Matthew 26:1-35, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Quiet Providence - October 5, 2021
The dramatic story of Esther includes a clueless brute of a king; a devious, bloodthirsty Haman; a nation of Jews under threat of extermination. Mordecai, defiant and determined. Esther, gorgeous and gutsy.

Haman is the villain of the story. And Mordecai, an exiled Jew, really got under his skin. Esther 2:7 says, “Mordecai had a cousin…whom he had brought up.” Esther “had a lovely figure and was beautiful.” And God? Where is God in the story?

You know, the book of Esther is one of the two books in the Bible that never mention the name of God. But a gold nugget lies in the substratum of the Esther story – quiet providence. Providence is the term theologians use to describe God’s continuous control over history. He is regal, he is royal, and—this is essential—he is right here. And he is right here for you.

Matthew 26:1-35

Anointed for Burial

When Jesus finished saying these things, he told his disciples, “You know that Passover comes in two days. That’s when the Son of Man will be betrayed and handed over for crucifixion.”

3-5 At that very moment, the party of high priests and religious leaders was meeting in the chambers of the Chief Priest named Caiaphas, conspiring to seize Jesus by stealth and kill him. They agreed that it should not be done during Passover Week. “We don’t want a riot on our hands,” they said.

6-9 When Jesus was at Bethany, a guest of Simon the Leper, a woman came up to him as he was eating dinner and anointed him with a bottle of very expensive perfume. When the disciples saw what was happening, they were furious. “That’s criminal! This could have been sold for a lot and the money handed out to the poor.”

10-13 When Jesus realized what was going on, he intervened. “Why are you giving this woman a hard time? She has just done something wonderfully significant for me. You will have the poor with you every day for the rest of your lives, but not me. When she poured this perfume on my body, what she really did was anoint me for burial. You can be sure that wherever in the whole world the Message is preached, what she has just done is going to be remembered and admired.”

14-16 That is when one of the Twelve, the one named Judas Iscariot, went to the cabal of high priests and said, “What will you give me if I hand him over to you?” They settled on thirty silver pieces. He began looking for just the right moment to hand him over.
The Traitor

17 On the first of the Days of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Where do you want us to prepare your Passover meal?”

18-19 He said, “Enter the city. Go up to a certain man and say, ‘The Teacher says, My time is near. I and my disciples plan to celebrate the Passover meal at your house.’” The disciples followed Jesus’ instructions to the letter, and prepared the Passover meal.

20-21 After sunset, he and the Twelve were sitting around the table. During the meal, he said, “I have something hard but important to say to you: One of you is going to hand me over to the conspirators.”

22 They were stunned, and then began to ask, one after another, “It isn’t me, is it, Master?”

23-24 Jesus answered, “The one who hands me over is someone I eat with daily, one who passes me food at the table. In one sense the Son of Man is entering into a way of treachery well-marked by the Scriptures—no surprises here. In another sense that man who turns him in, turns traitor to the Son of Man—better never to have been born than do this!”

25 Then Judas, already turned traitor, said, “It isn’t me, is it, Rabbi?”

Jesus said, “Don’t play games with me, Judas.”
The Bread and the Cup

26-29 During the meal, Jesus took and blessed the bread, broke it, and gave it to his disciples:

Take, eat.
This is my body.

Taking the cup and thanking God, he gave it to them:

Drink this, all of you.
This is my blood,
God’s new covenant poured out for many people
    for the forgiveness of sins.

“I’ll not be drinking wine from this cup again until that new day when I’ll drink with you in the kingdom of my Father.”

30 They sang a hymn and went directly to Mount Olives.
Gethsemane

31-32 Then Jesus told them, “Before the night’s over, you’re going to fall to pieces because of what happens to me. There is a Scripture that says,

I’ll strike the shepherd;
dazed and confused, the sheep will be scattered.

But after I am raised up, I, your Shepherd, will go ahead of you, leading the way to Galilee.”

33 Peter broke in, “Even if everyone else falls to pieces on account of you, I won’t.”

34 “Don’t be so sure,” Jesus said. “This very night, before the rooster crows up the dawn, you will deny me three times.”

35 Peter protested, “Even if I had to die with you, I would never deny you.” All the others said the same thing.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Tuesday, October 05, 2021

Today's Scripture
Psalm 23
(NIV)

A psalm of David.

1 The Lord is my shepherd,t I lack nothing.u

2    He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters,v

3    he refreshes my soul.w

He guides mex along the right pathsy

for his name’s sake.z

4 Even though I walk

through the darkest valley,a a

I will fear no evil,b

for you are with me;c

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

5 You prepare a tabled before me

in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil;e

my cupf overflows.

6 Surely your goodness and loveg will follow me

all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord

forever.

Insight

In the Old Testament, we’re accustomed to the writers using metaphors to describe God, and in most cases those metaphors are of inanimate objects. One such cluster of metaphors is found in Psalm 18:2: “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” In that verse alone, no less than five different inanimate metaphors are used—rock, fortress, shield, horn, stronghold. This is part of what sets Psalm 23 apart. It’s one of the most prominent passages in the Old Testament where a personal metaphor is used to describe God—the shepherd. In a culture rooted in agriculture (including shepherding), the nature of the relationship between a sheep and its shepherd would be well known, making this word picture a fitting way to understand how deeply our God cares for us. By: Bill Crowder

With Us in the Valley

I will fear no evil, for you are with me.
Psalm 23:4

As Hannah Wilberforce (aunt of British abolitionist William Wilberforce) lay dying, she wrote a letter in which she mentioned hearing about the death of a fellow believer in Jesus: “Happy is the dear man who is gone to glory, now in the presence of Jesus, whom unseen he loved. My heart seemed to jump for joy.” Then she described her own situation: “Myself, better and worse; Jesus, as good as ever.”

Her words make me think of Psalm 23, where David writes, “Even though I walk through the darkest valley [the valley of the shadow of death], I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (v. 4). Those words leap from the page because it’s there, in the middle of the valley of the shadow of death, where David’s description of God turns deeply personal. He moves from talking about God in the beginning of the psalm—“the Lord is my shepherd” (v. 1)—to talking to Him: “for you are with me” (v. 4, italics added).

How reassuring it is to know that almighty God who “brought forth the whole world” (90:2) is so compassionate that He walks with us through even the most difficult places. Whether our situation turns better or worse, we can turn to our Shepherd, Savior, and Friend and find Him “as good as ever.” So good that death itself is vanquished, and we will “dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (23:6). By:  James Banks

Reflect & Pray

How does it comfort you to know that Jesus our Shepherd is always with you? How can you share that hope with someone today?

My Shepherd, thank You for Your perfect faithfulness and kindness to me. Help me to stay near You today.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, October 05, 2021
The Nature of Degeneration

Just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned… —Romans 5:12

The Bible does not say that God punished the human race for one man’s sin, but that the nature of sin, namely, my claim to my right to myself, entered into the human race through one man. But it also says that another Man took upon Himself the sin of the human race and put it away— an infinitely more profound revelation (see Hebrews 9:26). The nature of sin is not immorality and wrongdoing, but the nature of self-realization which leads us to say, “I am my own god.” This nature may exhibit itself in proper morality or in improper immorality, but it always has a common basis— my claim to my right to myself. When our Lord faced either people with all the forces of evil in them, or people who were clean-living, moral, and upright, He paid no attention to the moral degradation of one, nor any attention to the moral attainment of the other. He looked at something we do not see, namely, the nature of man (see John 2:25).

Sin is something I am born with and cannot touch— only God touches sin through redemption. It is through the Cross of Christ that God redeemed the entire human race from the possibility of damnation through the heredity of sin. God nowhere holds a person responsible for having the heredity of sin, and does not condemn anyone because of it. Condemnation comes when I realize that Jesus Christ came to deliver me from this heredity of sin, and yet I refuse to let Him do so. From that moment I begin to get the seal of damnation. “This is the condemnation [and the critical moment], that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light…” (John 3:19).

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else. “Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord”;…  The Highest Good—The Pilgrim’s Song Book, 537 L

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 23-25; Philippians 1


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, October 05, 2021
The Prize and the Prison - #9062

Actually the TV news report was a little amusing. These individuals came into the store, waving a piece of paper indicating they had just won a free DVD player, and they were coming to claim it. What they didn't know was that notice had been mailed by the police to their last known address. See, these people were wanted, but they had disappeared. But when they checked their mail, they had news of having won that DVD player. The amusing part came when the police arrested them on the spot as some of them were actually laughing at what they thought was a joke or some kind of a TV stunt. It was no joke. They were going to jail.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Prize and the Prison."

That's what the police call a "sting operation" I believe. And it really worked - offer something good just to capture people. And the police use that strategy to accomplish good things. Satan, however, has been using that strategy for a long time to accomplish his destructive purposes in people's lives. He might be using his "sting operation" to capture you right now.

The Bible describes his devious tactics in 2 Timothy 2:26, our word for today from the Word of God. Paul talks about people for whom it is his desire "that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will." I don't know anybody who wants to end up doing the will of the devil; whose desire is to be Satan's captive. But they fall into his clever trap, which is invariably baited with something good. Something that looks like will come from just a little compromise.

That lure might be the promise of sexual pleasure, or sexual conquest, or just a chance to feel loved. The lure could be a chance to get ahead or get out of a jam, just by a little lie or a little compromise of your integrity. Maybe the devil is tempting you with what looks like the advantages of leaving your marriage vows, the thrill or the relief from checking out a little pornography, the satisfaction of getting even, or the relief you'll get from abandoning a commitment.

The devil's basic strategy is pretty simple: get you obsessed with the prize you might get so you're blind to the trap you're walking into. He'll convince you that "it's just this once," "just a little," "it won't hurt." Lies. All lies. Jesus exposed the devil when he said he is "the father of lies" and "there is no truth in him" (John 8:44). He is, as Jesus said, the "thief" who comes "only to steal, kill and destroy." You'll not ultimately get what he seems to be offering - the satisfaction, the love, the excitement, the relief. It's just Satan's bait to take you captive and ruin everything he can in your life. But he'll promise you anything to get you to walk into his trap.

Now, while you can, run from that temptation that you've been flirting with, surrender yourself to Jesus. And in the Bible's words, "be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power...take your stand" the Bible says, "against the devil's schemes" (Ephesians 6:10-11).

If you're being lured into a "sting operation" from hell, you just can't afford to go for the prize that you'll actually never really get. But, of course, you won't know that until the handcuffs are on you and the cell door slams shut behind you. Please don't go there!

Exodus 13 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: A Certain People - October 4, 2021

The setting of the book of Esther is the city of Susa in fifth century BC Persia (modern-day Iran). The empire consisted of roughly 44% of the world’s population. Xerxes, the king, had a thirst for wine, a disregard for women, and convictions that were prone to change with the weather.

Haman is the villain in our story. He had the ear of the king, the swagger of a pimp, and the compassion of Hitler. Haman told the king in Esther 3:8-9, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people…of your kingdom…let a decree be written that they be destroyed.”

Now these “certain people” were the Hebrew nation God preserved. They were a chosen race through whom God would redeem mankind. He had something special in store for them, just like he does for you today.

Exodus 13

God spoke to Moses, saying, “Set apart every firstborn to me—the first one to come from the womb among the Israelites, whether person or animal, is mine.”

3 Moses said to the people, “Always remember this day. This is the day when you came out of Egypt from a house of slavery. God brought you out of here with a powerful hand. Don’t eat any raised bread.

4-5 “You are leaving in the spring month of Abib. When God brings you into the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, which he promised to your fathers to give you, a land lavish with milk and honey, you are to observe this service during this month:

6 “You are to eat unraised bread for seven days; on the seventh day there is a festival celebration to God.

7 “Only unraised bread is to be eaten for seven days. There is not to be a trace of anything fermented—no yeast anywhere.

8 “Tell your child on that day: ‘This is because of what God did for me when I came out of Egypt.’

9-10 “The day of observance will be like a sign on your hand, a memorial between your eyes, and the teaching of God in your mouth. It was with a powerful hand that God brought you out of Egypt. Follow these instructions at the set time, year after year after year.

11-13 “When God brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he promised you and your fathers, and turns it over to you, you are to set aside the first birth out of every womb to God. Every first birth from your livestock belongs to God. You can redeem every first birth of a donkey if you want to by substituting a lamb; if you decide not to redeem it, you must break its neck.

13-16 “Redeem every firstborn child among your sons. When the time comes and your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you tell him, ‘God brought us out of Egypt, out of a house of slavery, with a powerful hand. When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, God killed every firstborn in Egypt, the firstborn of both humans and animals. That’s why I make a sacrifice for every first male birth from the womb to God and redeem every firstborn son.’ The observance functions like a sign on your hands or a symbol on the middle of your forehead: God brought us out of Egypt with a powerful hand.”

17 It so happened that after Pharaoh released the people, God didn’t lead them by the road through the land of the Philistines, which was the shortest route, for God thought, “If the people encounter war, they’ll change their minds and go back to Egypt.”

18 So God led the people on the wilderness road, looping around to the Red Sea. The Israelites left Egypt in military formation.

19 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the Israelites solemnly swear to do it, saying, “God will surely hold you accountable, so make sure you bring my bones from here with you.”

20-22 They moved on from Succoth and then camped at Etham at the edge of the wilderness. God went ahead of them in a Pillar of Cloud during the day to guide them on the way, and at night in a Pillar of Fire to give them light; thus they could travel both day and night. The Pillar of Cloud by day and the Pillar of Fire by night never left the people.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Monday, October 04, 2021
Today's Scripture
John 4:7–24
(NIV)

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”d 8 (His disciples had gone into the towne to buy food.)

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritanf woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.a)

10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”g

11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the wellh and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.i Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of waterj welling up to eternal life.”k

15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirstyl and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

17 “I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet.m 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain,n but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”o

21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is comingp when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.q 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know;r we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.s 23 Yet a time is coming and has now comet when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spiritu and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit,v and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

Insight

Who were the Samaritans? According to 2 Kings 17, after the Northern Kingdom of Israel was defeated by Assyria in 722 bc and most of its people taken into exile, other captured peoples were brought in to populate the region known as Samaria (v. 24). When they first arrived, they didn’t “worship the Lord,” and so God sent lions among them (v. 25). Then the king of Assyria sent a Jewish priest to the land to teach the people how to worship God, but the people continued to worship other gods (vv. 27–29). The Samaritans came from this exchange of peoples and mixture of beliefs. By: Alyson Kieda

Wherever We Worship

A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
John 4:23

Intense pain and a debilitating headache prevented me from attending services with my local church family . . . again. Grieving the loss of community worship, I watched an online sermon. At first, complaints soured my experience. The poor sound and video quality distracted me. But then a voice on the video warbled a familiar hymn. Tears flowed as I sang these words: “Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart. Naught be all else to me save that Thou art. Thou my best thought, by day or by night. Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.” Focusing on the gift of God’s constant presence, I worshiped Him while sitting in my living room.

While Scripture affirms the vital, essential nature of corporate worship (Hebrews 10:25), God’s not bound within the walls of a church building. During Jesus’ chat with the Samaritan woman at the well, He defied all expectations of the Messiah (John 4:9). Instead of condemnation, Jesus spoke truth and loved her as she stood next to that well (v. 10). He revealed His intimate and sovereign knowledge of His children (vv. 17–18). Proclaiming His deity, Jesus declared that the Holy Spirit evoked true worship from the hearts of God’s people, not from a specific physical location (vv. 23–24).

When we focus on who God is, what He’s done, and all He’s promised, we can rejoice in His constant presence as we worship Him with other believers, in our living rooms . . . and everywhere! By:  Xochitl Dixon

Reflect & Pray

Where do you enjoy worshiping God? How do you enjoy His presence and experience joy while worshiping Him?

Amazing God, please help me worship You as I rejoice in who You are, what You’ve done, and all You promise to do.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, October 04, 2021

The Vision and The Reality

…to those who are…called to be saints… —1 Corinthians 1:2

Thank God for being able to see all that you have not yet been. You have had the vision, but you are not yet to the reality of it by any means. It is when we are in the valley, where we prove whether we will be the choice ones, that most of us turn back. We are not quite prepared for the bumps and bruises that must come if we are going to be turned into the shape of the vision. We have seen what we are not, and what God wants us to be, but are we willing to be battered into the shape of the vision to be used by God? The beatings will always come in the most common, everyday ways and through common, everyday people.

There are times when we do know what God’s purpose is; whether we will let the vision be turned into actual character depends on us, not on God. If we prefer to relax on the mountaintop and live in the memory of the vision, then we will be of no real use in the ordinary things of which human life is made. We have to learn to live in reliance upon what we saw in the vision, not simply live in ecstatic delight and conscious reflection upon God. This means living the realities of our lives in the light of the vision until the truth of the vision is actually realized in us. Every bit of our training is in that direction. Learn to thank God for making His demands known.

Our little “I am” always sulks and pouts when God says do. Let your little “I am” be shriveled up in God’s wrath and indignation— “I AM WHO I AM…has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14). He must dominate. Isn’t it piercing to realize that God not only knows where we live, but also knows the gutters into which we crawl! He will hunt us down as fast as a flash of lightning. No human being knows human beings as God does.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

The Bible is the only Book that gives us any indication of the true nature of sin, and where it came from. The Philosophy of Sin, 1107 R

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 20-22; Ephesians 6


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, October 04, 2021

The Greatest Miracle - #9061

Ten pounds, ten ounces! Our grandson was born and weighed in at that weight. Man that's a lot of boy! Just ask his mama! And even though he wasn't our first grandchild, there was still something breathtaking and amazing about the arrival of a new person in this world, isn't there? I couldn't help but think of when his daddy was born. I was there in the delivery room when he arrived, and I'll never forget what the doctor said. Now keep in mind, this is a doctor who's, well, seen thousands of deliveries over a long career. As I held my newborn son, the doctor said, "You know, this is the greatest miracle known to man." He got no argument from me.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Greatest Miracle."

Out of all the ways Jesus could have explained how we can go to heaven someday, I'm glad that He chose to describe it as birth. Because that's one experience we all understand - we all have that in common. And having been close to the arrival of several family members, I'm impressed again with the parallel Jesus drew to what our doctor called "the greatest miracle known to man."

The birth route to heaven is described by Him in John 3, beginning with verse 1 - it's our word for today from the Word of God. "A man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus; a member of the Jewish council, came to Jesus at night." Now, he came with spiritual questions and he was stunned when Jesus said, "No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. You must be born again."

Now, no modern preacher or religious leader came up with that idea of being "born again." It was Jesus Himself. And whatever being "born again" means, there's obviously no way you can go to heaven without it.

The first time you were born, what do you get? You know, 70 years of life maybe. The second time you're born, this time, spiritually - you get life forever. You've got no life on earth of course, unless and until you're born. You've got no life in heaven unless and until you're born...again.

There's no doubt about our grandson's arrival. In fact, he'll be celebrating that day for the rest of his life. Being born again means that a person's relationship with God has a definite beginning. That beginning is described a couple of chapters earlier in the Bible. It says, "To all who received Him (that's Jesus), to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12). So the definite beginning of belonging to God is when a person "receives" Jesus, when they "believe" in Jesus.

That's because of what keeps each of us from having a relationship with God. In the blunt words of the Bible, "Your sins have separated you from your God" (Isaiah 59:2). That's every time we've done something our way instead of God's way, and those are like countless. It's the way we've basically said, "God, You run the universe; I'll run me thank you." The eternal penalty for that is being separated from a holy God, now and forever. There's only one way that sin wall could be removed - in Jesus' words in the "born again" account, "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son." Jesus came to die for the sinning you and I have done.

So the day you reach out and take for yourself what Jesus died to give you, you are born...again. And this was originally said to one of the most religious men of Jesus' day. So, it's obvious that there's no one so good that they don't need to be born again. Because we all have the cancer of sin. And we're going to die without the cure.

Which leads to the very personal question of whether or not there's been a time when you were born...again. If you don't know you were, you probably weren't. And you desperately need to be. This day could be your re-birthday - if you'll just open your heart to Jesus right where you are. Tell Him, "Jesus, I've run my own life, and I resign. I believe You died to pay for every wrong thing I've ever done. And beginning today, I'm Yours."

If you just prayed a prayer like that, and you want to be sure you belong to Christ, and maybe you're considering that, I really want to encourage you to spend a few minutes at our website. That's what it's there for - ANewStory.com.

Let today be the day when you personally experience what truly is "the greatest miracle known to man."

Exodus 12 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Prayer Guidance

When I pray, I think of a thousand things I need to do. I forget the one thing I set out to do: pray! Can you relate? But wouldn't we all like to pray. . More? Better? Deeper? Stronger? With more fire, faith, or fervency?
Yet we have kids to feed, bills to pay, deadlines to meet. We want to pray, but when? We want to pray, but why? We have our doubts about prayer, our checkered history of unmet expectations, unanswered questions. We aren't the first. The sign-up for Prayer 101 contains familiar names: John, James, Andrew, and Peter. The first followers of Jesus needed prayer guidance.
So here's my challenge to you! Sign on at BeforeAmen.com.  It will encourage you and give you a building block for your growth in prayer. Then get ready to change your life forever!

God said to Moses and Aaron while still in Egypt, “This month is to be the first month of the year for you. Address the whole community of Israel; tell them that on the tenth of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one lamb to a house. If the family is too small for a lamb, then share it with a close neighbor, depending on the number of persons involved. Be mindful of how much each person will eat. Your lamb must be a healthy male, one year old; you can select it from either the sheep or the goats. Keep it penned until the fourteenth day of this month and then slaughter it—the entire community of Israel will do this—at dusk. Then take some of the blood and smear it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which you will eat it. You are to eat the meat, roasted in the fire, that night, along with bread, made without yeast, and bitter herbs. Don’t eat any of it raw or boiled in water; make sure it’s roasted—the whole animal, head, legs, and innards. Don’t leave any of it until morning; if there are leftovers, burn them in the fire.

Exodus 12
11 “And here is how you are to eat it: Be fully dressed with your sandals on and your stick in your hand. Eat in a hurry; it’s the Passover to God.

12-13 “I will go through the land of Egypt on this night and strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, whether human or animal, and bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am God. The blood will serve as a sign on the houses where you live. When I see the blood I will pass over you—no disaster will touch you when I strike the land of Egypt.

14-16 “This will be a memorial day for you; you will celebrate it as a festival to God down through the generations, a fixed festival celebration to be observed always. You will eat unraised bread (matzoth) for seven days: On the first day get rid of all yeast from your houses—anyone who eats anything with yeast from the first day to the seventh day will be cut off from Israel. The first and the seventh days are set aside as holy; do no work on those days. Only what you have to do for meals; each person can do that.

17-20 “Keep the Festival of Unraised Bread! This marks the exact day I brought you out in force from the land of Egypt. Honor the day down through your generations, a fixed festival to be observed always. In the first month, beginning on the fourteenth day at evening until the twenty-first day at evening, you are to eat unraised bread. For those seven days not a trace of yeast is to be found in your houses. Anyone, whether a visitor or a native of the land, who eats anything raised shall be cut off from the community of Israel. Don’t eat anything raised. Only matzoth.”

21-23 Moses assembled all the elders of Israel. He said, “Select a lamb for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the bowl of blood and smear it on the lintel and on the two doorposts. No one is to leave the house until morning. God will pass through to strike Egypt down. When he sees the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, God will pass over the doorway; he won’t let the destroyer enter your house to strike you down with ruin.

24-27 “Keep this word. It’s the law for you and your children, forever. When you enter the land which God will give you as he promised, keep doing this. And when your children say to you, ‘Why are we doing this?’ tell them: ‘It’s the Passover-sacrifice to God who passed over the homes of the Israelites in Egypt when he hit Egypt with death but rescued us.’”

The people bowed and worshiped.

28 The Israelites then went and did what God had commanded Moses and Aaron. They did it all.

* * *

29 At midnight God struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sits on his throne, right down to the firstborn of the prisoner locked up in jail. Also the firstborn of the animals.

30 Pharaoh got up that night, he and all his servants and everyone else in Egypt—what wild wailing and lament in Egypt! There wasn’t a house in which someone wasn’t dead.

31-32 Pharaoh called in Moses and Aaron that very night and said, “Get out of here and be done with you—you and your Israelites! Go worship God on your own terms. And yes, take your sheep and cattle as you’ve insisted, but go. And bless me.”

33 The Egyptians couldn’t wait to get rid of them; they pushed them to hurry up, saying, “We’re all as good as dead.”

34-36 The people grabbed their bread dough before it had risen, bundled their bread bowls in their cloaks and threw them over their shoulders. The Israelites had already done what Moses had told them; they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold things and clothing. God saw to it that the Egyptians liked the people and so readily gave them what they asked for. Oh yes! They picked those Egyptians clean.

37-39 The Israelites moved on from Rameses to Succoth, about 600,000 on foot, besides their dependents. Hebrews and non-Hebrews alike set out, not to mention the large flocks and herds of livestock. They baked unraised cakes with the bread dough they had brought out of Egypt; it hadn’t raised—they’d been rushed out of Egypt and hadn’t time to fix food for the journey.
The Passover

40-42 The Israelites had lived in Egypt 430 years. At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, God’s entire army left Egypt. God kept watch all night, watching over the Israelites as he brought them out of Egypt. Because God kept watch, all Israel for all generations will honor God by keeping watch this night—a watchnight.

* * *

43-47 God said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the rules for the Passover:

No foreigners are to eat it.

Any slave, if he’s paid for and circumcised, can eat it.

No casual visitor or hired hand can eat it.

Eat it in one house—don’t take the meat outside the house.

Don’t break any of the bones.

The whole community of Israel is to be included in the meal.

48 “If an immigrant is staying with you and wants to keep the Passover to God, every male in his family must be circumcised, then he can participate in the Meal—he will then be treated as a native son. But no uncircumcised person can eat it.

49 “The same law applies both to the native and the immigrant who is staying with you.”

50-51 All the Israelites did exactly as God commanded Moses and Aaron. That very day God brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, tribe by tribe.

* * *


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Sunday, October 03, 2021

Today's Scripture
2 Corinthians 4:7–18
(NIV)

But we have this treasure in jars of clayw to show that this all-surpassing power is from Godx and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side,y but not crushed; perplexed,z but not in despair; 9 persecuted,a but not abandoned;b struck down, but not destroyed.c 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus,d so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.e 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake,f so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.g

13 It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.”b h Since we have that same spirit ofc faith,i we also believe and therefore speak, 14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the deadj will also raise us with Jesusk and present us with you to himself.l 15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgivingm to overflow to the glory of God.

16 Therefore we do not lose heart.n Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardlyo we are being renewedp day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.q 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen,r since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Insight

A common theme in Paul’s writing is the connection between human frailty and God’s power. In 2 Corinthians 4:7, Paul says we’re like jars of clay, yet we hold great treasure. He illustrates this contrast by showing how the power of God has sustained him. Although he was persecuted, struck down, and continually faced harm because he was a believer in Jesus, he wasn’t crushed, in despair, abandoned, or destroyed because God’s power was at work in him (vv. 8–10). Paul returns to this theme in chapter 12, where he delights that God’s “power is made perfect in weakness” (12:9).

The Dwindles

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
2 Corinthians 4:16

It started with a tickle in my throat. Uh oh, I thought. That tickle turned out to be influenza. And that was just the beginning of bronchial affliction. Influenza morphed into whooping cough—yes, that whooping cough—and that turned into pneumonia.

Eight weeks of torso-wracking coughing—it’s not called whooping cough for nothing—has left me humbled. I don’t think of myself as old. But I’m old enough to start thinking about heading in that direction. A member of my small group at church has a funny name for the health issues that assail us as we age: “the dwindles.” But there’s nothing funny about dwindling’s work “in action.”

In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul too wrote—in his own way—about “the dwindles.” That chapter chronicles the persecution he and his team endured. Fulfilling his mission had taken a heavy toll: “Outwardly we are wasting away,” he admitted. But even as his body failed—from age, persecution, and harsh conditions—Paul held tightly to his sustaining hope: “Inwardly we are being renewed day by day” (v. 16). These “light and momentary troubles,” he insisted, can’t compare to what awaits: “an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (v. 17).

Even as I write tonight, the dwindles claw insistently at my chest. But I know that in my life and that of anyone who clings to Christ, they’ll not have the last word. By:  Adam Holz

Reflect & Pray

What “dwindles” are affecting you or someone you love right now? What can help you maintain your faith and hope during seasons of struggle or discouragement with health issues?

Father, even as our bodies “waste away,” help me to see those physical struggles through the lens of our hope in Jesus and the glory He promises.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, October 03, 2021
The Place of Ministry

He said to them, "This kind [of unclean spirit] can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting." —Mark 9:29

“His disciples asked Him privately, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ ” (Mark 9:28). The answer lies in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. “This kind can come out by nothing but” concentrating on Him, and then doubling and redoubling that concentration on Him. We can remain powerless forever, as the disciples were in this situation, by trying to do God’s work without concentrating on His power, and by following instead the ideas that we draw from our own nature. We actually slander and dishonor God by our very eagerness to serve Him without knowing Him.

When you are brought face to face with a difficult situation and nothing happens externally, you can still know that freedom and release will be given because of your continued concentration on Jesus Christ. Your duty in service and ministry is to see that there is nothing between Jesus and yourself. Is there anything between you and Jesus even now? If there is, you must get through it, not by ignoring it as an irritation, or by going up and over it, but by facing it and getting through it into the presence of Jesus Christ. Then that very problem itself, and all that you have been through in connection with it, will glorify Jesus Christ in a way that you will never know until you see Him face to face.

We must be able to “mount up with wings like eagles” (Isaiah 40:31), but we must also know how to come down. The power of the saint lies in the coming down and in the living that is done in the valley. Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13) and what he was referring to were mostly humiliating things. And yet it is in our power to refuse to be humiliated and to say, “No, thank you, I much prefer to be on the mountaintop with God.” Can I face things as they actually are in the light of the reality of Jesus Christ, or do things as they really are destroy my faith in Him, and put me into a panic?

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: Isaiah 17-19; Ephesians 5:17-33

Matthew 25:31-46 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Facing God

The Hebrews did what God commanded-and God protected them. Joshua 5:1 says, "So it was, when all the kings of the Amorites. . .and all the kings of the Canaanites. . . heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan. . .their heart melted, and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the children of Israel."
Devotion prompted divine protection. Don't face Satan by facing Satan. Face Satan by facing God. Don't give Old Scratch the time of day. Colossians 2:15 says, "God stripped the spiritual rulers and powers of their authority. With the cross he won the victory and showed the world that they were powerless."
Satan is a fallen angel whose time is short. Don't let him mess with your glory days. Neutralize him. Join me at GloryDaysToday.com to remember what God has done!

Matthew 25:31-46

The Sheep and the Goats

31-33 “When he finally arrives, blazing in beauty and all his angels with him, the Son of Man will take his place on his glorious throne. Then all the nations will be arranged before him and he will sort the people out, much as a shepherd sorts out sheep and goats, putting sheep to his right and goats to his left.

34-36 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why:

I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.’

37-40 “Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’

41-43 “Then he will turn to the ‘goats,’ the ones on his left, and say, ‘Get out, worthless goats! You’re good for nothing but the fires of hell. And why? Because—

I was hungry and you gave me no meal,
I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
I was homeless and you gave me no bed,
I was shivering and you gave me no clothes,
Sick and in prison, and you never visited.’

44 “Then those ‘goats’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or homeless or shivering or sick or in prison and didn’t help?’

45 “He will answer them, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me—you failed to do it to me.’

46 “Then those ‘goats’ will be herded to their eternal doom, but the ‘sheep’ to their eternal reward.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Saturday, October 02, 2021

Today's Scripture
Deuteronomy 5:28–33

28 “The Lord heard the request you made to me. And he said, ‘I have heard what the people said to you, and they are right. 29 Oh, that they would always have hearts like this, that they might fear me and obey all my commands! If they did, they and their descendants would prosper forever. 30 Go and tell them, “Return to your tents.” 31 But you stand here with me so I can give you all my commands, decrees, and regulations. You must teach them to the people so they can obey them in the land I am giving them as their possession.’ ”

32 So Moses told the people, “You must be careful to obey all the commands of the Lord your God, following his instructions in every detail. 33 Stay on the path that the Lord your God has commanded you to follow. Then you will live long and prosperous lives in the land you are about to enter and occupy.

Insight

Just prior to Moses’ words to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 5:28–32, he’d given them a complete review of the Ten Commandments (vv. 6–21) and reminded them of their initial response of fear and awe when God’s presence had enveloped Mount Sinai (vv. 23–27; see Exodus 20:18–21).

God found their response of fear and reverence entirely appropriate (Deuteronomy 5:28). Then, intriguingly, we catch a sense of longing in His voice: “Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always” (v. 29). We’re to “fear” Him in the sense that we recognize His holiness and the respect and honor due Him, yet His heart yearns for us. It’s helpful to recall the words of Hebrews 4:16: “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” By: Tim Gustafson

Adolescent Faith

Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always.
Deuteronomy 5:29

The teenage years are sometimes among the most agonizing seasons in life—for both parent and child. In my adolescent quest to “individuate” from my mother, I openly rejected her values and rebelled against her rules, suspicious their purposes were merely to make me miserable. Though we’ve since come to agree on those matters, that time in our relationship was riddled with tension. Mom undoubtedly lamented my refusal to heed the wisdom of her instructions, knowing they would spare me unnecessary emotional and physical pain.

God had the same heart for His children, Israel. God imparted His wisdom for living in what we know as the Ten Commandments (Deuteronomy 5:7–21). Though they could be viewed as a list of rules, God’s intention is evident in His words to Moses: “so that it might go well with them and their children forever!” (v. 29). Moses recognized God’s desire, saying that obedience to the decrees would result in their enjoyment of His ongoing presence with them in the promised land (v. 33).

We all go through a season of “adolescence” with God, not trusting that His guidelines for living are truly meant for our good. May we grow into the realization that He wants what’s best for us and learn to heed the wisdom He offers. His guidance is meant to lead us into spiritual maturity as we become more like Jesus (Psalm 119:97–104; Ephesians 4:15; 2 Peter 3:18). By:  Kirsten Holmberg

Reflect & Pray

How has God’s wisdom helped you grow in your relationship with Him? In what area of your life do you need to heed His wisdom?

Loving God, help me to trust that You know what’s best for me.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, October 02, 2021
The Place of Humiliation

If You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. —Mark 9:22

After every time of exaltation, we are brought down with a sudden rush into things as they really are, where it is neither beautiful, poetic, nor thrilling. The height of the mountaintop is measured by the dismal drudgery of the valley, but it is in the valley that we have to live for the glory of God. We see His glory on the mountain, but we never live for His glory there. It is in the place of humiliation that we find our true worth to God— that is where our faithfulness is revealed. Most of us can do things if we are always at some heroic level of intensity, simply because of the natural selfishness of our own hearts. But God wants us to be at the drab everyday level, where we live in the valley according to our personal relationship with Him. Peter thought it would be a wonderful thing for them to remain on the mountain, but Jesus Christ took the disciples down from the mountain and into the valley, where the true meaning of the vision was explained (see Mark 9:5-6, Mark 9:14-23).

“If you can do anything….” It takes the valley of humiliation to remove the skepticism from us. Look back at your own experience and you will find that until you learned who Jesus really was, you were a skillful skeptic about His power. When you were on the mountaintop you could believe anything, but what about when you were faced with the facts of the valley? You may be able to give a testimony regarding your sanctification, but what about the thing that is a humiliation to you right now? The last time you were on the mountain with God, you saw that all the power in heaven and on earth belonged to Jesus— will you be skeptical now, simply because you are in the valley of humiliation?

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

To live a life alone with God does not mean that we live it apart from everyone else. The connection between godly men and women and those associated with them is continually revealed in the Bible, e.g., 1 Timothy 4:10.  Not Knowing Whither, 867 L

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 14-16; Ephesians 5:1-16

Exodus 11, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Wrapped in Winter - October 1, 2021

Winters are a part of life—some personal, some global—but all are powerful. Try as we might to bundle up and lean into the wind, the heartiest among us can fall. Nights are too long, and the question is all too common: Will this winter ever pass?

God has a six-letter word of encouragement: E-S-T-H-E-R. The book of Esther was written to be read in wintertime for the person who feels outnumbered by foes, outmaneuvered by fate, and outdone by fear. It’s as if God, in his kind providence, heard all the prayers of all the souls who have ever been stuck in an arctic February. And to every person who has longed to see a green sprig on a barren branch, he says, “Follow me. I want you to see what I can do.”

Exodus 11

Strike Ten: Death

God said to Moses: “I’m going to hit Pharaoh and Egypt one final time, and then he’ll let you go. When he releases you, that will be the end of Egypt for you; he won’t be able to get rid of you fast enough.

2-3 “So here’s what you do. Tell the people to ask, each man from his neighbor and each woman from her neighbor, for things made of silver and gold.” God saw to it that the Egyptians liked the people. Also, Moses was greatly admired by the Egyptians, a respected public figure among both Pharaoh’s servants and the people at large.

4-7 Then Moses confronted Pharaoh: “God’s Message: ‘At midnight I will go through Egypt and every firstborn child in Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sits on his throne, to the firstborn of the slave girl working at her hand mill. Also the firstborn of animals. Widespread wailing will erupt all over the country, lament such as has never been and never will be again. But against the Israelites—man, woman, or animal—there won’t be so much as a dog’s bark, so that you’ll know that God makes a clear distinction between Egypt and Israel.’

8 “Then all these servants of yours will grovel before me, begging me to leave, ‘Leave! You and all the people who follow you!’ And I will most certainly leave.”

Moses, seething with anger, left Pharaoh.

9 God said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s not going to listen to a thing you say so that the signs of my presence and work are going to multiply in the land of Egypt.”

10 Moses and Aaron had performed all these signs in Pharaoh’s presence, but God turned Pharaoh more stubborn than ever—yet again he refused to release the Israelites from his land.

* * *

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Friday, October 01, 2021
Today's Scripture
Revelation 2:12–17
(NIV)

To the Church in Pergamum

12 “To the angel of the church in Pergamumq write:

These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword.r 13 I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me,s not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness,t who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives.u

14 Nevertheless, I have a few things against you:v There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam,w who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idolsx and committed sexual immorality.y 15 Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.z 16 Repenta therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.b

17 Whoever has ears, let them hearc what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious,d I will give some of the hidden manna.e I will also give that person a white stone with a new namef written on it, known only to the one who receives it.

Insight

The letter to the church at Pergamum (Revelation 2:12–17) is the third of seven that Jesus dictates to John. These letters serve as specific messages to individual churches that then introduce the more general message of the remainder of the book of Revelation. All these churches were located in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) and were in an area heavily served by Paul during his missionary journeys. In most of the letters, each church is given a list of commendations for their faithfulness as well as a set of criticisms for their shortcomings. For Pergamum, the commendations are found in verse 13, where Jesus acknowledges their difficult environment (where Satan dwells) and their faithfulness—even in the face of a member of the assembly being martyred. They were criticized for their allowance of those who promoted false teaching, idolatry, and immorality. Because the possibility for divine discipline exists, Jesus lovingly calls them to repentance. By: Bill Crowder

What’s Your Name?

I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it.
Revelation 2:17

Someone said we go through life with three names: the name our parents gave us, the name others give us (our reputation), and the name we give ourselves (our character). The name others give us matters, as “a good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold” (Proverbs 22:1). But while reputation is important, character matters more.

There’s yet another name that’s even more important. Jesus told the Christians in Pergamum that though their reputation had suffered some well-deserved hits, He had a new name reserved in heaven for those who fight back and conquer temptation. “To the one who is victorious, I will give . . . a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it” (Revelation 2:17).

We aren’t sure why Jesus promised a white stone. Is it an award for winning? A token for admission to the messianic banquet? Perhaps it’s similar to what jurors once used to vote for acquittal. We simply don’t know. Whatever it is, God promises our new name will wipe away our shame (see Isaiah 62:1–5).

Our reputation may be tattered, and our character may be seemingly beyond repair. But neither name ultimately defines us. It’s not what others call you nor even what you call yourself that matters. You are who Jesus says you are. Live into your new name. By:  Mike Wittmer

Reflect & Pray

How does your reputation match up against your character? How well is your character reflecting who you are in Jesus?

Father, I believe I am who You say I am. Help me to live as Your child.

To better understand the book of Revelation.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, October 01, 2021

The Place of Exaltation

…Jesus took…them up on a high mountain apart by themselves… —Mark 9:2

We have all experienced times of exaltation on the mountain, when we have seen things from God’s perspective and have wanted to stay there. But God will never allow us to stay there. The true test of our spiritual life is in exhibiting the power to descend from the mountain. If we only have the power to go up, something is wrong. It is a wonderful thing to be on the mountain with God, but a person only gets there so that he may later go down and lift up the demon-possessed people in the valley (see Mark 9:14-18). We are not made for the mountains, for sunrises, or for the other beautiful attractions in life— those are simply intended to be moments of inspiration. We are made for the valley and the ordinary things of life, and that is where we have to prove our stamina and strength. Yet our spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mountain. We feel that we could talk and live like perfect angels, if we could only stay on the mountaintop. Those times of exaltation are exceptional and they have their meaning in our life with God, but we must beware to prevent our spiritual selfishness from wanting to make them the only time.

We are inclined to think that everything that happens is to be turned into useful teaching. In actual fact, it is to be turned into something even better than teaching, namely, character. The mountaintop is not meant to teach us anything, it is meant to make us something. There is a terrible trap in always asking, “What’s the use of this experience?” We can never measure spiritual matters in that way. The moments on the mountaintop are rare moments, and they are meant for something in God’s purpose.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

God created man to be master of the life in the earth and sea and sky, and the reason he is not is because he took the law into his own hands, and became master of himself, but of nothing else.  The Shadow of an Agony, 1163 L

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 11-13; Ephesians 4

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, October 01, 2021

The Store Is Yours! - #9060

A visit to a Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream Shop - that's one of life's simple pleasures. We used to have one near our house, and the kids always enjoyed going there as a treat. And we'd look at all those unusual flavors and then we'd have to make that stressful choice: which one shall I get? Well, several years ago I was in a city to speak, and the committee member who picked me up stopped by his store with me on the way back from the airport - his Baskin-Robbins store. It was closed, so he took me in, pointed to all the cases of ice cream with all those great flavors and said those mind-blowing words, "Take whatever you want!" Oh boy! Not just a single little scoop of one little flavor; it's all available to you, boy! Go for it!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Store Is Yours!"

It's pretty exciting when the person who owns it all throws open his store to you. That's exactly what God has in mind for us when we pray to Him. The One who owns it all opens up His resources and says, "They're yours for what you're facing right now." But so often we either neglect to go to the owner, or we go in asking for a single dip, and He wants to give us so much more.

God throws open the door in our word for today from the Word of God in Jeremiah 33:2-3. "This is what the Lord says, He who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it - the Lord is His name." OK, there's no doubt about it, the One who was about to make this promise is the one who owns it all, made it all, controls it all. And He says to you and me, "Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know."

So, when you're saying, "I don't know." God is saying, "Then, pray big." Your mission impossible, your staggering need, your emotional weakness, your physical weakness - those are the canvasses on which "He who made the earth" paints some of His most magnificent works. That's why Paul got to the place where he said he would "delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties." Why? He said, "For when I am weak, then I am strong." In other words, when you're the most desperate, when you're the most powerless, clueless, God shows up with His amazing powerful interventions.

When we forget the size of God we're praying to, we under-pray, and then we under-live. Right now there are some God-sized things you need to be trusting Him for; things so big only God can do them. You're in what I call the "God Alone Zone" - God alone can do this one! Prayer is God's access code to the unlimited resources of heaven - all the grace you need for what's going on, all the comfort you need, all the physical and emotional strength, and all the wisdom to know how to figure it out. So pray like it! Let prayer, not planning or politicking or scheming, let prayer be your primary method of getting things done!

At a conference I was at, the praise band led us in a chorus that repeated these words, "Touching heaven, changing earth, touching heaven, changing earth." God has thrown open His storehouse to His children. He's unlocked His infinite resources and He's promised that our prayer of faith would unleash those resources and aim them at the need we have, the situation we face, or the person we love. When you're praying, don't ever forget you really are touching heaven and changing earth.

Exodus 10 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 
Max Lucado Daily:God’s Abounding Grace - September 30, 2021

Scripture says in Romans 5:20 that “the more we see our sinfulness, the more we see God’s abounding grace.” To abound is to have a surplus, an abundance, an extravagant portion. Should the fish in the Pacific worry that it will run out of ocean? No. Why?  The ocean abounds with water. Need the lark be anxious about finding room in the sky to fly? No, the sky abounds with space.

So should the Christian worry that the cup of mercy will run empty? He may. For he may not be aware of God’s abounding grace. Are you? Are you aware that the cup God gives you overflows with mercy? Or are you afraid your cup will run dry? Or your mistakes are too great for God’s grace? God is not a miser with his grace. Your cup may be low on cash or clout, but it is overflowing with mercy.

Exodus 10

Strike Eight: Locusts

 God said to Moses: “Go to Pharaoh. I’ve made him stubborn, him and his servants, so that I can force him to look at these signs and so you’ll be able to tell your children and grandchildren how I toyed with the Egyptians, like a cat with a mouse; you’ll tell them the stories of the signs that I brought down on them, so that you’ll all know that I am God.”

3-6 Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “God, the God of the Hebrews, says, ‘How long are you going to refuse to knuckle under? Release my people so that they can worship me. If you refuse to release my people, watch out; tomorrow I’m bringing locusts into your country. They’ll cover every square inch of ground; no one will be able to see the ground. They’ll devour everything left over from the hailstorm, even the saplings out in the fields—they’ll clear-cut the trees. And they’ll invade your houses, filling the houses of your servants, filling every house in Egypt. Nobody will have ever seen anything like this, from the time your ancestors first set foot on this soil until today.’”

Then he turned on his heel and left Pharaoh.

7 Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long are you going to let this man harass us? Let these people go and worship their God. Can’t you see that Egypt is on its last legs?”

8 So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. He said to them, “Go ahead then. Go worship your God. But just who exactly is going with you?”

9 Moses said, “We’re taking young and old, sons and daughters, flocks and herds—this is our worship-celebration of God.”

10-11 He said, “I’d sooner send you off with God’s blessings than let you go with your children. Look, you’re up to no good—it’s written all over your faces. No way. Just the men are going—go ahead and worship God. That’s what you want so badly.” And they were thrown out of Pharaoh’s presence.

12 God said to Moses: “Stretch your hand over Egypt and signal the locusts to cover the land of Egypt, devouring every blade of grass in the country, everything that the hail didn’t get.”

13 Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt. God let loose an east wind. It blew that day and night. By morning the east wind had brought in the locusts.

14-15 The locusts covered the country of Egypt, settling over every square inch of Egypt; the place was thick with locusts. There never was an invasion of locusts like it in the past, and never will be again. The ground was completely covered, black with locusts. They ate everything, every blade of grass, every piece of fruit, anything that the hail didn’t get. Nothing left but bare trees and bare fields—not a sign of green in the whole land of Egypt.

16-17 Pharaoh had Moses and Aaron back in no time. He said, “I’ve sinned against your God and against you. Overlook my sin one more time. Pray to your God to get me out of this—get death out of here!”

18-19 Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to God. God reversed the wind—a powerful west wind took the locusts and dumped them into the Red Sea. There wasn’t a single locust left in the whole country of Egypt.

20 But God made Pharaoh stubborn as ever. He still didn’t release the Israelites.
Strike Nine: Darkness

21 God said to Moses: “Stretch your hand to the skies. Let darkness descend on the land of Egypt—a darkness so dark you can touch it.”

22-23 Moses stretched out his hand to the skies. Thick darkness descended on the land of Egypt for three days. Nobody could see anybody. For three days no one could so much as move. Except for the Israelites: they had light where they were living.

24 Pharaoh called in Moses: “Go and worship God. Leave your flocks and herds behind. But go ahead and take your children.”

25-26 But Moses said, “You have to let us take our sacrificial animals and offerings with us so we can sacrifice them in worship to our God. Our livestock has to go with us with not a hoof left behind; they are part of the worship of our God. And we don’t know just what will be needed until we get there.”

27 But God kept Pharaoh stubborn as ever. He wouldn’t agree to release them.

28 Pharaoh said to Moses: “Get out of my sight! And watch your step. I don’t want to ever see you again. If I lay eyes on you again, you’re dead.”

29 Moses said, “Have it your way. You won’t see my face again.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Thursday, September 30, 2021

Today's Scripture
Psalm 73:23–28
(NIV)

Yet I am always with you;

you hold me by my right hand.c

24 You guided me with your counsel,e

and afterward you will take me into glory.

25 Whom have I in heaven but you?f

And earth has nothing I desire besides you.g

26 My flesh and my hearth may fail,i

but God is the strengthj of my heart

and my portionk forever.

27 Those who are far from you will perish;l

you destroy all who are unfaithfulm to you.

28 But as for me, it is good to be near God.n

I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;o

I will tell of all your deeds.

Insight

Asaph, whose name means “Jehovah has gathered,” was a Levite and one of David’s three chief musicians (1 Chronicles 6:31, 39–43; 15:16–17; 16:4–5; 25:1–2). He wrote twelve psalms that now bear his name (Psalms 50, 73–83). In Psalm 73, known as a wisdom psalm—a psalm that instructs readers how to deal with life’s challenges and pain—Asaph was bitterly overwhelmed by the injustice of the prosperity of the wicked (vv. 1–14, 21). But the moment he understood the presence of God in his life (vv. 23–24), his own glorious destiny (v. 24), and the destiny of the wicked (vv. 17, 27–28), his perspective on this material world and possessions changed. Drawing near to God and certain that “earth has nothing [he] desires,” Asaph embraced the sovereign God as his strength (Hebrew rock), portion, and refuge—his permanent and eternal possession (vv. 25–28). By: K. T. Sim

All That You Need

God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Psalm 73:26

Seated at the dining room table, I gazed at the happy chaos around me. Aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews were enjoying the food and being together at our family reunion. I was enjoying it all, too. But one thought pierced my heart: You’re the only woman here with no children, with no family to call your own.

Many single women like me have similar experiences. In my culture, an Asian culture where marriage and children are highly valued, not having a family of one’s own can bring a sense of incompleteness. It can feel like you’re lacking something that defines who you are and makes you whole.

That’s why the truth of God being my “portion” is so comforting to me (Psalm 73:26). When the tribes of Israel were given their allotments of land, the priestly tribe of Levi was assigned none. Instead, God promised that He Himself would be their portion and inheritance (Deuteronomy 10:9). They could find complete satisfaction in Him and trust Him to supply their every need.

For some of us, the sense of lack may have nothing to do with family. Perhaps we yearn for a better job or higher academic achievement. Regardless of our circumstances, we can embrace God as our portion. He makes us whole. In Him, we have no lack. By:  Karen Huang

Reflect & Pray

What’s one thing lacking in your life that you feel would make you whole? How can you surrender it to God and find satisfaction in Him as your portion?

Father, thank You for making me complete in Christ. Help me to say along with the psalmist, “As for me, it is good to be near God” (Psalm 73:28).

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, September 30, 2021
The Assigning of the Call

I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church… —Colossians 1:24

We take our own spiritual consecration and try to make it into a call of God, but when we get right with Him He brushes all this aside. Then He gives us a tremendous, riveting pain to fasten our attention on something that we never even dreamed could be His call for us. And for one radiant, flashing moment we see His purpose, and we say, “Here am I! Send me” (Isaiah 6:8).

This call has nothing to do with personal sanctification, but with being made broken bread and poured-out wine. Yet God can never make us into wine if we object to the fingers He chooses to use to crush us. We say, “If God would only use His own fingers, and make me broken bread and poured-out wine in a special way, then I wouldn’t object!” But when He uses someone we dislike, or some set of circumstances to which we said we would never submit, to crush us, then we object. Yet we must never try to choose the place of our own martyrdom. If we are ever going to be made into wine, we will have to be crushed—you cannot drink grapes. Grapes become wine only when they have been squeezed.

I wonder what finger and thumb God has been using to squeeze you? Have you been as hard as a marble and escaped? If you are not ripe yet, and if God had squeezed you anyway, the wine produced would have been remarkably bitter. To be a holy person means that the elements of our natural life experience the very presence of God as they are providentially broken in His service. We have to be placed into God and brought into agreement with Him before we can be broken bread in His hands. Stay right with God and let Him do as He likes, and you will find that He is producing the kind of bread and wine that will benefit His other children.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

Re-state to yourself what you believe, then do away with as much of it as possible, and get back to the bedrock of the Cross of Christ.  My Utmost for His Highest, November 25, 848 R

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 9-10; Ephesians 3


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, September 30, 2021

Familiar Faces In The Rescue - #9059

I've got a lot of friends in law enforcement, and usually they don't show a lot of emotion. But the Cleveland police chief said, "Yes, law enforcement people do cry." I think some of them did when three women, missing for a decade, were suddenly found alive several years ago. They'd been imprisoned. You might remember it, a nondescript house by a man who kidnapped them years before and endured living horrors that we may never fully know.

A neighbor heard screams coming from that house and went to investigate. A woman locked inside cried, "I've been kidnapped! I want to leave right now." It took kicking in the door, but he got her out. Later, the police brought out the other two kidnapped captives. The frantic 911 call from Amanda was riveting. "Help me! I'm Amanda!" (She gave her last name.) "I've been missing for ten years and I'm out here. I'm free now." No wonder police officers cried.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Familiar Faces In The Rescue."

I watched this powerful story unfold on TV. It reminded me of some things I can't afford to forget through people who are at the heart of this story. Like people who refused to give up on the loved ones they've lost. Like Amanda's mom, who refused to believe it was hopeless. She just kept her daughter's picture and her story in front of people; she prayed relentlessly. Amanda's mom did not live to see her prayers answered, but we all did.

A lot of us have an "Amanda" - someone who, for one reason or another, seems hopelessly gone; emotionally, spiritually, even physically. But the celebration in Cleveland at that time seems to shout to us, "Never stop fighting for the person you love." Reach out to them. Love them when they give you no reason to. Pray for God to do what only He can do. Keep the porch light on.

I love that story where Jesus comes upon the funeral procession of a young man. The Bible says He saw the grieving mother and it says, "His heart went out to her." Then He did what only He could do. He brought her son back to life. And here's the best part. It says, "Jesus gave him back to his mother" (Luke 7:15). He's still doing things like that; restoring lost loved ones to the people who care for them. That's the hope that keeps us fighting for them. And as long as there's breath, there's hope.

Of course, a key player in freeing the Cleveland captives was that neighbor, who disregarding the risks, jumped in to help someone in trouble. Somewhere on our "street" we all know someone like that. Behind a façade that looks fine, they may be living a nightmare, desperately seeking someone who will care about them, who will listen; who will be the voice and the face of Jesus for them.

And then there's that prisoner who's desperate to be free, whose only hope is a rescuer. That was me and a lot of folks like me, in a very dark place, unable to get out by myself until somebody heard the cry of my heart. Then I didn't have to stay there one day longer.

Jesus came all the way from heaven to rescue a world of people held captive by the darkness inside them. "Sin" the Bible calls it. It's our deadly addiction to defying God and doing life "my way" instead of His way. And we can't seem to stop. The Bible says, "Everyone who sins is a slave to sin" (John 8:34), and I can't argue with that. The selfishness, and anger, and dark desires, the wounding words, the endless lies - nobody wants to be that way, but we are. We're prisoners in a dark place, until the Rescuer shows up at our door.

And finally, here's our word for today from the Word of God, in Galatians 1:3. It says of Jesus, "He gave Himself for our sins to rescue us." Wow! And it says, "If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36). He didn't just come to the door. He died on a cross.

So here's my story: "I've been missing. I'm free now, and I'm home!" I want that for you.

You can read about how to begin that relationship with Jesus right now. Go to our website ANewStory.com. The personal Rescuer has come to your "dark place" to rescue you. You can be free and you can be home!

Exodus 9 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: It’s Not Over Until It’s Over - September 29, 2021

In Jeremiah 32:27 God says, “I am the Lord, the God of every person on the earth, nothing is impossible for me.” We need to hear that God is still in control. We need to hear that it’s not over until he says so. We need to hear that life’s mishaps and tragedies are not a reason to bail out.

Corrie ten Boom used to say, “When the train goes through a tunnel and the world gets dark, do you jump out? Of course not. You sit still and trust the engineer to get you through.” The way to deal with discouragement? The cure for disappointment? Go back and read the story of God. Read it again and again. Be reminded that you aren’t the first person to weep. You aren’t the first person to be helped. Read the story, and remember the story is yours.

Exodus 9

Strike Five: Animals

God said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘God, the God of the Hebrews, says: Release my people so they can worship me. If you refuse to release them and continue to hold on to them, I’m giving you fair warning: God will come down hard on your livestock out in the fields—horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, sheep—striking them with a severe disease. God will draw a sharp line between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt. Not one animal that belongs to the Israelites will die.’”

5 Then God set the time: “Tomorrow God will do this thing.”

6-7 And the next day God did it. All the livestock of Egypt died, but not one animal of the Israelites died. Pharaoh sent men to find out what had happened and there it was: none of the livestock of the Israelites had died—not one death. But Pharaoh stayed stubborn. He wouldn’t release the people.
Strike Six: Boils

8-11 God said to Moses and Aaron, “Take fistfuls of soot from a furnace and have Moses throw it into the air right before Pharaoh’s eyes; it will become a film of fine dust all over Egypt and cause sores, an eruption of boils on people and animals throughout Egypt.” So they took soot from a furnace, stood in front of Pharaoh, and threw it up into the air. It caused boils to erupt on people and animals. The magicians weren’t able to compete with Moses this time because of the boils—they were covered with boils just like everyone else in Egypt.

12 God hardened Pharaoh in his stubbornness. He wouldn’t listen, just as God had said to Moses.
Strike Seven: Hail

13-19 God said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh. Tell him, ‘God, the God of the Hebrews, says: Release my people so they can worship me. This time I am going to strike you and your servants and your people with the full force of my power so you’ll get it into your head that there’s no one like me anywhere in all the Earth. You know that by now I could have struck you and your people with deadly disease and there would be nothing left of you, not a trace. But for one reason only I’ve kept you on your feet: To make you recognize my power so that my reputation spreads in all the Earth. You are still building yourself up at my people’s expense. You are not letting them go. So here’s what’s going to happen: At this time tomorrow I’m sending a terrific hailstorm—there’s never been a storm like this in Egypt from the day of its founding until now. So get your livestock under roof—everything exposed in the open fields, people and animals, will die when the hail comes down.’”

20-21 All of Pharaoh’s servants who had respect for God’s word got their workers and animals under cover as fast as they could, but those who didn’t take God’s word seriously left their workers and animals out in the field.

22 God said to Moses: “Stretch your hands to the skies. Signal the hail to fall all over Egypt on people and animals and crops exposed in the fields of Egypt.”

23-26 Moses lifted his staff to the skies and God sent cracks of thunder and hail shot through with lightning strikes. God rained hail down on the land of Egypt. The hail came, hail and lightning—a fierce hailstorm. There had been nothing like it in Egypt in its entire history. The hail hit hard all over Egypt. Everything exposed out in the fields, people and animals and crops, was smashed. Even the trees in the fields were shattered. Except for Goshen where the Israelites lived; there was no hail in Goshen.

27-28 Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. He said, “I’ve sinned for sure this time—God is in the right and I and my people are in the wrong. Pray to God. We’ve had enough of God’s thunder and hail. I’ll let you go. The sooner you’re out of here the better.”

29-30 Moses said, “As soon as I’m out of the city, I’ll stretch out my arms to God. The thunder will stop and the hail end so you’ll know that the land is God’s land. Still, I know that you and your servants have no respect for God.”

31-32 (The flax and the barley were ruined, for they were just ripening, but the wheat and spelt weren’t hurt—they ripen later.)

33 Moses left Pharaoh and the city and stretched out his arms to God. The thunder and hail stopped; the storm cleared.

34-35 But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he kept right on sinning, stubborn as ever, both he and his servants. Pharaoh’s heart turned rock-hard. He refused to release the Israelites, as God had ordered through Moses.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Wednesday, September 29, 2021
Today's Scripture
Romans 12:1–3
(NIV)

A Living Sacrifice

12 Therefore, I urge you,f brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice,g holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conformh to the pattern of this world,i but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.j Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will isk—his good, pleasingl and perfect will.

Humble Service in the Body of Christ

3 For by the grace given mem I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

Insight

In the Old Testament, propitiatory sacrifices were offered to atone for sin. “The Lord will accept [the animal’s] death in your place to purify you, making you right with him” (Leviticus 1:4 nlt; see 7:7). Dedicatory sacrifices (see Leviticus 2–3), on the other hand, were offered voluntarily “as an expression of thanksgiving” to God (7:12 nlt). In response to Jesus’ atoning sacrifice on the cross that gives us new life (Romans 3:25; 6:4–10), Paul exhorts us to offer ourselves as a dedicatory thanksgiving offering to God. We’re not all called to die for Jesus but to die to sin and to self (6:2–11; 8:12–13). Instead, Paul calls us to live for Him in His perfect will (12:2), in humility (v. 3), and in unity (vv. 4–8). “[Christ] died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them” (2 Corinthians 5:15 nlt). By: K. T. Sim

Joyful Learning

Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Romans 12:2

In the city of Mysore, India, there’s a school made of two refurbished train cars connected end-to-end. Local educators teamed up with the South Western Railway Company to buy and remodel the discarded coaches. The units were essentially large metal boxes, unusable until workers installed stairways, fans, lights, and desks. Workers also painted the walls and added colorful murals inside and out. Now, sixty students attend classes there because of the amazing transformation that took place.

Something even more amazing takes place when we follow the apostle Paul’s command to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). As we allow the Holy Spirit to uncouple us from the world and its ways, our thoughts and attitudes begin to change. We become more loving, more hopeful, and filled with inner peace (8:6).

Something else happens too. Although this transformation process is ongoing, and often has more stops and starts than a train ride, the process helps us understand what God wants for our lives. It takes us to a place where we “will learn to know God’s will” (12:2 nlt). Learning His will may or may not involve specifics, but it always involves aligning ourselves with His character and His work in the world.

Nali Kali, the name of the transformed school in India, means “joyful learning” in English. How’s God’s transforming power leading you to the joyful learning of His will? By:  Jennifer Benson Schuldt

Reflect & Pray

Which areas of your thought life are most in need of God’s transforming power? How willing are you to act when you clearly understand His will for your life?

Dear God, I invite You to transform me by renewing my mind today. Thank You for all that’s possible when I surrender to You

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, September 29, 2021
The Awareness of the Call

…for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! —1 Corinthians 9:16

We are inclined to forget the deeply spiritual and supernatural touch of God. If you are able to tell exactly where you were when you received the call of God and can explain all about it, I question whether you have truly been called. The call of God does not come like that; it is much more supernatural. The realization of the call in a person’s life may come like a clap of thunder or it may dawn gradually. But however quickly or slowly this awareness comes, it is always accompanied with an undercurrent of the supernatural— something that is inexpressible and produces a “glow.” At any moment the sudden awareness of this incalculable, supernatural, surprising call that has taken hold of your life may break through— “I chose you…” (John 15:16). The call of God has nothing to do with salvation and sanctification. You are not called to preach the gospel because you are sanctified; the call to preach the gospel is infinitely different. Paul describes it as a compulsion that was placed upon him.

If you have ignored, and thereby removed, the great supernatural call of God in your life, take a review of your circumstances. See where you have put your own ideas of service or your particular abilities ahead of the call of God. Paul said, “…woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!” He had become aware of the call of God, and his compulsion to “preach the gospel” was so strong that nothing else was any longer even a competitor for his strength.

If a man or woman is called of God, it doesn’t matter how difficult the circumstances may be. God orchestrates every force at work for His purpose in the end. If you will agree with God’s purpose, He will bring not only your conscious level but also all the deeper levels of your life, which you yourself cannot reach, into perfect harmony.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

We begin our Christian life by believing what we are told to believe, then we have to go on to so assimilate our beliefs that they work out in a way that redounds to the glory of God. The danger is in multiplying the acceptation of beliefs we do not make our own. Conformed to His Image, 381 L

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 7-8; Ephesians 2

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Stuffed But Sitting On It - #9058

Somewhere in the Fathers Handbook, I think it says the father gets to carve the turkey, or the ham, or the roast. And I don't mind; I feel very fatherly when I get to do that, very manly sitting at the head of the table with my super carving knife. But I have observed this phenomenon. Often I end up with an empty plate. See, sometimes at a large dinner gathering, you've got someone who loads up their own plate, starts chowing down and shortstops all the food where they are. Ever notice that it all seems to pile up sometimes in a corner and it doesn't get moved past there? I mean, they're satisfied, so some of us end up with nothing in our corner. Some lucky guy has it all in his corner. Now, what's fair is that you take what you need and then you pass it on to others who don't have any yet. That's how this system works. When you've got plenty. it's just real easy to forget those who haven't been served yet.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Stuffed But Sitting On It."

Our word for today from the Word of God, Matthew 10. Jesus is speaking to His disciples, who have in a sense been sitting at the dinner table and being very well fed. They have sat in many meetings with Jesus, they've heard and seen a lot, and now He calls them together in Matthew 10:8 and says, "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons." He's sending them out now. And then these beautiful words, and I remember a chorus to this effect, "Freely you have received; freely give." In other words, Jesus is saying, "Look, I passed it to you. Not just so you could be full. Now you're supposed to pass it to others."

There's a story in the Old Testament in the book of 2 Kings. It tells about four lepers who lived outside a city that was being starved to death by an enemy siege. Finally they decided just to surrender to the enemy thinking, "Well, you know what? We're probably going to be killed anyway, or we're going to die of starvation. So, maybe they'll take us and feed us, or we'll just die like we're going to die here anyway." What happened was they found out that God had performed a miracle and driven the enemy out. The camp was empty. And they ended up with all this food that had been left behind! They're sitting there eating and chowing down all night long while people are starving to death in the city they just came from.

Finally, by the morning light, one of them says, "What we're doing is not right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves." What a picture of many of us North American Christians. We're the spiritually wealthiest Christians in history: seminars, and workshops, and radio and TV programs, and websites, and conferences, and magazines, and books. It's just so easy to get caught up in a comfortable cycle of listening and just saying, "Well, you know, that was a nice sermon, wasn't it?" Going to Bible study, attending a fellowship we enjoy, going to concerts; feeling real spiritual a lot of the time.

And we are to be growing. We are to be filling up with spiritual resources - loading up on the Lord, loading up on His truth - but not just to enjoy it ourselves. "Freely you have received; freely give." Jesus said, "To whom much is given, much is required." Shouldn't you be giving as much as you're getting? Responsibility goes with all that we're hearing, and seeing, and learning. It goes with those riches. There are lost people who need at least a little of what you have a lot of.

Every believer should be actively involved in reaching out to lost people; rescuing the dying somehow...including you, in an outreach to people that you are uniquely close to. Or by starting or supporting outreach programs through your church, or by giving your time or talent to a Christian ministry that is actively rescuing lost people. Maybe even by changing your life plans. But don't just keep piling it up on your plate, because there are people all around you who are dying of starvation.

Matthew 25:1-30 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Jesus Values You - September 28, 2021

Jesus’ love does not depend upon what we do for him. Not at all. In the eyes of the King, you have value simply because you are. You don’t have to look nice or perform well. Your value is inborn. Period.

Think about that for just a minute. You’re valuable just because you exist. Not because of what you’ve done, but simply because you are. Remember that the next time you are left bobbing in the wake of someone’s steamboat ambition. Or some trickster tries to hang a bargain basement price tag on your self-worth. Remember that the next time someone tries to pass you off as a cheap buy.

Just think about the way Jesus honors you, and smile. I do. Because I know I don’t deserve love like that—none of us do.

Matthew 25:1-30

The Story of the Virgins

“God’s kingdom is like ten young virgins who took oil lamps and went out to greet the bridegroom. Five were silly and five were smart. The silly virgins took lamps, but no extra oil. The smart virgins took jars of oil to feed their lamps. The bridegroom didn’t show up when they expected him, and they all fell asleep.

6 “In the middle of the night someone yelled out, ‘He’s here! The bridegroom’s here! Go out and greet him!’

7-8 “The ten virgins got up and got their lamps ready. The silly virgins said to the smart ones, ‘Our lamps are going out; lend us some of your oil.’

9 “They answered, ‘There might not be enough to go around; go buy your own.’

10 “They did, but while they were out buying oil, the bridegroom arrived. When everyone who was there to greet him had gone into the wedding feast, the door was locked.

11 “Much later, the other virgins, the silly ones, showed up and knocked on the door, saying, ‘Master, we’re here. Let us in.’

12 “He answered, ‘Do I know you? I don’t think I know you.’

13 “So stay alert. You have no idea when he might arrive.
The Story About Investment

14-18 “It’s also like a man going off on an extended trip. He called his servants together and delegated responsibilities. To one he gave five thousand dollars, to another two thousand, to a third one thousand, depending on their abilities. Then he left. Right off, the first servant went to work and doubled his master’s investment. The second did the same. But the man with the single thousand dug a hole and carefully buried his master’s money.

19-21 “After a long absence, the master of those three servants came back and settled up with them. The one given five thousand dollars showed him how he had doubled his investment. His master commended him: ‘Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.’

22-23 “The servant with the two thousand showed how he also had doubled his master’s investment. His master commended him: ‘Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.’

24-25 “The servant given one thousand said, ‘Master, I know you have high standards and hate careless ways, that you demand the best and make no allowances for error. I was afraid I might disappoint you, so I found a good hiding place and secured your money. Here it is, safe and sound down to the last cent.’

26-27 “The master was furious. ‘That’s a terrible way to live! It’s criminal to live cautiously like that! If you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least? The least you could have done would have been to invest the sum with the bankers, where at least I would have gotten a little interest.

28-30 “‘Take the thousand and give it to the one who risked the most. And get rid of this “play-it-safe” who won’t go out on a limb. Throw him out into utter darkness.’

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Tuesday, September 28, 2021

Today's Scripture
1 Samuel 4:12–22
(NIV)

Death of Eli

12 That same day a Benjamitef ran from the battle line and went to Shiloh with his clothes torn and dustg on his head. 13 When he arrived, there was Elih sitting on his chair by the side of the road, watching, because his heart feared for the ark of God. When the man entered the town and told what had happened, the whole town sent up a cry.

14 Eli heard the outcry and asked, “What is the meaning of this uproar?”

The man hurried over to Eli, 15 who was ninety-eight years old and whose eyesi had failed so that he could not see. 16 He told Eli, “I have just come from the battle line; I fled from it this very day.”

Eli asked, “What happened, my son?”

17 The man who brought the news replied, “Israel fled before the Philistines, and the army has suffered heavy losses. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead,j and the ark of God has been captured.”k

18 When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off his chair by the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died, for he was an old man, and he was heavy. He had ledb l Israel forty years.m

19 His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and near the time of delivery. When she heard the news that the ark of God had been captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she went into labor and gave birth, but was overcome by her labor pains. 20 As she was dying, the women attending her said, “Don’t despair; you have given birth to a son.” But she did not respond or pay any attention.

21 She named the boy Ichabod,c n saying, “The Gloryo has departed from Israel”—because of the capture of the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband. 22 She said, “The Gloryp has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”q

Insight

First Samuel 4 tells an interesting narrative of the Israelites failing to consult God in critical times. In the beginning of the chapter, they were “defeated by the Philistines” (v. 2), which prompted the suggestion to take the ark of the covenant into battle (v. 3) without consulting with God. Not only did the elders suggest this, but Eli’s two sons were with the ark (vv. 3–4). They displayed a continued disinterest in God’s commands by taking the ark without consulting Him, and their choice resulted in their deaths (v. 11). By: Julie Schwab

Flight of Ichabod

The Glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.
1 Samuel 4:22

In The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving tells of Ichabod Crane, a schoolteacher who seeks to marry a beautiful young woman named Katrina. Key to the story is a headless horseman who haunts the colonial countryside. One night, Ichabod encounters a ghostly apparition on horseback and flees the region in terror. It’s clear to the reader that this “horseman” is actually a rival suitor for Katrina, who then marries her.

Ichabod is a name first seen in the Bible, and it too has a gloomy backstory. While at war with the Philistines, Israel carried the sacred ark of the covenant into battle. Bad move. Israel’s army was routed and the ark captured. Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of the high priest Eli, were killed (1 Samuel 4:17). Eli too would die (v. 18). When the pregnant wife of Phinehas heard the news, “she went into labor and gave birth, but was overcome by her labor pains” (v. 19). With her last words she named her son Ichabod (literally, “no glory”). “The Glory has departed from Israel,” she gasped (v. 22).  

Thankfully, God was unfolding a much larger story. His glory would ultimately be revealed in Jesus, who said of His disciples, “I have given them the glory that you [the Father] gave me” (John 17:22).

No one knows where the ark is today, but no matter. Ichabod has fled. Through Jesus, God has given us His very glory! By:  Tim Gustafson

Reflect & Pray

What do you think it means for God to give us His glory? How have you experienced it?

Dear Father, thank You for revealing Your glory through Jesus. Make me mindful of Your presence throughout this day
 

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, September 28, 2021
The “Go” of Unconditional Identification
Jesus…said to him, "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor…and come, take up the cross, and follow Me." —Mark 10:21

The rich young ruler had the controlling passion to be perfect. When he saw Jesus Christ, he wanted to be like Him. Our Lord never places anyone’s personal holiness above everything else when He calls a disciple. Jesus’ primary consideration is my absolute annihilation of my right to myself and my identification with Him, which means having a relationship with Him in which there are no other relationships. Luke 14:26 has nothing to do with salvation or sanctification, but deals solely with unconditional identification with Jesus Christ. Very few of us truly know what is meant by the absolute “go” of unconditional identification with, and abandonment and surrender to, Jesus.

“Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him…” (Mark 10:21). This look of Jesus will require breaking your heart away forever from allegiance to any other person or thing. Has Jesus ever looked in this way at you? This look of Jesus transforms, penetrates, and captivates. Where you are soft and pliable with God is where the Lord has looked at you. If you are hard and vindictive, insistent on having your own way, and always certain that the other person is more likely to be in the wrong than you are, then there are whole areas of your nature that have never been transformed by His gaze.

“One thing you lack….” From Jesus Christ’s perspective, oneness with Him, with nothing between, is the only good thing.

“…sell whatever you have….” I must humble myself until I am merely a living person. I must essentially renounce possessions of all kinds, not for salvation (for only one thing saves a person and that is absolute reliance in faith upon Jesus Christ), but to follow Jesus. “…come…and follow Me.” And the road is the way He went.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

Am I becoming more and more in love with God as a holy God, or with the conception of an amiable Being who says, “Oh well, sin doesn’t matter much”?  Disciples Indeed, 389 L

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 5-6; Ephesians 1

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, September 28, 2021
Your Permanent in a World of Temporary - #9057

October is really beautiful in a lot of parts of the U.S. It's fall; it's the time, as I told my kids, that the angels come out at night and paint the leaves red and yellow and orange. Pray for my kids. Forget the angel part. The trees really do put on a fantastic show of color in the fall, and spring isn't bad either. I love that fresh green of spring's new life. But in between fall and spring, there's this long stretch where the trees are just basically colored "dead." Well, not all the trees. There's life all year long; there's green all year long. They don't lose their color, however dead and barren the rest of the world around them may be. Hello! They're EVERgreens!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Permanent in a World of Temporary."

It's not just trees that turn color in our lives - it happens to relationships, too. A relationship that was once blooming beautifully, giving color to our life, starts to turn, to lose its color, to wither, even to die. Sooner or later, every "I love you" seems to include a "goodbye" to some people. Some relationships die with a whimper; some with a bang; some slowly, some suddenly; some, not by choice, but by death.

My first realization of that was the night my parents left me alone in our Chicago apartment to go to a funeral. They were gone longer than they had predicted, and that's when I heard the wail of sirens nearby. Well, I have to tell you, a young boy's fears kicked in at that point and I thought, "My parents are late. There's a siren. Maybe they were killed in an accident." Well, they weren't, but that was when I first realized that what you love you can lose. And ultimately, I have buried my mom, my dad, and the love of my life. And a lot of other people (some old, some very young) who would never have chosen to leave. Often what hurts even more are the loves that do choose to leave us. Like winter's leaves; they wither and blow away.

What we need is an evergreen relationship - one that can't be touched by desertion, by divorce, by distance, even by death. There is such a relationship, but only one. In order to be our evergreen, it's going to have to be a love that will never turn on us and never die on us. That love is celebrated in our word for today from the Word of God in Romans 8:38-39. These words literally have the power to lead you to the one anchor relationship your heart has always yearned for.

Here's what it says. "Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present or the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." There it is, my friend, evergreen love. It's God's love, found in His Son, Jesus Christ.

Here's why God's love is the love you can't lose. Even though we were made for that love, we're missing it because we've chosen to take our life into our own hands instead of putting it in God's hands. We've chosen "my way" over God's way in thousands of situations throughout our life. And the Bible says, "Your sins have separated you from your God" (Isaiah 59:2). That separation could only be bridged one way; a way that seems unthinkable. That God's Son, the only One without any sin, will come to earth and do what only He could do - do the dying for our sin against Him. Pay the penalty so the sin could be erased so we could experience the love that our sin has cost us.

And today, the man who loved you enough to die for you has come looking for you to offer you a life, an eternity, filled with His evergreen love. But it can't be a one-way love affair. You've got to respond to His love by placing your life in His hands and turning your back on the sin that cost Him His life. And your love response might be just three words, "Jesus, I'm Yours." If you want to pursue that love relationship with Him, then I'd invite you to check out our website today. That's ANewStory.com.

God Himself has said that once you open up to His love - hear it again: "nothing in all creation will be able to separate" you.