Genesis 29, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: God’s Résumé - August 17, 2021

After a few moments of flailing in the water, Peter turned back to Jesus Christ and cried, “‘Lord, save me!’ And immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. ‘You of little faith,’ he said, ‘why did you doubt?’ And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down” (Matthew 14:30-32 NIV).

Now Jesus could have stilled this storm hours earlier, but he did not. He wanted to teach the followers a lesson: storms are not an option, but fear is.

God has hung his diplomas in the universe. Rainbows, sunsets, horizons. His résumé includes Red Sea openings. Lions’ mouths closings. Goliath topplings. Lazarus raisings. And his lesson is clear: he is the commander of every storm. Are you scared in yours? Then stare at him.

Genesis 29

 Jacob set out again on his way to the people of the east. He noticed a well out in an open field with three flocks of sheep bedded down around it. This was the common well from which the flocks were watered. The stone over the mouth of the well was huge. When all the flocks were gathered, the shepherds would roll the stone from the well and water the sheep; then they would return the stone, covering the well.

4 Jacob said, “Hello friends. Where are you from?”

They said, “We’re from Haran.”

5 Jacob asked, “Do you know Laban son of Nahor?”

“We do.”

6 “Are things well with him?” Jacob continued.

“Very well,” they said. “And here is his daughter Rachel coming with the flock.”

7 Jacob said, “There’s a lot of daylight still left; it isn’t time to round up the sheep yet, is it? So why not water the flocks and go back to grazing?”

8 “We can’t,” they said. “Not until all the shepherds get here. It takes all of us to roll the stone from the well. Not until then can we water the flocks.”

9-13 While Jacob was in conversation with them, Rachel came up with her father’s sheep. She was the shepherd. The moment Jacob spotted Rachel, daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, saw her arriving with his uncle Laban’s sheep, he went and single-handedly rolled the stone from the mouth of the well and watered the sheep of his uncle Laban. Then he kissed Rachel and broke into tears. He told Rachel that he was related to her father, that he was Rebekah’s son. She ran and told her father. When Laban heard the news—Jacob, his sister’s son!—he ran out to meet him, embraced and kissed him and brought him home. Jacob told Laban the story of everything that had happened.

14-15 Laban said, “You’re family! My flesh and blood!”

When Jacob had been with him for a month, Laban said, “Just because you’re my nephew, you shouldn’t work for me for nothing. Tell me what you want to be paid. What’s a fair wage?”

16-18 Now Laban had two daughters; Leah was the older and Rachel the younger. Leah had nice eyes, but Rachel was stunningly beautiful. And it was Rachel that Jacob loved.

So Jacob answered, “I will work for you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”

19 “It is far better,” said Laban, “that I give her to you than marry her to some outsider. Yes. Stay here with me.”

20 So Jacob worked seven years for Rachel. But it only seemed like a few days, he loved her so much.

21-24 Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife; I’ve completed what we agreed I’d do. I’m ready to consummate my marriage.” Laban invited everyone around and threw a big feast. At evening, though, he got his daughter Leah and brought her to the marriage bed, and Jacob slept with her. (Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her maid.)

25 Morning came: There was Leah in the marriage bed!

Jacob confronted Laban, “What have you done to me? Didn’t I work all this time for the hand of Rachel? Why did you cheat me?”

26-27 “We don’t do it that way in our country,” said Laban. “We don’t marry off the younger daughter before the older. Enjoy your week of honeymoon, and then we’ll give you the other one also. But it will cost you another seven years of work.”

28-30 Jacob agreed. When he’d completed the honeymoon week, Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. (Laban gave his maid Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maid.) Jacob then slept with her. And he loved Rachel more than Leah. He worked for Laban another seven years.

31-32 When God realized that Leah was unloved, he opened her womb. But Rachel was barren. Leah became pregnant and had a son. She named him Reuben (Look-It’s-a-Boy!). “This is a sign,” she said, “that God has seen my misery; and a sign that now my husband will love me.”

33-35 She became pregnant again and had another son. “God heard,” she said, “that I was unloved and so he gave me this son also.” She named this one Simeon (God-Heard). She became pregnant yet again—another son. She said, “Now maybe my husband will connect with me—I’ve given him three sons!” That’s why she named him Levi (Connect). She became pregnant a final time and had a fourth son. She said, “This time I’ll praise God.” So she named him Judah (Praise-God). Then she stopped having children.

* * *

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Today's Scripture Jeremiah 15:15–21
(NIV)

Lord, you understand;

remember me and care for me.

Avenge me on my persecutors.p

You are long-sufferingq—do not take me away;

think of how I suffer reproach for your sake.r

16 When your words came, I ates them;

they were my joy and my heart’s delight,t

for I bear your name,u

Lord God Almighty.

17 I never satv in the company of revelers,

never made merry with them;

I sat alone because your handw was on me

and you had filled me with indignation.

18 Why is my pain unending

and my wound grievous and incurable?x

You are to me like a deceptive brook,

like a spring that fails.y

19 Therefore this is what the Lord says:

“If you repent, I will restore you

that you may servez me;

if you utter worthy, not worthless, words,

you will be my spokesman.a

Let this people turn to you,

but you must not turn to them.

20 I will make you a wallb to this people,

a fortified wall of bronze;

they will fight against you

but will not overcomec you,

for I am with you

to rescue and save you,”d

declares the Lord.

21 “I will savee you from the hands of the wickedf

and deliverg you from the grasp of the cruel.”h

Insight

The prophet Jeremiah ministered some forty-seven years (627–580 bc) through the turbulent reigns of Judah’s last few kings (Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah) before Jerusalem was destroyed and Judah exiled to Babylon (Jeremiah 1:1–3; 39:1–10; 2 Kings 23–25; 2 Chronicles 36:1–21). Jeremiah witnessed the destruction and devastation of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 52). Because of his young age and inexperience when he was called (1:6), along with the persistent unfaithfulness and unrepentance of Judah, his prophetic ministry proved to be extremely challenging for him. In chapter 15, Jeremiah laid bare the reproach, fears, unending pain, and incurable grief he faced (vv. 15–18). Could God be trusted? Would He deliver him from danger, scorn, and persecution? Jeremiah’s fear was answered when he remembered that God was with him, that the words of God wouldn’t fail (vv. 19–21). By: K. T. Sim

Trusting the Bible
When your words came, I ate them. Jeremiah 15:16

Billy Graham, the renowned American evangelist, once described his struggle to accept the Bible as completely true. One night as he walked alone in the moonlight at a retreat center in the San Bernardino Mountains, he dropped to his knees and placed his Bible on a tree stump, able only to “stutter” a prayer: “Oh, God! There are many things in this book I do not understand.”

By confessing his confusion, Graham said the Holy Spirit finally “freed me to say it. ‘Father, I am going to accept this as thy Word—by faith!’ ” When he stood up, he still had questions, but he said, “I knew a spiritual battle in my soul had been fought and won.”

The young prophet Jeremiah fought spiritual battles too. Yet he consistently sought answers in Scripture. “When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight” (Jeremiah 15:16). He declared, “The word of the Lord . . . is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones” (20:8–9). Nineteenth-century evangelist Charles Spurgeon wrote, “[Jeremiah] lets us into a secret. His outer life, especially his faithful ministry, was due to his inward love of the word which he preached.”

We too can shape our life through the wisdom of Scripture despite our struggles. We can keep studying, as always, by faith.

By:  Patricia Raybon

Reflect & Pray

How has your life been shaped by Scripture? As you accept it by faith, how do you expect your life to change?

Heavenly Father, show me new things about You as I read the Bible. Teach me Your ways. Show me Your love.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, August 17, 2021
Are You Discouraged or Devoted?

…Jesus…said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have…and come, follow Me." But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich. —Luke 18:22-23

Have you ever heard the Master say something very difficult to you? If you haven’t, I question whether you have ever heard Him say anything at all. Jesus says a tremendous amount to us that we listen to, but do not actually hear. And once we do hear Him, His words are harsh and unyielding.

Jesus did not show the least concern that this rich young ruler should do what He told him, nor did Jesus make any attempt to keep this man with Him. He simply said to him, “Sell all that you have…and come, follow Me.” Our Lord never pleaded with him; He never tried to lure him— He simply spoke the strictest words that human ears have ever heard, and then left him alone.

Have I ever heard Jesus say something difficult and unyielding to me? Has He said something personally to me to which I have deliberately listened— not something I can explain for the sake of others, but something I have heard Him say directly to me? This man understood what Jesus said. He heard it clearly, realizing the full impact of its meaning, and it broke his heart. He did not go away as a defiant person, but as one who was sorrowful and discouraged. He had come to Jesus on fire with zeal and determination, but the words of Jesus simply froze him. Instead of producing enthusiastic devotion to Jesus, they produced heartbreaking discouragement. And Jesus did not go after him, but let him go. Our Lord knows perfectly well that once His word is truly heard, it will bear fruit sooner or later. What is so terrible is that some of us prevent His words from bearing fruit in our present life. I wonder what we will say when we finally make up our minds to be devoted to Him on that particular point? One thing is certain— He will never throw our past failures back in our faces.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One Who is leading.  My Utmost for His Highest, March 19, 761 L

Bible in a Year: Psalms 97-99; Romans 16

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Taking the Sting Out of Goodbye - #9027

It was my first overseas trip, and I mean trip. Ten thousand miles to Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and there we were at Kennedy Airport. Me, my wife, our three young children facing three weeks of Daddy being gone. We'd never had that before. That's a long time when you're a little kid. Actually, it's a long time when you're the Daddy of some little kids. Well, I headed down the jet way, and I smiled and waved goodbye. Rounded the bend to the plane and then I wasn't smiling.

But Mommy was able to take some of the sting out of our goodbyes. She reminded the kids of one important fact. This separation wasn't permanent. It wasn't the end! It was only an interruption of our being together.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Taking the Sting Out of Goodbye."

Not long ago I stood in the cold cemetery by the grave of the man who had been my last living cousin. For all of us it was, of course, a sad goodbye, but not nearly as sad as it could have been because my cousin had placed his life and his eternity in the hands of Jesus. Now, there will be a separation, but because of Jesus, because of what He did on that first Easter, the goodbye isn't forever. But then it really hit home, standing next to the grave of the love of my life and being able to say, "See you soon, Baby. See you soon."

All of us who belong to Jesus will soon be together again. There's nothing more important in human history than what happened in a graveyard early on that morning that we call the first Easter. Because Jesus Christ walked out of His grave and death got demoted.

Listen to our word for today from the Word of God in 1 Corinthians 15:54-56. "Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Death couldn't hold Jesus. And He has said to all who belong to Him, "Because I live, you will also live." So death can't be the end for anyone who has pinned their hopes on Jesus. He's not a dead prophet. He's a living Savior!

The Bible tells us that Jesus came to "...free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death" (Hebrews 2:15). Because of Jesus, death doesn't have to be the end. It doesn't have to be something to fear. It's only an interruption! It's the beginning of life beyond our imagination in God's heaven.

And you can't get into God's heaven with your sin. In some of the closing words of the Bible it says, "Nothing impure will ever enter it" speaking of God's heaven. But that's why Jesus died on that awful cross. He was paying for every wrong thing you've ever done. And now, He can erase every sin of your life from God's Book. You'll go to heaven, not because you were good, but because you were forgiven by the only One who can forgive your sin; the One who paid for it! Only Jesus did that.

You're not going to be asked what religion you were or how good you were. God's just going to want to know, "What did you do with My Son who died for you?" You have to reach out to Jesus. You have to grab Him like He's your only hope, and you could do that this very day. This could be your eternity-changing Jesus day. If you would say to Him, "Jesus, I have run my own life. I know that's wrong. I know it took your dying to pay for it, and I believe some of those sins You paid for were mine. Today I want to give myself to You, because you're a living Savior. Beginning today, Jesus, I'm Yours."

You're at a crossroads right now that everything depends on. I encourage you to go to our website. I can talk to you there by way of video, and you'll be able to see the road to being sure you belong to Jesus. That website is ANewStory.com.

The Bible says, "I have written these things to those of you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know you have eternal life." There's no greater peace, no greater security than knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that you're going to heaven when you die. And you can know that today!

Matthew 18:21-35, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: The Storm Walker - August 16, 2021

A wall of water eclipsed Peter’s view. A wind gust snapped the mast with a crack. Peter shifted his attention away from Jesus and toward the storm, and when he did, he sank like a brick in a pond. Give the storm more attention than the Storm Walker and get ready to do the same. Whether or not storms come, we cannot choose. But where we stare during a storm, we can.

God’s call to courage is not a call to naïveté or ignorance. We aren’t to be oblivious to the overwhelming challenges that life brings. We are to counterbalance them with long looks at God’s accomplishments. The scripture says, “We must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it” (Hebrews 2:1 NASB). Today do whatever it takes to keep your gaze on Jesus.

Matthew 18:21-35

A Story About Forgiveness

21 At that point Peter got up the nerve to ask, “Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven?”

22 Jesus replied, “Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven.

23-25 “The kingdom of God is like a king who decided to square accounts with his servants. As he got under way, one servant was brought before him who had run up a debt of a hundred thousand dollars. He couldn’t pay up, so the king ordered the man, along with his wife, children, and goods, to be auctioned off at the slave market.

26-27 “The poor wretch threw himself at the king’s feet and begged, ‘Give me a chance and I’ll pay it all back.’ Touched by his plea, the king let him off, erasing the debt.

28 “The servant was no sooner out of the room when he came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him ten dollars. He seized him by the throat and demanded, ‘Pay up. Now!’

29-31 “The poor wretch threw himself down and begged, ‘Give me a chance and I’ll pay it all back.’ But he wouldn’t do it. He had him arrested and put in jail until the debt was paid. When the other servants saw this going on, they were outraged and brought a detailed report to the king.

32-35 “The king summoned the man and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave your entire debt when you begged me for mercy. Shouldn’t you be compelled to be merciful to your fellow servant who asked for mercy?’ The king was furious and put the screws to the man until he paid back his entire debt. And that’s exactly what my Father in heaven is going to do to each one of you who doesn’t forgive unconditionally anyone who asks for mercy.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Monday, August 16, 2021

Today's Scripture
James 2:14–26
(NIV)

Faith and Deeds

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds?n Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.o 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?p 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.q

18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”

Show me your faith without deeds,r and I will show you my faiths by my deeds.t 19 You believe that there is one God.u Good! Even the demons believe thatv—and shudder.

20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is uselessd?w 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?x 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together,y and his faith was made complete by what he did.z 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”e a and he was called God’s friend.b 24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?c 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.d

Insight

James was the half-brother of Jesus (Mark 6:3). While Jesus’ siblings were slow in coming to faith, Paul tells us that Jesus appeared to James after the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:7; Galatians 1:19). As a result, James and his brothers are listed among the believers in the upper room in Acts 1:14. Following the execution of James the son of Zebedee and the brother of John (Acts 12:2), Christ’s brother James would become a leader in the church (v. 17; 15:13–29). Sometimes called “James the Just,” he was martyred for his faith around ad 60. By: Bill Crowder
 

Active Faith

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.
James 1:27

Sam’s father had to flee for his life during a military coup. With the sudden loss of income, the family could no longer afford the crucial medicine that kept Sam’s brother alive. Seething at God, Sam thought, What have we done to deserve this?

A believer in Jesus heard about the family’s troubles. Finding he had enough money to cover the medicine, he bought a supply and took it to them. The life-saving gift from a stranger had a profound impact. “This Sunday, we will go to this man’s church,” his mother declared. Sam’s anger began to subside. And eventually, one by one, each member of the family put their faith in Jesus.

When James wrote about the necessity of a lifestyle of integrity accompanying a profession of faith in Christ, he singled out the need to care for others. “Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food,” James wrote. “If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?” (2:15–16).

Our actions demonstrate the genuineness of our faith. Significantly, those actions can influence the faith-choices of others. In Sam’s case, he became a pastor and church-planter. Eventually he would call the man who helped his family “Papa Mapes.” He now knew him as his spiritual father—the one who showed them the love of Jesus.

By:  Tim Gustafson

Reflect & Pray

How have you experienced the love of Jesus extended to you? What can you do to help someone in need?

Faithful God, help me to live out my faith in You. I want the way I serve others to honor You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, August 16, 2021

He calls his own…by name… —John 10:3

When I have sadly misunderstood Him? (see John 20:11-18). It is possible to know all about doctrine and still not know Jesus. A person’s soul is in grave danger when the knowledge of doctrine surpasses Jesus, avoiding intimate touch with Him. Why was Mary weeping? Doctrine meant no more to her than the grass under her feet. In fact, any Pharisee could have made a fool of Mary doctrinally, but one thing they could never ridicule was the fact that Jesus had cast seven demons out of her (see Luke 8:2); yet His blessings were nothing to her in comparison with knowing Jesus Himself. “…she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus….Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ ” (John 20:14, 16). Once He called Mary by her name, she immediately knew that she had a personal history with the One who spoke. “She turned and said to Him, ‘Rabboni!’ ” (John 20:16).

When I have stubbornly doubted? (see John 20:24-29). Have I been doubting something about Jesus— maybe an experience to which others testify, but which I have not yet experienced? The other disciples said to Thomas, “We have seen the Lord” (John 20:25). But Thomas doubted, saying, “Unless I see…I will not believe” (John 20:25). Thomas needed the personal touch of Jesus. When His touches will come we never know, but when they do come they are indescribably precious. “Thomas…said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ ” (John 20:28).

When I have selfishly denied Him? (see John 21:15-17). Peter denied Jesus Christ with oaths and curses (see Matthew 26:69-75), and yet after His resurrection Jesus appeared to Peter alone. Jesus restored Peter in private, and then He restored him publicly before the others. And Peter said to Him, “Lord…You know that I love You” (John 21:17).

Do I have a personal history with Jesus Christ? The one true sign of discipleship is intimate oneness with Him— a knowledge of Jesus that nothing can shake.

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Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

Awe is the condition of a man’s spirit realizing Who God is and what He has done for him personally. Our Lord emphasizes the attitude of a child; no attitude can express such solemn awe and familiarity as that of a child.  Not Knowing Whither, 882 L

Bible in a Year: Psalms 94-96; Romans 15:14-33

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, August 16, 2021

Bumpy Landings - #9026

I was on one of those early-morning airplane flights that's packed with business people. And as we landed that morning, we had one of those "two for the price of one" landings. We bumped and jumped along the runway as we landed. A lot of fun! And suddenly that commanded the attention of all us passengers who are usually numb from frequent travel. I thought, "I wonder what the flight attendant's going to say? I mean, this wasn't in any way a routine landing." Well, the attendant simply got on the sound system and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, now that I have your attention, I'd like to make a few announcements..." Man, did they have our attention!

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

Now, maybe you've been experiencing some bumpy landings lately. Maybe God's saying, "Now that I've got your attention, I'd like to make a few announcements." Often, life's bumpy landings are God's way of getting our attention to tell us things and show us things that we otherwise would never see.

My experience has been that God has three tools that He seems to use over and over again to show His glory and to shape our lives. One example is in our word for today from the Word of God in Psalm 135:5-7. God's wakeup tool here is the weather. He says, "I know that the Lord is great...The Lord does whatever pleases Him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths. He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth; He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from the storehouses."

OK, well now there's nothing random about the weather. God uses it; God designs it to accomplish His purposes, to show His greatness. We can have the most elaborate plans, but believe me, one storm can change everybody's plans. The weather is beyond our control. So, God uses it to get our attention, to change our plans sometimes, and to accomplish His plans.

Another tool God loves to use when He's trying to get our attention is our health. Again, it's something we have little control over. It's amazing how one visit to a doctor's office can change your life. But sickness and disease? They're not random either. Like the weather, they're ultimately subject to the sovereignty of Almighty God. And God accomplishes His perfect will through our health and He does some amazingly beautiful things through painful times.

One other tool God uses is our finances. Here again, our financial situation is often at the mercy of a lot of things we can't control, but God can and God does. And our financial needs become a powerful tool in God's hands to draw us a lot closer to Him, to make us evaluate our priorities, maybe to get us to put His Kingdom first.

The weather, the money, your health: three power tools that God uses to show His Lordship and His power, and yes, to get our attention, to restore or maybe even deepen our dependence on Him, and then to surgically remove the spiritual cancers in our life.

Our God reigns! That's what the Bible says. And He is using the things we can't control to get us to give Him greater control of our lives. Things aren't out of control just because you're experiencing some bumpy landings. God is actually using your bumpy landings to get your attention and then to give you some important messages from Him.

Genesis 28, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Doubt Storms

Sometimes I wonder…how can our world get so chaotic? And I sometimes wonder why so many hearts have to hurt? Do you ever get doubt storms? Do you have turbulent days when the enemy is too big, and the answers too few? Every so often a storm will come, and I'll look up into the blackening sky and say, "God, a little light, please?"
The light came for Jesus' disciples. A figure came to them walking on the water. It wasn't what they expected. Maybe they were listening for a divine proclamation to still the storm.  One thing is for sure, they were not looking for Jesus to come walking on the water. "It's a ghost,' they said and cried out in fear." And since Jesus came in a way they didn't expect, they almost missed seeing the answer to their prayers. And unless we look and listen closely, we risk making the same mistake!
From In the Eye of the Storm

Genesis 28

So Isaac called in Jacob and blessed him. Then he ordered him, “Don’t take a Canaanite wife. Leave at once. Go to Paddan Aram to the family of your mother’s father, Bethuel. Get a wife for yourself from the daughters of your uncle Laban.

3-4 “And may The Strong God bless you and give you many, many children, a congregation of peoples; and pass on the blessing of Abraham to you and your descendants so that you will get this land in which you live, this land God gave Abraham.”

5 So Isaac sent Jacob off. He went to Paddan Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.

6-9 Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan Aram to get a wife there, and while blessing him commanded, “Don’t marry a Canaanite woman,” and that Jacob had obeyed his parents and gone to Paddan Aram. When Esau realized how deeply his father Isaac disliked the Canaanite women, he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son. This was in addition to the wives he already had.

* * *

10-12 Jacob left Beersheba and went to Haran. He came to a certain place and camped for the night since the sun had set. He took one of the stones there, set it under his head and lay down to sleep. And he dreamed: A stairway was set on the ground and it reached all the way to the sky; angels of God were going up and going down on it.

13-15 Then God was right before him, saying, “I am God, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. I’m giving the ground on which you are sleeping to you and to your descendants. Your descendants will be as the dust of the Earth; they’ll stretch from west to east and from north to south. All the families of the Earth will bless themselves in you and your descendants. Yes. I’ll stay with you, I’ll protect you wherever you go, and I’ll bring you back to this very ground. I’ll stick with you until I’ve done everything I promised you.”

16-17 Jacob woke up from his sleep. He said, “God is in this place—truly. And I didn’t even know it!” He was terrified. He whispered in awe, “Incredible. Wonderful. Holy. This is God’s House. This is the Gate of Heaven.”

18-19 Jacob was up first thing in the morning. He took the stone he had used for his pillow and stood it up as a memorial pillar and poured oil over it. He christened the place Bethel (God’s House). The name of the town had been Luz until then.

20-22 Jacob vowed a vow: “If God stands by me and protects me on this journey on which I’m setting out, keeps me in food and clothing, and brings me back in one piece to my father’s house, this God will be my God. This stone that I have set up as a memorial pillar will mark this as a place where God lives. And everything you give me, I’ll return a tenth to you.”

* * *

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Sunday, August 15, 2021
Today's Scripture
Acts 4:32–35
(NIV)

The Believers Share Their Possessions

32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.n 33 With great power the apostles continued to testifyo to the resurrectionp of the Lord Jesus. And God’s graceq was so powerfully at work in them all 34 that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them,r brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles’ feet,s and it was distributed to anyone who had need.t

Insight

Twice Luke mentions the willingness of believers in Jesus to sell property and share possessions (Acts 2:41–47; 4:32–35). The Holy Spirit had come to Jerusalem as the city swelled with visitors for the Jewish feast of Pentecost. Overwhelmed by the apostles’ assurance that God was willing to forgive them, those who stepped forward to believe in Christ saw one another’s needs and felt one another’s pain. It was then, after again mentioning their mutual care, that Luke describes a husband and wife who tried to leave a false impression of generosity. Ananias and Sapphira were caught lying about the details of their gift, and suddenly both died (5:1–10). The generosity Luke emphasized was the result of those whose hearts had been changed by the Spirit of Jesus. By: Mart DeHaan

Extending Grace to Others
God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them.
Acts 4:33–34

Our son spent the early years of his life in a children’s home prior to our adopting him. Before leaving the cinderblock building together to go home, we asked to collect his belongings. Sadly, he had none. We exchanged the clothes he was wearing for the new items we’d brought for him and also left some clothing for the other children. Even though I was grieved by how little he had, I rejoiced that we could now help meet his physical and emotional needs.

A few years later, we saw a person asking for donations for families in need. My son was eager to donate his stuffed animals and a few coins to help them. Given his background, he might have (understandably) been more inclined to hold tightly to his belongings.

I’d like to think the reason for his generous response was the same as that of the early church: “God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all” that nobody in their midst had need (Acts 4:33–34). The people willingly sold their own possessions to provide for one another’s needs.

When we become aware of the needs of others, whether material or intangible, may God’s grace be so powerfully at work in us that we respond as they did, willingly giving from our hearts to those in need. This makes us vessels of God’s grace as fellow believers in Jesus, “one in heart and mind” (v. 32).

By:  Kirsten Holmberg

Reflect & Pray

How’s God’s grace at work in you? What could you share with others as a manifestation of His grace?

Thank you, God, for all You’ve given to me, including Your grace. Help me to extend Your grace to others.

Learn more about grace at DiscoverySeries.org/Q0613.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, August 15, 2021

The Evidence of the New Birth

You must be born again. —John 3:7

The answer to Nicodemus’ question, “How can a man be born when he is old?” is: Only when he is willing to die to everything in his life, including his rights, his virtues, and his religion, and becomes willing to receive into himself a new life that he has never before experienced (John 3:4). This new life exhibits itself in our conscious repentance and through our unconscious holiness.

“But as many as received Him…” (John 1:12). Is my knowledge of Jesus the result of my own internal spiritual perception, or is it only what I have learned through listening to others? Is there something in my life that unites me with the Lord Jesus as my personal Savior? My spiritual history must have as its underlying foundation a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ. To be born again means that I see Jesus.

“…unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God ” (John 3:3). Am I seeking only for the evidence of God’s kingdom, or am I actually recognizing His absolute sovereign control? The new birth gives me a new power of vision by which I begin to discern God’s control. His sovereignty was there all the time, but with God being true to His nature, I could not see it until I received His very nature myself.

“Whoever has been born of God does not sin…” (1 John 3:9). Am I seeking to stop sinning or have I actually stopped? To be born of God means that I have His supernatural power to stop sinning. The Bible never asks, “Should a Christian sin?” The Bible emphatically states that a Christian must not sin. The work of the new birth is being effective in us when we do not commit sin. It is not merely that we have the power not to sin, but that we have actually stopped sinning. Yet 1 John 3:9 does not mean that we cannot sin— it simply means that if we will obey the life of God in us, that we do not have to sin.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

The emphasis to-day is placed on the furtherance of an organization; the note is, “We must keep this thing going.” If we are in God’s order the thing will go; if we are not in His order, it won’t.  Conformed to His Image, 357 R

Bible in a Year: Psalms 91-93; Romans 15:1-13

Genesis 27, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 
Max Lucado Daily: A Vision of the Reward

Paul said in II Corinthians 4:16-18, “We do not lose heart. . .for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.” Hear what Paul called “light and momentary”—not what I’d have called them, and I think you’ll agree. Imprisoned. Beaten. Stoned. Shipwrecked three times. In constant danger. Hungry and thirsty. Light and momentary troubles? How could Paul describe endless trials with that phrase? He tells us. He could see “an eternal glory that far out-weighs them all.”

And you–you want to go on, but some days the road seems so long. Let me encourage you with this: God never said the journey would be easy, but he did say that the arrival would be worth it!

From In the Eye of the Storm

Genesis 27

When Isaac had become an old man and was nearly blind, he called his eldest son, Esau, and said, “My son.”

“Yes, Father?”

2-4 “I’m an old man,” he said; “I might die any day now. Do me a favor: Get your quiver of arrows and your bow and go out in the country and hunt me some game. Then fix me a hearty meal, the kind that you know I like, and bring it to me to eat so that I can give you my personal blessing before I die.”

5-7 Rebekah was eavesdropping as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. As soon as Esau had gone off to the country to hunt game for his father, Rebekah spoke to her son Jacob. “I just overheard your father talking with your brother, Esau. He said, ‘Bring me some game and fix me a hearty meal so that I can eat and bless you with God’s blessing before I die.’

8-10 “Now, my son, listen to me. Do what I tell you. Go to the flock and get me two young goats. Pick the best; I’ll prepare them into a hearty meal, the kind that your father loves. Then you’ll take it to your father, he’ll eat and bless you before he dies.”

11-12 “But Mother,” Jacob said, “my brother Esau is a hairy man and I have smooth skin. What happens if my father touches me? He’ll think I’m playing games with him. I’ll bring down a curse on myself instead of a blessing.”

13 “If it comes to that,” said his mother, “I’ll take the curse on myself. Now, just do what I say. Go and get the goats.”

14 So he went and got them and brought them to his mother and she cooked a hearty meal, the kind his father loved so much.

15-17 Rebekah took the dress-up clothes of her older son Esau and put them on her younger son Jacob. She took the goatskins and covered his hands and the smooth nape of his neck. Then she placed the hearty meal she had fixed and fresh bread she’d baked into the hands of her son Jacob.

18 He went to his father and said, “My father!”

“Yes?” he said. “Which son are you?”

19 Jacob answered his father, “I’m your firstborn son Esau. I did what you told me. Come now; sit up and eat of my game so you can give me your personal blessing.”

20 Isaac said, “So soon? How did you get it so quickly?”

“Because your God cleared the way for me.”

21 Isaac said, “Come close, son; let me touch you—are you really my son Esau?”

22-23 So Jacob moved close to his father Isaac. Isaac felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice but the hands are the hands of Esau.” He didn’t recognize him because his hands were hairy, like his brother Esau’s.

23-24 But as he was about to bless him he pressed him, “You’re sure? You are my son Esau?”

“Yes. I am.”

25 Isaac said, “Bring the food so I can eat of my son’s game and give you my personal blessing.” Jacob brought it to him and he ate. He also brought him wine and he drank.

26 Then Isaac said, “Come close, son, and kiss me.”

27-29 He came close and kissed him and Isaac smelled the smell of his clothes. Finally, he blessed him,

Ahhh. The smell of my son
    is like the smell of the open country
    blessed by God.
May God give you
    of Heaven’s dew
    and Earth’s bounty of grain and wine.
May peoples serve you
    and nations honor you.
You will master your brothers,
    and your mother’s sons will honor you.
Those who curse you will be cursed,
    those who bless you will be blessed.

30-31 And then right after Isaac had blessed Jacob and Jacob had left, Esau showed up from the hunt. He also had prepared a hearty meal. He came to his father and said, “Let my father get up and eat of his son’s game, that he may give me his personal blessing.”

32 His father Isaac said, “And who are you?”

“I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”

33 Isaac started to tremble, shaking violently. He said, “Then who hunted game and brought it to me? I finished the meal just now, before you walked in. And I blessed him—he’s blessed for good!”

34 Esau, hearing his father’s words, sobbed violently and most bitterly, and cried to his father, “My father! Can’t you also bless me?”

35 “Your brother,” he said, “came here falsely and took your blessing.”

36 Esau said, “Not for nothing was he named Jacob, the Heel. Twice now he’s tricked me: first he took my birthright and now he’s taken my blessing.”

He begged, “Haven’t you kept back any blessing for me?”

37 Isaac answered Esau, “I’ve made him your master, and all his brothers his servants, and lavished grain and wine on him. I’ve given it all away. What’s left for you, my son?”

38 “But don’t you have just one blessing for me, Father? Oh, bless me my father! Bless me!” Esau sobbed inconsolably.

39-40 Isaac said to him,

You’ll live far from Earth’s bounty,
    remote from Heaven’s dew.
You’ll live by your sword, hand-to-mouth,
    and you’ll serve your brother.
But when you can’t take it any more
    you’ll break loose and run free.

41 Esau seethed in anger against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him; he brooded, “The time for mourning my father’s death is close. And then I’ll kill my brother Jacob.”

42-45 When these words of her older son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she called her younger son Jacob and said, “Your brother Esau is plotting vengeance against you. He’s going to kill you. Son, listen to me. Get out of here. Run for your life to Haran, to my brother Laban. Live with him for a while until your brother cools down, until his anger subsides and he forgets what you did to him. I’ll then send for you and bring you back. Why should I lose both of you the same day?”

46 Rebekah spoke to Isaac, “I’m sick to death of these Hittite women. If Jacob also marries a native Hittite woman, why live?”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Saturday, August 14, 2021

Today's Scripture Job 2:7–10
(NIV)

So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.k 8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.l

9 His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity?m Curse God and die!”n

10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolishb woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”o

In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.p

Insight

In the book of Job, Job and his friends discuss the causes behind the good and the bad that befall us all. Part of the conclusion is that the God who’s in control is bigger than the systems we use to think about Him. In the end, God does indeed confirm to Job that He is, after a manner of speaking, responsible for the events in our lives. In Job 38:1–40:2, God shows that it’s His power and wisdom that run the cosmos, not Job’s.

Job seems to know this when he asks his wife, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (2:10). Though the reader knows God has given Satan permission to afflict Job (vv. 3–6), Job himself sees his troubles as originating from God (v. 10). Certain events in our lives may have an immediate cause, but they all fall under His sovereignty.

When We Don’t Understand
In all this, Job did not sin in what he said. Job 2:10

“I don’t understand His plan. I turned my whole life over to Him. And this happens!” Such was the message of a son to his mother when his dream to succeed as a professional athlete was temporarily derailed. Who among us hasn’t had some kind of unexpected, disappointing experience that sends our minds into overdrive with exclamations and questions? A family member cuts off communication without explanation; health gains are reversed; a company relocates unexpectedly; a life-altering accident happens.

Job 1–2 records a series of tragedies and setbacks in Job’s life. Humanly speaking, if there was anyone who qualified for a life free from trouble, it was Job. “This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil” (Job 1:1). But life doesn’t always work out the way we’d like it to—it didn’t for Job, and it doesn’t for us. When his wife counseled him to “curse God and die!” (2:9), Job’s words to her were wise, instructive, and fitting for us as well when things happen—big or small—that we’d rather not face. “ ‘Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?’ In all this, Job did not sin in what he said” (v. 10).

By God’s strength, may our trust in and reverence for Him remain, even when we can’t understand how He’s at work during life’s difficult days.

By:  Arthur Jackson

Reflect & Pray

When has your faith in God been tested? What has He used during tough circumstances to help your reverence for Him to remain intact?

Father, help me to trust You and honor You when I can’t see Your hand or understand Your plan.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, August 14, 2021
The Discipline of the Lord

My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him. —Hebrews 12:5

It is very easy to grieve the Spirit of God; we do it by despising the discipline of the Lord, or by becoming discouraged when He rebukes us. If our experience of being set apart from sin and being made holy through the process of sanctification is still very shallow, we tend to mistake the reality of God for something else. And when the Spirit of God gives us a sense of warning or restraint, we are apt to say mistakenly, “Oh, that must be from the devil.”

“Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19), and do not despise Him when He says to you, in effect, “Don’t be blind on this point anymore— you are not as far along spiritually as you thought you were. Until now I have not been able to reveal this to you, but I’m revealing it to you right now.” When the Lord disciplines you like that, let Him have His way with you. Allow Him to put you into a right-standing relationship before God.

“…nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him.” We begin to pout, become irritated with God, and then say, “Oh well, I can’t help it. I prayed and things didn’t turn out right anyway. So I’m simply going to give up on everything.” Just think what would happen if we acted like this in any other area of our lives!

Am I fully prepared to allow God to grip me by His power and do a work in me that is truly worthy of Himself? Sanctification is not my idea of what I want God to do for me— sanctification is God’s idea of what He wants to do for me. But He has to get me into the state of mind and spirit where I will allow Him to sanctify me completely, whatever the cost (see 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

Both nations and individuals have tried Christianity and abandoned it, because it has been found too difficult; but no man has ever gone through the crisis of deliberately making Jesus Lord and found Him to be a failure. The Love of God—The Making of a Christian, 680 R

Bible in a Year: Psalms 89-90; Romans 14

Matthew 18:1-20, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 

Max Lucado Daily: Where to Stare in the Storm - August 13, 2021

“‘Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.’ So He said, ‘Come.’ And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus” (Matthew 14:28-29).

Peter never would have made this request on a calm sea. I doubt Peter would have ever stepped out of the boat. Storms prompt us to take unprecedented journeys. For a few heart-stilling moments, Peter did the impossible. He defied every law of gravity and nature.

Matthew moves us quickly to the major message of the event, and that is where to stare in a storm. “But when [Peter] saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, ‘Lord, save me!'” (v. 30). Focus on Christ, you can do the impossible. Focus on the storm, you begin to sink.

Matthew 18:1-20

Whoever Becomes Simple Again

At about the same time, the disciples came to Jesus asking, “Who gets the highest rank in God’s kingdom?”

2-5 For an answer Jesus called over a child, whom he stood in the middle of the room, and said, “I’m telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you’re not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God’s kingdom. What’s more, when you receive the childlike on my account, it’s the same as receiving me.

6-7 “But if you give them a hard time, bullying or taking advantage of their simple trust, you’ll soon wish you hadn’t. You’d be better off dropped in the middle of the lake with a millstone around your neck. Doom to the world for giving these God-believing children a hard time! Hard times are inevitable, but you don’t have to make it worse—and it’s doomsday to you if you do.

8-9 “If your hand or your foot gets in the way of God, chop it off and throw it away. You’re better off maimed or lame and alive than the proud owners of two hands and two feet, godless in a furnace of eternal fire. And if your eye distracts you from God, pull it out and throw it away. You’re better off one-eyed and alive than exercising your twenty-twenty vision from inside the fire of hell.

10 “Watch that you don’t treat a single one of these childlike believers arrogantly. You realize, don’t you, that their personal angels are constantly in touch with my Father in heaven?
Work It Out Between You

12-14 “Look at it this way. If someone has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders off, doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine and go after the one? And if he finds it, doesn’t he make far more over it than over the ninety-nine who stay put? Your Father in heaven feels the same way. He doesn’t want to lose even one of these simple believers.

15-17 “If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him—work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you’ve made a friend. If he won’t listen, take one or two others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again. If he still won’t listen, tell the church. If he won’t listen to the church, you’ll have to start over from scratch, confront him with the need for repentance, and offer again God’s forgiving love.

18-20 “Take this most seriously: A yes on earth is yes in heaven; a no on earth is no in heaven. What you say to one another is eternal. I mean this. When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I’ll be there.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Friday, August 13, 2021
Today's Scripture
2 Corinthians 8:1–9
(NIV)

The Collection for the Lord’s People

8 And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedoniang churches. 2 In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.h 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able,i and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharingj in this servicek to the Lord’s people.l 5 And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us. 6 So we urgedm Titus,n just as he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completiono this act of grace on your part. 7 But since you excel in everythingp—in faith, in speech, in knowledge,q in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in youa—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

8 I am not commanding you,r but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. 9 For you know the graces of our Lord Jesus Christ,t that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor,u so that you through his poverty might become rich.v

Insight

Most of Paul’s epistles are bookended with greetings and benedictions that include the word grace. We see this in 2 Corinthians: “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (1:2) and “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ . . . be with you all” (13:14). What’s in view is “favor or kindness of some sort that’s freely given.” Grace is a translation of the Greek word cháris. Next to the book of Romans, this word appears in 2 Corinthians more than any other book in the New Testament. In 2 Corinthians 8, cháris occurs seven times. In the NIV in verses 1, 6, 7, and 9, it’s translated as grace. However, it can also be translated “the privilege” (v. 4), “thanks” (v. 16), and “the offering” (v. 19).
By: Arthur Jackson

The True Nature of Love

They gave as much as they were able.
2 Corinthians 8:3

During the pandemic lockdown, Jerry was forced to close his fitness center and had no income for months. One day he received a text from a friend asking to meet him at his facility at 6:00 p.m. Jerry wasn’t sure why but made his way there. Soon cars started streaming into the parking lot. The driver in the first car placed a basket on the sidewalk near the building. Then car after car (maybe fifty of them) came by. Those inside waved at Jerry or hollered out a hello, stopped at the basket, and dropped in a card or cash. Some sacrificed their money; all gave their time to encourage him.

The true nature of love is sacrificial, according to the apostle Paul. He explained to the Corinthians that the Macedonians gave “even beyond their ability” so they could meet the needs of the apostles and others (2 Corinthians 8:3). They even “pleaded” with Paul for the opportunity to give to them and to God’s people. The basis for their giving was the sacrificial heart of Jesus Himself. He left the riches of heaven to come to earth to be a servant and to give His very life. “Though he was rich, yet for [our] sake he became poor” (v. 9).

May we too plead with God so that we might “excel in this grace of giving” (v. 7) in order to lovingly meet the needs of others.

By:  Anne Cetas

Reflect & Pray

How might sacrificial service or giving fit into your life this week? Who needs your encouragement?

Loving God, You are so good. Please give me opportunities to bless others for You in Your power and wisdom.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, August 13, 2021
"Do Not Quench the Spirit”

Do not quench the Spirit. —1 Thessalonians 5:19

The voice of the Spirit of God is as gentle as a summer breeze— so gentle that unless you are living in complete fellowship and oneness with God, you will never hear it. The sense of warning and restraint that the Spirit gives comes to us in the most amazingly gentle ways. And if you are not sensitive enough to detect His voice, you will quench it, and your spiritual life will be impaired. This sense of restraint will always come as a “still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12), so faint that no one except a saint of God will notice it.

Beware if in sharing your personal testimony you continually have to look back, saying, “Once, a number of years ago, I was saved.” If you have put your “hand to the plow” and are walking in the light, there is no “looking back”— the past is instilled into the present wonder of fellowship and oneness with God (Luke 9:62 ; also see 1 John 1:6-7). If you get out of the light, you become a sentimental Christian, and live only on your memories, and your testimony will have a hard metallic ring to it. Beware of trying to cover up your present refusal to “walk in the light” by recalling your past experiences when you did “walk in the light” (1 John 1:7). When-ever the Spirit gives you that sense of restraint, call a halt and make things right, or else you will go on quenching and grieving Him without even knowing it.

Suppose God brings you to a crisis and you almost endure it, but not completely. He will engineer the crisis again, but this time some of the intensity will be lost. You will have less discernment and more humiliation at having disobeyed. If you continue to grieve His Spirit, there will come a time when that crisis cannot be repeated, because you have totally quenched Him. But if you will go on through the crisis, your life will become a hymn of praise to God. Never become attached to anything that continues to hurt God. For you to be free of it, God must be allowed to hurt whatever it may be.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

It is perilously possible to make our conceptions of God like molten lead poured into a specially designed mould, and when it is cold and hard we fling it at the heads of the religious people who don’t agree with us.
Disciples Indeed

Bible in a Year: Psalms 87-88; Romans 13

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, August 13, 2021

Singing in the Rubble - #9025

It was several years ago now, but that last earthquake in Haiti; I think the images of that quake will be with us for a long time. For a while there they were looking for any hope they could get, because it was just all about so much death and disaster. You remember that when it seemed that no one else could still be alive in all those collapsed buildings, a boy thought he heard a voice from the rubble of a bank building. The husband of a woman who worked there had been frantically trying to find his wife. When the boy told that man about what he had heard, that husband went for a nearby rescue team from California.

And they found her! Buried deep in there, and they found her singing. Over a week after that quake leveled much of Port-au-Prince, a woman was still alive. And when she wasn't singing, they said she was praying, "Jesus, help me! Jesus, help me!" And when they brought out this miracle lady, yep, she just kept singing. Actually loudly, the rescuers said.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Singing in the Rubble."

Again, that defiant quakeproof faith was on display for all the world to see. That's a faith rooted in a man named Jesus, who has sustained His children through life and through death across the centuries.

I know this Jesus, too. My prayer is that I, too, can hold Him so tightly in my personal quakes that I also can sing in the rubble, because nothing validates the reality of a living Savior more than having His peace when your world's come down around you. Because that's when all eyes are on you.

Our word for today from the word of God is about God's first century ambassadors, Paul and Silas, and it's found in Acts 16:25. (By the way, there's an earthquake here.) They had been brutally beaten, unjustly imprisoned and locked up in stocks. But it says, "About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them." That was right before a violent earthquake that actually helped liberate Paul and Silas and drove their jailer to ask them how to know the Jesus who gave them songs at midnight.

This is the peace that Jesus promised to His friends the night He was going to be arrested; the night their world would collapse. He said, "Peace I leave with you. I do not give you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." "I have told you these things so that in Me you might have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world" (John 14:27; 16:33).

If you have this Jesus, you can have this peace, even when there seems to be no reason. In the Bible's words, "The peace of God...transcends all understanding" (Philippians 4:7). One Haitian rescued from a collapsed school was asked what he was saying to himself in those long hours when he didn't know if he would live or die. He said, "As a Christian, I'm saying, 'Jesus, my life is in Your hands.'"

I wonder if you could say that, that you've placed your life in the hands of Jesus? There comes a time when we realize that all the places we've looked for answers haven't answered our questions, and all the places we've looked for love and satisfaction have left us empty and disappointed. It's at a point like that that we find our way to the cross where Jesus died to bring us together with God by paying for our sin that keeps us from God.

I still remember the moment when I said, "Jesus, I'm Yours." Do you have a moment like that? If you haven't, let this day be that one for you. Let this be the day you say, "Jesus, I want to pin all my hopes on You" so that you can begin to have the peace that withstands every quake you ever face.

You want to know more about how to begin this relationship with Him? Please go to our website. It's why it's there. It's ANewStory.com.

Our kids used to go to sleep singing a little chorus that says, "Safe am I, safe am I, in the hollow of His hands." You know living or dying, working or out of work, healthy or deathly sick, loved or all alone, if you belong to Jesus, you really are safe.

I pray that God will give you and me the grace to sing in the rubble.

Genesis 26, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 

Max Lucado Daily: Look Over Your Shoulder - August 12, 2021

“‘Don’t be afraid,’ Jesus said. ‘Take courage. I am here!’” (Matthew 14:27).

Power inhabits these words. To awaken in an ICU and hear your husband say, “I am here.” To lose your retirement yet feel the support of your family in the words “We are here.” When a Little Leaguer spots Mom and Dad in the bleachers watching the game, “I am here” changes everything.

Perhaps that’s why God repeats the “I am here” pledge so often. “I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28). We cannot go where God is not. Look over your shoulder; that’s God following you. Look into the storm; that’s Christ coming toward you.

Genesis 26

There was a famine in the land, as bad as the famine during the time of Abraham. And Isaac went down to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, in Gerar.

2-5 God appeared to him and said, “Don’t go down to Egypt; stay where I tell you. Stay here in this land and I’ll be with you and bless you. I’m giving you and your children all these lands, fulfilling the oath that I swore to your father Abraham. I’ll make your descendants as many as the stars in the sky and give them all these lands. All the nations of the Earth will get a blessing for themselves through your descendants. And why? Because Abraham obeyed my summons and kept my charge—my commands, my guidelines, my teachings.”

6 So Isaac stayed put in Gerar.

7 The men of the place questioned him about his wife. He said, “She’s my sister.” He was afraid to say “She’s my wife.” He was thinking, “These men might kill me to get Rebekah, she’s so beautiful.”

8-9 One day, after they had been there quite a long time, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out his window and saw Isaac fondling his wife Rebekah. Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, “So, she’s your wife. Why did you tell us ‘She’s my sister’?”

Isaac said, “Because I thought I might get killed by someone who wanted her.”

10 Abimelech said, “But think of what you might have done to us! Given a little more time, one of the men might have slept with your wife; you would have been responsible for bringing guilt down on us.”

11 Then Abimelech gave orders to his people: “Anyone who so much as lays a hand on this man or his wife dies.”

12-15 Isaac planted crops in that land and took in a huge harvest. God blessed him. The man got richer and richer by the day until he was very wealthy. He accumulated flocks and herds and many, many servants, so much so that the Philistines began to envy him. They got back at him by throwing dirt and debris into all the wells that his father’s servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham, clogging up all the wells.

16 Finally, Abimelech told Isaac: “Leave. You’ve become far too big for us.”

17-18 So Isaac left. He camped in the valley of Gerar and settled down there. Isaac dug again the wells which were dug in the days of his father Abraham but had been clogged up by the Philistines after Abraham’s death. And he renamed them, using the original names his father had given them.

19-24 One day, as Isaac’s servants were digging in the valley, they came on a well of spring water. The shepherds of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s shepherds, claiming, “This water is ours.” So Isaac named the well Esek (Quarrel) because they quarreled over it. They dug another well and there was a difference over that one also, so he named it Sitnah (Accusation). He went on from there and dug yet another well. But there was no fighting over this one so he named it Rehoboth (Wide-Open Spaces), saying, “Now God has given us plenty of space to spread out in the land.” From there he went up to Beersheba. That very night God appeared to him and said,

I am the God of Abraham your father;
    don’t fear a thing because I’m with you.
I’ll bless you and make your children flourish
    because of Abraham my servant.

25 Isaac built an altar there and prayed, calling on God by name. He pitched his tent and his servants started digging another well.

26-27 Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his advisor and Phicol the head of his troops. Isaac asked them, “Why did you come to me? You hate me; you threw me out of your country.”

28-29 They said, “We’ve realized that God is on your side. We’d like to make a deal between us—a covenant that we maintain friendly relations. We haven’t bothered you in the past; we treated you kindly and let you leave us in peace. So—God’s blessing be with you!”

30-31 Isaac laid out a feast and they ate and drank together. Early in the morning they exchanged oaths. Then Isaac said good-bye and they parted as friends.

32-33 Later that same day, Isaac’s servants came to him with news about the well they had been digging, “We’ve struck water!” Isaac named the well Sheba (Oath), and that’s the name of the city, Beersheba (Oath-Well), to this day.

* * *

34-35 When Esau was forty years old he married Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, daughter of Elon the Hittite. They turned out to be thorns in the sides of Isaac and Rebekah.

* * *

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion          
Aug 12, 2021
Today's Scripture
Psalm 85
(NIV)

For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.

1 You, Lord, showed favor to your land;

you restored the fortunesl of Jacob.

2 You forgavem the iniquityn of your people

and covered all their sins.b

3 You set aside all your wratho

and turned from your fierce anger.p

4 Restoreq us again, God our Savior,r

and put away your displeasure toward us.

5 Will you be angry with us forever?s

Will you prolong your anger through all generations?

6 Will you not revivet us again,

that your people may rejoiceu in you?

7 Show us your unfailing love,v Lord,

and grant us your salvation.w

8 I will listen to what God the Lord says;

he promises peacex to his people, his faithful servants—

but let them not turn to folly.y

9 Surely his salvationz is near those who fear him,

that his glorya may dwell in our land.

10 Love and faithfulnessb meet together;

righteousnessc and peace kiss each other.

11 Faithfulness springs forth from the earth,

and righteousnessd looks down from heaven.

12 The Lord will indeed give what is good,e

and our land will yieldf its harvest.

13 Righteousness goes before him

and prepares the way for his steps.

Insight

When the book of Psalms was being collected, it was organized into five books: 1–41; 42–72; 73–89; 90–106; and 107–150. Each book concludes with a statement of praise or blessing to God Himself. For example, Book III ends with Psalm 89:52: “Praise be to the Lord forever! Amen and Amen.” David is the most well known of the psalmists and most (though not all) of his psalms are found in Books I and II.

Each book is gathered around a particular theme. Book III, which contains Psalm 85, is one of the shorter books but is heavy with psalms of lament—many of which were composed by Asaph or the sons of Korah. With its emphasis on lament, Psalm 85, written by the sons of Korah as a cry for God’s rescue and renewal, fits very well in Book III.

By: Bill Crowder

Listening Matters

I will listen to what God the Lord says.
Psalm 85:8

“Come at once. We have struck a berg.” Those were the first words Harold Cottam, the wireless operator on the RMS Carpathia, received from the sinking RMS Titanic at 12:25 a.m. on April 15, 1912. The Carpathia would be the first ship to the disaster scene, saving 706 lives.

In the US Senate hearings days later, the Carpathia’s captain Arthur Rostron testified, “The whole thing was absolutely providential. . . . The wireless operator was in his cabin at the time, not on official business at all, but just simply listening as he was undressing. . . . In ten minutes maybe he would have been in bed, and we would not have heard the message.”

Listening matters—especially listening to God. The writers of Psalm 85, the sons of Korah, urged attentive obedience when they wrote, “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. Surely his salvation is near those who fear him” (vv. 8–9). Their admonition is especially poignant because their ancestor Korah had rebelled against God and had perished in the wilderness (Numbers 16:1–35).

The night the Titanic sank, another ship was much closer, but its wireless operator had gone to bed. Had he heard the distress signal, perhaps more lives would have been saved. When we listen to God by obeying His teaching, He’ll help us navigate even life’s most troubled waters.

By:  James Banks

Reflect & Pray

In what ways will you stay attentive to God and the Scriptures today? How can doing so help you to help others?

Father, help me to stay close to You in my thoughts, words, and actions. Please use me as Your servant to bring Your hope to others.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Aug 12, 2021
The Theology of Resting in God

Why are you fearful, O you of little faith? —Matthew 8:26

When we are afraid, the least we can do is pray to God. But our Lord has a right to expect that those who name His name have an underlying confidence in Him. God expects His children to be so confident in Him that in any crisis they are the ones who are reliable. Yet our trust is only in God up to a certain point, then we turn back to the elementary panic-stricken prayers of those people who do not even know God. We come to our wits’ end, showing that we don’t have even the slightest amount of confidence in Him or in His sovereign control of the world. To us He seems to be asleep, and we can see nothing but giant, breaking waves on the sea ahead of us.

“…O you of little faith!” What a stinging pain must have shot through the disciples as they surely thought to themselves, “We missed the mark again!” And what a sharp pain will go through us when we suddenly realize that we could have produced complete and utter joy in the heart of Jesus by remaining absolutely confident in Him, in spite of what we were facing.

There are times when there is no storm or crisis in our lives, and we do all that is humanly possible. But it is when a crisis arises that we instantly reveal upon whom we rely. If we have been learning to worship God and to place our trust in Him, the crisis will reveal that we can go to the point of breaking, yet without breaking our confidence in Him.

We have been talking quite a lot about sanctification, but what will be the result in our lives? It will be expressed in our lives as a peaceful resting in God, which means a total oneness with Him. And this oneness will make us not only blameless in His sight, but also a profound joy to Him.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

The vital relationship which the Christian has to the Bible is not that he worships the letter, but that the Holy Spirit makes the words of the Bible spirit and life to him.  The Psychology of Redemption, 1066 L

Bible in a Year: Psalms 84-86; Romans 12

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Aug 12, 2021
Inflated Obstacles - #9024

When my friend Larry isn't running his business, he can often be found riding his bicycle. We're talking serious biking here, not just the little leisurely around-the-block stuff. He and his friends have covered a lot of America on their bicycles, conquering all kinds of challenges. Like big hills, you know. Now, any of us who has ever ridden a bike, we know it's the hills that bite your leg muscles. As you're riding, you see this mountain looming in front of you. OK, it's a hill, but your mind is thinking "mountain." At least mine is. My friend told me a fundamental "big hill" principle that he's discovered and that he passes on to other bikers. He said, "The longer you look, the bigger it gets!" That's true.

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

You might be facing one of life's big hills right now financially, medically, in your family, maybe in your ministry or your work. And right now you've stopped pedaling, you're looking at how big that hill is, and the longer you look, the bigger it's getting. And the weaker and more paralyzed you're feeling.

That had to be how God's ancient people felt when they looked at the challenges of the land that God had promised them: walled cities, barbarian armies, intimidating giants, and a big piece of occupied ground. God knows how we feel when we're staring at those big hills. In our word for today from the Word of God, Deuteronomy 7, beginning in verse 17, God says: "You may say to yourselves, 'These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive them out?' Do not be terrified by them, for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God. The Lord your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little."

OK, first, you have to remember who's going to conquer that hill. It's not going to be you, so your limitations are not an issue here. It's going to be "the Lord your God." I love that phrase. "The Lord," the One who created and controls like two trillion galaxies! Then, "your God." Yep! The Lord who rules the galaxies is my God. He is so big and He's so close!

Secondly, as you're staring at that hill you've got in front of you, remember how God is going to help you conquer that challenge... "little by little." He's not going to do it all at once. He's asking you to take it in bite-size chunks. My bicycling friend says that rather than looking at the top of the hill, he looks at the short distances in front of him. He said that's how you conquer your hill. Jesus asks us to take up our cross, not all at once, but "daily" (Luke 9:23). Your job is to do today faithfully and positively.

The size of life's hills often keeps us from facing what we need to be dealing with: issues in our family, issues in our marriage, our spending, the care of our body, that habit, or even something Jesus has been asking you to do for Him. And the longer you look at the hill, the bigger it gets. But the longer you look at the God you belong to, the bigger He gets. You've been looking at the wrong thing, fixated on the problem, or the challenge, or the people, and you're missing the awesome size of your God!

Let today be day one of you tackling that hill. Just look at the short distance immediately in front of you - this one day. And open yourself up to the strength of God that we only experience when we know we can't do it. Look at the size of your Lord, not the size of your hill! Today's looming challenge is going to be tomorrow's amazing conquest!

Genesis 25 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: In the Middle of the Storm - August 11, 2021

When Peter and a few other disciples found themselves in the middle of the Sea of Galilee one stormy night, they knew they were in trouble. “But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary” (Matthew 14:24). The disciples fought the storm for nine cold, skin-drenching hours, and about 4:00 a.m. they spotted someone coming on the water.

They didn’t expect Jesus to come to them this way. Neither do we. We expect him to come in the form of peaceful hymns or Easter Sundays or quiet retreats. We never expect to see him in a bear market, pink slip, or war. We never expect to see him in a storm. But it is in storms that he does his finest work, for it is in storms that he has our keenest attention.

Genesis 25

Abraham married a second time; his new wife was named Keturah. She gave birth to Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.

3 Jokshan had Sheba and Dedan.

Dedan’s descendants were the Asshurim, the Letushim, and the Leummim.

4 Midian had Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah—all from the line of Keturah.

5-6 But Abraham gave everything he possessed to Isaac. While he was still living, he gave gifts to the sons he had by his concubines, but then sent them away to the country of the east, putting a good distance between them and his son Isaac.

7-11 Abraham lived 175 years. Then he took his final breath. He died happy at a ripe old age, full of years, and was buried with his family. His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, next to Mamre. It was the field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites. Abraham was buried next to his wife Sarah. After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac. Isaac lived at Beer Lahai Roi.
The Family Tree of Ishmael

12 This is the family tree of Ishmael son of Abraham, the son that Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maid, bore to Abraham.

13-16 These are the names of Ishmael’s sons in the order of their births: Nebaioth, Ishmael’s firstborn, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah—all the sons of Ishmael. Their settlements and encampments were named after them. Twelve princes with their twelve tribes.

17-18 Ishmael lived 137 years. When he breathed his last and died he was buried with his family. His children settled down all the way from Havilah near Egypt eastward to Shur in the direction of Assyria. The Ishmaelites didn’t get along with any of their kin.
Jacob and Esau

19-20 This is the family tree of Isaac son of Abraham: Abraham had Isaac. Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan Aram. She was the sister of Laban the Aramean.

21-23 Isaac prayed hard to God for his wife because she was barren. God answered his prayer and Rebekah became pregnant. But the children tumbled and kicked inside her so much that she said, “If this is the way it’s going to be, why go on living?” She went to God to find out what was going on. God told her,

Two nations are in your womb,
    two peoples butting heads while still in your body.
One people will overpower the other,
    and the older will serve the younger.

24-26 When her time to give birth came, sure enough, there were twins in her womb. The first came out reddish, as if snugly wrapped in a hairy blanket; they named him Esau (Hairy). His brother followed, his fist clutched tight to Esau’s heel; they named him Jacob (Heel). Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.

27-28 The boys grew up. Esau became an expert hunter, an outdoorsman. Jacob was a quiet man preferring life indoors among the tents. Isaac loved Esau because he loved his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

29-30 One day Jacob was cooking a stew. Esau came in from the field, starved. Esau said to Jacob, “Give me some of that red stew—I’m starved!” That’s how he came to be called Edom (Red).

31 Jacob said, “Make me a trade: my stew for your rights as the firstborn.”

32 Esau said, “I’m starving! What good is a birthright if I’m dead?”

33-34 Jacob said, “First, swear to me.” And he did it. On oath Esau traded away his rights as the firstborn. Jacob gave him bread and the stew of lentils. He ate and drank, got up and left. That’s how Esau shrugged off his rights as the firstborn.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion          
Aug 11, 2021

Today's Scripture Matthew 7:13–14

    “Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention.

Insight

Today’s passage (Matthew 7:13–14) begins the last section of the Sermon on the Mount. Over the centuries, these words of Jesus have become foundational, but when we slow down and absorb the imagery Jesus paints, we begin to feel their true weight. The words Jesus uses to describe the gates and roads (wide and broad/small and narrow) bring with them comfort and challenge. The first pair gives the hearer a sense of comfort and ease. There’s no challenge to crossing through a broad gate, and a wide path leaves plenty of room for exploration and wandering. Those who walk the wide path don’t need to focus or be deliberate. The small gate and narrow path, on the other hand, express intentionality. Choosing this door and path requires a choice and a focus on one’s actions.

Accessible to All
Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Matthew 7:14

From a manmade bridge on the small Bahamian island of Eleuthera, visitors can admire the stark contrast between the roiling dark blue waters of the Atlantic and the calm turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea. Over time, storms washed away the original strip of land once marked by a natural stone arch. The glass window bridge that now serves as a tourist attraction on Eleuthera is known as “the narrowest place on earth.”

The Bible describes the road that leads to eternal life as narrow “and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:14). The gate is considered small because God the Son is the only bridge that can reconcile fallen man and God the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit (vv. 13–14; see John 10:7–9; 16:13). However, Scripture also says that believers from every people, nation, and societal rank can enter heaven and will bow before the King of Kings and worship together around His throne (Revelation 5:9). This phenomenal image of contrast and unity includes all of God’s beautifully diverse people.

Though we’re separated from God by our sin, every person God created is invited to enter eternity in heaven by walking this narrow path of reconciliation through a personal relationship with Christ. His sacrifice on the cross, resurrection from the tomb, and ascension to heaven is the good news, accessible to all and worth sharing today and every day.

By:  Xochitl Dixon

Reflect & Pray

How did you respond after hearing the good news? How can you be more intentional about sharing it with others?

God the Father, please empower me through Your Holy Spirit so I can show others the accessible path that leads to Your approachable Son, Jesus.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Aug 11, 2021
This Experience Must Come

Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha…saw him no more. —2 Kings 2:11-12

It is not wrong for you to depend on your “Elijah” for as long as God gives him to you. But remember that the time will come when he must leave and will no longer be your guide and your leader, because God does not intend for him to stay. Even the thought of that causes you to say, “I cannot continue without my ‘Elijah.’ ” Yet God says you must continue.

Alone at Your “Jordan” (2 Kings 2:14). The Jordan River represents the type of separation where you have no fellowship with anyone else, and where no one else can take your responsibility from you. You now have to put to the test what you learned when you were with your “Elijah.” You have been to the Jordan over and over again with Elijah, but now you are facing it alone. There is no use in saying that you cannot go— the experience is here, and you must go. If you truly want to know whether or not God is the God your faith believes Him to be, then go through your “Jordan” alone.

Alone at Your “Jericho” (2 Kings 2:15). Jericho represents the place where you have seen your “Elijah” do great things. Yet when you come alone to your “Jericho,” you have a strong reluctance to take the initiative and trust in God, wanting, instead, for someone else to take it for you. But if you remain true to what you learned while with your “Elijah,” you will receive a sign, as Elisha did, that God is with you.

Alone at Your “Bethel” (2 Kings 2:23). At your “Bethel” you will find yourself at your wits’ end but at the beginning of God’s wisdom. When you come to your wits’ end and feel inclined to panic— don’t! Stand true to God and He will bring out His truth in a way that will make your life an expression of worship. Put into practice what you learned while with your “Elijah”— use his mantle and pray (see 2 Kings 2:13-14). Make a determination to trust in God, and do not even look for Elijah anymore.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

We never enter into the Kingdom of God by having our head questions answered, but only by commitment. The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 565 R

Bible in a Year: Psalms 81-83; Romans 11:19-36



A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Aug 11, 2021

A Grandfather's Three Big Ideas for the Road You're On #9023

Well I love that my grandchildren love to hear my stories and sometimes my ideas. There's something about being a grandfather or grandmother. Because you've got a little distance. You're not the one making all the rules all the time and enforcing them at home. And I even see sometimes and I know of some young people who are choosing roads that are kind of scary. I know they are probably going to lead to a sad outcome. And I think to myself...as a grandfather, what would I tell them if I had the chance? What would I write them as I would say to one of my own grandchildren. And that brought me to a place where I kind of wrote down what I would call "Three Big Ideas From a Grandfather's Heart."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Grandfather's Three Big Ideas for the Road You're On."

The first one is this: You're choosing a road, not just something to do.

One time I was driving from northern Arizona, straight south to Phoenix to see my little grandson in the hospital. When I got to Flagstaff, I picked a ramp. Two hours later, I should have been in Phoenix; I wasn't seeing Phoenix, I was seeing signs for California! Little did I know when I got on that ramp I was choosing a road that would take me where I did not want to go.

Life has a lot of "ramps" like that: deciding to hook up with someone, picking friends to hang out with, partying like you want because, 'Hey, I'm young, I want to have some fun! What's wrong with that? Trying stuff that helps you feel good or forget feeling bad.'

What we don't realize until it's too late, like "why am I in California?" is that we're choosing a road we'll be on for a long time, not just something to do right now. And if it's the wrong road, we're going to end up where we never meant to go; maybe in a courtroom, maybe in a destructive relationship, or just looking in a mirror and saying, "What happened me?" I don't want that to happen to you.

Jesus actually said these words, and it would be our word for today from the Word of God. It's in Matthew 7:13-14. "Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road." Hey, that's a good one; an easy one to be on. Well he said, "that leads to destruction." Oh!, "and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it." It's the destination that matters isn't it?

Here's Big Idea #2 - The calculator's always running. Temptation says, "Hey, forget the consequences." Reality says, "The bill is gonna come, man." Or, as the Bible says in Galatians 6:7, "Whatever you sow, you will reap." The harvest may not come immediately, but it's gonna come. We may not see it. We may not feel it. But that calculator is always running, and it's adding up the bill that's going to come for our choices.

Big Idea #3 - You're made for more. You can begin to get the idea that you're the "sun" and everyone else is the "planets" who revolve around you. That's not how we were created to live. Maybe you've discovered already that a world that's only as big as you are is a world that's too small to live in. "Me" living leaves you lonely, empty and hurting. "Laughing on the outside, crying on the inside."

No, you're made for more. You've been blessed with a lot. Whatever road you're on, other people follow you there. If it's a road to a "make a difference" life, you're going to lead other people there. If it's a road that goes over a cliff, they're going down with you.

If you want a hint of the "more" you were made for, listen to this. The Bible says, "All things were created by Him and for Him." It says that of Jesus. You were made to revolve around Him, not to have everybody revolve around you. And He died for you, and He rose from the grave to prove that He can conquer everything in your life.

It's time to aim your life in the direction it was created for. You want His love? You want His power? You want His forgiveness for the mistakes you've made? Tell Him, "Jesus, I'm Yours." Get to our website, we've got information, there, for how you can really have a new start. The website is ANewStory.com.

The poet said, "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I took the road less traveled. And that has made all the difference." I pray you'll choose that road. You know why? Because I like happy endings.

Matthew 17 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Let God Intervene - August 10, 2021

When we are in the midst of the problem, it’s difficult to see a way out. When we have limited resources, it’s difficult to imagine being able to work with what we have. But God already knows how he will solve your problem, my friend. And God has infinite resources. You are the human; he is the divine being. Let Him help you. Let him intervene.

The next time you feel overwhelmed, remind yourself of the one who is standing next to you. What bewilders you does not bewilder him. When you present your needs to him, he never, ever turns to the angels and says, “Well, it finally happened. I’ve been handed a code I cannot crack. The demand is too great, even for me.”

You may feel outnumbered, but he does not. Give him what you have, offer thanks, and watch him go to work.

Matthew 17

Sunlight Poured from His Face

 Six days later, three of them saw that glory. Jesus took Peter and the brothers, James and John, and led them up a high mountain. His appearance changed from the inside out, right before their eyes. Sunlight poured from his face. His clothes were filled with light. Then they realized that Moses and Elijah were also there in deep conversation with him.

4 Peter broke in, “Master, this is a great moment! What would you think if I built three memorials here on the mountain—one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah?”

5 While he was going on like this, babbling, a light-radiant cloud enveloped them, and sounding from deep in the cloud a voice: “This is my Son, marked by my love, focus of my delight. Listen to him.”

6-8 When the disciples heard it, they fell flat on their faces, scared to death. But Jesus came over and touched them. “Don’t be afraid.” When they opened their eyes and looked around all they saw was Jesus, only Jesus.

9 Coming down the mountain, Jesus swore them to secrecy. “Don’t breathe a word of what you’ve seen. After the Son of Man is raised from the dead, you are free to talk.”

10 The disciples, meanwhile, were asking questions. “Why do the religion scholars say that Elijah has to come first?”

11-13 Jesus answered, “Elijah does come and get everything ready. I’m telling you, Elijah has already come but they didn’t know him when they saw him. They treated him like dirt, the same way they are about to treat the Son of Man.” That’s when the disciples realized that all along he had been talking about John the Baptizer.
With a Mere Kernel of Faith

14-16 At the bottom of the mountain, they were met by a crowd of waiting people. As they approached, a man came out of the crowd and fell to his knees begging, “Master, have mercy on my son. He goes out of his mind and suffers terribly, falling into seizures. Frequently he is pitched into the fire, other times into the river. I brought him to your disciples, but they could do nothing for him.”

17-18 Jesus said, “What a generation! No sense of God! No focus to your lives! How many times do I have to go over these things? How much longer do I have to put up with this? Bring the boy here.” He ordered the afflicting demon out—and it was out, gone. From that moment on the boy was well.

19 When the disciples had Jesus off to themselves, they asked, “Why couldn’t we throw it out?”

20 “Because you’re not yet taking God seriously,” said Jesus. “The simple truth is that if you had a mere kernel of faith, a poppy seed, say, you would tell this mountain, ‘Move!’ and it would move. There is nothing you wouldn’t be able to tackle.”

22-23 As they were regrouping in Galilee, Jesus told them, “The Son of Man is about to be betrayed to some people who want nothing to do with God. They will murder him—and three days later he will be raised alive.” The disciples felt scared to death.

* * *

24 When they arrived at Capernaum, the tax men came to Peter and asked, “Does your teacher pay taxes?”

25 Peter said, “Of course.”

But as soon as they were in the house, Jesus confronted him. “Simon, what do you think? When a king levies taxes, who pays—his children or his subjects?”

26-27 He answered, “His subjects.”

Jesus said, “Then the children get off free, right? But so we don’t upset them needlessly, go down to the lake, cast a hook, and pull in the first fish that bites. Open its mouth and you’ll find a coin. Take it and give it to the tax men. It will be enough for both of us.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion          
Aug 10, 2021

Today's Scripture & Insight:

Proverbs 3:11–12

But don’t, dear friend, resent God’s discipline;

don’t sulk under his loving correction.

It’s the child he loves that God corrects;

a father’s delight is behind all this.

Insight

The book of Proverbs is a collection of wise sayings, advice, instructions, and warnings. It’s structured as a life manual from a father to his son—an encouragement to live wisely and in a way that obeys and honors God. Solomon, who “spoke three thousand proverbs” (1 Kings 4:32), is the main author (see Proverbs 1:1–6; 10:1; 25:1). Other authors include unnamed Jewish wise men (22:17–24:34), Agur (ch. 30), and Lemuel (ch. 31). In chapter 3, Solomon admonishes us not to neglect the wisdom of God but to obey it (v. 1). A wise person is faithful (v. 3), trusts and depends on God (vv. 5–6), isn’t proud and avoids evil (v. 7), puts God first in everything (v. 9), and learns from His discipline (v. 11).

By: K. T. Sim

Love That Disciplines
Do not despise the Lord’s discipline.
Proverbs 3:11

When I took a family studies class in college, we were asked to write a “family history”—a record of the key events that make up one’s childhood. This included the patterns that characterized typical family life and the methods of discipline we experienced. We all had at least one instance of a parent misapplying discipline and leaving an emotional or physical scar. Understandably, traumatic experiences like these may affect the way we interpret our heavenly Father’s discipline.

In Proverbs 3:11–12, the wise teacher invites readers to accept God’s discipline. The word discipline could be translated “correction.” As a good and loving Father, God speaks through His Spirit and the Scriptures to correct self-destructive behavior. God’s discipline is relational—rooted in His love and His desire for what’s best for us. Sometimes it looks like consequences. Sometimes God prompts someone to point out our blind spots. Often, it’s uncomfortable, but God’s discipline is a gift.

But we don’t always see it that way. The wise man cautioned, “Do not despise the Lord’s discipline” (v. 11). Sometimes we fear God’s discipline. At other times we misinterpret bad things in our lives as God’s discipline. This is far from the heart of a loving Father who disciplines because He delights in us and corrects because He loves us.

Instead of fearing God’s discipline, may we learn to accept it. When we hear God’s voice of correction in our hearts or experience conviction when reading Scripture, may we thank God that He delights in us enough to lead us to what’s best.

By:  Daniel Ryan Day

Reflect & Pray

How do you recognize God’s discipline? How do you sense the love of God in the midst of it?

God, help me to recognize Your discipline so that I can discover the freedom You offer.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Aug 10, 2021
The Holy Suffering of the Saint

Let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good… —1 Peter 4:19

Choosing to suffer means that there must be something wrong with you, but choosing God’s will— even if it means you will suffer— is something very different. No normal, healthy saint ever chooses suffering; he simply chooses God’s will, just as Jesus did, whether it means suffering or not. And no saint should ever dare to interfere with the lesson of suffering being taught in another saint’s life.

The saint who satisfies the heart of Jesus will make other saints strong and mature for God. But the people used to strengthen us are never those who sympathize with us; in fact, we are hindered by those who give us their sympathy, because sympathy only serves to weaken us. No one better understands a saint than the saint who is as close and as intimate with Jesus as possible. If we accept the sympathy of another saint, our spontaneous feeling is, “God is dealing too harshly with me and making my life too difficult.” That is why Jesus said that self-pity was of the devil (see Matthew 16:21-23). We must be merciful to God’s reputation. It is easy for us to tarnish God’s character because He never argues back; He never tries to defend or vindicate Himself. Beware of thinking that Jesus needed sympathy during His life on earth. He refused the sympathy of people because in His great wisdom He knew that no one on earth understood His purpose (see Matthew 16:23). He accepted only the sympathy of His Father and the angels (see Luke 15:10).

Look at God’s incredible waste of His saints, according to the world’s judgment. God seems to plant His saints in the most useless places. And then we say, “God intends for me to be here because I am so useful to Him.” Yet Jesus never measured His life by how or where He was of the greatest use. God places His saints where they will bring the most glory to Him, and we are totally incapable of judging where that may be.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

Both nations and individuals have tried Christianity and abandoned it, because it has been found too difficult; but no man has ever gone through the crisis of deliberately making Jesus Lord and found Him to be a failure. The Love of God—The Making of a Christian, 680 R

Bible in a Year: Psalms 79-80; Romans 11:1-18

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Aug 10, 2021

Getting All the Cancer - #9022

It's got to be one of the most dreaded words in the English language - "Cancer." I mean, it's the word we all hope we will never hear from a doctor. It's a word too many friends of mine have heard over the years. Thankfully, there are more forms of treatment and successful cancer surgeries than there have ever been before. But once the surgeon has operated to remove the cancer, there's that question that everyone wants the answer to, "Did they get it all?"

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Getting All the Cancer."

A little cancer that's missed in the human body can actually end up destroying a lot. That's why it's the surgeon's goal to do his best to remove all the cancer. That's every bit as important when it's spiritual cancer. It's important to do your best to get rid of all of it.

That's what God seems to be saying to His ancient people in our word for today from the Word of God in Numbers 33:55. God has commanded the Jews to drive out all of the pagan tribes in the Promised Land - the land that God had promised to His people centuries before. Knowing that they would be tempted to obey that command only partially, God said, "If you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live."

Guess what. That's exactly what happened. The Israelites removed some of the cancer of idolatrous and immoral cultures, but not all of it. And those they didn't remove kept coming back to attack them for generations to come. Worse than that, the ancient Jews began to be attracted to some of the culture they were supposed to get rid of: their women, their music, their customs, their gods. The compromises that came from not getting all the cancer ended up bringing down the judgment of God on them, and it ultimately even cost them their land.

What God calls for in His children today - men and women who have been purchased by the blood of the Son of God - is a radical, well let's call it a "sin-ectomy." Zero tolerance for actions and attitudes that cost His Son His life. The sins we hang onto, the sins we only partially deal with are going to be "barbs" and "thorns" that will give us trouble for the rest of our lives. Incomplete repentance is like partial cancer surgery, leaving behind just enough to kill you later.

Could it be that there is a corner in your life that is, if you're honest, a stubborn holdout to the Lordship of Jesus Christ? Maybe it's that bitterness, that problem with telling the truth. It could be an out-of-control tongue, or your self-centeredness, maybe your self-reliance, or just that negative or critical spirit.

It may be a sin that has plagued you for years. You've tolerated it, you've excused it, you've blamed others for it, you've justified it, even repented of it...a little. But you've never burned all your bridges to that sin, you've never set up your life as if you'll never do it again, you've never made yourself accountable to someone. You've never let Jesus break your heart over what you've been doing to Him when you do that. You've left just enough of that sin, that cancer, to make you sick and suck the life out of you.

The cancer of our sin demands radical surgery; the kind that says, "Lord, I want to get it all this time! I'm holding nothing back. Do what You died to do, and set me free from this!" Here's what the bible says that could be applied to that sin that has infected your life for so long, "Sin shall not be your master" (Romans 6:14).