Mark 15:1-25 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Providential Hope - January 20, 2022

Abused and rejected by his brothers, Joseph, the son of Jacob, suffered servitude and prison. Why did God allow Joseph’s suffering? Why does God permit challenges to come our way? Wouldn’t an almighty God prevent them?

Not if they serve his higher purpose. When Pharaoh was troubled by his dreams, the butler mentioned Joseph to Pharaoh. And as fast as you can say providence, Joseph went from prison to palace to prime minister. He saved not just the Egyptians but also the family of Jacob.

Years later Joseph would tell his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish…the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20). What was intended as harm became good. Why? Because Joseph viewed the sufferings of his life through the lens of divine providence. Can I urge you to do the same?

Mark 15:1-25

At dawn’s first light, the high priests, with the religious leaders and scholars, arranged a conference with the entire Jewish Council. After tying Jesus securely, they took him out and presented him to Pilate.

2-3 Pilate asked him, “Are you the ‘King of the Jews’?”

He answered, “If you say so.” The high priests let loose a barrage of accusations.

4-5 Pilate asked again, “Aren’t you going to answer anything? That’s quite a list of accusations.” Still, he said nothing. Pilate was impressed, really impressed.

6-10 It was a custom at the Feast to release a prisoner, anyone the people asked for. There was one prisoner called Barabbas, locked up with the insurrectionists who had committed murder during the uprising against Rome. As the crowd came up and began to present its petition for him to release a prisoner, Pilate anticipated them: “Do you want me to release the King of the Jews to you?” Pilate knew by this time that it was through sheer spite that the high priests had turned Jesus over to him.

11-12 But the high priests by then had worked up the crowd to ask for the release of Barabbas. Pilate came back, “So what do I do with this man you call King of the Jews?”

13 They yelled, “Nail him to a cross!”

14 Pilate objected, “But for what crime?”

But they yelled all the louder, “Nail him to a cross!”

15 Pilate gave the crowd what it wanted, set Barabbas free and turned Jesus over for whipping and crucifixion.

16-20 The soldiers took Jesus into the palace (called Praetorium) and called together the entire brigade. They dressed him up in purple and put a crown plaited from a thornbush on his head. Then they began their mockery: “Bravo, King of the Jews!” They banged on his head with a club, spit on him, and knelt down in mock worship. After they had had their fun, they took off the purple cape and put his own clothes back on him. Then they marched out to nail him to the cross.
The Crucifixion

21 There was a man walking by, coming from work, Simon from Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. They made him carry Jesus’ cross.

22-24 The soldiers brought Jesus to Golgotha, meaning “Skull Hill.” They offered him a mild painkiller (wine mixed with myrrh), but he wouldn’t take it. And they nailed him to the cross. They divided up his clothes and threw dice to see who would get them.

25-30 They nailed him up at nine o’clock in the morning. The charge against him—the king of the jews—was scrawled across a sign. Along with him, they crucified two criminals, one to his right, the other to his left. People passing along the road jeered, shaking their heads in mock lament: “You bragged that you could tear down the Temple and then rebuild it in three days—so show us your stuff! Save yourself! If you’re really God’s Son, come down from that cross!”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Thursday, January 20, 2022

Today's Scripture
Proverbs 1:1–7
(NIV)

Purpose and Theme

1 The proverbsa of Solomonb son of David, king of Israel:c

2 for gaining wisdom and instruction;

for understanding words of insight;

3 for receiving instruction in prudent behavior,

doing what is right and just and fair;

4 for giving prudence to those who are simple,a d

knowledge and discretione to the young—

5 let the wise listen and add to their learning,f

and let the discerning get guidance—

6 for understanding proverbs and parables,g

the sayings and riddlesh of the wise.b i

7 The fear of the Lordj is the beginning of knowledge,

but foolsc despise wisdomk and instruction.

Insight

A prominent characteristic of Hebrew poetry is parallelism. A second line either mirrors the first or contrasts it. In the case of Proverbs 1:5, the second line mirrors and develops the idea introduced in the first, which is called “synthetic” parallelism.

The first line of the couplet, “Let the wise listen and add to their learning,” says wisdom isn’t a once-and-done endeavor. The wise can always learn more. But the second line develops the idea further: “and let the discerning get guidance.” The word for “guidance” comes from the nautical world where shipmen would pull on ropes to steer a boat. In context, “guidance” has the sense of practical steering through life. The parallelism in the proverb highlights that continual learning is important, but also that it should lead to steering a better course through the waters of our lives.

Love of Learning

Let the wise listen and add to their learning.
Proverbs 1:5

When asked how he became a journalist, a man shared the story of his mother’s dedication to his pursuit of education. While traveling on the subway each day, she collected newspapers left behind on seats and gave them to him. While he especially enjoyed reading about sports, the papers also introduced him to knowledge about the world, which ultimately opened his mind to a vast range of interests.

Children are wired with natural curiosity and a love for learning, so introducing them to the Scriptures at an early age is of great value. They become intrigued by God’s extraordinary promises and exciting stories of biblical heroes. As their knowledge deepens, they can begin to comprehend the consequences of sin, their need of repentance, and the joy found in trusting God. The first chapter of Proverbs, for instance, is a great introduction to the benefits of wisdom (Proverbs 1:1–7). Nuggets of wisdom found here shine a light of understanding on real-life situations.

Developing a love of learning—especially about spiritual truths—helps us to grow stronger in our faith. And those who have walked in faith for decades can continue to pursue knowledge of God throughout their life. Proverbs 1:5 advises, “Let the wise listen and add to their learning.” God will never stop teaching us if we’re willing to open our heart and mind to His guidance and instruction. By:  Cindy Hess Kasper

Reflect & Pray

What fresh truth of Scripture have you added to your knowledge recently? How can you continually pursue a deeper understanding of God’s truth?

Father, please continue to open my mind and heart to grow in knowledge and wisdom as I read from the Scriptures.

Grow deeper in your understanding of faith, visit https://odbu.org/courses/st101/?utm_source=JANUARY+20+ODB+&utm_medium=EMAIL+AND+APP&utm_campaign=ST101+Theology+Basics.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, January 20, 2022

Are You Fresh for Everything?

Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." —John 3:3

Sometimes we are fresh and eager to attend a prayer meeting, but do we feel that same freshness for such mundane tasks as polishing shoes?

Being born again by the Spirit is an unmistakable work of God, as mysterious as the wind, and as surprising as God Himself. We don’t know where it begins— it is hidden away in the depths of our soul. Being born again from above is an enduring, perpetual, and eternal beginning. It provides a freshness all the time in thinking, talking, and living— a continual surprise of the life of God. Staleness is an indication that something in our lives is out of step with God. We say to ourselves, “I have to do this thing or it will never get done.” That is the first sign of staleness. Do we feel fresh this very moment or are we stale, frantically searching our minds for something to do? Freshness is not the result of obedience; it comes from the Holy Spirit. Obedience keeps us “in the light as He is in the light…” (1 John 1:7).

Jealously guard your relationship with God. Jesus prayed “that they may be one just as We are one” — with nothing in between (John 17:22). Keep your whole life continually open to Jesus Christ. Don’t pretend to be open with Him. Are you drawing your life from any source other than God Himself? If you are depending on something else as your source of freshness and strength, you will not realize when His power is gone.

Being born of the Spirit means much more than we usually think. It gives us new vision and keeps us absolutely fresh for everything through the never-ending supply of the life of God.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

The main characteristic which is the proof of the indwelling Spirit is an amazing tenderness in personal dealing, and a blazing truthfulness with regard to God’s Word. Disciples Indeed, 386 R

Bible in a Year: Genesis 49-50; Matthew 13:31-58

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, January 20, 2022
Designer Genes and Chromosomes - #9139

Years ago there was a Newsweek cover story that really caught my attention. It was about twins and my wife and I had several friends at that time that had twins. Occasionally we had expressed horror at the thought of having had any two of our kids at the same time! Fortunately, God knows who can handle these incredible assignments, and who can't, so he wisely sent our three children two years apart.

But that Newsweek article was intriguing, and it explained the great amounts of research being done regarding twins. And the article stated that the studies not only revealed a lot about twins, but about all of us. For example, there are the studies that have been done on twins that have been separated at birth, and then raised totally apart and then reunited as adults. It's amazing how alike they are in their temperament, the choices they've made, their likes or dislikes.

So, they're giving scientists new evidence in the debate over how much we're a product of our environment and how much we're a product of our genetic programming. These twins are telling us that there's a lot about us, more than we think, that we're born with. You know what? That should come as no surprise.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Designer Genes and Chromosomes."

Now, our word for today from the Word of God, Ephesians 2:10. I love this great verse, "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God (get this now) prepared in advance for us to do." In other words, God has set you up uniquely for specific assignments that you are put on earth to do on a daily basis.

Now, the twins' research tells us that each person seems to be uniquely wired. Well, the Bible tells us that. You go to what David said in Psalm 139. In that great prayer he says, "God, You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I am fearfully and wonderfully made." Then he says, "All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be."

See, from conception, God's designed you to carry out a unique plan. You're just the right height to do what He's prepared for you to do. You've got just the right hair. You've got just the right voice. You have just the right basic temperament. You've got the right skills and talents. He's even given you certain limitations to help you be sensitive and dependant, and compassionate, and He put you in the right family too.

It's true a sinful environment has corrupted the purity of God's programming, but the basic you is a God's one-of-a-kind masterpiece. Oh, you may be missing the point of how right you are, because you've done too much comparing with other people or with the things that society says are important. How can you be compared? You're uniquely wired for unique assignments. You're a category all by yourself. There's no one we can compare you to. You're the only one like you.

When are you going to start celebrating what you are instead of focusing on what you aren't? You were made right! You're wired for daily contributions only you can make. And ultimately we can only discover the answer to the question, "Why am I here?" by belonging to the God who put us here; who designed us. That's why the Bible says, "All things were created by Him and for Him" (Colossians 1:16). We were supposed to revolve our life around our Creator, and in so doing find our destiny, our identity, our reason to be.

Unfortunately, we found another reason to be; living for ourselves, which the Bible calls sin...middle letter "I." It's a terrible thing to be away from God, because it means a life without meaning, It means an eternity without hope. That's why Jesus came. He came to bring us together and to unite us with the God who has the plan.

Maybe it's time for you to say, "I'm not wasting another day with a "me run" life. Jesus, I'm turning it over to you. I'm yours. You died for me, I'm yours." Listen, our website is there to help you get started in this relationship. I hope you go there today. It's ANewStory.com.

You can belong to the Designing Genius who made you. You're a product of His never wrong, always right designing genius.

Numbers 19, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 
Max Lucado Daily: King of Every Situation - January 19, 2022

When crowds of people came to Christ for healing, “One by one he placed his hands on them and healed them” (Luke 4:40). Jesus could have proclaimed a cloud of healing blessings to fall upon the crowd. But he is not a one-size-fits-all Savior. He placed his hands on each one, individually, personally. Perceiving unique needs, he issued unique blessings.

A precise prayer gives Christ the opportunity to remove all doubt about his love and interest. Your problem becomes his pathway. The challenge you face becomes a canvas upon which Christ can demonstrate his finest work. So offer a simple prayer and entrust the problem to Christ. “Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take” (Proverbs 3:6). Believe that Jesus is king of each and every situation.

Numbers 19

The Red Cow

God spoke to Moses and Aaron: “This is the rule from the Revelation that God commands: Tell the People of Israel to get a red cow, a healthy specimen, ritually clean, that has never been in harness. Present it to Eleazar the priest, then take it outside the camp and butcher it while he looks on. Eleazar will take some of the blood on his finger and splash it seven times in the direction of the Tent of Meeting.

5-8 “Then under Eleazar’s supervision burn the cow, the whole thing—hide, meat, blood, even its dung. The priest then will take a stick of cedar, some sprigs of hyssop, and a piece of scarlet material and throw them on the burning cow. Afterwards the priest must wash his clothes and bathe well with water. He can then come into the camp but he remains ritually unclean until evening. The man who burns the cow must also wash his clothes and bathe with water. He also is unclean until evening.

9 “Then a man who is ritually clean will gather the ashes of the cow and place them in a ritually clean place outside the camp. The congregation of Israel will keep them to use in the Water-of-Cleansing, an Absolution-Offering.

10 “The man who gathered up the ashes must scrub his clothes; he is ritually unclean until evening. This is to be a standing rule for both native-born Israelites and foreigners living among them.

11-13 “Anyone who touches a dead body is ritually unclean for seven days. He must purify himself with the Water-of-Cleansing on the third day; on the seventh day he will be clean. But if he doesn’t follow the procedures for the third and seventh days, he won’t be clean. Anyone who touches the dead body of anyone and doesn’t get cleansed desecrates God’s Dwelling and is to be excommunicated. For as long as the Water-of-Cleansing has not been sprinkled on him, he remains ritually unclean.

14-15 “This is the rule for someone who dies in his tent: Anyone who enters the tent or is already in the tent is ritually unclean for seven days, and every open container without a lid is unclean.

16-21 “Anyone out in the open field who touches a corpse, whether dead from violent or natural causes, or a human bone or a grave is unclean for seven days. For this unclean person, take some ashes from the burned Absolution-Offering and add some fresh water to it in a bowl. Find a ritually clean man to dip a sprig of hyssop into the water and sprinkle the tent and all its furnishings, the persons who were in the tent, the one who touched the bones of the person who was killed or died a natural death, and whoever may have touched a grave. Then he is to sprinkle the unclean person on the third and seventh days. On the seventh day he is considered cleansed. The cleansed person must then scrub his clothes and take a bath; by evening he is clean. But if an unclean person does not go through these cleansing procedures, he must be excommunicated from the community; he has desecrated the Sanctuary of God. The Water-of-Cleansing has not been sprinkled on him and he is ritually unclean. This is the standing rule for these cases.

“The man who sprinkles the Water-of-Cleansing has to scrub his clothes; anyone else who touched the Water-of-Cleansing is also ritually unclean until evening.

22 “Anything the ritually unclean man touches becomes unclean, and the person who touches what he touched is unclean until evening.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Wednesday, January 19, 2022

Today's Scripture
Matthew 26:36–46
(NIV)

Gethsemane

Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedeeo along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrowp to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”q

39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cupr be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”s

40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with met for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.u The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”v

43 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44 So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.

45 Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hourw has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”

Insight

Jesus’ final prayers before His arrest and crucifixion took place in Gethsemane, which means “oil press,” a garden area among the olive groves on the Mount of Olives. Like an olive in a press, Jesus faced extreme pressure. According to Baker’s Encyclopedia of the Bible, the Mount of Olives is the “prominent north-south ridge in the Judean mountains lying due east of Jerusalem and the Kidron Valley.” This mountain features three summits and two intervening valleys. The central hill is the traditional Mount of Olives (2,684 feet). Its western face collects rainfall from the Mediterranean that along with the decomposed limestone makes for fertile orchards.   By: Alyson Kieda

Stay Awake!

Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Matthew 26:41

A German bank employee was in the middle of transferring 62.40 euros from a customer’s bank account when he accidentally took a power nap at his desk. He dozed off while his finger was on the “2” key, resulting in a 222 million euro (300 million dollar) transfer into the customer’s account. The fallout from the mistake included the firing of the employee’s colleague who verified the transfer. Although the mistake was caught and corrected, because he hadn't been watchful, the sleepy employee’s lapse almost became a nightmare for the bank.

Jesus warned His disciples that if they didn’t remain alert, they too would make a costly mistake. He took them to a place called Gethsemane to spend some time in prayer. As He prayed, Jesus experienced a grief and sadness such as He’d never known in His earthly life. He asked Peter, James, and John to stay awake to pray and “keep watch” with Him (Matthew 26:38), but they fell asleep (vv. 40–41). Their failure to watch and pray would leave them defenseless when the real temptation of denying Him came calling. In the hour of Christ’s greatest need, the disciples lacked spiritual vigilance.

May we heed Jesus’ words to remain spiritually awake by being more devoted to spending time with Him in prayer. As we do, He’ll strengthen us to resist all kinds of temptations and avoid the costly mistake of denying Jesus.

Reflect & Pray

What part of your prayer life needs to be more devoted and disciplined? How can you intentionally spend more time alone with God this week?

Jesus, because I’ve been spiritually sleeping, I haven’t been praying. And because I haven’t been praying, I haven’t depended on You. I’m sorry. Please help me to spend more time with You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, January 19, 2022
Vision and Darkness

When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. —Genesis 15:12

Whenever God gives a vision to a Christian, it is as if He puts him in “the shadow of His hand” (Isaiah 49:2). The saint’s duty is to be still and listen. There is a “darkness” that comes from too much light— that is the time to listen. The story of Abram and Hagar in Genesis 16 is an excellent example of listening to so-called good advice during a time of darkness, rather than waiting for God to send the light. When God gives you a vision and darkness follows, wait. God will bring the vision He has given you to reality in your life if you will wait on His timing. Never try to help God fulfill His word. Abram went through thirteen years of silence, but in those years all of his self-sufficiency was destroyed. He grew past the point of relying on his own common sense. Those years of silence were a time of discipline, not a period of God’s displeasure. There is never any need to pretend that your life is filled with joy and confidence; just wait upon God and be grounded in Him (see Isaiah 50:10-11).

Do I trust at all in the flesh? Or have I learned to go beyond all confidence in myself and other people of God? Do I trust in books and prayers or other joys in my life? Or have I placed my confidence in God Himself, not in His blessings? “I am Almighty God…”— El-Shaddai, the All-Powerful God (Genesis 17:1). The reason we are all being disciplined is that we will know God is real. As soon as God becomes real to us, people pale by comparison, becoming shadows of reality. Nothing that other saints do or say can ever upset the one who is built on God.

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: Genesis 46-48; Matthew 13:1-30

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, January 19, 2022
A Mountain of Mud and Courage - #9138

There was a group of girls at a slumber party, a plumber installing a hot water heater, the nurse who was enjoying her new home - her first home. They were all in the path of a sea of mud that without warning, suddenly engulfed a full square mile of Oso, Washington - 176 people originally "unaccounted for." Well, it went down to seven at one point, and then 39 fatalities last I had read. One of the victims was even a soldier taken leave from the Army. He went to help search for his aunt and uncle, but he couldn't find them, and his depression led him to an apparent suicide.

Now, thankfully, seven people were rescued. That's not many in light of the missing or the lost, but seven more than would have been alive if it weren't for the rescuers. And plunging into that 15-20' deep mountain of mud required a mountain of courage. Geologists called it "quicksand." That didn't stop the rescuers. One man heard screams from the mud and the debris. He told an eyewitness, "'I'm going. There's somebody out there." They tried to stop him. He said, "No. There's somebody trapped out there." And he came back with a baby he had saved.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Mountain of Mud and Courage."

Some firefighters actually waded into that muddy "quicksand" and became stuck up to their armpits. They had to be pulled out by rope. I thought the fire chief summed it up pretty well. He said, "We have people who are yelling for help, so we're going to take extreme risks." Cries for help. Dying people. Extreme risks to save them. I sat back and said to myself, "Well, that's the mission of my Jesus."

The mission to which He calls every one of us that He has rescued. Psalm 40:2 - "He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire." And our Rescuer says to us in Proverbs 24:12, "Rescue those who are being led away to death." So that desperate effort in the "mud and mire" in Washington vividly pictured the life-or-death calling of every one of us who's a child of God.

First of all, to hear the cries. God told Moses in our word for today from the Word of God in Exodus 3:7-10. "I have seen the misery...I have heard them crying out...So I have come down to rescue them." And then He says, "So now, go, I am sending you." That's a conversation God wants to have with me and you; with every follower of Jesus. "I have heard the cries of the lost people. Have you?"

See, the cries are heart-cries, that quiet desperation of that neighbor or coworker or fellow student, the person that's in the club with you, at the gym, at the store, the disintegrating marriage, that enslaving addiction, crushing loneliness that you may not know is there but God has heard their cry, those dark secrets, that haunting past. And He's come down to rescue them, and He's sending you. Jesus proved on the cross He cannot leave them lost, so how can I?

Secondly, the mission of Jesus - the life-or-death calling of every child of God - is to take the risks. I've had people die who I never told about my Jesus. I wasn't willing to take the risk: the risk of rejection, messing it up, losing favor, them not liking me. Now I know - with no hope of a do-over - there is no greater risk than letting them go to eternity with no Savior from their sin. I've got to be thinking about the cost to them if I don't tell them: a life without meaning, an eternity that's unthinkable.

I am someone's chance at Jesus. It's time to go in for the rescue whatever the risks, whatever the cost.

Numbers 18 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily:  God’s Idea - January 18, 2022

“This is how God showed his love among us: he sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him” (1 John 4:9).

A divine spark indwells you. When you say yes to God he blows on that holy ember, and it begins to flame. It grows day by day within you. Are you perfect? No. But you are being made perfect. And he has a wild and inexplicable love for you. You are God’s idea, God’s child.

You were loved in heaven before you were known on earth. You aren’t an accident. You are being made into God’s image. You are a diamond, a rose, and a jewel, purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ. In the eyes of God you are worth dying for. Would you let this truth find its way into your heart?

Numbers 18

Duties in the Tent of Testimony

God said to Aaron, “You and your sons, along with your father’s family, are responsible for taking care of sins having to do with the Sanctuary; you and your sons are also responsible for sins involving the priesthood. So enlist your brothers of the tribe of Levi to join you and assist you and your sons in your duties in the Tent of Testimony. They will report to you as they go about their duties related to the Tent, but they must not have anything to do with the holy things of the Altar under penalty of death—both they and you will die! They are to work with you in taking care of the Tent of Meeting, whatever work is involved in the Tent. Outsiders are not allowed to help you.

5-7 “Your job is to take care of the Sanctuary and the Altar so that there will be no more outbreaks of anger on the People of Israel. I personally have picked your brothers, the Levites, from Israel as a whole. I’m giving them to you as a gift, a gift of God, to help with the work of the Tent of Meeting. But only you and your sons may serve as priests, working around the Altar and inside the curtain. The work of the priesthood is my exclusive gift to you; it cannot be delegated—anyone else who invades the Sanctuary will be executed.”

8-10 God spoke to Aaron, “I am personally putting you in charge of my contributions, all the holy gifts I get from the People of Israel. I am turning them over to you and your children for your personal use. This is the standing rule. You and your sons get what’s left from the offerings, whatever hasn’t been totally burned up on the Altar—the leftovers from Grain-Offerings, Absolution-Offerings, and Compensation-Offerings. Eat it reverently; it is most holy; every male may eat it. Treat it as holy.

11-13 “You also get the Wave-Offerings from the People of Israel. I present them to you and your sons and daughters as a gift. This is the standing rule. Anyone in your household who is ritually clean may eat it. I also give you all the best olive oil, the best new wine, and the grain that is offered to God as the firstfruits of their harvest—all the firstfruits they offer to God are yours. Anyone in your household who is ritually clean may eat it.

14-16 “You get every Totally-Devoted gift. Every firstborn that is offered to God, whether animal or person, is yours. Except you don’t get the firstborn itself, but its redemption price; firstborn humans and ritually unclean animals are bought back and you get the redemption price. When the firstborn is a month old it must be redeemed at the redemption price of five shekels of silver, using the standard of the Sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs.

17-19 “On the other hand, you don’t redeem a firstborn ox, sheep, or goat—they are holy. Instead splash their blood on the Altar and burn their fat as a Fire-Gift, a pleasing fragrance to God. But you get the meat, just as you get the breast from the Wave-Offering and the right thigh. All the holy offerings that the People of Israel set aside for God, I’m turning over to you and your children. That’s the standard rule and includes both you and your children—a Covenant-of-Salt, eternal and unchangeable before God.”

20 God said to Aaron, “You won’t get any inheritance in land, not so much as a small plot of ground: I am your plot of ground, I am your inheritance among the People of Israel.

21-24 “I’m giving the Levites all the tithes of Israel as their pay for the work they do in the Tent of Meeting. Starting now, the rest of the People of Israel cannot wander in and out of the Tent of Meeting; they’ll be penalized for their sin and the penalty is death. It’s the Levites and only the Levites who are to work in the Tent of Meeting and they are responsible for anything that goes wrong. This is the regular rule for all time. They get no inheritance among the People of Israel; instead I turn over to them the tithes that the People of Israel present as an offering to God. That’s why I give the ruling: They are to receive no land-inheritance among the People of Israel.”

* * *

25-29 God spoke to Moses: “Speak to the Levites. Tell them, When you get the tithe from the People of Israel, the inheritance that I have assigned to you, you must tithe that tithe and present it as an offering to God. Your offerings will be treated the same as other people’s gifts of grain from the threshing floor or wine from the wine vat. This is your procedure for making offerings to God from all the tithes you get from the People of Israel: give God’s portion from these tithes to Aaron the priest. Make sure that God’s portion is the best and holiest of everything you get.

30-32 “Tell the Levites, When you offer the best part, the rest will be treated the same as grain from the threshing floor or wine from the wine vat that others give. You and your households are free to eat the rest of it anytime and anyplace—it’s your wages for your work at the Tent of Meeting. By offering the best part, you’ll avoid guilt, you won’t desecrate the holy offerings of the People of Israel, and you won’t die.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Tuesday, January 18, 2022

Today's Scripture
Isaiah 53:1–6
(NIV)

Who has believed our messageu

and to whom has the armv of the Lord been revealed?w

2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,x

and like a rooty out of dry ground.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,

nothing in his appearancez that we should desire him.

3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,

a man of suffering,a and familiar with pain.b

Like one from whom people hidec their faces

he was despised,d and we held him in low esteem.

4 Surely he took up our pain

and bore our suffering,e

yet we considered him punished by God,f

stricken by him, and afflicted.g

5 But he was piercedh for our transgressions,i

he was crushedj for our iniquities;

the punishmentk that brought us peacel was on him,

and by his woundsm we are healed.n

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,o

each of us has turned to our own way;p

and the Lord has laid on him

the iniquityq of us all.

Insight

Isaiah 53:1–6 is part of the “Song of the Suffering Servant” that begins in 52:13 and ends in 53:12. It was this song that the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:26–40 was reading. In that New Testament story, Philip the evangelist tells an Ethiopian official that Isaiah is speaking of Jesus the Messiah (Acts 8:32–35). Isaiah prophesied how the Messiah would be mistreated: “his appearance was . . . disfigured beyond that of any human being” (Isaiah 52:14). He would be “a man of suffering, and familiar with pain” (53:3). This was so Christ could pay the penalty for our sins: “he was pierced for our transgressions,” and “the punishment that brought us peace was on him” (v. 5). This is the elusive peace for which the human race yearns and is at the very heart of the gospel Philip shared with the Ethiopian.

By: Tim Gustafson

Love’s Greatest Gift

We all, like sheep, have gone astray.
Isaiah 53:6

My son Geoff was leaving a store when he saw an abandoned walking frame (a mobility aid) on the ground. I hope there isn’t a person back there who needs help, he thought. He glanced behind the building and found a homeless man unconscious on the pavement.

Geoff roused him and asked if he was okay. “I’m trying to drink myself to death,” he responded. “My tent broke in a storm, and I lost everything. I don’t want to live.”

Geoff called a Christian rehabilitation ministry, and while they waited for help, he ran home briefly and brought the man his own camping tent. “What’s your name?” Geoff asked. “Geoffrey,” the homeless man answered, “with a G.” Geoff hadn’t mentioned his own name or its uncommon spelling. “Dad,” he told me later, “that could have been me.”

Geoff once struggled with substance abuse himself, and he helped the man because of the kindness he’d received from God. Isaiah the prophet used these words to anticipate God’s mercy to us in Jesus: “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6).

Christ, our Savior, didn’t leave us lost, alone, and hopeless in despair. He chose to identify with us and lift us in love, so that we may be set free to live anew in Him. There’s no greater gift.

By:  James Banks

Reflect & Pray

Where would you be without Jesus? How can you be His hands and feet for someone in need?

Thank You, Jesus, for coming to rescue me. Help me to join in Your search-and-rescue mission and to share Your love with someone who needs You today.

Read Remade in the Image of Jesus .

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, January 18, 2022

“It Is the Lord!”

Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" —John 20:28

“Jesus said to her, ‘Give Me a drink’ ” (John 4:7). How many of us are expecting Jesus Christ to quench our thirst when we should be satisfying Him! We should be pouring out our lives, investing our total beings, not drawing on Him to satisfy us. “You shall be witnesses to Me…” (Acts 1:8). That means lives of pure, uncompromising, and unrestrained devotion to the Lord Jesus, which will be satisfying to Him wherever He may send us.

Beware of anything that competes with your loyalty to Jesus Christ. The greatest competitor of true devotion to Jesus is the service we do for Him. It is easier to serve than to pour out our lives completely for Him. The goal of the call of God is His satisfaction, not simply that we should do something for Him. We are not sent to do battle for God, but to be used by God in His battles. Are we more devoted to service than we are to Jesus Christ Himself?

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

We are all based on a conception of importance, either our own importance, or the importance of someone else; Jesus tells us to go and teach based on the revelation of His importance. “All power is given unto Me.… Go ye therefore ….”  So Send I You, 1325 R

Bible in a Year: Genesis 43-45; Matthew 12:24-50

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, January 18, 2022

Five Minutes Til Midnight - #9137

There were two stories in that day's news that stuck out to me. The first troubling story said that Twinkies could be going bankrupt. Yeah, how could that be? I mean, you talk about too big to fail! But, alas, the company that was making Twinkies was talking about filing for Chapter 11. Maybe if I ate enough of them in the next couple of weeks, I could make a difference.

But, then, there was the other story that was legitimately sobering; sort of a mirror of the times we're living in. They just reset the Doomsday Clock at that point, and it's been reset to five minutes before midnight, and three minutes to midnight, and even closer now. See, since 1947, that symbol of how close humans may be to imminent destruction has been set by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. Now, in 1947, it was set at seven minutes to midnight. Its "happy hour," I guess you could say, was 1991, when the Cold War thaw caused the Bulletin to set the clock at 17 minutes to midnight.

But recently, the dark shadows in our world have pushed the clock closer than ever to midnight.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Five Minutes Til Midnight."

Why do these world-watching scientists think it's so late? Well, the Japanese nuclear meltdown a few years ago, that didn't help. And the deployment of over 20,000 nuclear weapons they said "there was enough power to destroy this world's inhabitants many times over." And then they talked about "the prospect of nuclear weapons being used by some lone wolf, non-state actor, and environmental change." So many things.

Personally, I'm very glad that the hand that sets the real "doomsday clock" is the hand of Almighty God. I'll go with King David's declaration in our word for today from the Word of God in Psalm 31:14-15. He says, "I trust in You, O Lord; I say,' You are my God.' My times are in Your hands."

The symbolic "last days" language of the Book of Revelation describes a time when "a third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur" (Revelation 8:18). Peter said that "the day of God...will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat" (2 Peter 3:12). Those are hints of something cataclysmic, but it's hard to know just what it will actually look like in earth's final act.

But honestly, I'm not worried about it. Oh, I would be if I weren't sure about what happens when time is up, whether on this world's clock or, more personally, on the clock of my life. See, when Jesus came, He added a word to "life" - Eternal. As in life that nothing could take from you, unending, unloseable life, even beyond my life's final breath or my world's final moment.

Days before His brutal death on a cross, Jesus announced, "The hour has come...What shall I say? 'Father, save Me from this hour?' No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour" (John 12:23, 27). The reason He came - to die. The only Son of God. Why? Here's the Bible: "He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree" so that "whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life" (1 Peter 2:24; John 3:16).

That's the love that captured my heart. He took my spiritual doom on Himself, He absorbed all the hell for all my sin. He did that for you, too. Three days later, He proved He's the only One who can give a person eternal life by blowing the doors off His grave.

So, God bursts the bubble of "I'll get to heaven by being good" when He describes eternal life as something that can't be earned. A gift, not wages you receive. That's "the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life." (Romans 6:23). There was the day I reached out by faith and took that gift He paid for with His life.

So there'll be no doomsday for me or anyone who has made the Savior their Savior. And maybe this is your day to do that; to reach out and say, "Jesus, I believe You were dying for my sins. Because You walked out of your grave, you're alive, walk into my life today."

Our website - it will help you realize how you can belong to Him for sure - it's ANewStory.com.

The clock on each of our lives is ticking. We can't see the clock. When it strikes our personal midnight, destination will be set by decision; the one you made about Jesus. I know where I'm going when it's midnight. I'm going Home. I hope you are too.

Numbers 17 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: God Is on the Throne - January 17, 2022

God’s answer for troubled times has always been the same: heaven has an occupied throne.

During the eighth century BC, ancient Judah enjoyed a time of relative peace, thanks to the steady leadership of King Uzziah. He kept enemies at bay for fifty-two years, then Uzziah died. Isaiah the prophet was worried. What would happen now that Uzziah was gone?

Or, in your case, what will happen now that your job is gone? Or your health has diminished? Does God have a message for his people when calamity strikes? He certainly had a word for Isaiah. The prophet wrote, “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up…” (Isaiah 6:1). Uzziah’s throne was empty, but God’s was occupied. He was, and is, alive, on the throne, and worthy of our endless worship.

Numbers 17

Aaron’s Staff

God spoke to Moses: “Speak to the People of Israel. Get staffs from them—twelve staffs in all, one from the leader of each of their ancestral tribes. Write each man’s name on his staff. Start with Aaron; write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi and then proceed with the rest, a staff for the leader of each ancestral tribe. Now lay them out in the Tent of Meeting in front of The Testimony where I keep appointments with you. What will happen next is this: The staff of the man I choose will sprout. I’m going to put a stop to this endless grumbling by the People of Israel against you.”

6-7 Moses spoke to the People of Israel. Their leaders handed over twelve staffs, one for the leader of each tribe. And Aaron’s staff was one of them. Moses laid out the staffs before God in the Tent of Testimony.

8-9 Moses walked into the Tent of Testimony the next day and saw that Aaron’s staff, the staff of the tribe of Levi, had in fact sprouted—buds, blossoms, and even ripe almonds! Moses brought out all the staffs from God’s presence and presented them to the People of Israel. They took a good look. Each leader took the staff with his name on it.

10 God said to Moses, “Return Aaron’s staff to the front of The Testimony. Keep it there as a sign to rebels. This will put a stop to the grumbling against me and save their lives.”

11 Moses did just as God commanded him.

12-13 The People of Israel said to Moses, “We’re as good as dead. This is our death sentence. Anyone who even gets close to The Dwelling of God is as good as dead. Are we all doomed?”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Monday, January 17, 2022

Today's Scripture
Hebrews 12:1–3
,
12–13
(NIV)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us rung with perseveranceh the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus,i the pioneerj and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross,k scorning its shame,l and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.m 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow wearyn and lose heart.

Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.y 13 “Make level paths for your feet,”b z so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed

Insight

Because of severe persecution (see Hebrews 10:32–39; 13:3), Jewish believers were pressured to abandon their faith in Jesus and revert to Judaism. Based on Hebrews 13:24, the unnamed writer of Hebrews probably wrote from Italy to discouraged believers, encouraging them to remain faithful by “fixing [their] eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (12:2). The author emphasized the superiority and sufficiency of Christ through His position as God Himself (chs. 1–4) and His once-for-all sacrifice for sin (chs. 5–10). In chapter 12, the writer used the imagery of a long-distance foot race where a stadium full of supporters cheer on the runners to complete it. The apostle Paul also used the foot-race metaphor to encourage believers to persevere by keeping their eyes on the finish line—to “[finish] the race” (2 Timothy 4:7; see 1 Corinthians 9:24–27; Philippians 3:12–14). By: K. T. Sim

Brave Your Storm

[Fix your] eyes on Jesus, . . . so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Hebrews 12:2–3

It was the evening of April 3, 1968, and a fierce thunderstorm was lashing through Memphis, Tennessee. Weary and feeling ill, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. hadn’t intended to give his planned speech in support of the striking sanitation workers at a church hall. But he was surprised by an urgent phone call saying a large crowd had braved the weather to hear him. So he went to the hall and spoke for forty minutes, delivering what some say was his greatest speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.”

The next day, King was killed by an assassin’s bullet, but his speech still inspires oppressed people with the hope of “the promised land.” Likewise, early followers of Jesus were uplifted by a stirring message. The book of Hebrews, written to encourage Jewish believers facing threats for their faith in Christ, offers firm spiritual encouragement to not lose hope. As it urges, “strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees” (12:12). As Jews, they would recognize that appeal as originally coming from the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 35:3).

But now, as Christ’s disciples, we’re called to “run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12:1–2). When we do so, we “will not grow weary and lose heart” (v. 3).

Certainly, squalls and storms await us in this life. But in Jesus, we outlast life’s tempests by standing in Him.

Reflect & Pray

How do you respond to life’s spiritual storms? As you look to Jesus and His promises, how does He encourage you?

Jesus, You calm every spiritual storm. When tempests rage, speak peace to my soul as I put my hope in You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, January 17, 2022

The Call of the Natural Life

When it pleased God…to reveal His Son in me… —Galatians 1:15-16

The call of God is not a call to serve Him in any particular way. My contact with the nature of God will shape my understanding of His call and will help me realize what I truly desire to do for Him. The call of God is an expression of His nature; the service which results in my life is suited to me and is an expression of my nature. The call of the natural life was stated by the apostle Paul— “When it pleased God…to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him [that is, purely and solemnly express Him] among the Gentiles….”

Service is the overflow which pours from a life filled with love and devotion. But strictly speaking, there is no call to that. Service is what I bring to the relationship and is the reflection of my identification with the nature of God. Service becomes a natural part of my life. God brings me into the proper relationship with Himself so that I can understand His call, and then I serve Him on my own out of a motivation of absolute love. Service to God is the deliberate love-gift of a nature that has heard the call of God. Service is an expression of my nature, and God’s call is an expression of His nature. Therefore, when I receive His nature and hear His call, His divine voice resounds throughout His nature and mine and the two become one in service. The Son of God reveals Himself in me, and out of devotion to Him service becomes my everyday way of life.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

There is no allowance whatever in the New Testament for the man who says he is saved by grace but who does not produce the graceful goods. Jesus Christ by His Redemption can make our actual life in keeping with our religious profession. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1465 R

Bible in a Year: Genesis 41-42; Matthew 12:1-23

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, January 17, 2022

When Less is More - #9136

If you say the word "garden," I immediately think of my friend Mel. Man, he has one of the best-kept, most productive gardens I've ever seen. I've eaten some of the fruits and vegetables of his labor. Growing up as I did in an apartment in Chicago, I've got a lot to learn about gardens, believe me. I'm horticulturally challenged shall we say. Well, Mel taught me a lot. I mean, one section of his garden is dedicated to his grapes. And when those vines start growing, He does something that looks very strange to a city-slicker like me. He goes after those vines with pruning shears. He starts cutting away branches - a lot of branches. Of course, it's called pruning.

He tells me that cutting that vine back will concentrate the vine's resources and produce far more fruit. Try explaining that to the poor vine that's getting its branches hacked away. If a vine could talk, he might say, "Hey! What are you doing to me?" And if Mel wanted to talk to a vine, which I hope I never hear him doing, he might say, "I'm doing this for your good so you'll produce more." I can hear the vine (Now you should worry about me.), "Right! Then how come it feels like you're killing me?" If I didn't know better now, I would think the way to more fruit is to have more branches, not less. But it doesn't work that way.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When Less is More."

Our Word for today from the Word of God, Judges 7:2. God has called on Gideon to lead an attack on the invading Midianite army - 135,000 Midianites! And Gideon is able to muster only 32,000 soldiers. He's outnumbered four to one. Then God says, "Gideon, there's something wrong with your army." Gideon is probably thinking, "Yeah, man, it's too small!"

Judges 7:2 - "The Lord said to Gideon, 'You have too many men (You have too many men?) for Me to deliver Midian into their hands." Well, General Gideon obeys God's orders to let anyone who was afraid go home. Ten thousand take him up on his offer. He's now outnumbered 13 to one. Verse 4: "But the Lord said to Gideon, 'There are still too many men.'" Well, God gives him a way to sort out who should stay and who should be excused. In verse 7, God says, "With those 300 men, I will give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the other men go." He is now outnumbered 450 to one!

It's a very strange strategy to win a major victory. But wait until you hear about the weapons of mass destruction that God asked His army to fight with. "He placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside." OK, I get it! We're going to throw jars at the enemy! This is no way to win a war! Or is it? Judges 7:21, "While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled." They were routed.

God prepares for a great victory by cutting things back. God prepares for a great harvest by cutting things back. In the strange and wonderful ways of God, less is often more. That might be an equation you need to hear right now, because it sure does feel as if God is cutting you back. You're feeling the pain, the loss, the confusion of a child of God who's being pruned. But not necessarily because something's wrong with you; maybe because something's right. Jesus said in John 15:2, "Every branch that bears fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful."

God told Gideon what all these cutbacks were really for in Judges 7:2, "In order that Israel may not boast against Me that her own strength has saved her." God wants to do this in a way for which only He could get the glory. There will be no doubt this was Jehovah's victory, not yours.

So God might be doing a "Gideon" on you or your family or your career or your ministry; cutting back, and even cutting back more. But this isn't about you losing. No, this is God's strange and wonderful strategy for an overwhelming victory!

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

 
Max Lucado Daily: Don’t Allow Fear to Win

The fear-filled cannot love deeply. They cannot give to the poor. Benevolence has no guarantee of return. They cannot dream wildly. What if their dreams sputter and fall from the sky? Fear paralyzes people. Are you afraid?  Afraid of job loss? Afraid of what people are saying about you?

Jesus wages a war against fear. In Matthew 10:28 He says, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” In John 14:27 Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Fear’s main goal is to keep you from God’s plan for your life. Don’t allow it to win! Punch fear in the face! If anything should be afraid, it should be fear itself.

From Max on Life

Mark 14:54-72

Condemned to Death

53-54 They led Jesus to the Chief Priest, where the high priests, religious leaders, and scholars had gathered together. Peter followed at a safe distance until they got to the Chief Priest’s courtyard, where he mingled with the servants and warmed himself at the fire.

55-59 The high priests conspiring with the Jewish Council looked high and low for evidence against Jesus by which they could sentence him to death. They found nothing. Plenty of people were willing to bring in false charges, but nothing added up, and they ended up canceling each other out. Then a few of them stood up and lied: “We heard him say, ‘I am going to tear down this Temple, built by hard labor, and in three days build another without lifting a hand.’” But even they couldn’t agree exactly.

60-61 In the middle of this, the Chief Priest stood up and asked Jesus, “What do you have to say to the accusation?” Jesus was silent. He said nothing.

The Chief Priest tried again, this time asking, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed?”

62 Jesus said, “Yes, I am, and you’ll see it yourself:

The Son of Man seated
At the right hand of the Mighty One,
Arriving on the clouds of heaven.”

63-64 The Chief Priest lost his temper. Ripping his clothes, he yelled, “Did you hear that? After that do we need witnesses? You heard the blasphemy. Are you going to stand for it?”

They condemned him, one and all. The sentence: death.

65 Some of them started spitting at him. They blindfolded his eyes, then hit him, saying, “Who hit you? Prophesy!” The guards, punching and slapping, took him away.
The Rooster Crowed

66-67 While all this was going on, Peter was down in the courtyard. One of the Chief Priest’s servant girls came in and, seeing Peter warming himself there, looked hard at him and said, “You were with the Nazarene, Jesus.”

68 He denied it: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He went out on the porch. A rooster crowed.

69-70 The girl spotted him and began telling the people standing around, “He’s one of them.” He denied it again.

After a little while, the bystanders brought it up again. “You’ve got to be one of them. You’ve got ‘Galilean’ written all over you.”

71-72 Now Peter got really nervous and swore, “I never laid eyes on this man you’re talking about.” Just then the rooster crowed a second time. Peter remembered how Jesus had said, “Before a rooster crows twice, you’ll deny me three times.” He collapsed in tears.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Sunday, January 16, 2022

Today's Scripture
John 3:1–2
,16–20
(NIV)

Jesus Teaches Nicodemus

3 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemusb who was a member of the Jewish ruling council.c 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi,d we knowe that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signsf you are doing if God were not with him.”

16 For God so lovedw the world that he gavex his one and only Son,y that whoever believesz in him shall not perish but have eternal life.a 17 For God did not send his Son into the worldb to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.c 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned,d but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.e 19 This is the verdict: Lightf has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.g 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.

Insight

The theme of light versus darkness is fundamental to John’s telling of the story of Jesus in John’s gospel and is also prominent in his letters. In 1 John 1:5, we’re reminded that God Himself is light—so it follows that those who put their faith in Christ are seen as “children of light” (John 12:35–36). Bible teacher Warren Wiersbe says that “the coming of Jesus Christ into the world was the dawning of a new day for sinful man” for Jesus, the Light of the World (8:12; 9:5), would conquer the powers of darkness. The problem in the arrival of this light that Jesus came to bring is humanity’s response—or lack thereof: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (1:5). Nevertheless, as Jesus gave sight to a man born blind (ch. 9), He can bring light into our darkness as well. By: Bill Crowder

Darkness and Light

I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
John 8:12

As I sat in the courtroom, I witnessed several examples of the brokenness of our world: a daughter estranged from her mother; a husband and wife who’d lost the love they once had and now shared only bitterness; a husband who yearned to be reconciled with his wife and to be reunited with his children. They desperately needed changed hearts, healed wounds, and for God’s love to prevail.

Sometimes when the world around us seems to hold only darkness and despair, it’s easy to give in to despair. But then the Spirit, who lives inside believers in Christ (John 14:17), reminds us that Jesus died for that brokenness and pain. When He came into the world as a human, He brought light into the darkness (1:4–5; 8:12). We see this in His conversation with Nicodemus, who furtively came to Jesus in the cover of darkness but left impacted by the Light (3:1–2; 19:38–40).

Jesus taught Nicodemus that “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (3:16).

Yet even though Jesus brought light and love into the world, many remain lost in the darkness of their sin (vv. 19–20). If we’re His followers, we have the light that dispels darkness. In gratitude, let’s pray that God will make us beacons of His love (Matthew 5:14–16).  By:  Alyson Kieda

Reflect & Pray

When has your hope been renewed through remembering that God loves you? How can you share Christ’s light with others?

Thank You, God, for coming to save me from the darkness of sin and despair. Help me to remain in Your light.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, January 16, 2022
The Voice of the Nature of God

I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" —Isaiah 6:8

When we talk about the call of God, we often forget the most important thing, namely, the nature of Him who calls. There are many things calling each of us today. Some of these calls will be answered, and others will not even be heard. The call is the expression of the nature of the One who calls, and we can only recognize the call if that same nature is in us. The call of God is the expression of God’s nature, not ours. God providentially weaves the threads of His call through our lives, and only we can distinguish them. It is the threading of God’s voice directly to us over a certain concern, and it is useless to seek another person’s opinion of it. Our dealings over the call of God should be kept exclusively between ourselves and Him.

The call of God is not a reflection of my nature; my personal desires and temperament are of no consideration. As long as I dwell on my own qualities and traits and think about what I am suited for, I will never hear the call of God. But when God brings me into the right relationship with Himself, I will be in the same condition Isaiah was. Isaiah was so attuned to God, because of the great crisis he had just endured, that the call of God penetrated his soul. The majority of us cannot hear anything but ourselves. And we cannot hear anything God says. But to be brought to the place where we can hear the call of God is to be profoundly changed.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

The truth is we have nothing to fear and nothing to overcome because He is all in all and we are more than conquerors through Him. The recognition of this truth is not flattering to the worker’s sense of heroics, but it is amazingly glorifying to the work of Christ. Approved Unto God, 4 R

Bible in a Year: Genesis 39-40; Matthew 11

Numbers 16 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Go After the Small Drips

I wonder what formed the Grand Canyon? Maybe a few drips here and there. Slowly more and more water built up. Thunderstorms and lightning… angry expressions from the sky spilling out in the raging river of the Colorado. A once innocent stream now full of power and purpose. As years go by, the crevasse is dug.
Our anger builds like the Colorado. Slowly, small things drip, drip, drip down, annoying, irritating, finally enraging. That was mine! Drip. Get out of my way! Drip. Don't tell me what to do! Drip. The pressure and the buildup unleashing a frenzy of anger, pouring out in our words, sweeping away our loved ones, our homes, and our peace.
Don't wait until you have a gushing fire hydrant. Go after the small drips. Address every little irritant with forgiveness and prayer. Do it before your anger digs a canyon in your life!
From Max on Life

Numbers 16

The Rebels

Getting on his high horse one day, Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, along with a few Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—rebelled against Moses. He had with him 250 leaders of the congregation of Israel, prominent men with positions in the Council. They came as a group and confronted Moses and Aaron, saying, “You’ve overstepped yourself. This entire community is holy and God is in their midst. So why do you act like you’re running the whole show?”

4 On hearing this, Moses threw himself facedown on the ground.

5 Then he addressed Korah and his gang: “In the morning God will make clear who is on his side, who is holy. God will take his stand with the one he chooses.

6-7 “Now, Korah, here’s what I want you, you and your gang, to do: Tomorrow, take censers. In the presence of God, put fire in them and then incense. Then we’ll see who is holy, see whom God chooses. Sons of Levi, you’ve overstepped yourselves!”

8-11 Moses continued with Korah, “Listen well now, sons of Levi. Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has selected you out of the congregation of Israel to bring you near him to serve in the ministries of The Dwelling of God, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them? He has brought you and all your brother Levites into his inner circle, and now you’re grasping for the priesthood, too. It’s God you’ve ganged up against, not us. What do you have against Aaron that you’re bad-mouthing him?”

12-14 Moses then ordered Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, to appear, but they said, “We’re not coming. Isn’t it enough that you yanked us out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? And now you keep trying to boss us around! Face it, you haven’t produced: You haven’t brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, you haven’t given us the promised inheritance of fields and vineyards. You’d have to poke our eyes out to keep us from seeing what’s going on. Forget it, we’re not coming.”

15 Moses’ temper blazed white-hot. He said to God, “Don’t accept their Grain-Offering. I haven’t taken so much as a single donkey from them; I haven’t hurt a single hair of their heads.”

16-17 Moses said to Korah, “Bring your people before God tomorrow. Appear there with them and Aaron. Have each man bring his censer filled with incense and present it to God—all 250 censers. And you and Aaron do the same, bring your censers.”

18 So they all did it. They brought their censers filled with fire and incense and stood at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. Moses and Aaron did the same.

19 It was Korah and his gang against Moses and Aaron at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. The entire community could see the Glory of God.

20-21 God said to Moses and Aaron, “Separate yourselves from this congregation so that I can finish them off and be done with them.”

22 They threw themselves on their faces and said, “O God, God of everything living, when one man sins are you going to take it out on the whole community?”

23-24 God spoke to Moses: “Speak to the community. Tell them, Back off from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”

25-26 Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram. The leaders of Israel followed him. He then spoke to the community: “Back off from the tents of these bad men; don’t touch a thing that belongs to them lest you be carried off on the flood of their sins.”

27 So they all backed away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram by now had come out and were standing at the entrance to their tents with their wives, children, and babies.

28-30 Moses continued to address the community: “This is how you’ll know that it was God who sent me to do all these things and that it wasn’t anything I cooked up on my own. If these men die a natural death like all the rest of us, you’ll know that it wasn’t God who sent me. But if God does something unprecedented—if the ground opens up and swallows the lot of them and they are pitched alive into Sheol—then you’ll know that these men have been insolent with God.”

31-33 The words were hardly out of his mouth when the Earth split open. Earth opened its mouth and in one gulp swallowed them down, the men and their families, all the human beings connected with Korah, along with everything they owned. And that was the end of them, pitched alive into Sheol. The Earth closed up over them and that was the last the community heard of them.

34 At the sound of their cries everyone around ran for dear life, shouting, “We’re about to be swallowed up alive!”

35 Then God sent lightning. The fire cremated the 250 men who were offering the incense.

36-38 God spoke to Moses: “Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, Gather up the censers from the smoldering cinders and scatter the coals a distance away for these censers have become holy. Take the censers of the men who have sinned and are now dead and hammer them into thin sheets for covering the Altar. They have been offered to God and are holy to God. Let them serve as a sign to Israel, evidence of what happened this day.”

39-40 So Eleazar gathered all the bronze censers that belonged to those who had been burned up and had them hammered flat and used to overlay the Altar, just as God had instructed him by Moses. This was to serve as a sign to Israel that only descendants of Aaron were allowed to burn incense before God; anyone else trying it would end up like Korah and his gang.

41 Grumbling broke out the next day in the community of Israel, grumbling against Moses and Aaron: “You have killed God’s people!”

42 But it so happened that when the community got together against Moses and Aaron, they looked over at the Tent of Meeting and there was the Cloud—the Glory of God for all to see.

43-45 Moses and Aaron stood at the front of the Tent of Meeting. God spoke to Moses: “Back away from this congregation so that I can do away with them this very minute.”

They threw themselves facedown on the ground.

46 Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer and fill it with incense, along with fire from the Altar. Get to the congregation as fast as you can: make atonement for them. Anger is pouring out from God—the plague has started!”

47-48 Aaron grabbed the censer, as directed by Moses, and ran into the midst of the congregation. The plague had already begun. He put burning incense into the censer and atoned for the people. He stood there between the living and the dead and stopped the plague.

49-50 Fourteen thousand seven hundred people died from the plague, not counting those who died in the affair of Korah. Aaron then went back to join Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. The plague was stopped.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Saturday, January 15, 2022
Today's Scripture
Exodus 12:5–13
(NIV)

The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect,v and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. 6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month,w when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.x 7 Then they are to take some of the bloody and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. 8 That same nightz they are to eat the meat roasteda over the fire, along with bitter herbs,b and bread made without yeast.c 9 Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs.d 10 Do not leave any of it till morning;e if some is left till morning, you must burn it. 11 This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste;f it is the Lord’s Passover.g

12 “On that same night I will pass throughh Egypt and strike downi every firstbornj of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the godsk of Egypt. I am the Lord.l 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass overm you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.

Insight

One of the wonders of Jesus’ crucifixion is that it happened on Israel’s national remembrance of Passover. In one eventful day, the stories of Moses and Jesus merged. From then on, the world had a new way of thinking about the mysterious language of killing and eating the Passover lamb. It was on this date on the ancient calendar of Israel that the God of creation judged the gods of Egypt by bringing to light their inability to protect anyone. It was on that first Passover that the God of gods used the sacrifice of a lamb and a sacred meal to show that He alone was the source of life and freedom. Yet it wasn’t until Jesus’ death that people would understand the connection between Him and the Passover lamb and what it meant to eat and drink from God’s own self-sacrifice. By: Mart DeHaan

Life by Death

When I see the blood, I will pass over you.
Exodus 12:13

Carl was battling cancer and needed a double lung transplant. He asked God for new lungs but felt odd doing so. He confessed it’s a strange thing to pray, because “someone has to die so I might live.”  

Carl’s dilemma highlights a basic truth of Scripture: God uses death to bring life. We see this in the story of the exodus. Born into slavery, the Israelites languished under the oppressive hands of the Egyptians. Pharaoh wouldn’t release his grip until God made it personal. Every eldest son would die unless the family killed a spotless lamb and slathered its blood across their doorposts (Exodus 12:6–7, 12–13).

Today, you and I have been born into the bondage of sin. Satan wouldn’t release his grip on us until God made it personal, sacrificing His perfect Son on the blood-spattered arms of the cross.

Jesus calls us to join Him there. Paul explained, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). When we put our faith in God’s spotless Lamb, we commit to daily dying with Him—dying to our sin so we might rise with Him to new life (Romans 6:4–5). We express this faith every time we say no to the shackles of sin and yes to the freedom of Christ. We’re never more alive than when we die with Jesus. By:  Mike Wittmer

Reflect & Pray

Why is death the only path to life? How have you shown that you’ve received Jesus’ death on your behalf?

Jesus, Your death brings me life. Help me die to sin today and live my life through You.

Do You Walk In White?

We were buried with Him…that just as Christ was raised from the dead…even so we also should walk in newness of life. —Romans 6:4

No one experiences complete sanctification without going through a “white funeral” — the burial of the old life. If there has never been this crucial moment of change through death, sanctification will never be more than an elusive dream. There must be a “white funeral,” a death with only one resurrection— a resurrection into the life of Jesus Christ. Nothing can defeat a life like this. It has oneness with God for only one purpose— to be a witness for Him.

Have you really come to your last days? You have often come to them in your mind, but have you really experienced them? You cannot die or go to your funeral in a mood of excitement. Death means you stop being. You must agree with God and stop being the intensely striving kind of Christian you have been. We avoid the cemetery and continually refuse our own death. It will not happen by striving, but by yielding to death. It is dying— being “baptized into His death” (Romans 6:3).

Have you had your “white funeral,” or are you piously deceiving your own soul? Has there been a point in your life which you now mark as your last day? Is there a place in your life to which you go back in memory with humility and overwhelming gratitude, so that you can honestly proclaim, “Yes, it was then, at my ‘white funeral,’ that I made an agreement with God.”

“This is the will of God, your sanctification…” (1 Thessalonians 4:3). Once you truly realize this is God’s will, you will enter into the process of sanctification as a natural response. Are you willing to experience that “white funeral” now? Will you agree with Him that this is your last day on earth? The moment of agreement depends on you.

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: Genesis 36-38; Matthew 10:21-42

Numbers 15, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily:Above All, Love - January 14, 2022

We did a lot of shouting on our elementary school playground. All the boys marched around the playground shouting, “Boys are better than girls!” In response, the girls paraded around the school announcing, “Girls are better than boys.” We were a happy campus.

Shouting feels good. But does it do any good? It seems to me there is a lot of shouting going on. On the airwaves, on bumper stickers, on social media.

“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). It is one thing to have an opinion; it’s something else to have a fight. Let’s reason together. Let’s work together. And if discussion fails, let love succeed. If love covers a multitude of sins, can it not cover a multitude of opinions? Resist the urge to shout.

Numbers 15

God spoke to Moses: “Speak to the People of Israel. Tell them, When you enter your homeland that I am giving to you and sacrifice a Fire-Gift to God, a Whole-Burnt-Offering or any sacrifice from the herd or flock for a Vow-Offering or Freewill-Offering at one of the appointed feasts, as a pleasing fragrance for God, the one bringing the offering shall present to God a Grain-Offering of two quarts of fine flour mixed with a quart of oil. With each lamb for the Whole-Burnt-Offering or other sacrifice, prepare a quart of oil and a quart of wine as a Drink-Offering.

6-7 “For a ram prepare a Grain-Offering of four quarts of fine flour mixed with one and a quarter quarts of oil and one and a quarter quarts of wine as a Drink-Offering. Present it as a pleasing fragrance to God.

8-10 “When you prepare a young bull as a Whole-Burnt-Offering or sacrifice for a special vow or a Peace-Offering to God, bring with the bull a Grain-Offering of six quarts of fine flour and two quarts of oil. Also bring two quarts of wine as a Drink-Offering. It will be a Fire-Gift, a pleasing fragrance to God.

11-12 “Each bull or ram, each lamb or young goat, is to be prepared in this same way. Carry out this procedure for each one, no matter how many you have to prepare.

13-16 “Every native-born Israelite is to follow this procedure when he brings a Fire-Gift as a pleasing fragrance to God. In future generations, when a foreigner or visitor living at length among you presents a Fire-Gift as a pleasing fragrance to God, the same procedures must be followed. The community has the same rules for you and the foreigner living among you. This is the regular rule for future generations. You and the foreigner are the same before God. The same laws and regulations apply to both you and the foreigner who lives with you.”

17-21 God spoke to Moses: “Speak to the People of Israel. Tell them, When you enter the land into which I’m bringing you, and you eat the food of that country, set some aside as an offering for God. From the first batch of bread dough make a round loaf for an offering—an offering from the threshing floor. Down through the future generations make this offering to God from each first batch of dough.

* * *

22-26 “But if you should get off the beaten track and not keep the commands which God spoke to Moses, any of the things that God commanded you under the authority of Moses from the time that God first commanded you right up to this present time, and if it happened more or less by mistake, with the congregation unaware of it, then the whole congregation is to sacrifice one young bull as a Whole-Burnt-Offering, a pleasing fragrance to God, accompanied by its Grain-Offering and Drink-Offering as stipulated in the rules, and a he-goat as an Absolution-Offering. The priest is to atone for the entire community of the People of Israel and they will stand forgiven. The sin was not deliberate, and they offered to God the Fire-Gift and Absolution-Offering for their inadvertence. The whole community of Israel including the foreigners living there will be absolved, because everyone was involved in the error.

27-28 “But if it’s just one person who sins by mistake, not realizing what he’s doing, he is to bring a yearling she-goat as an Absolution-Offering. The priest then is to atone for the person who accidentally sinned, to make atonement before God so that it won’t be held against him.

29 “The same standard holds for everyone who sins by mistake; the native-born Israelites and the foreigners go by the same rules.

30-31 “But the person, native or foreigner, who sins defiantly, deliberately blaspheming God, must be cut off from his people: He has despised God’s word, he has violated God’s command; that person must be kicked out of the community, ostracized, left alone in his wrongdoing.”

* * *

32-35 Once, during those wilderness years of the People of Israel, a man was caught gathering wood on the Sabbath. The ones who caught him hauled him before Moses and Aaron and the entire congregation. They put him in custody until it became clear what to do with him. Then God spoke to Moses: “Give the man the death penalty. Yes, kill him, the whole community hurling stones at him outside the camp.”

36 So the whole community took him outside the camp and threw stones at him, an execution commanded by God and given through Moses.

* * *

37-41 God spoke to Moses: “Speak to the People of Israel. Tell them that from now on they are to make tassels on the corners of their garments and to mark each corner tassel with a blue thread. When you look at these tassels you’ll remember and keep all the commandments of God, and not get distracted by everything you feel or see that seduces you into infidelities. The tassels will signal remembrance and observance of all my commandments, to live a holy life to God. I am your God who rescued you from the land of Egypt to be your personal God. Yes, I am God, your God.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Friday, January 14, 2022
Today's Scripture
James 1:19–27
(NIV)

Listening and Doing

19 My dear brothers and sisters,h take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speaki and slow to become angry, 20 because human angerj does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid ofk all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you,l which can save you.

22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.m 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom,n and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.o

26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tonguesp deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look afterq orphans and widowsr in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Insight

When we think of the Beatitudes, we rightly think of the sayings in Matthew where Jesus declared that certain kinds of people are “blessed” (see Matthew 5:3–12). The word translated “blessed” is the word makários, which means “fortunate, favored, well-off.” The word is sometimes rendered “happy.” Three times in the book of James some form of the word makários is used (1:12, 25; 5:11). In 1:12, a blessing is pronounced on those who persevere under trial. In 1:25, those who hear and act upon the words of God are declared blessed: “Whoever looks intently into the perfect law . . . will be blessed in what they do.” This echoes the words of Jesus in Luke 11:28: “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” And, finally, in James 5:11, the verb form of the word blessed is used. By: Arthur Jackson

Practice What You Preach

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
James 1:22

I started reading the Bible to my sons when my youngest, Xavier, entered kindergarten. I would look for teachable moments and share verses that would apply to our circumstances and encourage them to pray with me. Xavier memorized Scripture without even trying. If we were in a predicament in which we needed wisdom, he’d blurt out verses that shined a light on God’s truth.

One day, I got angry and spoke harshly within his earshot. My son hugged me and said, “Practice what you preach, Mama.”

Xavier’s gentle reminder echoes the wise counsel of James as he addressed Jewish believers in Jesus scattered in various countries (James 1:1). Highlighting the various ways sin can interfere with our witness for Christ, James encouraged them to “humbly accept the word planted in them” (v. 21). By hearing but not obeying Scripture, we’re like people who look in the mirror and forget what we look like (vv. 23–24). We can lose sight of the privilege we’ve been given as image-bearers made right with God through the blood of Christ.

Believers in Jesus are commanded to share the gospel. The Holy Spirit changes us while empowering us to become better representatives and therefore messengers of the good news. As our loving obedience helps us reflect the light of God’s truth and love wherever He sends us, we can point others to Jesus by practicing what we preach. By:  Xochitl Dixon

Reflect & Pray

In what ways have you struggled to obey Scripture? In what ways has God transformed you?

Loving God, please make me more like You so I can use every opportunity You give me to share Your love with others.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, January 14, 2022
Called By God

I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me." —Isaiah 6:8

God did not direct His call to Isaiah— Isaiah overheard God saying, “…who will go for Us?” The call of God is not just for a select few but for everyone. Whether I hear God’s call or not depends on the condition of my ears, and exactly what I hear depends upon my spiritual attitude. “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14). That is, few prove that they are the chosen ones. The chosen ones are those who have come into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ and have had their spiritual condition changed and their ears opened. Then they hear “the voice of the Lord” continually asking, “…who will go for Us?” However, God doesn’t single out someone and say, “Now, you go.” He did not force His will on Isaiah. Isaiah was in the presence of God, and he overheard the call. His response, performed in complete freedom, could only be to say, “Here am I! Send me.”

Remove the thought from your mind of expecting God to come to force you or to plead with you. When our Lord called His disciples, He did it without irresistible pressure from the outside. The quiet, yet passionate, insistence of His “Follow Me” was spoken to men whose every sense was receptive (Matthew 4:19). If we will allow the Holy Spirit to bring us face to face with God, we too will hear what Isaiah heard— “the voice of the Lord.” In perfect freedom we too will say, “Here am I! Send me.”

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

There is no allowance whatever in the New Testament for the man who says he is saved by grace but who does not produce the graceful goods. Jesus Christ by His Redemption can make our actual life in keeping with our religious profession.

Bible in a Year: Genesis 33-35; Matthew 10:1-20

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, January 14, 2022

The Captain and The Crash - #9135

"So are you planning to go on a cruise sometime soon?" It was the guy checking me out at the drugstore, and he was pointing to the newspaper I was buying and sort of asked that with a wry smile. Because on the front page was this haunting picture of that capsized Italian cruise ship that went aground a few years ago now.

Here's a ship larger than Titanic eerily leaning into the sea and costing the lives of some of the passengers. And, of course, thousands of passengers are telling their stories of panic, and mayhem, and harrowing, uncoordinated escapes. And the captain? Well, he was under arrest, charged with the responsibility for that tragedy. Courts of law, of course, had to sort that out, but ultimately there were some troubling accusations: that he caused the collision by negligent, even criminal navigational decisions; that he abandoned his sinking ship and his desperate passengers. There are recordings of him openly defying official's commands to return to the ship and reports that he had a history of disobeying orders.

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

A maritime trial lawyer said, "The captain is the master of the vessel. Every crew member looks to the captain for guidance and leadership. He has to take care of life and property in that order. A lot was lost because of a captain who made some terrible choices and ultimately steered his ship into the rocks.

Here's what troubles me. I see myself in that captain, because like all my fellow humans, I've wanted to be at the helm of my life, taking it where I wanted it to go. But Captain Ron was never meant to captain this ship. It's not even my ship. I'm God's creation. I'm made for His purposes, not mine. But I've hijacked the wheel; I've taken this ship where it was never meant to go. We all have. Isaiah 53:6, our word for today from the Word of God says this: "We have left God's path to follow our own."

Inevitably people end up hurt and we end up in trouble. Oh, it was one thing when my sinful choices were largely just taking me down. But then I brought a wife on board, and children, and friends and co-workers. So now, it was at the point when my "me-first" choices caused hurt and brokenness, and I was taking my passengers with me. All the selfishness, the anger, the dirty stuff, the pride, the wounding words, the stubborn self-will...too often they hurt most the people we love most. And when we run the ship into a rock, they go down with us.

According to the Bible, we're all dangerously off course. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23), the Bible says. And the destination is unavoidable: "Sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death" (James 1:15). Our being at the wheel has left us spiritually and relationally shipwrecked. Marriages hit the rocks because the wrong captain's at the helm. Children break our hearts because, in many cases, they're copying us - wrong captain. Friendships are broken, promises are broken, hearts are broken, lives are broken, because someone incapable of being in command has taken over the ship.

But once again, as in so many tragedies, the story of a sinking cruise ship has a hope word in it - "Rescuers." Yeah. Those passengers are alive today from that ship because some rescuer risked himself to save them. And not only am I a captain who wrecks what he tries to run, but I'm also a man who's alive today because of a Rescuer. His name is Jesus. And Paul said he "kept doing the things he didn't want to do." But he said, "I found the answer was in Jesus Christ, our Lord." (Romans 7:19, 24-25 - NLT)

He wrote that 20 centuries ago, but the same man who rescued me from the wreckage that caused sin in my life is that man, Jesus. He didn't risk His life to save me; He gave it for you too. And the day you surrender the wheel to Captain Jesus, that's the day you start heading in the direction you were made for. Let it be today. Say, "Jesus, I'm yours beginning today."

Go to our website - find out how to begin that relationship - ANewStory.com. Because you'll find in Jesus the captain who knows exactly where He's going, who makes no mistakes, and who will never never abandon you.

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

Max Lucado Daily: The Family Business - January 13, 2022

I have a friend who owns a successful business. He employs more than five hundred people. He appreciates each and every one of them, yet he treats three of his workers with partiality. They are his sons. While he hears all requests, he especially hears theirs. They are being trained to run the family business.

So are you. When God saved you, he gave not only forgiveness for your past but also authority in the present and a role in the future. This life is on-the-job training for eternity. We are part of God’s family. Ruling the universe is the family business. And when you seek to honor the family business, God hears your requests.

“When a believing person prays, great things happen” (James 5:16). Will God do what you ask? Perhaps. Or perhaps he will do more than you imagine.

Mark 14:27-53

Jesus told them, “You’re all going to feel that your world is falling apart and that it’s my fault. There’s a Scripture that says,

I will strike the shepherd;
The sheep will scatter.

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

29 Peter blurted out, “Even if everyone else is ashamed of you when things fall to pieces, I won’t be.”

30 Jesus said, “Don’t be so sure. Today, this very night in fact, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.”

31 He blustered in protest, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you.” All the others said the same thing.
Gethsemane

32-34 They came to an area called Gethsemane. Jesus told his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took Peter, James, and John with him. He sank into a pit of suffocating darkness. He told them, “I feel bad enough right now to die. Stay here and keep vigil with me.”

35-36 Going a little ahead, he fell to the ground and prayed for a way out: “Papa, Father, you can—can’t you?—get me out of this. Take this cup away from me. But please, not what I want—what do you want?”

37-38 He came back and found them sound asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, you went to sleep on me? Can’t you stick it out with me a single hour? Stay alert, be in prayer, so you don’t enter the danger zone without even knowing it. Don’t be naive. Part of you is eager, ready for anything in God; but another part is as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire.”

39-40 He then went back and prayed the same prayer. Returning, he again found them sound asleep. They simply couldn’t keep their eyes open, and they didn’t have a plausible excuse.

41-42 He came back a third time and said, “Are you going to sleep all night? No—you’ve slept long enough. Time’s up. The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up. Let’s get going. My betrayer has arrived.”
A Bunch of Thugs

43-47 No sooner were the words out of his mouth when Judas, the one out of the Twelve, showed up, and with him a bunch of thugs, sent by the high priests, religion scholars, and leaders, brandishing swords and clubs. The betrayer had worked out a signal with them: “The one I kiss, that’s the one—seize him. Make sure he doesn’t get away.” He went straight to Jesus and said, “Rabbi!” and kissed him. The others then grabbed him and roughed him up. One of the men standing there unsheathed his sword, swung, and came down on the Chief Priest’s servant, lopping off the man’s ear.

48-50 Jesus said to them, “What is this, coming after me with swords and clubs as if I were a dangerous criminal? Day after day I’ve been sitting in the Temple teaching, and you never so much as lifted a hand against me. What you in fact have done is confirm the prophetic writings.” All the disciples bailed on him.

51-52 A young man was following along. All he had on was a bedsheet. Some of the men grabbed him but he got away, running off naked, leaving them holding the sheet.
Condemned to Death

53-54 They led Jesus to the Chief Priest, where the high priests, religious leaders, and scholars had gathered together. Peter followed at a safe distance until they got to the Chief Priest’s courtyard, where he mingled with the servants and warmed himself at the fire.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Thursday, January 13, 2022

Today's Scripture
Jeremiah 32:6–15
(NIV)

Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me: 7 Hanamel son of Shallum your uncle is going to come to you and say, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth,q because as nearest relative it is your right and dutyr to buy it.’

8 “Then, just as the Lord had said, my cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard and said, ‘Buy my fields at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. Since it is your right to redeem it and possess it, buy it for yourself.’

“I knew that this was the word of the Lord; 9 so I bought the fieldt at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel and weighed out for him seventeen shekelsb of silver.u 10 I signed and sealed the deed,v had it witnessed,w and weighed out the silver on the scales. 11 I took the deed of purchase—the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions, as well as the unsealed copy—12 and I gave this deed to Baruchx son of Neriah,y the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel and of the witnesses who had signed the deed and of all the Jews sitting in the courtyard of the guard.

13 “In their presence I gave Baruch these instructions: 14 ‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Take these documents, both the sealedz and unsealed copies of the deed of purchase, and put them in a clay jar so they will last a long time. 15 For this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.’

Insight

One of the main features in the book of Jeremiah is that the prophet primarily records the message God is giving directly to His people. This was the main role of a prophet, for prophets stood before the people to represent God and His purposes to the nation. In Jeremiah’s writings, this is clearly evidenced in that the phrase “thus saith the Lord” (kjv) appears no fewer than 147 times in this book! That’s 147 of the 431 times that phrase appears in the entire Old Testament. Clearly, Jeremiah was committed to communicating God’s message to His people. By: Bill Crowder

A Ludicrous Investment

I knew that this was the word of the Lord; so I bought the field.
Jeremiah 32:8–9

In 1929, as the US economy crashed, millions of people lost everything. But not Floyd Odlum. As everyone else panicked and sold their stocks at cut-rate prices, Odlum appeared to foolishly jump in and purchase stocks just as the nation’s future disintegrated. But Odlum’s “foolish” perspective paid off, yielding robust investments that endured for decades.

God told Jeremiah to make what seemed like an absolutely ludicrous investment: “Buy [the] field at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin” (Jeremiah 32:8). This was no time to be buying fields, however. The entire country was on the verge of being ransacked. “The army of the king of Babylon was . . . besieging Jerusalem” (v. 2), and whatever field Jeremiah purchased would soon be Babylon’s. What fool makes an investment when everything would soon be lost?

Well, the person who’s listening to God—the One who intended a future no one else could envision. “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land” (v. 15). God saw more than the ruin. God promised to bring redemption, healing, and restoration. A ludicrous investment in a relationship or service for God isn’t foolish—it’s the wisest possible move when God leads us to make it (and it’s essential that we prayerfully seek to know He’s behind the instruction). A “foolish” investment in others as God leads makes all the sense in the world.
By:  Winn Collier

Reflect & Pray

Where do you sense God asking you to make a ludicrous investment in someone or something? How will this step require you to trust God in ways that appear foolish?

God, it’s a good thing You see the future because sometimes all I see is ruin and disaster. Show me where to go, where to give my life.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, January 13, 2022
Have You Ever Been Alone with God? (2)

When He was alone…the twelve asked Him about the parable. —Mark 4:10

His Solitude with Us. When God gets us alone through suffering, heartbreak, temptation, disappointment, sickness, or by thwarted desires, a broken friendship, or a new friendship— when He gets us absolutely alone, and we are totally speechless, unable to ask even one question, then He begins to teach us. Notice Jesus Christ’s training of the Twelve. It was the disciples, not the crowd outside, who were confused. His disciples constantly asked Him questions, and He constantly explained things to them, but they didn’t understand until after they received the Holy Spirit (see John 14:26).

As you journey with God, the only thing He intends to be clear is the way He deals with your soul. The sorrows and difficulties in the lives of others will be absolutely confusing to you. We think we understand another person’s struggle until God reveals the same shortcomings in our lives. There are vast areas of stubbornness and ignorance the Holy Spirit has to reveal in each of us, but it can only be done when Jesus gets us alone. Are we alone with Him now? Or are we more concerned with our own ideas, friendships, and cares for our bodies? Jesus cannot teach us anything until we quiet all our intellectual questions and get alone with Him.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

The attitude of a Christian towards the providential order in which he is placed is to recognize that God is behind it for purposes of His own.  Biblical Ethics, 99 R

Bible in a Year: Genesis 31-32; Matthew 9:18-38

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, January 13, 2022

Vinegar and Oil Relationships - #9134

For many years I lived in New Jersey where we were blessed with a heavy dose of Italy. There were so many Italians in our area, it should come as no surprise that we had so many Italian restaurants. And what's their favorite dressing on a dinner salad? Of course, Italian dressing. Actually, I didn't know what Italian dressing was for much of my life. I always heard it called by the ingredients that make it up - vinegar and oil. And frankly, I'm sure glad they put them together. Can you imagine a salad with just vinegar dressing? You'd bite into your salad and your salad would bite you back! But then I couldn't get very excited about a salad that just had oil dressing on it either. That slimy covering...that's not going to be very appetizing. Vinegar without oil, oil without vinegar - not very appealing. But put them together, hey, you've got a pretty tasty combination there!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Vinegar and Oil Relationships."

Now, let's think about the most important relationships in your life for a couple of minutes; especially the ones that are a little strained or distant, superficial right now. Consider the possibility that some of your relationships have a little too much vinegar and not enough oil, or a little too much oil and not enough vinegar.

By now you have every reason to be asking, "What in the world is this man talking about?" Well, here's our word for today from the Word of God - a plain-spoken blueprint for healthy relationships. In fact, in five simple words, God gives us the two ingredients that make a marriage strong, a parent-child relationship, a friendship, a romance, a church, a ministry.

Ephesians 4:15-16 - "Speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the head, that is, Christ. From Him, the whole body joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love." Now there are some key words here; words we'd all like to have describe our important relationships I think: growing up, joined together, held together, building up in love. And how can you get along with people like this? A five-word secret of good relationships, "Speaking the truth in love."

There it is - the vinegar and oil of a healthy relationship. "The truth" - let's call that the vinegar. The oil - that's the love. See, together, they're a life-building, life-changing combination. But one without the other can create serious problems. If you're like most people, you're probably stronger in one of those than the other. Maybe you're a person who's straightforward, you're outspoken. People know where you stand. But your truth without the oil of love may have such bite that people may sometimes spit out the very truth you want them to hear.

Now, if your communication is too much vinegar, would you ask our gentle Savior to wrap your truth in more tenderness? To help you affirm and praise people at least as much as you confront them? To let people know you love them at the same time you're confronting them with the truth?

Now you may be saying, "Well, I don't give people that biting feeling. I'm smooth and gentle like oil." Your strength is more on the love side, but many people who are loving and encouraging can sometimes do it at the expense of the truth. You won't confront, you postpone dealing with hard issues which only postpones the inevitable and sometimes causes an eventual explosion. Will you ask your Savior, who is the Truth, to help you deal with hard issues, to speak up for the truth, to confront tensions and problems when they're small?

So often, the "truth champions" don't say it with love. And the "love champions" don't say the truth. But God calls us to both! If there are problems in a relationship right now, it may very well be that there's been too much truth and not enough love, or so much love without dealing with truth. It takes both the vinegar of the truth and the oil of love to keep a relationship healthy. Vinegar alone? Uh-uh. Oil alone? No way. It's the vinegar and oil together that makes a wonderful combination.