigners are equal before the Lord and are subject to the same decrees. This is a permanent law for you, to be observed from generation to generation. 16 The same instructions and regulations will apply both to you and to the foreigners living among you.”

17 Then the Lord said to Moses, 18 “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel.

“When you arrive in the land where I am taking you, 19 and you eat the crops that grow there, you must set some aside as a sacred offering to the Lord. 20 Present a cake from the first of the flour you grind, and set it aside as a sacred offering, as you do with the first grain from the threshing floor. 21 Throughout the generations to come, you are to present a sacred offering to the Lord each year from the first of your ground flour.

22 “But suppose you unintentionally fail to carry out all these commands that the Lord has given you through Moses. 23 And suppose your descendants in the future fail to do everything the Lord has commanded through Moses. 24 If the mistake was made unintentionally, and the community was unaware of it, the whole community must present a young bull for a burnt offering as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. It must be offered along with its prescribed grain offering and liquid offering and with one male goat for a sin offering. 25 With it the priest will purify the whole community of Israel, making them right with the Lord,[g] and they will be forgiven. For it was an unintentional sin, and they have corrected it with their offerings to the Lord—the special gift and the sin offering. 26 The whole community of Israel will be forgiven, including the foreigners living among you, for all the people were involved in the sin.

27 “If one individual commits an unintentional sin, the guilty person must bring a one-year-old female goat for a sin offering. 28 The priest will sacrifice it to purify[h] the guilty person before the Lord, and that person will be forgiven. 29 These same instructions apply both to native-born Israelites and to the foreigners living among you.

30 “But those who brazenly violate the Lord’s will, whether native-born Israelites or foreigners, have blasphemed the Lord, and they must be cut off from the community. 31 Since they have treated the Lord’s word with contempt and deliberately disobeyed his command, they must be completely cut off and suffer the punishment for their guilt.”

Penalty for Breaking the Sabbath
32 One day while the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they discovered a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day. 33 The people who found him doing this took him before Moses, Aaron, and the rest of the community. 34 They held him in custody because they did not know what to do with him. 35 Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must be put to death! The whole community must stone him outside the camp.” 36 So the whole community took the man outside the camp and stoned him to death, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Tassels on Clothing
37 Then the Lord said to Moses, 38 “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel: Throughout the generations to come you must make tassels for the hems of your clothing and attach them with a blue cord. 39 When you see the tassels, you will remember and obey all the commands of the Lord instead of following your own desires and defiling yourselves, as you are prone to do. 40 The tassels will help you remember that you must obey all my commands and be holy to your God. 41 I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt that I might be your God. I am the Lord your God!”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, November 16, 2014

Read: Joshua 1:1-9

The Lord’s Charge to Joshua

After the death of Moses the Lord’s servant, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant. He said, 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Therefore, the time has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them. 3 I promise you what I promised Moses: ‘Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you— 4 from the Negev wilderness in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea[a] in the west, including all the land of the Hittites.’ 5 No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you.

6 “Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them. 7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. 8 Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. 9 This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Footnotes:

1:4 Hebrew the Great Sea.

Insight
Moses dishonored God (Num. 20:1-13) and was not allowed to enter the Promised Land (Deut. 3:23-29). Yet God permitted him to see it from afar (34:1-4). Moses was succeeded by Joshua, a man who was “full of the spirit of wisdom” (v.9). In Joshua 1:1-9, God assured Joshua of His presence, power, providence, provision, and protection—just as God had assured Moses and been with him.

Amazing Guide
By Poh Fang Chia

Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken. —Joshua 21:45

When actors and actresses make a movie, it’s the director who sees the “big picture” and the overall direction. Actress Marion Cotillard admits she didn’t understand everything the director was doing in one of her recent films. She said, “I found it very interesting to allow myself to be lost, because I knew that I had this amazing guide. . . . You abandon yourself for a story and a director that will make it all work.”

I think Joshua could have said something similar about the director of his life. In today’s Scripture passage, the newly commissioned leader of Israel is standing at the threshold of the Promised Land. More than 2 million Israelites are looking to him to lead them. How would he do it? God didn’t give him a detailed script, but He gave him the assurance that He would go with him.

God said, “I will be with you. I will not leave you” (Josh. 1:5). He commanded Joshua to study and practice everything written in His Word (vv.7-8), and He promised to be with Joshua wherever he went. Joshua responded with complete devotion and surrender to his amazing Guide, and “not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken” (21:45).

We too can abandon ourselves to our Director and rest in His faithfulness.

He leadeth me! O blessed thought!
O words with heavenly comfort fraught!
Whate’er I do, where’er I be,
Still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me. —Gilmore
Faith never knows where it is being led; it knows and loves the One who is leading. —Oswald Chambers

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, November 16, 2014

Still Human!

…whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. —1 Corinthians 10:31
In the Scriptures, the great miracle of the incarnation slips into the ordinary life of a child; the great miracle of the transfiguration fades into the demon-possessed valley below; the glory of the resurrection descends into a breakfast on the seashore. This is not an anticlimax, but a great revelation of God.

We have a tendency to look for wonder in our experience, and we mistake heroic actions for real heroes. It’s one thing to go through a crisis grandly, yet quite another to go through every day glorifying God when there is no witness, no limelight, and no one paying even the remotest attention to us. If we are not looking for halos, we at least want something that will make people say, “What a wonderful man of prayer he is!” or, “What a great woman of devotion she is!” If you are properly devoted to the Lord Jesus, you have reached the lofty height where no one would ever notice you personally. All that is noticed is the power of God coming through you all the time.

We want to be able to say, “Oh, I have had a wonderful call from God!” But to do even the most humbling tasks to the glory of God takes the Almighty God Incarnate working in us. To be utterly unnoticeable requires God’s Spirit in us making us absolutely humanly His. The true test of a saint’s life is not successfulness but faithfulness on the human level of life. We tend to set up success in Christian work as our purpose, but our purpose should be to display the glory of God in human life, to live a life “hidden with Christ in God” in our everyday human conditions (Colossians 3:3). Our human relationships are the very conditions in which the ideal life of God should be exhibited.

Mark 14:27-53 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Becoming Like Him

Healthy marriages have a sense of tenderness, an honesty, an ongoing communication. The same is true in our relationship with God. Sometimes we go to Him with our joys, sometimes our hurts, but we always go. And as we go, the more we go, the more we become like Him. Paul says we're being changed from "glory to glory" (2 Corinthians 3:18).
People who live long lives together eventually begin to sound alike, to talk alike, even think alike. As we walk with God, we take on His thoughts, His principles, His attitudes.  We take on His heart.
And just as in marriage, communion with God is no burden. Indeed, it's a delight.
The Psalmist says, "How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty.  My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord, my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God" (Ps. 84:1-2 NIV).
Nothing-nothing compares with it!
From The Lucado Inspirational Reader

Mark 14:27-53 New Living Translation (NLT)

Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial
27 On the way, Jesus told them, “All of you will desert me. For the Scriptures say,

‘God will strike[a] the Shepherd,
    and the sheep will be scattered.’
28 But after I am raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there.”

29 Peter said to him, “Even if everyone else deserts you, I never will.”

30 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, Peter—this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me.”

31 “No!” Peter declared emphatically. “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you!” And all the others vowed the same.

Jesus Prays in Gethsemane
32 They went to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and Jesus said, “Sit here while I go and pray.” 33 He took Peter, James, and John with him, and he became deeply troubled and distressed. 34 He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

35 He went on a little farther and fell to the ground. He prayed that, if it were possible, the awful hour awaiting him might pass him by. 36 “Abba, Father,”[b] he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

37 Then he returned and found the disciples asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? 38 Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

39 Then Jesus left them again and prayed the same prayer as before. 40 When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn’t keep their eyes open. And they didn’t know what to say.

41 When he returned to them the third time, he said, “Go ahead and sleep. Have your rest. But no—the time has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Up, let’s be going. Look, my betrayer is here!”

Jesus Is Betrayed and Arrested
43 And immediately, even as Jesus said this, Judas, one of the twelve disciples, arrived with a crowd of men armed with swords and clubs. They had been sent by the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders. 44 The traitor, Judas, had given them a prearranged signal: “You will know which one to arrest when I greet him with a kiss. Then you can take him away under guard.” 45 As soon as they arrived, Judas walked up to Jesus. “Rabbi!” he exclaimed, and gave him the kiss.

46 Then the others grabbed Jesus and arrested him. 47 But one of the men with Jesus pulled out his sword and struck the high priest’s slave, slashing off his ear.

48 Jesus asked them, “Am I some dangerous revolutionary, that you come with swords and clubs to arrest me? 49 Why didn’t you arrest me in the Temple? I was there among you teaching every day. But these things are happening to fulfill what the Scriptures say about me.”

50 Then all his disciples deserted him and ran away. 51 One young man following behind was clothed only in a long linen shirt. When the mob tried to grab him, 52 he slipped out of his shirt and ran away naked.

Jesus before the Council
53 They took Jesus to the high priest’s home where the leading priests, the elders, and the teachers of religious law had gathered.

Footnotes:

14:27 Greek I will strike. Zech 13:7.
14:36 Abba is an Aramaic term for “father.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, November 15, 2014


Read: Proverbs 30:1-9

The Sayings of Agur

The sayings of Agur son of Jakeh contain this message.[a]

I am weary, O God;
    I am weary and worn out, O God.[b]
2 I am too stupid to be human,
    and I lack common sense.
3 I have not mastered human wisdom,
    nor do I know the Holy One.
4 Who but God goes up to heaven and comes back down?
    Who holds the wind in his fists?
Who wraps up the oceans in his cloak?
    Who has created the whole wide world?
What is his name—and his son’s name?
    Tell me if you know!
5 Every word of God proves true.
    He is a shield to all who come to him for protection.
6 Do not add to his words,
    or he may rebuke you and expose you as a liar.
7 O God, I beg two favors from you;
    let me have them before I die.
8 First, help me never to tell a lie.
    Second, give me neither poverty nor riches!
    Give me just enough to satisfy my needs.
9 For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?”
    And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name.
Footnotes:

30:1a Or son of Jakeh from Massa; or son of Jakeh, an oracle.
30:1b The Hebrew can also be translated The man declares this to Ithiel, / to Ithiel and to Ucal.

Insight
The book of Proverbs is known for its practical wisdom. It provides insight into relationships, work ethic, wealth, education, and many other topics. Yet despite the many words of instruction intended to make us wise and help us to live rightly, there are reminders to be humble regardless of our level of wisdom or knowledge. Agur’s humility (30:2-3) came from recognizing who God is and who he is in relationship to God (vv.4-5). Proper recognition of God leads to an appropriate response to Him (vv.7-9).


Windfall
By Mart De Haan

Give us this day our daily bread. —Matthew 6:11

Upon winning $314 million in a 2002 lottery, a happy business owner expressed noble desires. He wanted to start a charitable foundation, put laid-off workers back on the job, and do nice things for his family. Already wealthy, he told reporters the big win wouldn’t change him.

A few years later, a follow-up article described a different outcome. Since winning the biggest of all lotteries, the man had run into legal problems, lost his personal reputation, and gambled away all of his money.

A thoughtful man by the name of Agur wrote words that anticipate such heartbreak. Brought low by the awareness of his own natural inclinations (Prov. 30:2-3), Agur saw the dangers of having too much or too little. So he prayed, “Give me neither poverty nor riches—feed me with the food allotted to me; lest I be full and deny You, and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or lest I be poor and steal, and profane the name of my God” (vv.8-9).

Agur saw the special challenges that come both with wealth and poverty, but also with our own tendencies. Each gives us reason for caution. Together they show our need for the One who taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Lord, as we seek Your face today to ask for what we
need, help us to keep in mind that You are as wise in
what You don’t give us as what You do give us. So
often, You rescue us from our own sinful tendencies. Thank You.
Discontentment makes rich people poor, while contentment makes poor people rich.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, November 15, 2014

“What Is That to You?”

Peter…said to Jesus, "But Lord, what about this man?" Jesus said to him, "…what is that to you? You follow Me." —John 21:21-22
One of the hardest lessons to learn comes from our stubborn refusal to refrain from interfering in other people’s lives. It takes a long time to realize the danger of being an amateur providence, that is, interfering with God’s plan for others. You see someone suffering and say, “He will not suffer, and I will make sure that he doesn’t.” You put your hand right in front of God’s permissive will to stop it, and then God says, “What is that to you?” Is there stagnation in your spiritual life? Don’t allow it to continue, but get into God’s presence and find out the reason for it. You will possibly find it is because you have been interfering in the life of another— proposing things you had no right to propose, or advising when you had no right to advise. When you do have to give advice to another person, God will advise through you with the direct understanding of His Spirit. Your part is to maintain the right relationship with God so that His discernment can come through you continually for the purpose of blessing someone else.

Most of us live only within the level of consciousness— consciously serving and consciously devoted to God. This shows immaturity and the fact that we’re not yet living the real Christian life. Maturity is produced in the life of a child of God on the unconscious level, until we become so totally surrendered to God that we are not even aware of being used by Him. When we are consciously aware of being used as broken bread and poured-out wine, we have yet another level to reach— a level where all awareness of ourselves and of what God is doing through us is completely eliminated. A saint is never consciously a saint— a saint is consciously dependent on God.

Numbers 14 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Cry Out to Jesus

My friend Jim has battled a muscular condition much of his adult life. The atrophy slurs his speech and impairs his walk. But it doesn't diminish his faith or erase his smile.
One Sunday we asked church members to park in the back lot and leave the closest spots for guests. As I arrived, I saw Jim. He had parked in the distant corner and was walking toward the sanctuary. His life is an example. I pray that God will heal Jim's body. But until he does, God is using Jim to inspire people like me.
God will do the same with you. He will use your struggle to change others. Or-he may use your struggle to change you! Disease cannot destroy us. And death has lost its sting. Cry out to Jesus in the power of a simple prayer! He will heal you-instantly or gradually or for sure, ultimately!
From Before Amen

Numbers 14

The People Rebel

Then the whole community began weeping aloud, and they cried all night. 2 Their voices rose in a great chorus of protest against Moses and Aaron. “If only we had died in Egypt, or even here in the wilderness!” they complained. 3 “Why is the Lord taking us to this country only to have us die in battle? Our wives and our little ones will be carried off as plunder! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?” 4 Then they plotted among themselves, “Let’s choose a new leader and go back to Egypt!”

5 Then Moses and Aaron fell face down on the ground before the whole community of Israel. 6 Two of the men who had explored the land, Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, tore their clothing. 7 They said to all the people of Israel, “The land we traveled through and explored is a wonderful land! 8 And if the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us safely into that land and give it to us. It is a rich land flowing with milk and honey. 9 Do not rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land. They are only helpless prey to us! They have no protection, but the Lord is with us! Don’t be afraid of them!”

10 But the whole community began to talk about stoning Joshua and Caleb. Then the glorious presence of the Lord appeared to all the Israelites at the Tabernacle.[f] 11 And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? Will they never believe me, even after all the miraculous signs I have done among them? 12 I will disown them and destroy them with a plague. Then I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they are!”

Moses Intercedes for the People
13 But Moses objected. “What will the Egyptians think when they hear about it?” he asked the Lord. “They know full well the power you displayed in rescuing your people from Egypt. 14 Now if you destroy them, the Egyptians will send a report to the inhabitants of this land, who have already heard that you live among your people. They know, Lord, that you have appeared to your people face to face and that your pillar of cloud hovers over them. They know that you go before them in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. 15 Now if you slaughter all these people with a single blow, the nations that have heard of your fame will say, 16 ‘The Lord was not able to bring them into the land he swore to give them, so he killed them in the wilderness.’

17 “Please, Lord, prove that your power is as great as you have claimed. For you said, 18 ‘The Lord is slow to anger and filled with unfailing love, forgiving every kind of sin and rebellion. But he does not excuse the guilty. He lays the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations.’ 19 In keeping with your magnificent, unfailing love, please pardon the sins of this people, just as you have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt.”

20 Then the Lord said, “I will pardon them as you have requested. 21 But as surely as I live, and as surely as the earth is filled with the Lord’s glory, 22 not one of these people will ever enter that land. They have all seen my glorious presence and the miraculous signs I performed both in Egypt and in the wilderness, but again and again they have tested me by refusing to listen to my voice. 23 They will never even see the land I swore to give their ancestors. None of those who have treated me with contempt will ever see it. 24 But my servant Caleb has a different attitude than the others have. He has remained loyal to me, so I will bring him into the land he explored. His descendants will possess their full share of that land. 25 Now turn around, and don’t go on toward the land where the Amalekites and Canaanites live. Tomorrow you must set out for the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea.[g]”

The Lord Punishes the Israelites
26 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 27 “How long must I put up with this wicked community and its complaints about me? Yes, I have heard the complaints the Israelites are making against me. 28 Now tell them this: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very things I heard you say. 29 You will all drop dead in this wilderness! Because you complained against me, every one of you who is twenty years old or older and was included in the registration will die. 30 You will not enter and occupy the land I swore to give you. The only exceptions will be Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

31 “‘You said your children would be carried off as plunder. Well, I will bring them safely into the land, and they will enjoy what you have despised. 32 But as for you, you will drop dead in this wilderness. 33 And your children will be like shepherds, wandering in the wilderness for forty years. In this way, they will pay for your faithlessness, until the last of you lies dead in the wilderness.

34 “‘Because your men explored the land for forty days, you must wander in the wilderness for forty years—a year for each day, suffering the consequences of your sins. Then you will discover what it is like to have me for an enemy.’ 35 I, the Lord, have spoken! I will certainly do these things to every member of the community who has conspired against me. They will be destroyed here in this wilderness, and here they will die!”

36 The ten men Moses had sent to explore the land—the ones who incited rebellion against the Lord with their bad report— 37 were struck dead with a plague before the Lord. 38 Of the twelve who had explored the land, only Joshua and Caleb remained alive.

39 When Moses reported the Lord’s words to all the Israelites, the people were filled with grief. 40 Then they got up early the next morning and went to the top of the range of hills. “Let’s go,” they said. “We realize that we have sinned, but now we are ready to enter the land the Lord has promised us.”

41 But Moses said, “Why are you now disobeying the Lord’s orders to return to the wilderness? It won’t work. 42 Do not go up into the land now. You will only be crushed by your enemies because the Lord is not with you. 43 When you face the Amalekites and Canaanites in battle, you will be slaughtered. The Lord will abandon you because you have abandoned the Lord.”

44 But the people defiantly pushed ahead toward the hill country, even though neither Moses nor the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant left the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in those hills came down and attacked them and chased them back as far as Hormah.

14:10 Hebrew the Tent of Meeting.
14:25 Hebrew sea of reeds.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, November 14, 2014

Read: Lamentations 3:1-6, 16-25

Hope in the Lord’s Faithfulness

I am the one who has seen the afflictions
    that come from the rod of the Lord’s anger.
2 He has led me into darkness,
    shutting out all light.
3 He has turned his hand against me
    again and again, all day long.
4 He has made my skin and flesh grow old.
    He has broken my bones.
5 He has besieged and surrounded me
    with anguish and distress.
6 He has buried me in a dark place,
    like those long dead.

Insight
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia says: “Jeremiah was called by the Lord to the office of a prophet while still a youth (1:6) about 20 years of age. . . . At first he probably lived in Anathoth, and put in his appearance publicly in Jerusalem only on the occasion of the great festivals; later he lived in Jerusalem, and was there during the terrible times of the siege and the destruction of the city.”

Heartbreak And Hope
By David C. McCasland

The Lord is good to those who wait for Him. —Lamentations 3:25

When American country singer George Jones died at the age of 81, his fans remembered his remarkable voice and his hard life and personal struggles. While many of his songs reflected his own despair and longing, it was the way he sang them that touched people deeply. Chicago Tribune music critic Greg Kot said, “His voice was made for conveying heartbreak.”

The book of Lamentations records Jeremiah’s anguish over the nation of Judah’s stubborn refusal to follow God. Often called “the weeping prophet,” he witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem and saw his people carried into captivity. He wandered the streets of the city, overwhelmed by grief (Lam. 1:1-5).

Yet, in Jeremiah’s darkest hour, he said, “This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness” (3:21-23).

Whether we suffer for our own choices or from those of others, despair may threaten to overwhelm us. When all seems lost, we can cling to the Lord’s faithfulness. “‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul. ‘Therefore I hope in Him!’” (v.24).

I’m thankful for Your faithfulness, Father, even
in the times when I am unfaithful. Help me to
remember, like Jeremiah, that my hope comes
from You, not from my circumstances.
The anchor of God’s faithfulness holds firm in the strongest storms.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, November 14, 2014

Discovering Divine Design

As for me, being on the way, the Lord led me… —Genesis 24:27

We should be so one with God that we don’t need to ask continually for guidance. Sanctification means that we are made the children of God. A child’s life is normally obedient, until he chooses disobedience. But as soon as he chooses to disobey, an inherent inner conflict is produced. On the spiritual level, inner conflict is the warning of the Spirit of God. When He warns us in this way, we must stop at once and be renewed in the spirit of our mind to discern God’s will (see Romans 12:2). If we are born again by the Spirit of God, our devotion to Him is hindered, or even stopped, by continually asking Him to guide us here and there. “…the Lord led me…” and on looking back we see the presence of an amazing design. If we are born of God we will see His guiding hand and give Him the credit.

We can all see God in exceptional things, but it requires the growth of spiritual discipline to see God in every detail. Never believe that the so-called random events of life are anything less than God’s appointed order. Be ready to discover His divine designs anywhere and everywhere.

Beware of being obsessed with consistency to your own convictions instead of being devoted to God. If you are a saint and say, “I will never do this or that,” in all probability this will be exactly what God will require of you. There was never a more inconsistent being on this earth than our Lord, but He was never inconsistent with His Father. The important consistency in a saint is not to a principle but to the divine life. It is the divine life that continually makes more and more discoveries about the divine mind. It is easier to be an excessive fanatic than it is to be consistently faithful, because God causes an amazing humbling of our religious conceit when we are faithful to Him.

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, November 14, 2014

Timing is Everything - #7265

Hey I love Christmas decorations and I love Christmas music and I love Christmas spirit! Not so much in October. There's actually something irritating about Christmas celebration long before Thanksgiving. So, when the decorations go up, and the advertisements start about, oh I don't know...eight weeks before Christmas, well, in our family we just kind of ignore it all. I came in awhile back, and I said, "Hey, the Thanksgiving lights are up at the mall!" Well good night it's way too early for Christmas right? I'm going to die hard on this thing. Listen, Christmas is beautiful, my favorite time of year. But it's beautiful in its proper season. It just doesn't feel right when it comes too early. It's like delivering the punch line of a joke. Timing is everything.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Timing is Everything."

Our word for today from the Word of God, we're in Ecclesiastes 3, and I'll begin reading at verse 1. "There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven." Well, now guess who decides what time it is? Chapter 3, verse 11, tells us "God has made everything beautiful in its time." Sounds like Christmas and celebrating Christmas; it's beautiful in its time.

He's doing that for you right now. With that answer, you know, that you've been waiting for. But He's not going to get there early and He won't get there late. And have you noticed that God's timing is almost always longer than ours? Hey I think it should be now, but the perfect timing – God's timing – when everything will be ready for you and you'll be ready for it, that always comes later than when I think it should be.

Like a pastor who was found by his secretary pacing back and forth in his study. She said, "Pastor, what's wrong?" He said, "well I'm in a hurry, and God isn't." well that's like most of us. But listen, God's timing is always right.

I guess an expectant mother would maybe wish that she didn't have to be pregnant for nine months, you know, six months might be okay. And as she gets near those closing months of her pregnancy, it gets a little more burdensome. But you don't want that baby to come too early, even if you're tired of waiting, and if you're tired of carrying the burden. You want preemie or full-term?

God is waiting to give you His answer because a premature answer wouldn't survive. Wouldn't be healthy. Why is He waiting? Well, maybe He's preparing you for a person, or maybe He's preparing a person for you and one of you isn't ready yet. Maybe He's preparing you for a position, or a position for you, or a place for you. But something isn't ready yet. Maybe He is in the process of building you into some powerful, Christ-likeness, but it's taking time for those traits to develop.

But see, because you don't know what His outcome is going to be, your uncertainty is causing you to be dependent, and your dependency gives you great faith and draws you closer to God. It's the unknowns that draw us the closest to Him. A quick answer would stop that process of what you're becoming right now because you're having to wait. It isn't time yet. He'll make it beautiful in its time. So don't lose hope because you're waiting! A postponed answer is not a canceled answer or a denied answer. God is waiting right now for the season that's best for you, and for the season that will best display His love and His power. Your answer is coming right on time.

Christmas is beautiful in its season, and so are the answers and interventions of God in your life. But timing? Yeah, timing is everything.

Numbers 13, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: He Will Heal You

Are you waiting for Jesus to heal you?  Take hope from Jesus' response to the blind man in Mark 10:45-47.
"Have mercy on us, O Lord!" the blind man cried. Everyone else kept going. Jesus froze. Something caught his attention. Interrupted his journey. Raising his hand to stop the people, lifting a finger to his lips for them to be quiet. What was it? What did Jesus hear?
A prayer. An unembellished appeal for help floating on winds of faith and landing against his ear. Jesus heard the words and stopped. He still does. And he still asks, "What do you want Me to do for you?"
Before amen-comes the power of a simple prayer! And Jesus' heart went out to the blind men. He touched their eyes. Jesus moved in where others had stepped away. He healed them. At the gateway to heaven, God's children will once again be whole!
From Before Amen

Numbers 13

Twelve Scouts Explore Canaan

The Lord now said to Moses, 2 “Send out men to explore the land of Canaan, the land I am giving to the Israelites. Send one leader from each of the twelve ancestral tribes.” 3 So Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He sent out twelve men, all tribal leaders of Israel, from their camp in the wilderness of Paran. 4 These were the tribes and the names of their leaders:

Tribe Leader
Reuben Shammua son of Zaccur
5 Simeon Shaphat son of Hori
6 Judah Caleb son of Jephunneh
7 Issachar Igal son of Joseph
8 Ephraim Hoshea son of Nun
9 Benjamin Palti son of Raphu
10 Zebulun Gaddiel son of Sodi
11 Manasseh son of Joseph Gaddi son of Susi
12 Dan Ammiel son of Gemalli
13 Asher Sethur son of Michael
14 Naphtali Nahbi son of Vophsi
15 Gad Geuel son of Maki
16 These are the names of the men Moses sent out to explore the land. (Moses called Hoshea son of Nun by the name Joshua.)

17 Moses gave the men these instructions as he sent them out to explore the land: “Go north through the Negev into the hill country. 18 See what the land is like, and find out whether the people living there are strong or weak, few or many. 19 See what kind of land they live in. Is it good or bad? Do their towns have walls, or are they unprotected like open camps? 20 Is the soil fertile or poor? Are there many trees? Do your best to bring back samples of the crops you see.” (It happened to be the season for harvesting the first ripe grapes.)

21 So they went up and explored the land from the wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, near Lebo-hamath. 22 Going north, they passed through the Negev and arrived at Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai—all descendants of Anak—lived. (The ancient town of Hebron was founded seven years before the Egyptian city of Zoan.) 23 When they came to the valley of Eshcol, they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes so large that it took two of them to carry it on a pole between them! They also brought back samples of the pomegranates and figs. 24 That place was called the valley of Eshcol (which means “cluster”), because of the cluster of grapes the Israelite men cut there.

The Scouting Report
25 After exploring the land for forty days, the men returned 26 to Moses, Aaron, and the whole community of Israel at Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran. They reported to the whole community what they had seen and showed them the fruit they had taken from the land. 27 This was their report to Moses: “We entered the land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country—a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is the kind of fruit it produces. 28 But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak! 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev, and the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country. The Canaanites live along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea[d] and along the Jordan Valley.”

30 But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. “Let’s go at once to take the land,” he said. “We can certainly conquer it!”

31 But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed. “We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than we are!” 32 So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites: “The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there. All the people we saw were huge. 33 We even saw giants[e] there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!”


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, November 13, 2014

Read: Galatians 4:1-7

Think of it this way. If a father dies and leaves an inheritance for his young children, those children are not much better off than slaves until they grow up, even though they actually own everything their father had. 2 They have to obey their guardians until they reach whatever age their father set. 3 And that’s the way it was with us before Christ came. We were like children; we were slaves to the basic spiritual principles[a] of this world.

4 But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. 5 God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.[b] 6 And because we[c] are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”[d] 7 Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child.[e] And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.

Footnotes:

4:3 Or powers; also in 4:9.
4:5 Greek sons; also in 4:6.
4:6a Greek you.
4:6b Abba is an Aramaic term for “father.”
4:7 Greek son; also in 4:7b.

Insight
In today’s passage, Paul explains that our salvation is the work of our triune God. First, “God sent forth His Son” (v.4). Second, Jesus came to accomplish our redemption—setting us free from the bondage of the law—and to secure our adoption, making us sons of God and enabling us to enjoy the full privileges as God’s children (v.5). Third, God gave us the Holy Spirit—“the Spirit of His Son,” who endears and enables us to cry out “Abba, Father!” (v.6). The work all three persons of the Holy Trinity did to secure our salvation is also explained by Paul in Ephesians 1:3-14 and by Peter in 1 Peter 1:2. Jesus spoke of this as well (John 14:16-18,23-26; 15:26).

Creeping Christmas?
By Bill Crowder

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! —2 Corinthians 9:15

I love Christmas. The celebration of the birth of Christ and the beauty and wonder of the season make it “the most wonderful time of the year” for me. In recent years, however, the season has been accompanied by a growing irritation. Every year “Christmas stuff” comes out earlier and earlier—creeping all the way back to early fall.

Christmas used to be limited to December, but now we find radio stations playing Christmas music in early November. Stores start advertising Christmas specials in October, and Christmas candy appears in late September. If we’re not careful, this growing deluge can numb us—even sour us to what should be a season of gratitude and awe.

When that irritation begins to rise in my spirit, I try to do one thing: Remember. I remind myself what Christmas means, who Jesus is, and why He came. I remember the love and grace of a forgiving God who sent us rescue in the Person of His Son. I remember that, ultimately, only one gift really matters—God’s “indescribable gift!” (2 Cor. 9:15). I remember that the salvation Christ came to provide is both the gift and the Giver all wrapped up in one.

Jesus is our life all year long, and He is the greatest wonder. “O come, let us adore Him!”

Living God, I thank You for the unspeakable gift
of Your Son. Draw my heart to Your own, that my
worship to and gratitude for Your Son will never be
diminished by the distractions of the world around me.
Jesus is our life throughout the year.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, November 13, 2014

Faith or Experience?

…the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. —Galatians 2:20

We should battle through our moods, feelings, and emotions into absolute devotion to the Lord Jesus. We must break out of our own little world of experience into abandoned devotion to Him. Think who the New Testament says Jesus Christ is, and then think of the despicable meagerness of the miserable faith we exhibit by saying, “I haven’t had this experience or that experience”! Think what faith in Jesus Christ claims and provides— He can present us faultless before the throne of God, inexpressibly pure, absolutely righteous, and profoundly justified. Stand in absolute adoring faith “in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God— and righteousness and sanctification and redemption…” (1 Corinthians 1:30). How dare we talk of making a sacrifice for the Son of God! We are saved from hell and total destruction, and then we talk about making sacrifices!

We must continually focus and firmly place our faith in Jesus Christ— not a “prayer meeting” Jesus Christ, or a “book” Jesus Christ, but the New Testament Jesus Christ, who is God Incarnate, and who ought to strike us dead at His feet. Our faith must be in the One from whom our salvation springs. Jesus Christ wants our absolute, unrestrained devotion to Himself. We can never experience Jesus Christ, or selfishly bind Him in the confines of our own hearts. Our faith must be built on strong determined confidence in Him.

It is because of our trusting in experience that we see the steadfast impatience of the Holy Spirit against unbelief. All of our fears are sinful, and we create our own fears by refusing to nourish ourselves in our faith. How can anyone who is identified with Jesus Christ suffer from doubt or fear! Our lives should be an absolute hymn of praise resulting from perfect, irrepressible, triumphant belief.


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, November 13, 2014

Super Glue - #7264

Our outreach to Native Americans has only increased my wife's appreciation for Indian jewelry. She can't afford a lot, but she can look a lot. One night I was busily involved in a conversation and she was over in a corner, quietly working on some jewelry. Actually she was painstakingly trying to glue some tiny little pieces of turquoise into this bracket thing. And then I heard, "Oh-oh!" I said, "What happened?" She said, "I got some glue on my finger. I said, "Well, okay." She said, "It's Super Glue!" And instantly her thumb and her forefinger had become part of the bracelet. "Oh, no! The ads are right! That stuff bonds instantly; it bonds permanently!" Well we had our own little E.R. there and we spent probably an hour trying to unglue my wife. We tried hot water, home remedies, carefully pealing. It was painful, but well, finally we were able to give her back her thumb and finger.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Super Glue."

Now our word for today from the Word of God, we're in 1 Corinthians 6 and I'll begin reading in verse 16. "Do you not know that He who unites himself with a prostitute, he is one with her in body. For it is said that two will become one flesh. But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with Him in spirit. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body. But he who sins sexually sins against his own body."

Now these are the words coming from the Inventor of sex. And it reveals something that many people just don't realize about sex until it's too late. Sex is emotional and spiritual super glue; it deeply bonds people to each other, whether they're aware of it or not. Whether they intend for it to or not. And like my wife with her bracelet, you will bond even if you never meant to. And like my wife, it's painful to separate when you've done something that permanently bonds.

This "one flesh," well that's quoted from God when it says that about a married couple. "Let no man separate" that couple He says. See, sex is designed by the Creator to be inside a life-long love covenant called marriage. It's designed to permanently bond people. It's given that kind of power to do that. But when you do it outside the marriage covenant, it still has its' bonding power. It deeply attaches you soul to soul with your sexual partner. Even if it's the totally meaningless sex with a prostitute that the Bible mentions here. You can't stop the bonding.

Now, tape bonds to whatever you stick it on. But if you stick it to different surfaces over and over, you know eventually it won't stick any more. See people don't realize that every time they get really involved physically with someone they're giving away more of their ability to have a solid bond; their ability to give and receive lifetime love.

Then in the one relationship they really want to work, the bonding is much weaker than God ever created it to be. And when you try to end a relationship that's been heavily physical, it's like trying to separate two pieces of paper that have been glued together. It rips both people, because two people who have been sexually committed were never meant to separate.

Now, if you asked my wife, she would say, "Be very, very careful with Super Glue or you will end up bonded when you really shouldn't be. And it's going to hurt a lot to separate what's bonded." Well that's really what your Creator's trying to tell you about sex. Keep it special. Keep it saved for your lifetime partner. Don't push the limits physically. Stay within the bonds of marriage. "Marriage is to be honored by all and the marriage bed kept pure", Hebrews 13:4.

You say, "Ron it's a little late for me." If you've already gone beyond God's boundaries, I have great news for you. Jesus died for that sin. Come to His cross, hear His promise. This is right out of His Word, "I will remember your sins no more." That forgiving, that cleansing, that new start, that fresh new life, begins when you come to His cross and say, "Jesus, it was for my sin you died." If you've never had that moment, that's what our website's all about. It's to help you begin with Him. Experience His love for yourself.

I would invite you to come to ANewStory.com today. Because the power of Jesus can begin to restore your emotional and spiritual virginity. Whatever you've done before today doesn't ever have to matter again, because God has forgiven you.