Max Lucado Daily: OUTLIVE YOUR LIFE
Many years ago I attended an event where I heard a woman discuss Matthew 25, particularly the passage where Jesus says, “I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink..” The audience was chatty and restless. Yet when she entered the room, all stirring stopped.
She wore her characteristic white Indian sari with a blue border that represented the Missionaries of Charity, the order she had founded in 1950. Her years had bent her already small frame. But there was nothing small about Mother Teresa’s presence. “Give me your unborn children,” she offered. “Don’t abort them. If you cannot raise them, I will. They are precious to God.” I wonder if God creates people like Mother Teresa so he can prove his point– See, you can do something today that will outlive your life.
From God is With You Every Day
Psalm 88
A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah. For the director of music. According to mahalath leannoth.[f] A maskil[g] of Heman the Ezrahite.
1 Lord, you are the God who saves me;
day and night I cry out to you.
2 May my prayer come before you;
turn your ear to my cry.
3 I am overwhelmed with troubles
and my life draws near to death.
4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
I am like one without strength.
5 I am set apart with the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
who are cut off from your care.
6 You have put me in the lowest pit,
in the darkest depths.
7 Your wrath lies heavily on me;
you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.[h]
8 You have taken from me my closest friends
and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined and cannot escape;
9 my eyes are dim with grief.
I call to you, Lord, every day;
I spread out my hands to you.
10 Do you show your wonders to the dead?
Do their spirits rise up and praise you?
11 Is your love declared in the grave,
your faithfulness in Destruction[i]?
12 Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?
13 But I cry to you for help, Lord;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 Why, Lord, do you reject me
and hide your face from me?
15 From my youth I have suffered and been close to death;
I have borne your terrors and am in despair.
16 Your wrath has swept over me;
your terrors have destroyed me.
17 All day long they surround me like a flood;
they have completely engulfed me.
18 You have taken from me friend and neighbor—
darkness is my closest friend.
Footnotes:
Psalm 88:1 In Hebrew texts 88:1-18 is numbered 88:2-19.
Psalm 88:1 Title: Possibly a tune, “The Suffering of Affliction”
Psalm 88:1 Title: Probably a literary or musical term
Psalm 88:7 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verse 10.
Psalm 88:11 Hebrew Abaddon
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Read: Genesis 12:1–4; 17:1–2
The Call of Abram
The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”
4 So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.
Genesis 17:1-2
Abram Is Named Abraham
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am El-Shaddai—‘God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. 2 I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants.”
INSIGHT:
Sometimes we read past the ages of individuals listed in the Bible, unless of course they are shocking in some way (such as Methuselah, who was 969 years old when he died [Gen. 5:27]). When only a few details are recorded, they should be given special attention. We can ask, Why is this here? Abraham’s age in verse four of today’s reading is one such detail. Abraham was 75 when he answered the call to follow God. He grew up in an idolatrous society and a pagan home (Josh. 24:2). Perhaps the reason his age is listed is to show that God calls each person when and how He wills. To us it makes more sense to call a person to travel a great distance and start a large family when he or she is young. But the timing is God’s, even if it doesn’t make sense to us.
God of the Ordinary
By Joe Stowell
He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. 1 Corinthians 10:13
Hearing testimonies about how God did something spectacular in someone else’s life can challenge us. While we may rejoice to hear about answers to prayer, we may also wonder why God hasn’t done anything amazing for us lately.
It’s easy to think that if God showed up in astonishing ways for us like He did for Abraham, then we would be more inspired to be faithful servants of God. But then we remember that God showed up for Abraham every 12 to 14 years, and most of Abraham’s journey was rather ordinary (see Gen. 12:1–4; 15:1–6; 16:16–17:12).
Thank God for the amazing things He has done for us.
God’s work is usually done behind the scenes in the ordinary things of life. As 1 Corinthians 10 says, “He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out.” Every day God is busy shielding us from devastating onslaughts of Satan that would otherwise leave us helplessly defeated. And when temptation hits, He is making exit ramps for us so we can escape.
When we put our head on the pillow at night, we should pause to thank God for the amazing things He has done for us that day in the midst of our ordinary lives. So, instead of longing for Him to do something spectacular for you, thank Him! He already has.
Lord, help me to be constantly aware that Your power and presence are with me even in the ordinary times in my life. Thank You for Your amazing work on my behalf that I know nothing about.
God is always in control behind the scenes, even on “ordinary” days.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Get Moving! (1)
Abide in Me… —John 15:4
In the matter of determination. The Spirit of Jesus is put into me by way of the atonement by the Cross of Christ. I then have to build my thinking patiently to bring it into perfect harmony with my Lord. God will not make me think like Jesus— I have to do it myself. I have to bring “every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). “Abide in Me”— in intellectual matters, in money matters, in every one of the matters that make human life what it is. Our lives are not made up of only one neatly confined area.
Am I preventing God from doing things in my circumstances by saying that it will only serve to hinder my fellowship with Him? How irrelevant and disrespectful that is! It does not matter what my circumstances are. I can be as much assured of abiding in Jesus in any one of them as I am in any prayer meeting. It is unnecessary to change and arrange my circumstances myself. Our Lord’s inner abiding was pure and unblemished. He was at home with God wherever His body was. He never chose His own circumstances, but was meek, submitting to His Father’s plans and directions for Him. Just think of how amazingly relaxed our Lord’s life was! But we tend to keep God at a fever pitch in our lives. We have none of the serenity of the life which is “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3).
Think of the things that take you out of the position of abiding in Christ. You say, “Yes, Lord, just a minute— I still have this to do. Yes, I will abide as soon as this is finished, or as soon as this week is over. It will be all right, Lord. I will abide then.” Get moving— begin to abide now. In the initial stages it will be a continual effort to abide, but as you continue, it will become so much a part of your life that you will abide in Him without any conscious effort. Make the determination to abide in Jesus wherever you are now or wherever you may be placed in the future.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are in danger of being stern where God is tender, and of being tender where God is stern. The Love of God—The Message of Invincible Consolation, 673 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Making Sure You're Secure - #7677
"Office of Homeland Security" – I suppose there are some younger people that didn't know that wasn't always part of the United States government. It's a pretty new thing. The fact that we have, and that we need, an Office of Homeland Security pretty much tells the story of the kind of world we're in right now. I mean, we've got enhanced security at our airports, sometimes tours are curtailed at many public utilities, your bags get searched at sporting events, and business is booming at security companies.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Making Sure You're Secure."
Security is on a lot of our minds these days. We feel a lot more vulnerable, probably, than we ever have. I mean, when we think about security for here and now. Unfortunately, we tend to neglect the largest security concerns of all – our security beyond this life, beyond our last heartbeat. It's eternally important to know that you're safe then. Whether it's the awful toll we've seen in terrorist attacks, or just the death of someone in our personal world, there are constant reminders that eternity can come so close, so quickly.
I once heard about a medieval king who was on his deathbed. He called for the court jester; they called him the court fool back then. He wanted him to come and make him feel better. At one point, the king said, "Fool, I am going on a long journey from which I will not return." The court fool asked if the king had made preparations for his journey, to which the king answered 'no'. The jester answered, "Then, sire, I fear that you are a greater fool than I."
That sounds like a conversation God had with a very rich man in our word for today from the Word of God in Luke 12, beginning in verse 19. The man is totally involved in managing his success, protecting his financial security. He says, "I'll say to myself, 'You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink, and be merry.' But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then you will get what you have prepared for yourself'." Tragically, this man who had made such elaborate preparations for his earth-security had made no preparations for eternity.
That man made the mistake of thinking he had many years – a mistake many have made. Frankly, we never know how much longer we have. And you're not secure until you know that you're ready for eternity...which you can be today. 1 John 5, beginning in verse 11, tells us that "God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know you have eternal life." Now that is security! Knowing for sure. Knowing right now that when you die you are going to heaven.
And it all depends on whether you have Jesus. Why? Because He's the One, the only One, who died to remove what will keep you out of heaven – your sin. It can't be repaid by doing good. There's a death penalty for the sin. It can only be erased by putting your trust in the One who took your death penalty for you. When you commit yourself to Jesus, what's between you and God is gone and you "have eternal life"!
That is a choice you can make this very day, right where you are. Don't you want to belong to this Jesus? You can from this day on. You just tell Him you're putting your total trust in Him, you're done running your life. You are His, beginning this day, based on His dying for you.
If you'll go to our website as soon as you possibly can today, I'd love to show you there how to be sure you belong to Jesus Christ. Meet me at ANewStory.com.
With eternity so close, does it make any sense to wait? Ultimate security is knowing you're going to heaven, no matter what happens here. Jesus made His move to get you to heaven when He died on the cross for you. It's your move now.
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Monday, June 13, 2016
Psalm 87, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: WHAT WILL JESUS DO WITH YOU?
Jesus claimed to be able to forgive sins—a privilege only God can exercise! In Matthew 12:6-42, Jesus claimed to be greater than Jonah, Solomon, Jacob, and even Abraham! He commanded people to pray in his name. He claimed that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to him. Does a decent fellow say things like this? No, but a demented fool does.
But honestly, could a madman do what Jesus did? People didn’t just respect Jesus. They liked him; they left their homes and businesses and followed him. Men and women have tethered their hope to his life; passionate men like John, careful men like Thomas, and impulsive people like Peter. Jesus transformed common dockworkers and net casters into the authors of history’s greatest book and founders of its greatest movement. What will Jesus do with you?
From God is With You Every Day
Psalm 87
Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm. A song.
1 He has founded his city on the holy mountain.
2 The Lord loves the gates of Zion
more than all the other dwellings of Jacob.
3 Glorious things are said of you,
city of God:[a]
4 “I will record Rahab[b] and Babylon
among those who acknowledge me—
Philistia too, and Tyre, along with Cush[c]—
and will say, ‘This one was born in Zion.’”[d]
5 Indeed, of Zion it will be said,
“This one and that one were born in her,
and the Most High himself will establish her.”
6 The Lord will write in the register of the peoples:
“This one was born in Zion.”
7 As they make music they will sing,
“All my fountains are in you.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, June 13, 2016
Read: Psalm 141
A psalm of David.
1 O Lord, I am calling to you. Please hurry!
Listen when I cry to you for help!
2 Accept my prayer as incense offered to you,
and my upraised hands as an evening offering.
3 Take control of what I say, O Lord,
and guard my lips.
4 Don’t let me drift toward evil
or take part in acts of wickedness.
Don’t let me share in the delicacies
of those who do wrong.
5 Let the godly strike me!
It will be a kindness!
If they correct me, it is soothing medicine.
Don’t let me refuse it.
But I pray constantly
against the wicked and their deeds.
6 When their leaders are thrown down from a cliff,
the wicked will listen to my words and find them true.
7 Like rocks brought up by a plow,
the bones of the wicked will lie scattered without burial.[a]
8 I look to you for help, O Sovereign Lord.
You are my refuge; don’t let them kill me.
9 Keep me from the traps they have set for me,
from the snares of those who do wrong.
10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets,
but let me escape.
Footnotes:
141:7 Hebrew our bones will be scattered at the mouth of Sheol.
NSIGHT:
This psalm is filled with meaningful prayers for protection and can be an encouragement for all of us. Because we live in a world cursed by sin, we need prayer for protection from the damage we can inflict on others in attitude, speech, and behavior (vv. 3–4) as well as protection from those who plan evil against us (vv. 9-10).
Repeat After Me
By Anne Cetas
Take control of what I say, O Lord, and guard my lips. Psalm 141:3 (nlt)
When Rebecca stood on stage to speak at a conference, her first sentence into the microphone echoed around the room. It was a bit unsettling for her to hear her own words come back at her, and she had to adjust to the faulty sound system and try to ignore the echo of every word she spoke.
Imagine what it would be like to hear everything we say repeated! It wouldn’t be so bad to hear ourselves repeat "I love you" or "I was wrong" or “Thank You, Lord” or "I'm praying for you." But not all of our words are beautiful or gentle or kind. What about those angry outbursts or demeaning comments that no one wants to hear once, let alone twice—those words that we would really rather take back?
He forgives us when we fail.
Like the psalmist David, we long to have the Lord’s control over our words. He prayed, "Take control of what I say, O Lord, and guard my lips” (Ps. 141:3 nlt). And thankfully, the Lord wants to do that. He can help us control what we say. He can guard our lips.
As we learn to adjust to our own sound system by paying careful attention to what we say and praying about the words we speak, the Lord will patiently teach us and even empower us to have self-control. And best of all, He forgives us when we fail and is pleased with our desire for His help.
Can you think of something you said recently that you would like to take back? Ask the Lord to help you become aware of careless words.
Part of self-control is mouth-control.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, June 13, 2016
Getting There (3)
…come, follow Me. —Luke 18:22
Where our individual desire dies and sanctified surrender lives. One of the greatest hindrances in coming to Jesus is the excuse of our own individual temperament. We make our temperament and our natural desires barriers to coming to Jesus. Yet the first thing we realize when we do come to Jesus is that He pays no attention whatsoever to our natural desires. We have the idea that we can dedicate our gifts to God. However, you cannot dedicate what is not yours. There is actually only one thing you can dedicate to God, and that is your right to yourself (see Romans 12:1). If you will give God your right to yourself, He will make a holy experiment out of you— and His experiments always succeed. The one true mark of a saint of God is the inner creativity that flows from being totally surrendered to Jesus Christ. In the life of a saint there is this amazing Well, which is a continual Source of original life. The Spirit of God is a Well of water springing up perpetually fresh. A saint realizes that it is God who engineers his circumstances; consequently there are no complaints, only unrestrained surrender to Jesus. Never try to make your experience a principle for others, but allow God to be as creative and original with others as He is with you.
If you abandon everything to Jesus, and come when He says, “Come,” then He will continue to say, “Come,” through you. You will go out into the world reproducing the echo of Christ’s “Come.” That is the result in every soul who has abandoned all and come to Jesus.
Have I come to Him? Will I come now?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The life of Abraham is an illustration of two things: of unreserved surrender to God, and of God’s complete possession of a child of His for His own highest end. Not Knowing Whither, 901 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, June 13, 2016
Your Plans, Not His - #7676
The youngest of our three children had the opportunity to observe what worked and what didn't work for his older brother and sister - especially when it came to getting or not getting their way in their social life. By the time he reached junior high, he had developed a very interesting approach to getting a "Yes" to what he wanted to do with his friends. He would come to us, he would lay out a thorough plan, let's say for this Friday night. He told us which five friends were going, where they were going, whose mother would drive them there, whose mother would drive them home, what time they would leave, what time they would get home. We had everything but photo IDs of the kids who were going. Although, I'm sure he probably would have supplied those upon request. Obviously, there was one problem with this exquisite planning. We weren't consulted until the plans were complete, and a "No" to him would be a "No" to five friends and two drivers! As a father, I'd give that boy an "A" for initiative, but an "F" for checking with your father before your plans are almost irreversible!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Plans, Not His."
When you make your plans and arrangements before you check with your father, that's kind of backwards planning! Especially if the father involved is your Heavenly Father! That's why He says what He says in our word for today from the Word of God in Isaiah 30 beginning at verse 1, "'Woe to the obstinate children,' declares the Lord, 'to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by My Spirit, heaping sin upon sin.'" God says, "You're making plans without consulting Me. You're figuring out ways to get it done that are not My ways of getting it done. And, as a result, you're just accumulating sin." Pretty sobering verses huh?
How often does God shake His head, and say to you or me, "Those plans aren't mine"? Being a planner as I am, being a make-it-happen person by nature, I have to really keep this passage right up front in my heart. Because people like me, and maybe like you, can do exactly what our son did when he was in junior high: figure out a way to get what we want and then presumptuously expect our Heavenly Father to sign off on it, even to bless it. It is just too easy to run ahead of God, to consult Him after we're already way down the road.
2 Chronicles 18 tells us about King Ahab's invitation to King Jehoshaphat to join him in a planned military campaign. Jehoshaphat gave some very wise advice, "First seek the counsel of the Lord" (2 Chron. 18:4). Well, that's good, "First, seek the counsel of the Lord." But when a prophet dared to give Ahab God's counsel - that this attack was going to cost him his life - the king ignored it and went ahead with what he wanted to do, what looked best to him. He did not come back alive.
I hope you will put that seven-word key to victory somewhere where you will never forget it. "First seek the counsel of the Lord" Do it before you make a purchase, before you begin a relationship, before you answer a question or a request, before you post on Facebook, before you start something new, before you hire someone, date someone, make a change, start pursuing your vision or your dream. Isn't this Proverbs 3:6, "In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths."
Bob Pierce, who was the founder of the great world-wide ministry of World Vision, used to pray this powerful prayer - one I hope that you and I can make our own. "Lord, we ask not that You bless what we do, but that we do what You bless." Don't bring your plans to your Father after they're all done and virtually unchangeable. Start with your Father. Plans you conceive with Him are really unstoppable!
Jesus claimed to be able to forgive sins—a privilege only God can exercise! In Matthew 12:6-42, Jesus claimed to be greater than Jonah, Solomon, Jacob, and even Abraham! He commanded people to pray in his name. He claimed that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to him. Does a decent fellow say things like this? No, but a demented fool does.
But honestly, could a madman do what Jesus did? People didn’t just respect Jesus. They liked him; they left their homes and businesses and followed him. Men and women have tethered their hope to his life; passionate men like John, careful men like Thomas, and impulsive people like Peter. Jesus transformed common dockworkers and net casters into the authors of history’s greatest book and founders of its greatest movement. What will Jesus do with you?
From God is With You Every Day
Psalm 87
Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm. A song.
1 He has founded his city on the holy mountain.
2 The Lord loves the gates of Zion
more than all the other dwellings of Jacob.
3 Glorious things are said of you,
city of God:[a]
4 “I will record Rahab[b] and Babylon
among those who acknowledge me—
Philistia too, and Tyre, along with Cush[c]—
and will say, ‘This one was born in Zion.’”[d]
5 Indeed, of Zion it will be said,
“This one and that one were born in her,
and the Most High himself will establish her.”
6 The Lord will write in the register of the peoples:
“This one was born in Zion.”
7 As they make music they will sing,
“All my fountains are in you.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, June 13, 2016
Read: Psalm 141
A psalm of David.
1 O Lord, I am calling to you. Please hurry!
Listen when I cry to you for help!
2 Accept my prayer as incense offered to you,
and my upraised hands as an evening offering.
3 Take control of what I say, O Lord,
and guard my lips.
4 Don’t let me drift toward evil
or take part in acts of wickedness.
Don’t let me share in the delicacies
of those who do wrong.
5 Let the godly strike me!
It will be a kindness!
If they correct me, it is soothing medicine.
Don’t let me refuse it.
But I pray constantly
against the wicked and their deeds.
6 When their leaders are thrown down from a cliff,
the wicked will listen to my words and find them true.
7 Like rocks brought up by a plow,
the bones of the wicked will lie scattered without burial.[a]
8 I look to you for help, O Sovereign Lord.
You are my refuge; don’t let them kill me.
9 Keep me from the traps they have set for me,
from the snares of those who do wrong.
10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets,
but let me escape.
Footnotes:
141:7 Hebrew our bones will be scattered at the mouth of Sheol.
NSIGHT:
This psalm is filled with meaningful prayers for protection and can be an encouragement for all of us. Because we live in a world cursed by sin, we need prayer for protection from the damage we can inflict on others in attitude, speech, and behavior (vv. 3–4) as well as protection from those who plan evil against us (vv. 9-10).
Repeat After Me
By Anne Cetas
Take control of what I say, O Lord, and guard my lips. Psalm 141:3 (nlt)
When Rebecca stood on stage to speak at a conference, her first sentence into the microphone echoed around the room. It was a bit unsettling for her to hear her own words come back at her, and she had to adjust to the faulty sound system and try to ignore the echo of every word she spoke.
Imagine what it would be like to hear everything we say repeated! It wouldn’t be so bad to hear ourselves repeat "I love you" or "I was wrong" or “Thank You, Lord” or "I'm praying for you." But not all of our words are beautiful or gentle or kind. What about those angry outbursts or demeaning comments that no one wants to hear once, let alone twice—those words that we would really rather take back?
He forgives us when we fail.
Like the psalmist David, we long to have the Lord’s control over our words. He prayed, "Take control of what I say, O Lord, and guard my lips” (Ps. 141:3 nlt). And thankfully, the Lord wants to do that. He can help us control what we say. He can guard our lips.
As we learn to adjust to our own sound system by paying careful attention to what we say and praying about the words we speak, the Lord will patiently teach us and even empower us to have self-control. And best of all, He forgives us when we fail and is pleased with our desire for His help.
Can you think of something you said recently that you would like to take back? Ask the Lord to help you become aware of careless words.
Part of self-control is mouth-control.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, June 13, 2016
Getting There (3)
…come, follow Me. —Luke 18:22
Where our individual desire dies and sanctified surrender lives. One of the greatest hindrances in coming to Jesus is the excuse of our own individual temperament. We make our temperament and our natural desires barriers to coming to Jesus. Yet the first thing we realize when we do come to Jesus is that He pays no attention whatsoever to our natural desires. We have the idea that we can dedicate our gifts to God. However, you cannot dedicate what is not yours. There is actually only one thing you can dedicate to God, and that is your right to yourself (see Romans 12:1). If you will give God your right to yourself, He will make a holy experiment out of you— and His experiments always succeed. The one true mark of a saint of God is the inner creativity that flows from being totally surrendered to Jesus Christ. In the life of a saint there is this amazing Well, which is a continual Source of original life. The Spirit of God is a Well of water springing up perpetually fresh. A saint realizes that it is God who engineers his circumstances; consequently there are no complaints, only unrestrained surrender to Jesus. Never try to make your experience a principle for others, but allow God to be as creative and original with others as He is with you.
If you abandon everything to Jesus, and come when He says, “Come,” then He will continue to say, “Come,” through you. You will go out into the world reproducing the echo of Christ’s “Come.” That is the result in every soul who has abandoned all and come to Jesus.
Have I come to Him? Will I come now?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The life of Abraham is an illustration of two things: of unreserved surrender to God, and of God’s complete possession of a child of His for His own highest end. Not Knowing Whither, 901 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, June 13, 2016
Your Plans, Not His - #7676
The youngest of our three children had the opportunity to observe what worked and what didn't work for his older brother and sister - especially when it came to getting or not getting their way in their social life. By the time he reached junior high, he had developed a very interesting approach to getting a "Yes" to what he wanted to do with his friends. He would come to us, he would lay out a thorough plan, let's say for this Friday night. He told us which five friends were going, where they were going, whose mother would drive them there, whose mother would drive them home, what time they would leave, what time they would get home. We had everything but photo IDs of the kids who were going. Although, I'm sure he probably would have supplied those upon request. Obviously, there was one problem with this exquisite planning. We weren't consulted until the plans were complete, and a "No" to him would be a "No" to five friends and two drivers! As a father, I'd give that boy an "A" for initiative, but an "F" for checking with your father before your plans are almost irreversible!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Plans, Not His."
When you make your plans and arrangements before you check with your father, that's kind of backwards planning! Especially if the father involved is your Heavenly Father! That's why He says what He says in our word for today from the Word of God in Isaiah 30 beginning at verse 1, "'Woe to the obstinate children,' declares the Lord, 'to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by My Spirit, heaping sin upon sin.'" God says, "You're making plans without consulting Me. You're figuring out ways to get it done that are not My ways of getting it done. And, as a result, you're just accumulating sin." Pretty sobering verses huh?
How often does God shake His head, and say to you or me, "Those plans aren't mine"? Being a planner as I am, being a make-it-happen person by nature, I have to really keep this passage right up front in my heart. Because people like me, and maybe like you, can do exactly what our son did when he was in junior high: figure out a way to get what we want and then presumptuously expect our Heavenly Father to sign off on it, even to bless it. It is just too easy to run ahead of God, to consult Him after we're already way down the road.
2 Chronicles 18 tells us about King Ahab's invitation to King Jehoshaphat to join him in a planned military campaign. Jehoshaphat gave some very wise advice, "First seek the counsel of the Lord" (2 Chron. 18:4). Well, that's good, "First, seek the counsel of the Lord." But when a prophet dared to give Ahab God's counsel - that this attack was going to cost him his life - the king ignored it and went ahead with what he wanted to do, what looked best to him. He did not come back alive.
I hope you will put that seven-word key to victory somewhere where you will never forget it. "First seek the counsel of the Lord" Do it before you make a purchase, before you begin a relationship, before you answer a question or a request, before you post on Facebook, before you start something new, before you hire someone, date someone, make a change, start pursuing your vision or your dream. Isn't this Proverbs 3:6, "In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths."
Bob Pierce, who was the founder of the great world-wide ministry of World Vision, used to pray this powerful prayer - one I hope that you and I can make our own. "Lord, we ask not that You bless what we do, but that we do what You bless." Don't bring your plans to your Father after they're all done and virtually unchangeable. Start with your Father. Plans you conceive with Him are really unstoppable!
Sunday, June 12, 2016
1 Corinthians 12, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Enjoy God's Presence
You will never go where God is not. Envision the next few hours of your life. Where will you find yourself? In a school? God indwells the classroom. On the highways? His presence lingers among the traffic. In the hospital, the boardroom, the living room, the funeral home? God will be there.
Acts 17:27 says, "He is not far from each one of us." Each of us. God doesn't play favorites. All people can enjoy God's presence. But many don't. They plod through life as if their only strength was their own. As if their only solution comes from within, not from above. They live God-less lives. Lay claim to the nearness of God. Grip God's promise like the parachute it is. Repeat it to yourself over and over. "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5).
From You'll Get Through This
1 Corinthians 12
Spiritual Gifts
12 Now, dear brothers and sisters,[a] regarding your question about the special abilities the Spirit gives us. I don’t want you to misunderstand this. 2 You know that when you were still pagans, you were led astray and swept along in worshiping speechless idols. 3 So I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit.
4 There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. 5 There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. 6 God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.
7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. 8 To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice[b]; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge.[c] 9 The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. 10 He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages,[d] while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. 11 It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.
One Body with Many Parts
12 The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. 13 Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles,[e] some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.[f]
14 Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. 15 If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything?
18 But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. 19 How strange a body would be if it had only one part! 20 Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. 21 The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.”
22 In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary. 23 And the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care. So we carefully protect those parts that should not be seen, 24 while the more honorable parts do not require this special care. So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. 25 This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. 26 If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.
27 All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it. 28 Here are some of the parts God has appointed for the church:
first are apostles,
second are prophets,
third are teachers,
then those who do miracles,
those who have the gift of healing,
those who can help others,
those who have the gift of leadership,
those who speak in unknown languages.
29 Are we all apostles? Are we all prophets? Are we all teachers? Do we all have the power to do miracles? 30 Do we all have the gift of healing? Do we all have the ability to speak in unknown languages? Do we all have the ability to interpret unknown languages? Of course not! 31 So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts.
But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.
Footnotes:
12:1 Greek brothers.
12:8a Or gives a word of wisdom.
12:8b Or gives a word of knowledge.
12:10 Or in various tongues; also in 12:28, 30.
12:13a Greek some are Greeks.
12:13b Greek we were all given one Spirit to drink.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, June 12, 2016
Read: Ezra 3:7–13
The People Begin to Rebuild the Temple
7 Then the people hired masons and carpenters and bought cedar logs from the people of Tyre and Sidon, paying them with food, wine, and olive oil. The logs were brought down from the Lebanon mountains and floated along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea[a] to Joppa, for King Cyrus had given permission for this.
8 The construction of the Temple of God began in midspring,[b] during the second year after they arrived in Jerusalem. The work force was made up of everyone who had returned from exile, including Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Jeshua son of Jehozadak and his fellow priests, and all the Levites. The Levites who were twenty years old or older were put in charge of rebuilding the Lord’s Temple. 9 The workers at the Temple of God were supervised by Jeshua with his sons and relatives, and Kadmiel and his sons, all descendants of Hodaviah.[c] They were helped in this task by the Levites of the family of Henadad.
10 When the builders completed the foundation of the Lord’s Temple, the priests put on their robes and took their places to blow their trumpets. And the Levites, descendants of Asaph, clashed their cymbals to praise the Lord, just as King David had prescribed. 11 With praise and thanks, they sang this song to the Lord:
“He is so good!
His faithful love for Israel endures forever!”
Then all the people gave a great shout, praising the Lord because the foundation of the Lord’s Temple had been laid.
12 But many of the older priests, Levites, and other leaders who had seen the first Temple wept aloud when they saw the new Temple’s foundation. The others, however, were shouting for joy. 13 The joyful shouting and weeping mingled together in a loud noise that could be heard far in the distance.
Footnotes:
3:7 Hebrew the sea.
3:8 Hebrew in the second month. This month in the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar occurred within the months of April and May 536 B.c.
3:9 Hebrew sons of Judah (i.e., bene Yehudah). Bene might also be read here as the proper name Binnui; Yehudah is probably another name for Hodaviah. Compare 2:40; Neh 7:43; 1 Esdras 5:58.
INSIGHT:
The books of Ezra and Nehemiah focus on the return of Judah—the southern kingdom of Israel—to their homeland following their years of captivity in Babylon. While Nehemiah concentrates on the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, Ezra focuses on the rebuilding and dedication of the temple.
Tears and Laughter
By Keila Ochoa
No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping. Ezra 3:13
Last year at a retreat I reconnected with some friends I hadn’t seen in a long time. I laughed with them as we enjoyed the reunion, but I also cried because I knew how much I had missed them.
On the last day of our time together we celebrated the Lord’s Supper. More smiles and tears! I rejoiced over the grace of God, who had given me eternal life and these beautiful days with my friends. But again I cried as I was sobered by what it had cost Jesus to deliver me from my sin.
Both tears and smiles bring God praise.
I thought about Ezra and that wonderful day in Jerusalem. The exiles had returned from captivity and had just completed rebuilding the foundation of the Lord’s temple. The people sang for joy, but some of the older priests cried (Ezra 3:10–12). They were likely remembering Solomon’s temple and its former glory. Or were they grieving over their sins that had led to the captivity in the first place?
Sometimes when we see God at work we experience a wide range of emotions, including joy when we see God’s wonders and sorrow as we remember our sins and the need for His sacrifice.
The Israelites were singing and weeping, the noise was heard far away (v. 13). May our emotions be expressions of our love and worship to our Lord, and may they touch those around us.
Lord, You welcome our sorrow and our joy, our tears and our laughter. We bring all of our emotions in their raw honesty to You. May we praise You with our whole being.
Both tears and smiles bring God praise.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, June 12, 2016
Getting There (2)
They said to Him, "Rabbi…where are You staying?" He said to them, "Come and see." —John 1:38-39
Where our self-interest sleeps and the real interest is awakened. “They…remained with Him that day….” That is about all some of us ever do. We stay with Him a short time, only to wake up to our own realities of life. Our self-interest rises up and our abiding with Him is past. Yet there is no circumstance of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus.
“You are Simon….You shall be called Cephas” (John 1:42). God writes our new name only on those places in our lives where He has erased our pride, self-sufficiency, and self-interest. Some of us have our new name written only in certain spots, like spiritual measles. And in those areas of our lives we look all right. When we are in our best spiritual mood, you would think we were the highest quality saints. But don’t dare look at us when we are not in that mood. A true disciple is one who has his new name written all over him— self-interest, pride, and self-sufficiency have been completely erased.
Pride is the sin of making “self” our god. And some of us today do this, not like the Pharisee, but like the tax collector (see Luke 18:9-14). For you to say, “Oh, I’m no saint,” is acceptable by human standards of pride, but it is unconscious blasphemy against God. You defy God to make you a saint, as if to say, “I am too weak and hopeless and outside the reach of the atonement by the Cross of Christ.” Why aren’t you a saint? It is either that you do not want to be a saint, or that you do not believe that God can make you into one. You say it would be all right if God saved you and took you straight to heaven. That is exactly what He will do! And not only do we make our home with Him, but Jesus said of His Father and Himself, “…We will come to him and make Our home with him” (John 14:23). Put no conditions on your life— let Jesus be everything to you, and He will take you home with Him not only for a day, but for eternity.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The life of Abraham is an illustration of two things: of unreserved surrender to God, and of God’s complete possession of a child of His for His own highest end.
Not Knowing Whither
You will never go where God is not. Envision the next few hours of your life. Where will you find yourself? In a school? God indwells the classroom. On the highways? His presence lingers among the traffic. In the hospital, the boardroom, the living room, the funeral home? God will be there.
Acts 17:27 says, "He is not far from each one of us." Each of us. God doesn't play favorites. All people can enjoy God's presence. But many don't. They plod through life as if their only strength was their own. As if their only solution comes from within, not from above. They live God-less lives. Lay claim to the nearness of God. Grip God's promise like the parachute it is. Repeat it to yourself over and over. "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5).
From You'll Get Through This
1 Corinthians 12
12 Now, dear brothers and sisters,[a] regarding your question about the special abilities the Spirit gives us. I don’t want you to misunderstand this. 2 You know that when you were still pagans, you were led astray and swept along in worshiping speechless idols. 3 So I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit.
4 There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. 5 There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. 6 God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.
7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. 8 To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice[b]; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge.[c] 9 The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. 10 He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages,[d] while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. 11 It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.
One Body with Many Parts
12 The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. 13 Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles,[e] some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.[f]
14 Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. 15 If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything?
18 But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. 19 How strange a body would be if it had only one part! 20 Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. 21 The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.”
22 In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary. 23 And the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care. So we carefully protect those parts that should not be seen, 24 while the more honorable parts do not require this special care. So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. 25 This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. 26 If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.
27 All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it. 28 Here are some of the parts God has appointed for the church:
first are apostles,
second are prophets,
third are teachers,
then those who do miracles,
those who have the gift of healing,
those who can help others,
those who have the gift of leadership,
those who speak in unknown languages.
29 Are we all apostles? Are we all prophets? Are we all teachers? Do we all have the power to do miracles? 30 Do we all have the gift of healing? Do we all have the ability to speak in unknown languages? Do we all have the ability to interpret unknown languages? Of course not! 31 So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts.
But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.
Footnotes:
12:1 Greek brothers.
12:8a Or gives a word of wisdom.
12:8b Or gives a word of knowledge.
12:10 Or in various tongues; also in 12:28, 30.
12:13a Greek some are Greeks.
12:13b Greek we were all given one Spirit to drink.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, June 12, 2016
Read: Ezra 3:7–13
The People Begin to Rebuild the Temple
7 Then the people hired masons and carpenters and bought cedar logs from the people of Tyre and Sidon, paying them with food, wine, and olive oil. The logs were brought down from the Lebanon mountains and floated along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea[a] to Joppa, for King Cyrus had given permission for this.
8 The construction of the Temple of God began in midspring,[b] during the second year after they arrived in Jerusalem. The work force was made up of everyone who had returned from exile, including Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Jeshua son of Jehozadak and his fellow priests, and all the Levites. The Levites who were twenty years old or older were put in charge of rebuilding the Lord’s Temple. 9 The workers at the Temple of God were supervised by Jeshua with his sons and relatives, and Kadmiel and his sons, all descendants of Hodaviah.[c] They were helped in this task by the Levites of the family of Henadad.
10 When the builders completed the foundation of the Lord’s Temple, the priests put on their robes and took their places to blow their trumpets. And the Levites, descendants of Asaph, clashed their cymbals to praise the Lord, just as King David had prescribed. 11 With praise and thanks, they sang this song to the Lord:
“He is so good!
His faithful love for Israel endures forever!”
Then all the people gave a great shout, praising the Lord because the foundation of the Lord’s Temple had been laid.
12 But many of the older priests, Levites, and other leaders who had seen the first Temple wept aloud when they saw the new Temple’s foundation. The others, however, were shouting for joy. 13 The joyful shouting and weeping mingled together in a loud noise that could be heard far in the distance.
Footnotes:
3:7 Hebrew the sea.
3:8 Hebrew in the second month. This month in the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar occurred within the months of April and May 536 B.c.
3:9 Hebrew sons of Judah (i.e., bene Yehudah). Bene might also be read here as the proper name Binnui; Yehudah is probably another name for Hodaviah. Compare 2:40; Neh 7:43; 1 Esdras 5:58.
INSIGHT:
The books of Ezra and Nehemiah focus on the return of Judah—the southern kingdom of Israel—to their homeland following their years of captivity in Babylon. While Nehemiah concentrates on the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, Ezra focuses on the rebuilding and dedication of the temple.
Tears and Laughter
By Keila Ochoa
No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping. Ezra 3:13
Last year at a retreat I reconnected with some friends I hadn’t seen in a long time. I laughed with them as we enjoyed the reunion, but I also cried because I knew how much I had missed them.
On the last day of our time together we celebrated the Lord’s Supper. More smiles and tears! I rejoiced over the grace of God, who had given me eternal life and these beautiful days with my friends. But again I cried as I was sobered by what it had cost Jesus to deliver me from my sin.
Both tears and smiles bring God praise.
I thought about Ezra and that wonderful day in Jerusalem. The exiles had returned from captivity and had just completed rebuilding the foundation of the Lord’s temple. The people sang for joy, but some of the older priests cried (Ezra 3:10–12). They were likely remembering Solomon’s temple and its former glory. Or were they grieving over their sins that had led to the captivity in the first place?
Sometimes when we see God at work we experience a wide range of emotions, including joy when we see God’s wonders and sorrow as we remember our sins and the need for His sacrifice.
The Israelites were singing and weeping, the noise was heard far away (v. 13). May our emotions be expressions of our love and worship to our Lord, and may they touch those around us.
Lord, You welcome our sorrow and our joy, our tears and our laughter. We bring all of our emotions in their raw honesty to You. May we praise You with our whole being.
Both tears and smiles bring God praise.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, June 12, 2016
Getting There (2)
They said to Him, "Rabbi…where are You staying?" He said to them, "Come and see." —John 1:38-39
Where our self-interest sleeps and the real interest is awakened. “They…remained with Him that day….” That is about all some of us ever do. We stay with Him a short time, only to wake up to our own realities of life. Our self-interest rises up and our abiding with Him is past. Yet there is no circumstance of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus.
“You are Simon….You shall be called Cephas” (John 1:42). God writes our new name only on those places in our lives where He has erased our pride, self-sufficiency, and self-interest. Some of us have our new name written only in certain spots, like spiritual measles. And in those areas of our lives we look all right. When we are in our best spiritual mood, you would think we were the highest quality saints. But don’t dare look at us when we are not in that mood. A true disciple is one who has his new name written all over him— self-interest, pride, and self-sufficiency have been completely erased.
Pride is the sin of making “self” our god. And some of us today do this, not like the Pharisee, but like the tax collector (see Luke 18:9-14). For you to say, “Oh, I’m no saint,” is acceptable by human standards of pride, but it is unconscious blasphemy against God. You defy God to make you a saint, as if to say, “I am too weak and hopeless and outside the reach of the atonement by the Cross of Christ.” Why aren’t you a saint? It is either that you do not want to be a saint, or that you do not believe that God can make you into one. You say it would be all right if God saved you and took you straight to heaven. That is exactly what He will do! And not only do we make our home with Him, but Jesus said of His Father and Himself, “…We will come to him and make Our home with him” (John 14:23). Put no conditions on your life— let Jesus be everything to you, and He will take you home with Him not only for a day, but for eternity.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The life of Abraham is an illustration of two things: of unreserved surrender to God, and of God’s complete possession of a child of His for His own highest end.
Not Knowing Whither
Saturday, June 11, 2016
1 Corinthians 11:17-34 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Don't Settle for a Small Destiny
We re-define ourselves according to our catastrophes. As a result, we settle for a small destiny!
Think you've lost it all? You haven't. The truth of Romans 11:29 is that God's gifts and God's call are under full warranty-never canceled, never rescinded.
Here's how it works. Your boss calls you into the office. As kind as it sounds, a layoff is a layoff. How will I pay the bills? Who's going to hire me? Dread dominates your thoughts. But then you remember your destiny. What do I have that I cannot lose? Wait a second- I am still God's child. My life is more than this life. God will make something good out of this. I will work hard, stay faithful, and trust Him-no matter what.
Bingo! You just trusted your destiny. Another victory for God. It begins with a yes to God's call on your life!
From You'll Get Through This
1 Corinthians 11:17-34
Order at the Lord’s Supper
17 But in the following instructions, I cannot praise you. For it sounds as if more harm than good is done when you meet together. 18 First, I hear that there are divisions among you when you meet as a church, and to some extent I believe it. 19 But, of course, there must be divisions among you so that you who have God’s approval will be recognized!
20 When you meet together, you are not really interested in the Lord’s Supper. 21 For some of you hurry to eat your own meal without sharing with others. As a result, some go hungry while others get drunk. 22 What? Don’t you have your own homes for eating and drinking? Or do you really want to disgrace God’s church and shame the poor? What am I supposed to say? Do you want me to praise you? Well, I certainly will not praise you for this!
23 For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread 24 and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you.[a] Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.” 26 For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.
27 So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against[b] the body and blood of the Lord. 28 That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. 29 For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ,[c] you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died.
31 But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way. 32 Yet when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world.
33 So, my dear brothers and sisters,[d] when you gather for the Lord’s Supper, wait for each other. 34 If you are really hungry, eat at home so you won’t bring judgment upon yourselves when you meet together. I’ll give you instructions about the other matters after I arrive.
Footnotes:
11:24 Greek which is for you; other manuscripts read which is broken for you.
11:27 Or is responsible for.
11:29 Greek the body; other manuscripts read the Lord’s body.
11:33 Greek brothers.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, June 11, 2016
Read: Matthew 5:43–48
Teaching about Love for Enemies
43 “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’[a] and hate your enemy. 44 But I say, love your enemies![b] Pray for those who persecute you! 45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. 46 If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. 47 If you are kind only to your friends,[c] how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. 48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Footnotes:
5:43 Lev 19:18.
5:44 Some manuscripts add Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you. Compare Luke 6:27-28.
5:47 Greek your brothers.
INSIGHT:
The final verse in today’s reading is often used as an encouragement to live morally pure lives: “Be perfect . . . as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Jesus’s words in this passage, however, are more than moral instruction. The word translated “perfect” in the original language means “mature,” “complete,” or “grown-up.” Perfection in this context includes loving and praying for those who seek to do us harm—just as Christ did on the cross. When we love our enemies, we mirror the perfection of heaven and the heart of the Father.
Safety Net
By Philip Yancey
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:48
For years I thought of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5–7) as a blueprint for human behavior, a standard no one could possibly meet. How could I have missed the true meaning? Jesus spoke these words not to frustrate us, but to tell us what God is like.
Why should we love our enemies? Because our merciful Father causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good. Why store up treasures in heaven? Because the Father lives there and will lavishly reward us. Why live without fear and worry? Because the same God who clothes the lilies and the grass of the field has promised to take care of us. Why pray? If an earthly father gives his son bread or fish, how much more will the Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask?
Only God can transform a sinful soul into a masterpiece of grace.
Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5–7) not only to explain God’s ideal toward which we should never stop striving but also to show that in this life none of us will ever reach that ideal.
Before God, we all stand on level ground: murderers and tantrum-throwers, adulterers and lusters, thieves and coveters. We are all desperate, and that is the only state appropriate to a human being who wants to know God. Having fallen from the absolute ideal, we have nowhere to land but in the safety net of absolute grace.
Dear Lord, I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe that You died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sin. You did what I could not do for myself, and in humility I accept Your gift of grace. Help me to live a life that is pleasing to You.
Only God can t
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, June 11, 2016
Getting There (1)
Come to Me… —Matthew 11:28
Where sin and sorrow stops, and the song of the saint starts. Do I really want to get there? I can right now. The questions that truly matter in life are remarkably few, and they are all answered by these words— “Come to Me.” Our Lord’s words are not, “Do this, or don’t do that,” but— “Come to me.” If I will simply come to Jesus, my real life will be brought into harmony with my real desires. I will actually cease from sin, and will find the song of the Lord beginning in my life.
Have you ever come to Jesus? Look at the stubbornness of your heart. You would rather do anything than this one simple childlike thing— “Come to Me.” If you really want to experience ceasing from sin, you must come to Jesus.
Jesus Christ makes Himself the test to determine your genuineness. Look how He used the word come. At the most unexpected moments in your life there is this whisper of the Lord— “Come to Me,” and you are immediately drawn to Him. Personal contact with Jesus changes everything. Be “foolish” enough to come and commit yourself to what He says. The attitude necessary for you to come to Him is one where your will has made the determination to let go of everything and deliberately commit it all to Him.
“…and I will give you rest”— that is, “I will sustain you, causing you to stand firm.” He is not saying, “I will put you to bed, hold your hand, and sing you to sleep.” But, in essence, He is saying, “I will get you out of bed— out of your listlessness and exhaustion, and out of your condition of being half dead while you are still alive. I will penetrate you with the spirit of life, and you will be sustained by the perfection of vital activity.” Yet we become so weak and pitiful and talk about “suffering” the will of the Lord! Where is the majestic vitality and the power of the Son of God in that?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
“I have chosen you” (John 15:16). Keep that note of greatness in your creed. It is not that you have got God, but that He has got you. My Utmost for His Highest, October 25, 837 R
We re-define ourselves according to our catastrophes. As a result, we settle for a small destiny!
Think you've lost it all? You haven't. The truth of Romans 11:29 is that God's gifts and God's call are under full warranty-never canceled, never rescinded.
Here's how it works. Your boss calls you into the office. As kind as it sounds, a layoff is a layoff. How will I pay the bills? Who's going to hire me? Dread dominates your thoughts. But then you remember your destiny. What do I have that I cannot lose? Wait a second- I am still God's child. My life is more than this life. God will make something good out of this. I will work hard, stay faithful, and trust Him-no matter what.
Bingo! You just trusted your destiny. Another victory for God. It begins with a yes to God's call on your life!
From You'll Get Through This
1 Corinthians 11:17-34
Order at the Lord’s Supper
17 But in the following instructions, I cannot praise you. For it sounds as if more harm than good is done when you meet together. 18 First, I hear that there are divisions among you when you meet as a church, and to some extent I believe it. 19 But, of course, there must be divisions among you so that you who have God’s approval will be recognized!
20 When you meet together, you are not really interested in the Lord’s Supper. 21 For some of you hurry to eat your own meal without sharing with others. As a result, some go hungry while others get drunk. 22 What? Don’t you have your own homes for eating and drinking? Or do you really want to disgrace God’s church and shame the poor? What am I supposed to say? Do you want me to praise you? Well, I certainly will not praise you for this!
23 For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread 24 and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you.[a] Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.” 26 For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.
27 So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against[b] the body and blood of the Lord. 28 That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. 29 For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ,[c] you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died.
31 But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way. 32 Yet when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world.
33 So, my dear brothers and sisters,[d] when you gather for the Lord’s Supper, wait for each other. 34 If you are really hungry, eat at home so you won’t bring judgment upon yourselves when you meet together. I’ll give you instructions about the other matters after I arrive.
Footnotes:
11:24 Greek which is for you; other manuscripts read which is broken for you.
11:27 Or is responsible for.
11:29 Greek the body; other manuscripts read the Lord’s body.
11:33 Greek brothers.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, June 11, 2016
Read: Matthew 5:43–48
Teaching about Love for Enemies
43 “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’[a] and hate your enemy. 44 But I say, love your enemies![b] Pray for those who persecute you! 45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. 46 If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. 47 If you are kind only to your friends,[c] how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. 48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Footnotes:
5:43 Lev 19:18.
5:44 Some manuscripts add Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you. Compare Luke 6:27-28.
5:47 Greek your brothers.
INSIGHT:
The final verse in today’s reading is often used as an encouragement to live morally pure lives: “Be perfect . . . as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Jesus’s words in this passage, however, are more than moral instruction. The word translated “perfect” in the original language means “mature,” “complete,” or “grown-up.” Perfection in this context includes loving and praying for those who seek to do us harm—just as Christ did on the cross. When we love our enemies, we mirror the perfection of heaven and the heart of the Father.
Safety Net
By Philip Yancey
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:48
For years I thought of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5–7) as a blueprint for human behavior, a standard no one could possibly meet. How could I have missed the true meaning? Jesus spoke these words not to frustrate us, but to tell us what God is like.
Why should we love our enemies? Because our merciful Father causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good. Why store up treasures in heaven? Because the Father lives there and will lavishly reward us. Why live without fear and worry? Because the same God who clothes the lilies and the grass of the field has promised to take care of us. Why pray? If an earthly father gives his son bread or fish, how much more will the Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask?
Only God can transform a sinful soul into a masterpiece of grace.
Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5–7) not only to explain God’s ideal toward which we should never stop striving but also to show that in this life none of us will ever reach that ideal.
Before God, we all stand on level ground: murderers and tantrum-throwers, adulterers and lusters, thieves and coveters. We are all desperate, and that is the only state appropriate to a human being who wants to know God. Having fallen from the absolute ideal, we have nowhere to land but in the safety net of absolute grace.
Dear Lord, I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe that You died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sin. You did what I could not do for myself, and in humility I accept Your gift of grace. Help me to live a life that is pleasing to You.
Only God can t
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, June 11, 2016
Getting There (1)
Come to Me… —Matthew 11:28
Where sin and sorrow stops, and the song of the saint starts. Do I really want to get there? I can right now. The questions that truly matter in life are remarkably few, and they are all answered by these words— “Come to Me.” Our Lord’s words are not, “Do this, or don’t do that,” but— “Come to me.” If I will simply come to Jesus, my real life will be brought into harmony with my real desires. I will actually cease from sin, and will find the song of the Lord beginning in my life.
Have you ever come to Jesus? Look at the stubbornness of your heart. You would rather do anything than this one simple childlike thing— “Come to Me.” If you really want to experience ceasing from sin, you must come to Jesus.
Jesus Christ makes Himself the test to determine your genuineness. Look how He used the word come. At the most unexpected moments in your life there is this whisper of the Lord— “Come to Me,” and you are immediately drawn to Him. Personal contact with Jesus changes everything. Be “foolish” enough to come and commit yourself to what He says. The attitude necessary for you to come to Him is one where your will has made the determination to let go of everything and deliberately commit it all to Him.
“…and I will give you rest”— that is, “I will sustain you, causing you to stand firm.” He is not saying, “I will put you to bed, hold your hand, and sing you to sleep.” But, in essence, He is saying, “I will get you out of bed— out of your listlessness and exhaustion, and out of your condition of being half dead while you are still alive. I will penetrate you with the spirit of life, and you will be sustained by the perfection of vital activity.” Yet we become so weak and pitiful and talk about “suffering” the will of the Lord! Where is the majestic vitality and the power of the Son of God in that?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
“I have chosen you” (John 15:16). Keep that note of greatness in your creed. It is not that you have got God, but that He has got you. My Utmost for His Highest, October 25, 837 R
Friday, June 10, 2016
Psalm 85, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: A NEW SONG
What do we say about someone who claims to be a Christian yet behaves like anything but one. God places a song in the hearts of his saved children. Some sing this song loud and long every single day of their lives. In other cases the song falls silent. Life’s hurts and happenings mute the music within. Long seasons pass in which God’s song is not sung.
The truth is, we don’t always know if someone has trusted God’s grace. A person may have feigned belief but not meant it. Whether or not someone’s faith is real isn’t ours to know. But we do know this: where there is genuine conversion, there is eternal salvation. Our task is to trust God’s ability to call his children home. We join God as he walks among his wayward and wounded children, singing. Eventually his own will hear his voice, and something within them will awaken. And when it does, they will begin to sing again.
From God is With You Every Day
Psalm 85[a]
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.
1 You, Lord, showed favor to your land;
you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2 You forgave the iniquity of your people
and covered all their sins.[b]
3 You set aside all your wrath
and turned from your fierce anger.
4 Restore us again, God our Savior,
and put away your displeasure toward us.
5 Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you prolong your anger through all generations?
6 Will you not revive us again,
that your people may rejoice in you?
7 Show us your unfailing love, Lord,
and grant us your salvation.
8 I will listen to what God the Lord says;
he promises peace to his people, his faithful servants—
but let them not turn to folly.
9 Surely his salvation is near those who fear him,
that his glory may dwell in our land.
10 Love and faithfulness meet together;
righteousness and peace kiss each other.
11 Faithfulness springs forth from the earth,
and righteousness looks down from heaven.
12 The Lord will indeed give what is good,
and our land will yield its harvest.
13 Righteousness goes before him
and prepares the way for his steps.
Footnotes:
Psalm 85:1 In Hebrew texts 85:1-13 is numbered 85:2-14.
Psalm 85:2 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, June 10, 2016
Read: Revelation 2:12–17
The Message to the Church in Pergamum
12 “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Pergamum. This is the message from the one with the sharp two-edged sword:
13 “I know that you live in the city where Satan has his throne, yet you have remained loyal to me. You refused to deny me even when Antipas, my faithful witness, was martyred among you there in Satan’s city.
14 “But I have a few complaints against you. You tolerate some among you whose teaching is like that of Balaam, who showed Balak how to trip up the people of Israel. He taught them to sin by eating food offered to idols and by committing sexual sin. 15 In a similar way, you have some Nicolaitans among you who follow the same teaching. 16 Repent of your sin, or I will come to you suddenly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
17 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give some of the manna that has been hidden away in heaven. And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it.
INSIGHT:
In the book of Revelation, the Lord Jesus is referred to as having a “sharp, double-edged sword” (1:16; 2:12). In chapter one, John described this sword as coming out of Jesus’s mouth (v. 16). In today’s passage, Jesus is seen using this sword to fight against and slay His enemies (2:16). In a later vision, John saw Jesus as the “Faithful and True” rider of a white horse (19:11), whose name is “the Word of God,” using the “sharp sword” to conquer the nations (vv. 13–15). Christ, the Word of God (John 1:1–4), will come again to judge this world and will rule it “with an iron scepter” (Rev. 19:11–15).
Our New Name
By Amy Boucher Pye
I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it. Revelation 2:17
She called herself a worrier, but when her child was hurt in an accident, she learned how to escape that restricting label. As her child was recovering, she met each week with friends to talk and pray, asking God for help and healing. Through the months as she turned her fears and concerns into prayer, she realized that she was changing from being a worrier to a prayer warrior. She sensed that the Lord was giving her a new name. Her identity in Christ was deepening through the struggle of unwanted heartache.
In Jesus’s letter to the church at Pergamum, the Lord promises to give to the faithful a white stone with a new name on it (Rev. 2:17). Biblical commentators have debated over the meaning, but most agree that this white stone points to our freedom in Christ. In biblical times, juries in a court of law used a white stone for a not-guilty verdict and a black stone for guilty. A white stone also gained the bearer entrance into such events as banquets; likewise, those who receive God’s white stone are welcomed to the heavenly feast. Jesus’s death brings us freedom and new life—and a new name.
Followers of Christ have a brand-new identity.
What new name do you think God might give to you?
May I live out my new identity, sharing Your love and joy. Show me how You have made me into a new creation.
Share your story on odb.org
Followers of Christ have a brand-new identity.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, June 10, 2016
And After That What’s Next To Do?
…seek, and you will find… —Luke 11:9
Seek if you have not found. “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss…” (James 4:3). If you ask for things from life instead of from God, “you ask amiss”; that is, you ask out of your desire for self-fulfillment. The more you fulfill yourself the less you will seek God. “…seek, and you will find….” Get to work— narrow your focus and interests to this one thing. Have you ever sought God with your whole heart, or have you simply given Him a feeble cry after some emotionally painful experience? “…seek, [focus,] and you will find….”
“Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters…” (Isaiah 55:1). Are you thirsty, or complacent and indifferent— so satisfied with your own experience that you want nothing more of God? Experience is a doorway, not a final goal. Beware of building your faith on experience, or your life will not ring true and will only sound the note of a critical spirit. Remember that you can never give another person what you have found, but you can cause him to have a desire for it.
“…knock, and it will be opened to you” (Luke 11:9). “Draw near to God…” (James 4:8). Knock— the door is closed, and your heartbeat races as you knock. “Cleanse your hands…” (James 4:8). Knock a bit louder— you begin to find that you are dirty. “…purify your hearts…” (James 4:8). It is becoming even more personal— you are desperate and serious now— you will do anything. “Lament…” (James 4:9). Have you ever lamented, expressing your sorrow before God for the condition of your inner life? There is no thread of self-pity left, only the heart-rending difficulty and amazement which comes from seeing what kind of person you really are. “Humble yourselves…” (James 4:10). It is a humbling experience to knock at God’s door— you have to knock with the crucified thief. “…to him who knocks it will be opened” (Luke 11:10).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The root of faith is the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest snares is the idea that God is sure to lead us to success. My Utmost for His Highest, March 19, 761 L
When You're Marching Off the Map - #7675
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, June 10, 2016
Maybe you've seen those old world maps that were created when a lot of the world was still unexplored. When they reached the edge of what had been explored, they drew a line and then they showed dragons and monsters beyond it - which didn't exactly encourage exploration. The story is told of this first century Roman commander who had to lead his troops beyond the line on the map and into "dragon" territory. He sent a courier back to Rome with a straightforward message – "We have just marched off the map! Please send new orders!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When You're Marching Off the Map".
That describes how a whole lot of us are feeling since things changed so dramatically back on September 11, 2001 and all of the cataclysmic, unpredictable, unimaginable events that have come since then. We have marched off the map! Things are up for grabs with the economy; a lot of people feel their jobs are insecure. Our personal sense of safety and security has turned to a sense of vulnerability. There are prospects of bioterrorism and cyber terrorism. USA Today talked about DEFCON 1, the military's phrase for their highest state of alert-and they said suddenly a lot of us feel like we're living at DEFCON 1.
We need some certainty; we need some leadership. We want to hear from our national leaders, from our military leaders, from our financial leaders, but none of them can give us that sense of peace and security that we're needing in this "new world" that's off the map. What we're looking for can ultimately only be found in the leader. That would be the One who created us. The issues of our day and the questions of our heart are just too big to be answered by anyone other than God Himself.
In times like these, I am so glad Jesus described His relationship with those who belong to Him as one of a shepherd. Because with no clear direction these days, we're feeling a little like sheep. Here's what Jesus offered to people like us in times like these - it's in our word for today from the Word of God in John 10, beginning in verse 3, "He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out - He goes on ahead of them, and His sheep follow Him." Later, Jesus said, "My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of My hand."
There is someone who knows the way to go when there is no map and He's the Lord of this universe! And Jesus leads those who belong to Him, giving them daily direction and daily provision, no matter what's happening in the headlines. And He never loses anyone that's His - because, in the words of John 10, He "laid down His life for the sheep". Jesus died for every wrong thing you've ever done so you could belong to Him forever. He's not about to lose you after paying that price for you!
The Bible tells us that Jesus weeps for those who are, as He says, "sheep without a shepherd" (Matthew 9:36). That might be you today. But it doesn't have to be you for one more day. He's reaching out to you right now. He's ready to be your Shepherd in these confusing times; your anchor in the stormy times we live in and the storms of our own personal lives.
Your relationship with Him begins when you tell Him you're done trying to be your own shepherd, running your own life and that you want to put your total trust in Him to forgive every sin you've ever committed, to direct your life from this day on, and to get you to heaven when you die.
That's what He's waiting to give you. He's waiting for you to say, "Jesus, I'm Yours. You are my only hope. Your death on the cross, your resurrection from the dead...I want to belong to you, beginning today." Our website is all about helping you get that relationship started. I would invite you to go there. It is ANewStory.com.
We have marched off the map. But Jesus knows exactly where we are-and what the future holds. And He can take you there safely...but, you have to grab His hand.
What do we say about someone who claims to be a Christian yet behaves like anything but one. God places a song in the hearts of his saved children. Some sing this song loud and long every single day of their lives. In other cases the song falls silent. Life’s hurts and happenings mute the music within. Long seasons pass in which God’s song is not sung.
The truth is, we don’t always know if someone has trusted God’s grace. A person may have feigned belief but not meant it. Whether or not someone’s faith is real isn’t ours to know. But we do know this: where there is genuine conversion, there is eternal salvation. Our task is to trust God’s ability to call his children home. We join God as he walks among his wayward and wounded children, singing. Eventually his own will hear his voice, and something within them will awaken. And when it does, they will begin to sing again.
From God is With You Every Day
Psalm 85[a]
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.
1 You, Lord, showed favor to your land;
you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2 You forgave the iniquity of your people
and covered all their sins.[b]
3 You set aside all your wrath
and turned from your fierce anger.
4 Restore us again, God our Savior,
and put away your displeasure toward us.
5 Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you prolong your anger through all generations?
6 Will you not revive us again,
that your people may rejoice in you?
7 Show us your unfailing love, Lord,
and grant us your salvation.
8 I will listen to what God the Lord says;
he promises peace to his people, his faithful servants—
but let them not turn to folly.
9 Surely his salvation is near those who fear him,
that his glory may dwell in our land.
10 Love and faithfulness meet together;
righteousness and peace kiss each other.
11 Faithfulness springs forth from the earth,
and righteousness looks down from heaven.
12 The Lord will indeed give what is good,
and our land will yield its harvest.
13 Righteousness goes before him
and prepares the way for his steps.
Footnotes:
Psalm 85:1 In Hebrew texts 85:1-13 is numbered 85:2-14.
Psalm 85:2 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, June 10, 2016
Read: Revelation 2:12–17
The Message to the Church in Pergamum
12 “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Pergamum. This is the message from the one with the sharp two-edged sword:
13 “I know that you live in the city where Satan has his throne, yet you have remained loyal to me. You refused to deny me even when Antipas, my faithful witness, was martyred among you there in Satan’s city.
14 “But I have a few complaints against you. You tolerate some among you whose teaching is like that of Balaam, who showed Balak how to trip up the people of Israel. He taught them to sin by eating food offered to idols and by committing sexual sin. 15 In a similar way, you have some Nicolaitans among you who follow the same teaching. 16 Repent of your sin, or I will come to you suddenly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
17 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give some of the manna that has been hidden away in heaven. And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it.
INSIGHT:
In the book of Revelation, the Lord Jesus is referred to as having a “sharp, double-edged sword” (1:16; 2:12). In chapter one, John described this sword as coming out of Jesus’s mouth (v. 16). In today’s passage, Jesus is seen using this sword to fight against and slay His enemies (2:16). In a later vision, John saw Jesus as the “Faithful and True” rider of a white horse (19:11), whose name is “the Word of God,” using the “sharp sword” to conquer the nations (vv. 13–15). Christ, the Word of God (John 1:1–4), will come again to judge this world and will rule it “with an iron scepter” (Rev. 19:11–15).
Our New Name
By Amy Boucher Pye
I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it. Revelation 2:17
She called herself a worrier, but when her child was hurt in an accident, she learned how to escape that restricting label. As her child was recovering, she met each week with friends to talk and pray, asking God for help and healing. Through the months as she turned her fears and concerns into prayer, she realized that she was changing from being a worrier to a prayer warrior. She sensed that the Lord was giving her a new name. Her identity in Christ was deepening through the struggle of unwanted heartache.
In Jesus’s letter to the church at Pergamum, the Lord promises to give to the faithful a white stone with a new name on it (Rev. 2:17). Biblical commentators have debated over the meaning, but most agree that this white stone points to our freedom in Christ. In biblical times, juries in a court of law used a white stone for a not-guilty verdict and a black stone for guilty. A white stone also gained the bearer entrance into such events as banquets; likewise, those who receive God’s white stone are welcomed to the heavenly feast. Jesus’s death brings us freedom and new life—and a new name.
Followers of Christ have a brand-new identity.
What new name do you think God might give to you?
May I live out my new identity, sharing Your love and joy. Show me how You have made me into a new creation.
Share your story on odb.org
Followers of Christ have a brand-new identity.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, June 10, 2016
And After That What’s Next To Do?
…seek, and you will find… —Luke 11:9
Seek if you have not found. “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss…” (James 4:3). If you ask for things from life instead of from God, “you ask amiss”; that is, you ask out of your desire for self-fulfillment. The more you fulfill yourself the less you will seek God. “…seek, and you will find….” Get to work— narrow your focus and interests to this one thing. Have you ever sought God with your whole heart, or have you simply given Him a feeble cry after some emotionally painful experience? “…seek, [focus,] and you will find….”
“Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters…” (Isaiah 55:1). Are you thirsty, or complacent and indifferent— so satisfied with your own experience that you want nothing more of God? Experience is a doorway, not a final goal. Beware of building your faith on experience, or your life will not ring true and will only sound the note of a critical spirit. Remember that you can never give another person what you have found, but you can cause him to have a desire for it.
“…knock, and it will be opened to you” (Luke 11:9). “Draw near to God…” (James 4:8). Knock— the door is closed, and your heartbeat races as you knock. “Cleanse your hands…” (James 4:8). Knock a bit louder— you begin to find that you are dirty. “…purify your hearts…” (James 4:8). It is becoming even more personal— you are desperate and serious now— you will do anything. “Lament…” (James 4:9). Have you ever lamented, expressing your sorrow before God for the condition of your inner life? There is no thread of self-pity left, only the heart-rending difficulty and amazement which comes from seeing what kind of person you really are. “Humble yourselves…” (James 4:10). It is a humbling experience to knock at God’s door— you have to knock with the crucified thief. “…to him who knocks it will be opened” (Luke 11:10).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The root of faith is the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest snares is the idea that God is sure to lead us to success. My Utmost for His Highest, March 19, 761 L
When You're Marching Off the Map - #7675
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, June 10, 2016
Maybe you've seen those old world maps that were created when a lot of the world was still unexplored. When they reached the edge of what had been explored, they drew a line and then they showed dragons and monsters beyond it - which didn't exactly encourage exploration. The story is told of this first century Roman commander who had to lead his troops beyond the line on the map and into "dragon" territory. He sent a courier back to Rome with a straightforward message – "We have just marched off the map! Please send new orders!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When You're Marching Off the Map".
That describes how a whole lot of us are feeling since things changed so dramatically back on September 11, 2001 and all of the cataclysmic, unpredictable, unimaginable events that have come since then. We have marched off the map! Things are up for grabs with the economy; a lot of people feel their jobs are insecure. Our personal sense of safety and security has turned to a sense of vulnerability. There are prospects of bioterrorism and cyber terrorism. USA Today talked about DEFCON 1, the military's phrase for their highest state of alert-and they said suddenly a lot of us feel like we're living at DEFCON 1.
We need some certainty; we need some leadership. We want to hear from our national leaders, from our military leaders, from our financial leaders, but none of them can give us that sense of peace and security that we're needing in this "new world" that's off the map. What we're looking for can ultimately only be found in the leader. That would be the One who created us. The issues of our day and the questions of our heart are just too big to be answered by anyone other than God Himself.
In times like these, I am so glad Jesus described His relationship with those who belong to Him as one of a shepherd. Because with no clear direction these days, we're feeling a little like sheep. Here's what Jesus offered to people like us in times like these - it's in our word for today from the Word of God in John 10, beginning in verse 3, "He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out - He goes on ahead of them, and His sheep follow Him." Later, Jesus said, "My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of My hand."
There is someone who knows the way to go when there is no map and He's the Lord of this universe! And Jesus leads those who belong to Him, giving them daily direction and daily provision, no matter what's happening in the headlines. And He never loses anyone that's His - because, in the words of John 10, He "laid down His life for the sheep". Jesus died for every wrong thing you've ever done so you could belong to Him forever. He's not about to lose you after paying that price for you!
The Bible tells us that Jesus weeps for those who are, as He says, "sheep without a shepherd" (Matthew 9:36). That might be you today. But it doesn't have to be you for one more day. He's reaching out to you right now. He's ready to be your Shepherd in these confusing times; your anchor in the stormy times we live in and the storms of our own personal lives.
Your relationship with Him begins when you tell Him you're done trying to be your own shepherd, running your own life and that you want to put your total trust in Him to forgive every sin you've ever committed, to direct your life from this day on, and to get you to heaven when you die.
That's what He's waiting to give you. He's waiting for you to say, "Jesus, I'm Yours. You are my only hope. Your death on the cross, your resurrection from the dead...I want to belong to you, beginning today." Our website is all about helping you get that relationship started. I would invite you to go there. It is ANewStory.com.
We have marched off the map. But Jesus knows exactly where we are-and what the future holds. And He can take you there safely...but, you have to grab His hand.
Thursday, June 9, 2016
Psalm 73, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: YOUR LIFE A CRAFTED NARRATIVE
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).
You are in the hands of living, loving God! Your life is a crafted narrative written by a good God, working toward your supreme good. God is not making up a plan as he goes along. Nor did he wind up the clock and walk away.
Daniel 5:21 says, “The Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will.” And Jeremiah 30:24 says, “The LORD will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intentions of his mind.”
Look at those verbs: God rules, sets, executes, accomplishes. These texts confirm the heavenly blueprints and plans. And those plans include you!
From God is With You Every Day
Psalm 73
BOOK III
Psalms 73–89
Psalm 73
A psalm of Asaph.
1 Surely God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;
I had nearly lost my foothold.
3 For I envied the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 They have no struggles;
their bodies are healthy and strong.[a]
5 They are free from common human burdens;
they are not plagued by human ills.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
they clothe themselves with violence.
7 From their callous hearts comes iniquity[b];
their evil imaginations have no limits.
8 They scoff, and speak with malice;
with arrogance they threaten oppression.
9 Their mouths lay claim to heaven,
and their tongues take possession of the earth.
10 Therefore their people turn to them
and drink up waters in abundance.[c]
11 They say, “How would God know?
Does the Most High know anything?”
12 This is what the wicked are like—
always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.
13 Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure
and have washed my hands in innocence.
14 All day long I have been afflicted,
and every morning brings new punishments.
15 If I had spoken out like that,
I would have betrayed your children.
16 When I tried to understand all this,
it troubled me deeply
17 till I entered the sanctuary of God;
then I understood their final destiny.
18 Surely you place them on slippery ground;
you cast them down to ruin.
19 How suddenly are they destroyed,
completely swept away by terrors!
20 They are like a dream when one awakes;
when you arise, Lord,
you will despise them as fantasies.
21 When my heart was grieved
and my spirit embittered,
22 I was senseless and ignorant;
I was a brute beast before you.
23 Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
27 Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
28 But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.
Footnotes:
Psalm 73:4 With a different word division of the Hebrew; Masoretic Text struggles at their death; / their bodies are healthy
Psalm 73:7 Syriac (see also Septuagint); Hebrew Their eyes bulge with fat
Psalm 73:10 The meaning of the Hebrew for this verse is uncertain.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, June 09, 2016
Read: Philippians 2:1–11
Have the Attitude of Christ
Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? 2 Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.
3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
6 Though he was God,[a]
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges[b];
he took the humble position of a slave[c]
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,[d]
8 he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
and gave him the name above all other names,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Footnotes:
2:6 Or Being in the form of God.
2:7a Greek he emptied himself.
2:7b Or the form of a slave.
2:7c Some English translations put this phrase in verse 8.
INSIGHT:
Today’s passage has remarkable insights into the incarnation. The Son of God willingly took on human form and came to earth to redeem fallen sinners. But that was just the beginning of Christ’s self-humbling. He took upon Himself the form of a servant and then died on a cross of shame. But once the price of sin had been paid through His death, Christ was gloriously raised from the dead and given a name that is above every name. At the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord (v. 10).
What Really Matters
By Bill Crowder
In humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others. Philippians 2:3–4
Two men sat down to review their business trip and its results. One said he thought the trip had been worthwhile because some meaningful new relationships had begun through their business contacts. The other said, “Relationships are fine, but selling is what matters most.” Obviously they had very different agendas.
It is all too easy—whether in business, family, or church—to view others from the perspective of how they can benefit us. We value them for what we can get from them, rather than focusing on how we can serve them in Jesus’s name. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul wrote, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (Phil. 2:3–4).
Joy comes from putting another’s needs ahead of our own.
People are not to be used for our own benefit. Because they are loved by God and we are loved by Him, we love one another. His love is the greatest love of all.
Teach me, Lord, to see people as You do—bearing Your image, being worthy of Your love, and needing Your care. May Your great love find in my heart a vessel through which that love can be displayed.
Joy comes from putting another’s needs ahead of our own.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, June 09, 2016
Then What’s Next To Do?
Everyone who asks receives… —Luke 11:10
Ask if you have not received. There is nothing more difficult than asking. We will have yearnings and desires for certain things, and even suffer as a result of their going unfulfilled, but not until we are at the limit of desperation will we ask. It is the sense of not being spiritually real that causes us to ask. Have you ever asked out of the depths of your total insufficiency and poverty? “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God…” (James 1:5), but be sure that you do lack wisdom before you ask. You cannot bring yourself to the point of spiritual reality anytime you choose. The best thing to do, once you realize you are not spiritually real, is to ask God for the Holy Spirit, basing your request on the promise of Jesus Christ (see Luke 11:13). The Holy Spirit is the one who makes everything that Jesus did for you real in your life.
“Everyone who asks receives….” This does not mean that you will not get if you do not ask, but it means that until you come to the point of asking, you will not receive from God (seeMatthew 5:45). To be able to receive means that you have to come into the relationship of a child of God, and then you comprehend and appreciate mentally, morally, and with spiritual understanding, that these things come from God.
“If any of you lacks wisdom….” If you realize that you are lacking, it is because you have come in contact with spiritual reality— do not put the blinders of reason on again. The word ask actually means “beg.” Some people are poor enough to be interested in their poverty, and some of us are poor enough spiritually to show our interest. Yet we will never receive if we ask with a certain result in mind, because we are asking out of our lust, not out of our poverty. A pauper does not ask out of any reason other than the completely hopeless and painful condition of his poverty. He is not ashamed to beg— blessed are the paupers in spirit (see Matthew 5:3).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great point of Abraham’s faith in God was that he was prepared to do anything for God. Not Knowing Whither, 903 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, June 09, 2016
Shaping Lives – The Jesus Plan - #7674
It was during the Gulf War, shortly before the ground troops attacked Saddam Hussein's forces in Desert Storm. Everyone knew he had large stores of chemical weapons and that the Allied soldiers were in danger of those weapons being unleashed on them. I saw this interview on television back then. It was with an American soldier who talked about the training the troops were receiving in chemical warfare. Here's what she said, "You know, it's funny. They taught us about chemical warfare in basic training, but no one paid any attention. But now, well, everyone's really paying attention, taking notes, asking questions."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Shaping Lives – The Jesus Plan."
Those soldiers were suddenly motivated to learn what they had been taught because now they needed it. Now they were about to use it. You can see that dynamic when you take young people on a missions trip. Kids who seldom read their Bible or pray or pay attention are suddenly on a rock early in the morning reading their Bible. They're praying out loud. They're asking questions! Why? Because they're in a situation, like those Gulf War soldiers, where they're going to need what they know - where they're going to use it!
Jesus knew that. He trained His future leaders that way, and, in the process, He showed us a process for getting people to really learn what we're teaching them and to do what they learned. That's discipling. If you're a parent, a teacher, a spiritual coach, a pastor, a youth leader, you need to build your ministry on this powerful pattern for life-changing teaching.
Our word for today from the Word of God gives it to us in Luke 9 beginning at verse 1. "When Jesus had called the Twelve together, He gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases (which, by the way, they had watched Him do in the previous chapter), and He sent them out to preach the kingdom of God (there are three things, by the way that they had a chance to watch Him do-watch Him, and then do it). So they set out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere. When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. "
Well, you just saw Jesus' method of shaping a life. First, you teach the truth to people by word and by example. We generally do that part pretty well, but we stop there. So it never makes it past the person's head. That's why we need to do what Jesus did here: He had them immediately go out and do a little of what they just learned. That immediately connects their belief to their behavior, instead of what they believe being just a compartment. That's really important in a world where too many Christians just believe their beliefs, but they don't behave them. The final step in the life-changing process is to bring them back to talk about what happened when they did what they were taught.
You really could compress this into just a few words: learn it, do it, talk about it. That is a practical, workable definition of what it truly means to disciple a person. Discipling is getting them to connect their beliefs to their behavior. And if they learn it and they do some of what they just learned, and they come back and they talk about how it went - that's life changing.
For those soldiers in the Gulf War, the teaching didn't come alive until they had an immediate need for it, an immediate opportunity to put it into practice. So we need to give our children, our students, our congregation, our youth group the truth with projects - an immediate short-term assignment say, the next week, in which they do something that puts that teaching into practice. Your teaching is incomplete until you've given them something to do as a result of it. And then give them an opportunity to come back and talk about what happened.
Learn it, do it, talk about it. That's teaching that goes way beyond filling a head with spiritual facts. It changes lives!
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).
You are in the hands of living, loving God! Your life is a crafted narrative written by a good God, working toward your supreme good. God is not making up a plan as he goes along. Nor did he wind up the clock and walk away.
Daniel 5:21 says, “The Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will.” And Jeremiah 30:24 says, “The LORD will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intentions of his mind.”
Look at those verbs: God rules, sets, executes, accomplishes. These texts confirm the heavenly blueprints and plans. And those plans include you!
From God is With You Every Day
Psalm 73
BOOK III
Psalms 73–89
Psalm 73
A psalm of Asaph.
1 Surely God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;
I had nearly lost my foothold.
3 For I envied the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 They have no struggles;
their bodies are healthy and strong.[a]
5 They are free from common human burdens;
they are not plagued by human ills.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
they clothe themselves with violence.
7 From their callous hearts comes iniquity[b];
their evil imaginations have no limits.
8 They scoff, and speak with malice;
with arrogance they threaten oppression.
9 Their mouths lay claim to heaven,
and their tongues take possession of the earth.
10 Therefore their people turn to them
and drink up waters in abundance.[c]
11 They say, “How would God know?
Does the Most High know anything?”
12 This is what the wicked are like—
always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.
13 Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure
and have washed my hands in innocence.
14 All day long I have been afflicted,
and every morning brings new punishments.
15 If I had spoken out like that,
I would have betrayed your children.
16 When I tried to understand all this,
it troubled me deeply
17 till I entered the sanctuary of God;
then I understood their final destiny.
18 Surely you place them on slippery ground;
you cast them down to ruin.
19 How suddenly are they destroyed,
completely swept away by terrors!
20 They are like a dream when one awakes;
when you arise, Lord,
you will despise them as fantasies.
21 When my heart was grieved
and my spirit embittered,
22 I was senseless and ignorant;
I was a brute beast before you.
23 Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
27 Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
28 But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.
Footnotes:
Psalm 73:4 With a different word division of the Hebrew; Masoretic Text struggles at their death; / their bodies are healthy
Psalm 73:7 Syriac (see also Septuagint); Hebrew Their eyes bulge with fat
Psalm 73:10 The meaning of the Hebrew for this verse is uncertain.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, June 09, 2016
Read: Philippians 2:1–11
Have the Attitude of Christ
Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? 2 Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.
3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
6 Though he was God,[a]
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges[b];
he took the humble position of a slave[c]
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,[d]
8 he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
and gave him the name above all other names,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Footnotes:
2:6 Or Being in the form of God.
2:7a Greek he emptied himself.
2:7b Or the form of a slave.
2:7c Some English translations put this phrase in verse 8.
INSIGHT:
Today’s passage has remarkable insights into the incarnation. The Son of God willingly took on human form and came to earth to redeem fallen sinners. But that was just the beginning of Christ’s self-humbling. He took upon Himself the form of a servant and then died on a cross of shame. But once the price of sin had been paid through His death, Christ was gloriously raised from the dead and given a name that is above every name. At the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord (v. 10).
What Really Matters
By Bill Crowder
In humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others. Philippians 2:3–4
Two men sat down to review their business trip and its results. One said he thought the trip had been worthwhile because some meaningful new relationships had begun through their business contacts. The other said, “Relationships are fine, but selling is what matters most.” Obviously they had very different agendas.
It is all too easy—whether in business, family, or church—to view others from the perspective of how they can benefit us. We value them for what we can get from them, rather than focusing on how we can serve them in Jesus’s name. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul wrote, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (Phil. 2:3–4).
Joy comes from putting another’s needs ahead of our own.
People are not to be used for our own benefit. Because they are loved by God and we are loved by Him, we love one another. His love is the greatest love of all.
Teach me, Lord, to see people as You do—bearing Your image, being worthy of Your love, and needing Your care. May Your great love find in my heart a vessel through which that love can be displayed.
Joy comes from putting another’s needs ahead of our own.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, June 09, 2016
Then What’s Next To Do?
Everyone who asks receives… —Luke 11:10
Ask if you have not received. There is nothing more difficult than asking. We will have yearnings and desires for certain things, and even suffer as a result of their going unfulfilled, but not until we are at the limit of desperation will we ask. It is the sense of not being spiritually real that causes us to ask. Have you ever asked out of the depths of your total insufficiency and poverty? “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God…” (James 1:5), but be sure that you do lack wisdom before you ask. You cannot bring yourself to the point of spiritual reality anytime you choose. The best thing to do, once you realize you are not spiritually real, is to ask God for the Holy Spirit, basing your request on the promise of Jesus Christ (see Luke 11:13). The Holy Spirit is the one who makes everything that Jesus did for you real in your life.
“Everyone who asks receives….” This does not mean that you will not get if you do not ask, but it means that until you come to the point of asking, you will not receive from God (seeMatthew 5:45). To be able to receive means that you have to come into the relationship of a child of God, and then you comprehend and appreciate mentally, morally, and with spiritual understanding, that these things come from God.
“If any of you lacks wisdom….” If you realize that you are lacking, it is because you have come in contact with spiritual reality— do not put the blinders of reason on again. The word ask actually means “beg.” Some people are poor enough to be interested in their poverty, and some of us are poor enough spiritually to show our interest. Yet we will never receive if we ask with a certain result in mind, because we are asking out of our lust, not out of our poverty. A pauper does not ask out of any reason other than the completely hopeless and painful condition of his poverty. He is not ashamed to beg— blessed are the paupers in spirit (see Matthew 5:3).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great point of Abraham’s faith in God was that he was prepared to do anything for God. Not Knowing Whither, 903 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, June 09, 2016
Shaping Lives – The Jesus Plan - #7674
It was during the Gulf War, shortly before the ground troops attacked Saddam Hussein's forces in Desert Storm. Everyone knew he had large stores of chemical weapons and that the Allied soldiers were in danger of those weapons being unleashed on them. I saw this interview on television back then. It was with an American soldier who talked about the training the troops were receiving in chemical warfare. Here's what she said, "You know, it's funny. They taught us about chemical warfare in basic training, but no one paid any attention. But now, well, everyone's really paying attention, taking notes, asking questions."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Shaping Lives – The Jesus Plan."
Those soldiers were suddenly motivated to learn what they had been taught because now they needed it. Now they were about to use it. You can see that dynamic when you take young people on a missions trip. Kids who seldom read their Bible or pray or pay attention are suddenly on a rock early in the morning reading their Bible. They're praying out loud. They're asking questions! Why? Because they're in a situation, like those Gulf War soldiers, where they're going to need what they know - where they're going to use it!
Jesus knew that. He trained His future leaders that way, and, in the process, He showed us a process for getting people to really learn what we're teaching them and to do what they learned. That's discipling. If you're a parent, a teacher, a spiritual coach, a pastor, a youth leader, you need to build your ministry on this powerful pattern for life-changing teaching.
Our word for today from the Word of God gives it to us in Luke 9 beginning at verse 1. "When Jesus had called the Twelve together, He gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases (which, by the way, they had watched Him do in the previous chapter), and He sent them out to preach the kingdom of God (there are three things, by the way that they had a chance to watch Him do-watch Him, and then do it). So they set out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere. When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. "
Well, you just saw Jesus' method of shaping a life. First, you teach the truth to people by word and by example. We generally do that part pretty well, but we stop there. So it never makes it past the person's head. That's why we need to do what Jesus did here: He had them immediately go out and do a little of what they just learned. That immediately connects their belief to their behavior, instead of what they believe being just a compartment. That's really important in a world where too many Christians just believe their beliefs, but they don't behave them. The final step in the life-changing process is to bring them back to talk about what happened when they did what they were taught.
You really could compress this into just a few words: learn it, do it, talk about it. That is a practical, workable definition of what it truly means to disciple a person. Discipling is getting them to connect their beliefs to their behavior. And if they learn it and they do some of what they just learned, and they come back and they talk about how it went - that's life changing.
For those soldiers in the Gulf War, the teaching didn't come alive until they had an immediate need for it, an immediate opportunity to put it into practice. So we need to give our children, our students, our congregation, our youth group the truth with projects - an immediate short-term assignment say, the next week, in which they do something that puts that teaching into practice. Your teaching is incomplete until you've given them something to do as a result of it. And then give them an opportunity to come back and talk about what happened.
Learn it, do it, talk about it. That's teaching that goes way beyond filling a head with spiritual facts. It changes lives!
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
1 Corinthians 11:1-16, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: BE PATIENT AND KIND
Is there anything in your life that needs to be removed? Any impediment to the impressions of God’s Spirit? Scripture reminds us that we can grieve the Spirit with our angry words. We can even quench the Spirit by having no regard for God’s teachings. (Ephesians 4:29-30)
Here is something that helps me stay in step with the Spirit. We know from Galatians 5:22-23 that the “fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” God’s Spirit creates and distributes these characteristics. They are indicators on my spiritual dashboard. So whenever I sense them, I know I’m walking in the Spirit.
Don’t sense any nudging? Just be patient and wait. God instills seasons of silence in his plan. Time is needed for the development of a crop. Wait for him to nudge and direct you.
From God is With You Every Day
1 Corinthians 11:1-16
And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.
Instructions for Public Worship
2 I am so glad that you always keep me in your thoughts, and that you are following the teachings I passed on to you. 3 But there is one thing I want you to know: The head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.[a] 4 A man dishonors his head[b] if he covers his head while praying or prophesying. 5 But a woman dishonors her head[c] if she prays or prophesies without a covering on her head, for this is the same as shaving her head. 6 Yes, if she refuses to wear a head covering, she should cut off all her hair! But since it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut or her head shaved, she should wear a covering.[d]
7 A man should not wear anything on his head when worshiping, for man is made in God’s image and reflects God’s glory. And woman reflects man’s glory. 8 For the first man didn’t come from woman, but the first woman came from man. 9 And man was not made for woman, but woman was made for man. 10 For this reason, and because the angels are watching, a woman should wear a covering on her head to show she is under authority.[e]
11 But among the Lord’s people, women are not independent of men, and men are not independent of women. 12 For although the first woman came from man, every other man was born from a woman, and everything comes from God.
13 Judge for yourselves. Is it right for a woman to pray to God in public without covering her head? 14 Isn’t it obvious that it’s disgraceful for a man to have long hair? 15 And isn’t long hair a woman’s pride and joy? For it has been given to her as a covering. 16 But if anyone wants to argue about this, I simply say that we have no other custom than this, and neither do God’s other churches.
Footnotes:
11:3 Or to know: The source of every man is Christ, the source of woman is man, and the source of Christ is God. Or to know: Every man is responsible to Christ, a woman is responsible to her husband, and Christ is responsible to God.
11:4 Or dishonors Christ.
11:5 Or dishonors her husband.
11:6 Or should have long hair.
11:10 Greek should have an authority on her head.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
Paul’s Joy That Christ Is Preached
And I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters,[a] that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News. 13 For everyone here, including the whole palace guard,[b] knows that I am in chains because of Christ. 14 And because of my imprisonment, most of the believers[c] here have gained confidence and boldly speak God’s message[d] without fear.
15 It’s true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. 16 They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News. 17 Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me. 18 But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice. 19 For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance.
Paul’s Life for Christ
20 For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. 21 For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. 22 But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better. 23 I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. 24 But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live.
25 Knowing this, I am convinced that I will remain alive so I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the joy of your faith. 26 And when I come to you again, you will have even more reason to take pride in Christ Jesus because of what he is doing through me.
Footnotes:
1:12 Greek brothers.
1:13 Greek including all the Praetorium.
1:14a Greek brothers in the Lord.
1:14b Some manuscripts read speak the message.
Better By Far
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far. Philippians 1:23
A siren wailed outside a little boy’s house. Unfamiliar with the sound, he asked his mother what it was. She explained that it was meant to alert people of a dangerous storm. She said that if people did not take cover, they might die as a result of the tornado. The boy replied, “Mommy, why is that a bad thing? If we die, don’t we meet Jesus?”
Little children don’t always understand what it means to die. But Paul, who had a lifetime of experience, wrote something similar: “I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far” (Phil. 1:23). The apostle was under house arrest at the time, but his statement wasn’t fueled by despair. He was rejoicing because his suffering was causing the gospel to spread (vv. 12–14).
Belief in Jesus's death and resurrection brings the assurance of life with Him forever.
So why would Paul be torn between a desire for life and death? Because to go on living would mean “fruitful labor.” But if he died he knew he would enjoy a special kind of closeness with Christ. To be absent from our bodies is to be home with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:6–8).
People who believe in the saving power of Jesus’s death and resurrection will be with Him forever. It’s been said, “All’s well that ends in heaven.” Whether we live or die, we win. “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).
Dear Jesus, help me to keep my eyes on You, whether I face difficulty in life or death. Let me find security and peace in You.
Belief in Jesus's death and resurrection brings the assurance of life with Him forever.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
What’s Next To Do?
If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. —John 13:17
Be determined to know more than others. If you yourself do not cut the lines that tie you to the dock, God will have to use a storm to sever them and to send you out to sea. Put everything in your life afloat upon God, going out to sea on the great swelling tide of His purpose, and your eyes will be opened. If you believe in Jesus, you are not to spend all your time in the calm waters just inside the harbor, full of joy, but always tied to the dock. You have to get out past the harbor into the great depths of God, and begin to know things for yourself— begin to have spiritual discernment.
When you know that you should do something and you do it, immediately you know more. Examine where you have become sluggish, where you began losing interest spiritually, and you will find that it goes back to a point where you did not do something you knew you should do. You did not do it because there seemed to be no immediate call to do it. But now you have no insight or discernment, and at a time of crisis you are spiritually distracted instead of spiritually self-controlled. It is a dangerous thing to refuse to continue learning and knowing more.
The counterfeit of obedience is a state of mind in which you create your own opportunities to sacrifice yourself, and your zeal and enthusiasm are mistaken for discernment. It is easier to sacrifice yourself than to fulfill your spiritual destiny, which is stated in Romans 12:1-2. It is much better to fulfill the purpose of God in your life by discerning His will than it is to perform great acts of self-sacrifice. “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice…” (1 Samuel 15:22). Beware of paying attention or going back to what you once were, when God wants you to be something that you have never been. “If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know…” (John 7:17).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
When you are joyful, be joyful; when you are sad, be sad. If God has given you a sweet cup, don’t make it bitter; and if He has given you a bitter cup, don’t try and make it sweet; take things as they come. Shade of His Hand, 1226 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
Fighting For That Person You Love - #7673
Anne had ridden her mountain bike through a California wilderness park a lot of times before, but the ride this day would change her life. She was attacked by a mountain lion that hours earlier had killed another biker. As the cat literally held her in his jaws by the back of her neck, all she could do was pray. Humanly speaking, her friend Debbie was her only hope. Debbie jumped off her bike, grabbed Anne's leg, and screamed for help just kicking at the mountain lion. Thankfully, Debbie's screams finally brought the help of some men who had been biking with them. Debbie continued to hang on as the men pelted that lion with rocks. Suddenly the animal released his victim, and Anne's life was saved. Debbie just gave everything she had to keep the promise she had made to her friend in the middle of that struggle. She just screamed, "I'll never let go of you!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Fighting for That Person You Love."
There are people you know whose lives depend on you being a friend like that - a friend who loves them enough to fight the lion for them - whatever it takes. In the Bible, God calls the devil "a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8). The lion's ultimate goal is to take people you work with, people you go to school with, people in your personal world, to hell with him. If he can just keep them from ever putting their trust in the Savior who died to save them. If he can just keep them from ever really understanding what Jesus did for them. If he can just keep you from telling them. Humanly speaking, their only hope may be someone who will fight for their life, and since you know Jesus and you know them, that someone is probably you.
The command of Proverbs 24:11 is our very important word for today from the Word of God. "Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, 'But we knew nothing about this,' does not he who weighs the heart perceive it...Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?" The Bible makes it plain. It says, "He that does not have the Son of God does not have life" (1 John 5:12). I'm sure you know some folks who probably don't have the Son of God in their heart. Which means no real life here and no eternal life when they die.
Don't just let the lion have them right before your very eyes. Fight for them! Jude 23 commands us, "Snatch others from the fire and save them." Put the name of someone you know in that verse, "Snatch (there's the name) from the fire and save that person." Someone you want to have in Heaven with you who probably isn't headed there right now.
How can you fight for their eternal soul? First, you show love to them in ways that will mean something to them, that displays God's love but in a way that communicates it in their language of love. Show them the difference Jesus makes by being like Jesus in ways that will stand out to them in contrast to the other people that they know in that same environment. The real fight for them, though, is in the Throne Room of Almighty God. Keep storming heaven, praying for their rescue every day. Pray for them by name. Don't let them go.
Ask God to open a door, a natural opportunity for you to explain your relationship with Jesus and the difference He makes. Pray that He will open their heart to Him and to you, and He'll open your mouth to tell them about Him. I call it the 3-open prayer. "Lord, open a door. Lord, open their heart. Lord, open my mouth."
Saving them is going to take a friend who will take the risks, pay the price, and make the changes necessary to rescue them, and to never, never let go. As long as there's breath, there is hope! And for your friend, this fight is life or death!
Is there anything in your life that needs to be removed? Any impediment to the impressions of God’s Spirit? Scripture reminds us that we can grieve the Spirit with our angry words. We can even quench the Spirit by having no regard for God’s teachings. (Ephesians 4:29-30)
Here is something that helps me stay in step with the Spirit. We know from Galatians 5:22-23 that the “fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” God’s Spirit creates and distributes these characteristics. They are indicators on my spiritual dashboard. So whenever I sense them, I know I’m walking in the Spirit.
Don’t sense any nudging? Just be patient and wait. God instills seasons of silence in his plan. Time is needed for the development of a crop. Wait for him to nudge and direct you.
From God is With You Every Day
1 Corinthians 11:1-16
And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.
Instructions for Public Worship
2 I am so glad that you always keep me in your thoughts, and that you are following the teachings I passed on to you. 3 But there is one thing I want you to know: The head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.[a] 4 A man dishonors his head[b] if he covers his head while praying or prophesying. 5 But a woman dishonors her head[c] if she prays or prophesies without a covering on her head, for this is the same as shaving her head. 6 Yes, if she refuses to wear a head covering, she should cut off all her hair! But since it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut or her head shaved, she should wear a covering.[d]
7 A man should not wear anything on his head when worshiping, for man is made in God’s image and reflects God’s glory. And woman reflects man’s glory. 8 For the first man didn’t come from woman, but the first woman came from man. 9 And man was not made for woman, but woman was made for man. 10 For this reason, and because the angels are watching, a woman should wear a covering on her head to show she is under authority.[e]
11 But among the Lord’s people, women are not independent of men, and men are not independent of women. 12 For although the first woman came from man, every other man was born from a woman, and everything comes from God.
13 Judge for yourselves. Is it right for a woman to pray to God in public without covering her head? 14 Isn’t it obvious that it’s disgraceful for a man to have long hair? 15 And isn’t long hair a woman’s pride and joy? For it has been given to her as a covering. 16 But if anyone wants to argue about this, I simply say that we have no other custom than this, and neither do God’s other churches.
Footnotes:
11:3 Or to know: The source of every man is Christ, the source of woman is man, and the source of Christ is God. Or to know: Every man is responsible to Christ, a woman is responsible to her husband, and Christ is responsible to God.
11:4 Or dishonors Christ.
11:5 Or dishonors her husband.
11:6 Or should have long hair.
11:10 Greek should have an authority on her head.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
Paul’s Joy That Christ Is Preached
And I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters,[a] that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News. 13 For everyone here, including the whole palace guard,[b] knows that I am in chains because of Christ. 14 And because of my imprisonment, most of the believers[c] here have gained confidence and boldly speak God’s message[d] without fear.
15 It’s true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. 16 They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News. 17 Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me. 18 But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice. 19 For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance.
Paul’s Life for Christ
20 For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. 21 For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. 22 But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better. 23 I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. 24 But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live.
25 Knowing this, I am convinced that I will remain alive so I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the joy of your faith. 26 And when I come to you again, you will have even more reason to take pride in Christ Jesus because of what he is doing through me.
Footnotes:
1:12 Greek brothers.
1:13 Greek including all the Praetorium.
1:14a Greek brothers in the Lord.
1:14b Some manuscripts read speak the message.
Better By Far
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far. Philippians 1:23
A siren wailed outside a little boy’s house. Unfamiliar with the sound, he asked his mother what it was. She explained that it was meant to alert people of a dangerous storm. She said that if people did not take cover, they might die as a result of the tornado. The boy replied, “Mommy, why is that a bad thing? If we die, don’t we meet Jesus?”
Little children don’t always understand what it means to die. But Paul, who had a lifetime of experience, wrote something similar: “I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far” (Phil. 1:23). The apostle was under house arrest at the time, but his statement wasn’t fueled by despair. He was rejoicing because his suffering was causing the gospel to spread (vv. 12–14).
Belief in Jesus's death and resurrection brings the assurance of life with Him forever.
So why would Paul be torn between a desire for life and death? Because to go on living would mean “fruitful labor.” But if he died he knew he would enjoy a special kind of closeness with Christ. To be absent from our bodies is to be home with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:6–8).
People who believe in the saving power of Jesus’s death and resurrection will be with Him forever. It’s been said, “All’s well that ends in heaven.” Whether we live or die, we win. “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).
Dear Jesus, help me to keep my eyes on You, whether I face difficulty in life or death. Let me find security and peace in You.
Belief in Jesus's death and resurrection brings the assurance of life with Him forever.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
What’s Next To Do?
If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. —John 13:17
Be determined to know more than others. If you yourself do not cut the lines that tie you to the dock, God will have to use a storm to sever them and to send you out to sea. Put everything in your life afloat upon God, going out to sea on the great swelling tide of His purpose, and your eyes will be opened. If you believe in Jesus, you are not to spend all your time in the calm waters just inside the harbor, full of joy, but always tied to the dock. You have to get out past the harbor into the great depths of God, and begin to know things for yourself— begin to have spiritual discernment.
When you know that you should do something and you do it, immediately you know more. Examine where you have become sluggish, where you began losing interest spiritually, and you will find that it goes back to a point where you did not do something you knew you should do. You did not do it because there seemed to be no immediate call to do it. But now you have no insight or discernment, and at a time of crisis you are spiritually distracted instead of spiritually self-controlled. It is a dangerous thing to refuse to continue learning and knowing more.
The counterfeit of obedience is a state of mind in which you create your own opportunities to sacrifice yourself, and your zeal and enthusiasm are mistaken for discernment. It is easier to sacrifice yourself than to fulfill your spiritual destiny, which is stated in Romans 12:1-2. It is much better to fulfill the purpose of God in your life by discerning His will than it is to perform great acts of self-sacrifice. “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice…” (1 Samuel 15:22). Beware of paying attention or going back to what you once were, when God wants you to be something that you have never been. “If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know…” (John 7:17).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
When you are joyful, be joyful; when you are sad, be sad. If God has given you a sweet cup, don’t make it bitter; and if He has given you a bitter cup, don’t try and make it sweet; take things as they come. Shade of His Hand, 1226 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
Fighting For That Person You Love - #7673
Anne had ridden her mountain bike through a California wilderness park a lot of times before, but the ride this day would change her life. She was attacked by a mountain lion that hours earlier had killed another biker. As the cat literally held her in his jaws by the back of her neck, all she could do was pray. Humanly speaking, her friend Debbie was her only hope. Debbie jumped off her bike, grabbed Anne's leg, and screamed for help just kicking at the mountain lion. Thankfully, Debbie's screams finally brought the help of some men who had been biking with them. Debbie continued to hang on as the men pelted that lion with rocks. Suddenly the animal released his victim, and Anne's life was saved. Debbie just gave everything she had to keep the promise she had made to her friend in the middle of that struggle. She just screamed, "I'll never let go of you!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Fighting for That Person You Love."
There are people you know whose lives depend on you being a friend like that - a friend who loves them enough to fight the lion for them - whatever it takes. In the Bible, God calls the devil "a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8). The lion's ultimate goal is to take people you work with, people you go to school with, people in your personal world, to hell with him. If he can just keep them from ever putting their trust in the Savior who died to save them. If he can just keep them from ever really understanding what Jesus did for them. If he can just keep you from telling them. Humanly speaking, their only hope may be someone who will fight for their life, and since you know Jesus and you know them, that someone is probably you.
The command of Proverbs 24:11 is our very important word for today from the Word of God. "Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, 'But we knew nothing about this,' does not he who weighs the heart perceive it...Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?" The Bible makes it plain. It says, "He that does not have the Son of God does not have life" (1 John 5:12). I'm sure you know some folks who probably don't have the Son of God in their heart. Which means no real life here and no eternal life when they die.
Don't just let the lion have them right before your very eyes. Fight for them! Jude 23 commands us, "Snatch others from the fire and save them." Put the name of someone you know in that verse, "Snatch (there's the name) from the fire and save that person." Someone you want to have in Heaven with you who probably isn't headed there right now.
How can you fight for their eternal soul? First, you show love to them in ways that will mean something to them, that displays God's love but in a way that communicates it in their language of love. Show them the difference Jesus makes by being like Jesus in ways that will stand out to them in contrast to the other people that they know in that same environment. The real fight for them, though, is in the Throne Room of Almighty God. Keep storming heaven, praying for their rescue every day. Pray for them by name. Don't let them go.
Ask God to open a door, a natural opportunity for you to explain your relationship with Jesus and the difference He makes. Pray that He will open their heart to Him and to you, and He'll open your mouth to tell them about Him. I call it the 3-open prayer. "Lord, open a door. Lord, open their heart. Lord, open my mouth."
Saving them is going to take a friend who will take the risks, pay the price, and make the changes necessary to rescue them, and to never, never let go. As long as there's breath, there is hope! And for your friend, this fight is life or death!
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Psalm 50 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: LIVE A STIRRING LIFE
Let us each lead a life stirring enough to cause a movement! Let’s love unquenchably, dream unfalteringly, and work unceasingly. Let us close our ears to the manifold voices of compromise and perch ourselves on the branch of truth. Let’s champion the value of people, proclaim the forgiveness of God, and claim the promise of heaven.
Let’s start a movement of hope! A movement comes of age when one life harvests the seeds planted by countless lives in previous generations. A movement occurs when one person, no greater or lesser than those who’ve gone before, lives a forceful life in the fullness of time.
Let’s live lives stirring and forceful enough to cause a movement. Will the movement come in our generation? I hope so. But even if it doesn’t, even if we never see it, it will occur. And we will be part of it.
From God is With You Every Day
Psalm 50
A psalm of Asaph.
The Mighty One, God, the Lord,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to where it sets.
2 From Zion, perfect in beauty,
God shines forth.
3 Our God comes
and will not be silent;
a fire devours before him,
and around him a tempest rages.
4 He summons the heavens above,
and the earth, that he may judge his people:
5 “Gather to me this consecrated people,
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
6 And the heavens proclaim his righteousness,
for he is a God of justice.[h][i]
7 “Listen, my people, and I will speak;
I will testify against you, Israel:
I am God, your God.
8 I bring no charges against you concerning your sacrifices
or concerning your burnt offerings, which are ever before me.
9 I have no need of a bull from your stall
or of goats from your pens,
10 for every animal of the forest is mine,
and the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know every bird in the mountains,
and the insects in the fields are mine.
12 If I were hungry I would not tell you,
for the world is mine, and all that is in it.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
14 “Sacrifice thank offerings to God,
fulfill your vows to the Most High,
15 and call on me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”
16 But to the wicked person, God says:
“What right have you to recite my laws
or take my covenant on your lips?
17 You hate my instruction
and cast my words behind you.
18 When you see a thief, you join with him;
you throw in your lot with adulterers.
19 You use your mouth for evil
and harness your tongue to deceit.
20 You sit and testify against your brother
and slander your own mother’s son.
21 When you did these things and I kept silent,
you thought I was exactly[j] like you.
But I now arraign you
and set my accusations before you.
22 “Consider this, you who forget God,
or I will tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:
23 Those who sacrifice thank offerings honor me,
and to the blameless[k] I will show my salvation.”
Footnotes:
Psalm 50:6 With a different word division of the Hebrew; Masoretic Text for God himself is judge
Psalm 50:6 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here.
Psalm 50:21 Or thought the ‘I am’ was
Psalm 50:23 Probable reading of the original Hebrew text; the meaning of the Masoretic Text for this phrase is uncertain.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
Read: Mark 5:1–20
Jesus Heals a Demon-Possessed Man
So they arrived at the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gerasenes.[a] 2 When Jesus climbed out of the boat, a man possessed by an evil[b] spirit came out from the tombs to meet him. 3 This man lived in the burial caves and could no longer be restrained, even with a chain. 4 Whenever he was put into chains and shackles—as he often was—he snapped the chains from his wrists and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones.
6 When Jesus was still some distance away, the man saw him, ran to meet him, and bowed low before him. 7 With a shriek, he screamed, “Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In the name of God, I beg you, don’t torture me!” 8 For Jesus had already said to the spirit, “Come out of the man, you evil spirit.”
9 Then Jesus demanded, “What is your name?”
And he replied, “My name is Legion, because there are many of us inside this man.” 10 Then the evil spirits begged him again and again not to send them to some distant place.
11 There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby. 12 “Send us into those pigs,” the spirits begged. “Let us enter them.”
13 So Jesus gave them permission. The evil spirits came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the entire herd of about 2,000 pigs plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned in the water.
14 The herdsmen fled to the nearby town and the surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they ran. People rushed out to see what had happened. 15 A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons. He was sitting there fully clothed and perfectly sane, and they were all afraid. 16 Then those who had seen what happened told the others about the demon-possessed man and the pigs. 17 And the crowd began pleading with Jesus to go away and leave them alone.
18 As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him. 19 But Jesus said, “No, go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been.” 20 So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns[c] of that region and began to proclaim the great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed at what he told them.
Footnotes:
5:1 Other manuscripts read Gadarenes; still others read Gergesenes. See Matt 8:28; Luke 8:26.
5:2 Greek unclean; also in 5:8, 13.
5:20 Greek Decapolis.
Tell It!
By Lawrence Darmani
The man went away and began to tell . . . how much Jesus had done for him. Mark 5:20
The year was 1975 and something significant had just happened to me. I needed to find my friend Francis, with whom I shared a lot of personal matters, and tell him about it. I found him in his apartment hurriedly preparing to go out, but I slowed him down. The way he stared at me, he must have sensed that I had something important to tell him. “What is it?” he asked. So I told him simply, “Yesterday I surrendered my life to Jesus!”
Francis looked at me, sighed heavily, and said, “I’ve felt like doing the same for a long time now.” He asked me to share what happened, and I told him how the previous day someone had explained the gospel to me and how I asked Jesus to come into my life. I still remember the tears in his eyes as he too prayed to receive Jesus’s forgiveness. No longer in a hurry, he and I talked and talked about our new relationship with Christ.
Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story. Psalm 107:2
After Jesus healed the man with an evil spirit, He told him, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you” (Mark 5:19). The man didn’t need to preach a powerful sermon; he simply needed to share his story.
No matter what our conversion experience is, we can do what that man did: “[He] went away and began to tell . . . how much Jesus had done for him.”
What has Jesus done for you? Tell it!
Share your story on Facebook.com/ourdailybread.
Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story. Psalm 107:2
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
The Greatest Source of Power
Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do… —John 14:13
Am I fulfilling this ministry of intercession deep within the hidden recesses of my life? There is no trap nor any danger at all of being deceived or of showing pride in true intercession. It is a hidden ministry that brings forth fruit through which the Father is glorified. Am I allowing my spiritual life to waste away, or am I focused, bringing everything to one central point— the atonement of my Lord? Is Jesus Christ more and more dominating every interest of my life? If the central point, or the most powerful influence, of my life is the atonement of the Lord, then every aspect of my life will bear fruit for Him.
However, I must take the time to realize what this central point of power is. Am I willing to give one minute out of every hour to concentrate on it? “If you abide in Me…”— that is, if you continue to act, and think, and work from that central point— “you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you” (John 15:7). Am I abiding? Am I taking the time to abide? What is the greatest source of power in my life? Is it my work, service, and sacrifice for others, or is it my striving to work for God? It should be none of these— what ought to exert the greatest power in my life is the atonement of the Lord. It is not on what we spend the greatest amount of time that molds us the most, but whatever exerts the most power over us. We must make a determination to limit and concentrate our desires and interests on the atonement by the Cross of Christ.
“Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do….” The disciple who abides in Jesus is the will of God, and what appears to be his free choices are actually God’s foreordained decrees. Is this mysterious? Does it appear to contradict sound logic or seem totally absurd? Yes, but what a glorious truth it is to a saint of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The message of the prophets is that although they have forsaken God, it has not altered God. The Apostle Paul emphasizes the same truth, that God remains God even when we are unfaithful (see 2 Timothy 2:13). Never interpret God as changing with our changes. He never does; there is no variableness in Him. Notes on Ezekiel, 1477 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
Lifetime Companion - #7672
I guess after you've lived 94 years, you have a right to forget some things. And a lot of elderly people do. And some of us not so elderly. My wife's grandfather was 94 and had reached the point of not even recognizing some of his family. It's a small family-just one son and two granddaughters, including my wife. My wife called her Granddad one day and she spoke loudly so he could hear, and she said, "Hi, Granddad. I love you." And she identified who was calling. There was no response for a moment-then almost irritated; he said "Who is this?" And she identified herself again, and she said, "You know, you have one son who had two daughters. I'm the oldest daughter. I love you, Granddad." Well, this time he just chuckled. He had no idea who this strange woman was saying she loved him. I just love my wife's response, "Well, Granddad, the most important thing is this-Jesus loves you." To which Granddad responded-"Now Him I know!" I love it!
This is Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Lifetime Companion."
Remembering that precious conversation with my wife's grandfather always touches me. His lifetime companion, my wife's Grandma of course, was gone. He didn't always recognize his son or his granddaughters. But there was one companion that had walked with him through it all and who he knew was still there by his side every step of the way... Jesus.
The sad thing is that so many of us are trying to make it without that unloseable lifetime companion. Maybe you are. Well, you don't have to go it alone any farther. Here's our word for today from the Word of God. It comes from Hebrews 13:5, "God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.'" What a promise-"never leave you"-the best kind of love you could imagine. The kind you may have looked for in relationship after relationship and never found. That search ends when you finally give your life to Jesus Christ.
Some people leave you by choice-either you change or they change and they're gone. That will never happen with Jesus. He'll never change. Three verses later it says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." That's what my wife's grandfather found out. Jesus was there for Him when he was a young man starting out teaching...when he started a family...when he built a home...when he was sick...when he lost his wife...when he couldn't comprehend very much at the end...and when he walked into eternity one morning. Jesus loves you-and nothing you do can change that.
Some people would never choose to leave you-but one day they can't be there anymore. I've buried my father, my mother. I've lost others very, very close to me. Some who don't want to leave us do, but because Jesus has conquered death, you can't lose Him. Your Savior will never die on you, never divorce you, and never change His mind about you.
The proof: His cross. He went there to die for you running your own life...to pay that eternal death penalty that your sin carries. How bad is that death penalty? Look at Jesus dying on the cross. If He was ever going to abandon you, it would have been when His love for you meant taking your hell on that cross. But He died for you-so that if you would put your trust in Him to be your Rescuer from your sin, you would have His love forever.
So much of your life may have been unnecessary loneliness. Because you have never really begun a personal relationship with the One who will never leave you. Haven't there been enough days without Him? Let this be your first Jesus-day. Just tell Him right where you are that you are putting all your trust in Him and what He did on the cross for you.
There's some wonderful information at our website that I would love to share with you so you can be sure you are anchored to this unloseable love of Jesus. The website is ANewStory.com. Please meet me there.
For a long time, your heart has been aching for that lifetime companion-the one who will walk with you through it all-right into eternity. His name is Jesus. He's waiting for you now.
Let us each lead a life stirring enough to cause a movement! Let’s love unquenchably, dream unfalteringly, and work unceasingly. Let us close our ears to the manifold voices of compromise and perch ourselves on the branch of truth. Let’s champion the value of people, proclaim the forgiveness of God, and claim the promise of heaven.
Let’s start a movement of hope! A movement comes of age when one life harvests the seeds planted by countless lives in previous generations. A movement occurs when one person, no greater or lesser than those who’ve gone before, lives a forceful life in the fullness of time.
Let’s live lives stirring and forceful enough to cause a movement. Will the movement come in our generation? I hope so. But even if it doesn’t, even if we never see it, it will occur. And we will be part of it.
From God is With You Every Day
Psalm 50
A psalm of Asaph.
The Mighty One, God, the Lord,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to where it sets.
2 From Zion, perfect in beauty,
God shines forth.
3 Our God comes
and will not be silent;
a fire devours before him,
and around him a tempest rages.
4 He summons the heavens above,
and the earth, that he may judge his people:
5 “Gather to me this consecrated people,
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
6 And the heavens proclaim his righteousness,
for he is a God of justice.[h][i]
7 “Listen, my people, and I will speak;
I will testify against you, Israel:
I am God, your God.
8 I bring no charges against you concerning your sacrifices
or concerning your burnt offerings, which are ever before me.
9 I have no need of a bull from your stall
or of goats from your pens,
10 for every animal of the forest is mine,
and the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know every bird in the mountains,
and the insects in the fields are mine.
12 If I were hungry I would not tell you,
for the world is mine, and all that is in it.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
14 “Sacrifice thank offerings to God,
fulfill your vows to the Most High,
15 and call on me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”
16 But to the wicked person, God says:
“What right have you to recite my laws
or take my covenant on your lips?
17 You hate my instruction
and cast my words behind you.
18 When you see a thief, you join with him;
you throw in your lot with adulterers.
19 You use your mouth for evil
and harness your tongue to deceit.
20 You sit and testify against your brother
and slander your own mother’s son.
21 When you did these things and I kept silent,
you thought I was exactly[j] like you.
But I now arraign you
and set my accusations before you.
22 “Consider this, you who forget God,
or I will tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:
23 Those who sacrifice thank offerings honor me,
and to the blameless[k] I will show my salvation.”
Footnotes:
Psalm 50:6 With a different word division of the Hebrew; Masoretic Text for God himself is judge
Psalm 50:6 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here.
Psalm 50:21 Or thought the ‘I am’ was
Psalm 50:23 Probable reading of the original Hebrew text; the meaning of the Masoretic Text for this phrase is uncertain.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
Read: Mark 5:1–20
Jesus Heals a Demon-Possessed Man
So they arrived at the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gerasenes.[a] 2 When Jesus climbed out of the boat, a man possessed by an evil[b] spirit came out from the tombs to meet him. 3 This man lived in the burial caves and could no longer be restrained, even with a chain. 4 Whenever he was put into chains and shackles—as he often was—he snapped the chains from his wrists and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones.
6 When Jesus was still some distance away, the man saw him, ran to meet him, and bowed low before him. 7 With a shriek, he screamed, “Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In the name of God, I beg you, don’t torture me!” 8 For Jesus had already said to the spirit, “Come out of the man, you evil spirit.”
9 Then Jesus demanded, “What is your name?”
And he replied, “My name is Legion, because there are many of us inside this man.” 10 Then the evil spirits begged him again and again not to send them to some distant place.
11 There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby. 12 “Send us into those pigs,” the spirits begged. “Let us enter them.”
13 So Jesus gave them permission. The evil spirits came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the entire herd of about 2,000 pigs plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned in the water.
14 The herdsmen fled to the nearby town and the surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they ran. People rushed out to see what had happened. 15 A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons. He was sitting there fully clothed and perfectly sane, and they were all afraid. 16 Then those who had seen what happened told the others about the demon-possessed man and the pigs. 17 And the crowd began pleading with Jesus to go away and leave them alone.
18 As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him. 19 But Jesus said, “No, go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been.” 20 So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns[c] of that region and began to proclaim the great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed at what he told them.
Footnotes:
5:1 Other manuscripts read Gadarenes; still others read Gergesenes. See Matt 8:28; Luke 8:26.
5:2 Greek unclean; also in 5:8, 13.
5:20 Greek Decapolis.
Tell It!
By Lawrence Darmani
The man went away and began to tell . . . how much Jesus had done for him. Mark 5:20
The year was 1975 and something significant had just happened to me. I needed to find my friend Francis, with whom I shared a lot of personal matters, and tell him about it. I found him in his apartment hurriedly preparing to go out, but I slowed him down. The way he stared at me, he must have sensed that I had something important to tell him. “What is it?” he asked. So I told him simply, “Yesterday I surrendered my life to Jesus!”
Francis looked at me, sighed heavily, and said, “I’ve felt like doing the same for a long time now.” He asked me to share what happened, and I told him how the previous day someone had explained the gospel to me and how I asked Jesus to come into my life. I still remember the tears in his eyes as he too prayed to receive Jesus’s forgiveness. No longer in a hurry, he and I talked and talked about our new relationship with Christ.
Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story. Psalm 107:2
After Jesus healed the man with an evil spirit, He told him, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you” (Mark 5:19). The man didn’t need to preach a powerful sermon; he simply needed to share his story.
No matter what our conversion experience is, we can do what that man did: “[He] went away and began to tell . . . how much Jesus had done for him.”
What has Jesus done for you? Tell it!
Share your story on Facebook.com/ourdailybread.
Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story. Psalm 107:2
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
The Greatest Source of Power
Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do… —John 14:13
Am I fulfilling this ministry of intercession deep within the hidden recesses of my life? There is no trap nor any danger at all of being deceived or of showing pride in true intercession. It is a hidden ministry that brings forth fruit through which the Father is glorified. Am I allowing my spiritual life to waste away, or am I focused, bringing everything to one central point— the atonement of my Lord? Is Jesus Christ more and more dominating every interest of my life? If the central point, or the most powerful influence, of my life is the atonement of the Lord, then every aspect of my life will bear fruit for Him.
However, I must take the time to realize what this central point of power is. Am I willing to give one minute out of every hour to concentrate on it? “If you abide in Me…”— that is, if you continue to act, and think, and work from that central point— “you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you” (John 15:7). Am I abiding? Am I taking the time to abide? What is the greatest source of power in my life? Is it my work, service, and sacrifice for others, or is it my striving to work for God? It should be none of these— what ought to exert the greatest power in my life is the atonement of the Lord. It is not on what we spend the greatest amount of time that molds us the most, but whatever exerts the most power over us. We must make a determination to limit and concentrate our desires and interests on the atonement by the Cross of Christ.
“Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do….” The disciple who abides in Jesus is the will of God, and what appears to be his free choices are actually God’s foreordained decrees. Is this mysterious? Does it appear to contradict sound logic or seem totally absurd? Yes, but what a glorious truth it is to a saint of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The message of the prophets is that although they have forsaken God, it has not altered God. The Apostle Paul emphasizes the same truth, that God remains God even when we are unfaithful (see 2 Timothy 2:13). Never interpret God as changing with our changes. He never does; there is no variableness in Him. Notes on Ezekiel, 1477 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
Lifetime Companion - #7672
I guess after you've lived 94 years, you have a right to forget some things. And a lot of elderly people do. And some of us not so elderly. My wife's grandfather was 94 and had reached the point of not even recognizing some of his family. It's a small family-just one son and two granddaughters, including my wife. My wife called her Granddad one day and she spoke loudly so he could hear, and she said, "Hi, Granddad. I love you." And she identified who was calling. There was no response for a moment-then almost irritated; he said "Who is this?" And she identified herself again, and she said, "You know, you have one son who had two daughters. I'm the oldest daughter. I love you, Granddad." Well, this time he just chuckled. He had no idea who this strange woman was saying she loved him. I just love my wife's response, "Well, Granddad, the most important thing is this-Jesus loves you." To which Granddad responded-"Now Him I know!" I love it!
This is Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Lifetime Companion."
Remembering that precious conversation with my wife's grandfather always touches me. His lifetime companion, my wife's Grandma of course, was gone. He didn't always recognize his son or his granddaughters. But there was one companion that had walked with him through it all and who he knew was still there by his side every step of the way... Jesus.
The sad thing is that so many of us are trying to make it without that unloseable lifetime companion. Maybe you are. Well, you don't have to go it alone any farther. Here's our word for today from the Word of God. It comes from Hebrews 13:5, "God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.'" What a promise-"never leave you"-the best kind of love you could imagine. The kind you may have looked for in relationship after relationship and never found. That search ends when you finally give your life to Jesus Christ.
Some people leave you by choice-either you change or they change and they're gone. That will never happen with Jesus. He'll never change. Three verses later it says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." That's what my wife's grandfather found out. Jesus was there for Him when he was a young man starting out teaching...when he started a family...when he built a home...when he was sick...when he lost his wife...when he couldn't comprehend very much at the end...and when he walked into eternity one morning. Jesus loves you-and nothing you do can change that.
Some people would never choose to leave you-but one day they can't be there anymore. I've buried my father, my mother. I've lost others very, very close to me. Some who don't want to leave us do, but because Jesus has conquered death, you can't lose Him. Your Savior will never die on you, never divorce you, and never change His mind about you.
The proof: His cross. He went there to die for you running your own life...to pay that eternal death penalty that your sin carries. How bad is that death penalty? Look at Jesus dying on the cross. If He was ever going to abandon you, it would have been when His love for you meant taking your hell on that cross. But He died for you-so that if you would put your trust in Him to be your Rescuer from your sin, you would have His love forever.
So much of your life may have been unnecessary loneliness. Because you have never really begun a personal relationship with the One who will never leave you. Haven't there been enough days without Him? Let this be your first Jesus-day. Just tell Him right where you are that you are putting all your trust in Him and what He did on the cross for you.
There's some wonderful information at our website that I would love to share with you so you can be sure you are anchored to this unloseable love of Jesus. The website is ANewStory.com. Please meet me there.
For a long time, your heart has been aching for that lifetime companion-the one who will walk with you through it all-right into eternity. His name is Jesus. He's waiting for you now.
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