Daily Devotions: Not our way, but Yahweh!

Friday, October 3, 2025

Numbers 11, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: CHOOSE GRATITUDE - October 3, 2025

Make a list of your blessings. We cannot be anxious and thankful at the same time. God’s pathway to peace is paved with thoughts of appreciation. Practice Picky Thinking when you’re tempted to grumble. Choose gratitude.

Sometimes God calms the storm. Sometimes he calms the child. No storm ever hit harder than the one that raged through Gethsemane’s garden. And no prayer was ever prayed with more passion than the one Jesus prayed. The cross was part of God’s plan to redeem his children. God did not calm the storm. But our Father calmed his Son, and Jesus marched to Calvary in peace.

You can find this peace. Trust God. Tell God. Thank God. I pray God calms your storm. If he does not, may he calm you. And may you find the “peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7 ESV).

Tame Your Thoughts: Three Tools to Renew Your Mind and Transform Your Life

Numbers 11

Camp Taberah

1–3 11 The people fell to grumbling over their hard life. God heard. When he heard his anger flared; then fire blazed up and burned the outer boundaries of the camp. The people cried out for help to Moses; Moses prayed to God and the fire died down. They named the place Taberah (Blaze) because fire from God had blazed up against them.

Camp Kibroth Hattaavah

4–6 The riffraff among the people had a craving and soon they had the People of Israel whining, “Why can’t we have meat? We ate fish in Egypt—and got it free!—to say nothing of the cucumbers and melons, the leeks and onions and garlic. But nothing tastes good out here; all we get is manna, manna, manna.”

7–9 Manna was a seedlike substance with a shiny appearance like resin. The people went around collecting it and ground it between stones or pounded it fine in a mortar. Then they boiled it in a pot and shaped it into cakes. It tasted like a delicacy cooked in olive oil. When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna was right there with it.

10 Moses heard the whining, all those families whining in front of their tents. God’s anger blazed up. Moses saw that things were in a bad way.

11–15 Moses said to God, “Why are you treating me this way? What did I ever do to you to deserve this? Did I conceive them? Was I their mother? So why dump the responsibility of this people on me? Why tell me to carry them around like a nursing mother, carry them all the way to the land you promised to their ancestors? Where am I supposed to get meat for all these people who are whining to me, ‘Give us meat; we want meat.’ I can’t do this by myself—it’s too much, all these people. If this is how you intend to treat me, do me a favor and kill me. I’ve seen enough; I’ve had enough. Let me out of here.”

16–17 God said to Moses, “Gather together seventy men from among the leaders of Israel, men whom you know to be respected and responsible. Take them to the Tent of Meeting. I’ll meet you there. I’ll come down and speak with you. I’ll take some of the Spirit that is on you and place it on them; they’ll then be able to take some of the load of this people—you won’t have to carry the whole thing alone.

18–20 “Tell the people, Consecrate yourselves. Get ready for tomorrow when you’re going to eat meat. You’ve been whining to God, ‘We want meat; give us meat. We had a better life in Egypt.’ God has heard your whining and he’s going to give you meat. You’re going to eat meat. And it’s not just for a day that you’ll eat meat, and not two days, or five or ten or twenty, but for a whole month. You’re going to eat meat until it’s coming out your nostrils. You’re going to be so sick of meat that you’ll throw up at the mere mention of it. And here’s why: Because you have rejected God who is right here among you, whining to his face, ‘Oh, why did we ever have to leave Egypt?’ ”

21–22 Moses said, “I’m standing here surrounded by 600,000 men on foot and you say, ‘I’ll give them meat, meat every day for a month.’ So where’s it coming from? Even if all the flocks and herds were butchered, would that be enough? Even if all the fish in the sea were caught, would that be enough?”

23 God answered Moses, “So, do you think I can’t take care of you? You’ll see soon enough whether what I say happens for you or not.”

24–25 So Moses went out and told the people what God had said. He called together seventy of the leaders and had them stand around the Tent. God came down in a cloud and spoke to Moses and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy leaders. When the Spirit rested on them they prophesied. But they didn’t continue; it was a one-time event.

26 Meanwhile two men, Eldad and Medad, had stayed in the camp. They were listed as leaders but they didn’t leave camp to go to the Tent. Still, the Spirit also rested on them and they prophesied in the camp.

27 A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!”

28 Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ right-hand man since his youth, said, “Moses, master! Stop them!”

29 But Moses said, “Are you jealous for me? Would that all God’s people were prophets. Would that God would put his Spirit on all of them.”

30–34 Then Moses and the leaders of Israel went back to the camp. A wind set in motion by God swept quails in from the sea. They piled up to a depth of about three feet in the camp and as far out as a day’s walk in every direction. All that day and night and into the next day the people were out gathering the quail—huge amounts of quail; even the slowest person among them gathered at least sixty bushels. They spread them out all over the camp for drying. But while they were still chewing the quail and had hardly swallowed the first bites, God’s anger blazed out against the people. He hit them with a terrible plague. They ended up calling the place Kibroth Hattaavah (Graves-of-the-Craving). There they buried the people who craved meat.

35 From Kibroth Hattaavah they marched on to Hazeroth. They remained at Hazeroth.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, October 03, 2025

by Xochitl Dixon

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

2 Corinthians 5:9-10, 14-20

But neither exile nor homecoming is the main thing. Cheerfully pleasing God is the main thing, and that’s what we aim to do, regardless of our conditions. Sooner or later we’ll all have to face God, regardless of our conditions. We will appear before Christ and take what’s coming to us as a result of our actions, either good or bad.

Christ’s love has moved me to such extremes. His love has the first and last word in everything we do.

A New Life

14–15 Our firm decision is to work from this focused center: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own.

16–20 Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.

Today's Insights

Paul says that the goal for believers in Jesus should be “to please him” (2 Corinthians 5:9). As we share the gospel with others, how we live and love identifies true believers. The pattern Christ established with the twelve disciples is also valid for today. Before witnessing for Him through their words and actions, they looked, listened, and learned from Him. Of two of the twelve it was said, “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13). Those who represent Christ best are those who’ve been drawn to Him, forgiven by Him, and empowered by the Spirit to bear witness to His love and grace.

Representing Jesus

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. 2 Corinthians 5:20

On the first day of a camp where Alan teaches teens entrepreneurial skills, a student said, “You’re a Christian, aren’t you? I can tell.” Before Alan said he was a Christian or wore his favorite socks and ties decorated with Christian symbols, the teen said he saw Jesus through Alan’s words, actions, and attitude. They discussed how they could better represent Jesus wherever they go.

Saying we’re Christian and wearing clothes with Christian messages are good things. However, the Bible teaches that the way we live and love as we share the gospel is the true identifier of those who follow Jesus. The apostle Paul and the other believers in Corinth were compelled, or driven, to please God by living with an eternal perspective while sharing Him with others (2 Corinthians 5:9-14).

When we’re committed to living for Christ instead of for ourselves, the Holy Spirit changes our perspective, character, priorities, and ways of interacting with others (vv. 15-17). Our new life in Jesus is intended to represent Him while we point others to Him, “as though God were making his appeal through us” (v. 20).

Empowered by the Spirit, we’re given the joy and responsibility of representing Christ wherever we go.

Reflect & Pray

How have others pointed you to Jesus by the way they lived? How has God’s transforming work in your life helped you become a better ambassador for Christ?

Life-transforming Jesus, please change me by Your Spirit so that I can better represent You wherever You send me.

For further study, read Paul's Pain and His Passion.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, October 03, 2025

The Sphere of Service

He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.” — Mark 9:29

After the disciples had tried and failed to cast out an impure spirit, they went to Jesus in confusion, asking, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” (Mark 9:28). Jesus replied that it was only through prayer—only through concentration and more concentration on him, only through a personal relationship with him—that such a spirit could be driven out. The disciples had tried to do God’s work by drawing on their own ideas rather than by concentrating on God’s power.

If you approach things as the disciples did, you will remain as powerless as they were. You may be eager to work for God, but if you work for him without knowing him, you’ll end up working against him. Sometimes you are faced with a difficult situation and you pray about it, yet nothing happens—not on the outside. But if you are concentrating on Jesus, if you have a personal relationship with him, you know that emancipation will be given. The focus of your service must be to make sure that there is nothing between Jesus and yourself. If there is, you can only overcome it by facing it and going straight through it into his presence, not by ignoring it in irritation. Face the issue with the Lord, and eventually that very thing, along with everything that’s happened in connection with it, will glorify him.

The one purpose for which we are in this world is concentration on God. Get the noisy cries of religion out of your ears, the cries that say, “Do this and don’t do that.” Never! Jesus says, “Be this and that, and I will do through you.”

Isaiah 17-19; Ephesians 5:17-33

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

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

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Friday, October 03, 2025

THE ONE MORE THING SYNDROME - #10105

This has got to be one of the great engineering feats in the world - packing the trunk of our car for a family trip. Oh, those were the days. Maybe you can relate to that. We had a family of five - quite a challenge to get all of that luggage in one trunk. So, I would stuff every corner, trying the suitcases every which way, and then I'd see if there was something the kids could sit on during the trip. And if all else failed, I called my wife and she could figure it out. Finally, you get it all in, but just barely of course.

And then the big moment comes. There's a drum roll as I try to close the trunk, and after a couple of tries, it closes - barely! Then along comes one of the kids with one more bag I didn't know about. So, the frustrating search begins - looking for a place to put just one more thing. We would try to cram one more thing in this space that was already jammed. Wait a minute! That sounds a lot like our lives doesn't it?

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The One More Thing Syndrome."

Now, our word for today from the Word of God catches Jesus in the middle of this in Luke 4, and beginning at verse 40. It says, "When the sun was setting, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness." Okay, His day is almost over, but it looks like it's just about to begin again. "And laying His hands on each one, He healed them." Now, listen to this, "At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for Him, and when they came to where He was, they tried to keep Him from leaving them. But He said, 'I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.' And He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea."

Now, here's a side of Jesus we don't often think about. Jesus knew how to say "no." Did you notice that? There were more needs; they begged Him to stay. But He said, "No, I can't." He had set His priorities, and the people were crying, "Just one more!" And He said, "No." Maybe some of us should learn to do that. We live in a constant state of being behind, I think, because of the 'one more thing' syndrome.

You know, it's time to leave and we say, "Oh, just one more call; just one more email. I'll just get one more task done." And we end up frazzled, over extended, late and not at our best. Oh, you can add peace and sanity to your life if you discipline yourself to say no to that one more thing before you go. Look at the bigger picture. There are so many needs crying for your time, for your attention, and you can only do as much as you can do well. Maybe you're doing that right now.

And then like the child running out to the over-packed trunk, "One more thing!" Why do we say yes? Usually because we underestimate the job; we don't really count the cost of what it's going to take, or we overestimate ourselves and think it's got to be us that does it. Or we forget about Murphy's Law: "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong." Realize you can't meet every need - not even Jesus did.

Five liberating words from the mouth of John the Baptist in John 1: "I am not the Messiah." See, God might want to develop somebody else to do it, and you'll get in the way if you do it. Maybe the people who asked you are ahead of God's schedule. Maybe you need to unpack something else before you put this in. You don't do anyone a favor by taking on more than you can really do well. You're saying to people, "Depend on me" but you know you won't be able to be dependable - not in all of that.

Now, we're telling teenagers today when it comes to drugs, "Just say no." Well, that's not just good for drugs. It's good for us responsibility addicts too. I'm one. I know. The next time you're tempted to over-commit yourself, think of that trunk that's jam packed with all that it should hold.

Have the wisdom and courage to resist that temptation to add just one more thing.

Thursday, October 2, 2025

Numbers 10, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: CHRIST RUNS THE SHOW - October 2, 2025

“God raised Christ from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything” (Ephesians 1:20-22 MSG).

Christ runs the show. He has authority over the world, and he has authority over your world. Your date of birth, your date of death. Your mood swings, sleep patterns, eating habits, your salary. He’s never surprised, he’s never caught off guard. He’s never ever uttered the phrase, “ Now how did that happen?”

Uproot your fear of pandemonium and replant the assuring promise: “God makes everything work out according to his plan” (Ephesians 1:11 NLT).

Tame Your Thoughts: Three Tools to Renew Your Mind and Transform Your Life

Numbers 10

The Two Bugles

1–3 10 God spoke to Moses: “Make two bugles of hammered silver. Use them to call the congregation together and give marching orders to the camps. When you blow them, the whole community will meet you at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.

4–7 “When a bugle gives a single, short blast, that’s the signal for the leaders, the heads of the clans, to assemble. When it gives a long blast, that’s the signal to march. At the first blast the tribes who were camped on the east set out. At the second blast the camps on the south set out. The long blasts are the signals to march. The bugle call that gathers the assembly is different from the signal to march.

8–10 “The sons of Aaron, the priests, are in charge of blowing the bugles; it’s their assigned duty down through the generations. When you go to war against an aggressor, blow a long blast on the bugle so that God will notice you and deliver you from your enemies. Also at times of celebration, at the appointed feasts and New Moon festivals, blow the bugles over your Whole-Burnt-Offerings and Peace-Offerings: they will keep your attention on God. I am God, your God.”

The March from Sinai to Paran

11–13 In the second year, on the twentieth day of the second month, the Cloud went up from over The Dwelling of The Testimony. At that the People of Israel set out on their travels from the Wilderness of Sinai until the Cloud finally settled in the Wilderness of Paran. They began their march at the command of God through Moses.

14–17 The flag of the camp of Judah led the way, rank after rank under the command of Nahshon son of Amminadab. Nethanel son of Zuar commanded the forces of the tribe of Issachar, and Eliab son of Helon commanded the forces of the tribe of Zebulun. As soon as The Dwelling was taken down, the Gershonites and the Merarites set out, carrying The Dwelling.

18–21 The flag of the camp of Reuben was next with Elizur son of Shedeur in command. Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai commanded the forces of the tribe of Simeon; Eliasaph son of Deuel commanded the forces of the tribe of Gad. Then the Kohathites left, carrying the holy things. By the time they arrived The Dwelling would be set up.

22–24 The flag of the tribe of Ephraim moved out next, commanded by Elishama son of Ammihud. Gamaliel son of Pedahzur commanded the forces of the tribe of Manasseh; Abidan son of Gideoni commanded the forces of the tribe of Ben-jamin.

25–27 Finally, under the flag of the tribe of Dan, the rear guard of all the camps marched out with Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai in command. Pagiel son of Ocran commanded the forces of the tribe of Asher; Ahira son of Enan commanded the forces of the tribe of Naphtali.

28 These were the marching units of the People of Israel. They were on their way.

29 Moses said to his brother-in-law Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We’re marching to the place about which God promised, ‘I’ll give it to you.’ Come with us; we’ll treat you well. God has promised good things for Israel.”

30 But Hobab said, “I’m not coming; I’m going back home to my own country, to my own family.”

31–32 Moses countered, “Don’t leave us. You know all the best places to camp in the wilderness. We need your eyes. If you come with us, we’ll make sure that you share in all the good things God will do for us.”

33–36 And so off they marched. From the Mountain of God they marched three days with the Chest of the Covenant of God in the lead to scout out a campsite. The Cloud of God was above them by day when they marched from the camp. With the Chest leading the way, Moses would say,

Get up, God!

Put down your enemies!

Chase those who hate you to the hills!

And when the Chest was set down, he would say,

Rest with us, God,

Stay with the many,

Many thousands of Israel.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, October 02, 2025

by Karen Pimpo

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Proverbs 9:1-6, 13-18

Lady Wisdom Gives a Dinner Party

1–6 9 Lady Wisdom has built and furnished her home;

it’s supported by seven hewn timbers.

The banquet meal is ready to be served: lamb roasted,

wine poured out, table set with silver and flowers.

Having dismissed her serving maids,

Lady Wisdom goes to town, stands in a prominent place,

and invites everyone within sound of her voice:

“Are you confused about life, don’t know what’s going on?

Come with me, oh come, have dinner with me!

I’ve prepared a wonderful spread—fresh-baked bread,

roast lamb, carefully selected wines.

Leave your impoverished confusion and live!

Walk up the street to a life with meaning.”

Madame Whore Calls Out, Too

13–18 Then there’s this other woman, Madame Whore—

brazen, empty-headed, frivolous.

She sits on the front porch

of her house on Main Street,

And as people walk by minding

their own business, calls out,

“Are you confused about life, don’t know what’s going on?

Steal off with me, I’ll show you a good time!

No one will ever know—I’ll give you the time of your life.”

But they don’t know about all the skeletons in her closet,

that all her guests end up in hell.

Today's Insights

“I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses,” Moses told Israel shortly before his death. Then he exhorted them: “Choose life . . . . love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20). Proverbs reinforces this prudent counsel to forsake deadly ways and choose life. Chapter 9 is the last of three chapters that contrast folly and wisdom by personifying these concepts as female characters. In chapter 7, a father urges his son, “Say to wisdom, ‘You are my sister’ ” (v. 4) but warns against the adulterous woman: “Do not let your heart turn to her ways” (v. 25). Chapters 7, 8, and 9 all conclude with warnings about the deadly end awaiting those who neglect wisdom (7:26-27; 8:35-36; 9:18). Instead, “Leave your simple ways and you will live” (9:6). By cultivating a teachable heart, fools grow wiser and draw closer to God.

Remaining Teachable in God

Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still. Proverbs 9:9

After Kat learned she was pregnant, she dropped out of high school to care for her daughter. Fifteen years later, Kat was a working mother of three who dreamed of becoming a licensed beautician. With humility and tenacity, she became a student again in a free GED support program. It was humbling to go back to school after so long. “This program changed my life!” Kat said. “My teacher was amazing and offered so much encouragement.”

Remaining teachable may be one of the most difficult things we can do. The Bible speaks of having a teachable heart that’s open to God’s wisdom. The poetry of Proverbs paints a picture of two women calling out to passersby—Wisdom and Folly (Proverbs 9:1-6; 13-18). Those who listen to Wisdom receive correction with grace. They “add to their learning” and become even wiser (v. 9). They habitually “walk in the way of insight” (v. 6) and seat themselves at Wisdom’s table for instruction. Their obedience leads to a full life (v. 11). In contrast, those who listen to Folly hate being corrected or criticized. They insult anyone who tries to instruct them (vv. 7-8). Humility comes from fearing God—acknowledging that He’s “the Holy One” and we are not (v. 10). It’s not easy to stay teachable, but it also brings freedom to admit we don’t know it all and we still need help. Wisdom calls to us. How will we respond?

Reflect & Pray

What’s your default reaction to criticism? How could a humble response lead to growth and victory?

Receiving instruction doesn’t always come naturally to me, wise Father, but I trust Your ways.

For further study, read An Invitation to Wisdom.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, October 02, 2025

The Sphere of Humiliation

“If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.” — Mark 9:22

After every period of exaltation, we are brought down with a sudden rush into things as they are, where it is neither beautiful nor poetic nor thrilling. The height of the mountaintop is measured by the drudgery of the valley—but it’s in the valley that we have to live for the glory of God. When we are on the mountaintop, we see the glory of God, but we cannot live for it. Only in the depths of the valley, in the realm of humiliation, do we discover our true worth to God; only there is our faithfulness revealed.

Most of us can do all sorts of difficult things when we are filled with a sense of heroism. But this is only because of the natural selfishness of our hearts, our desire to be useful and adored. God wants us to relinquish the heroic frame of mind. He wants us to live in the valley according to our personal relationship to him.

“Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain. . . . And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses” (Mark 9:2, 4). After witnessing the vision of Elijah and Moses, Peter wanted to stay up on the mountain. But Jesus took him and the other disciples back down into the valley, the place where the meaning of the vision would be explained.

“‘If you can’? . . .” Look back at your own experience, and you will find that until you learned who Jesus was, you were skeptical of his power. When you were on the mountaintop, you could believe anything. But what about when you were up against facts in the valley? You may be able to give testimony about your miraculous spiritual experiences, but what about the thing that is humiliating you just now? The last time you were on the mountain with God, you saw that all power in heaven and earth belonged to Jesus. Will you see it now in the valley?

Isaiah 14-16; Ephesians 5:1-16

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Beware of pronouncing any verdict on the life of faith if you are not living it.

Not Knowing Whither, 900 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, October 02, 2025

THE WARNING YOU MUST NOT MISS - #10104

Every winter we hear the stories, we see the pictures of avalanches. We have done a lot of work in Alaska, and I took special note of an avalanche that happened at Alaska's Turnagain Pass. The mountain slopes had danger written all over them that day - eight feet of new snow had fallen on this older, packed-down snow, a warm sun had been beating down all day, and there were avalanche warnings. But that didn't stop some snowmobilers from powering up this 2,000-foot-high mountain to see who could go the highest. There was an even more sobering warning of the danger they were in. Twenty minutes before the major avalanche there was a smaller one in a nearby gully. But some of the snowmobilers just kept going.

When the big avalanche hit, a mile-wide wall of snow roared down that mountain. An onlooker's videotape shows massive slabs of snow breaking loose and sliding down the mountain in a roiling, powdery cloud with at least four snowmobilers - mere specks - being swallowed up. At least four people died that day. And none of them had to.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Warning You Must Not Miss."

You say to yourself, "If only they had listened to the warnings." I wonder if that's what God says every time someone goes into eternity unprepared. The Bible makes it clear He wants us to go to heaven when we die, to be with Him forever, to experience His awesome love forever. But the Bible also makes it clear that many won't make it to heaven, not because they weren't good enough, but in God's own words, "because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son" (John 3:18). Because they've heard God's warnings about sin and its death penalty in hell, but like those stubborn snowmobilers in Alaska, they've ignored the warnings.

Our word for today from the Word of God in Hebrews 2:3 really bottom lines what's at stake here. God says, "How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation." Salvation. That's rescue. That's what I got the day that someone came to rescue me from drowning in Lake Michigan. I was ten years old. That's the reason I'm around today. Someone came and rescued me. So salvation is what a person receives when a firefighter brings them out of a burning building. It's salvation. Rescue from dying.

God says that's what Jesus dying on the cross is all about. He was paying the price for all the sinning you and I have ever done so He can come and rescue us forever. But like me in that lake or the person in the burning building, if we resist the rescuer, we'll die.

God warns us here about ignoring His salvation, and I think that's how most people end up in hell instead of heaven. Not because they out-and-out reject Jesus; they just ignore Jesus and all of God's warnings about our need of Him. Maybe that's where you are. You're just too busy to think about eternity right now or you're having too much fun. You think you're religious and you'll make it on your own goodness, or you think you know Jesus because you know a lot about Jesus. But for one reason or another you are ignoring the Savior. You are ignoring God's warnings.

And this is one more warning from God. Right here today. It may be that for someone here today; this might be the last warning. But God is saying, "Don't keep going this way! You are headed for an eternity without hope, without love, without Me." This is just too important to ignore any longer. You are risking the eternal judgment of Almighty God - judgment which God's Son already took on the cross for you.

Please listen to Jesus' knocking on the door of your heart. Listen to the warning of God. Tell Jesus "I'm trusting You today to do what only You can do - to rescue me from my sin and its eternal death penalty."

Actually, our website is there because we wanted to put things that would help you begin that relationship with Him and know you belong to Him. I want to encourage you to go there. It's ANewStory.com. Please check it out!

The avalanche of God will sweep away all those who ignore His warning, who ignore His Son. Please, don't gamble your eternity one more day.

Wednesday, October 1, 2025

Numbers 9, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: WE MUST PRAY - October 1, 2025

Satan hates to see you pray. He does not scatter when you listen to a sermon. Demons do not backpedal when you perform acts of benevolence. The principalities of hell are not flustered when you open a Christian book. But the walls of hell shake when, with an honest heart and faithful confession, you bow your head and pray. Satan knows the power of prayer.

Do you long for peace? Then pray. “Prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long” (Ephesians 6:18 MSG). You cannot control events that are uncontrollable, so don’t try. You cannot change the future as long as the future is in the future, so don’t try. There is so much we cannot do. But there is one thing we must do. We must pray.

Tame Your Thoughts: Three Tools to Renew Your Mind and Transform Your Life

Numbers 9

Passover

1–3 9 God spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai in the first month of the second year after leaving Egypt: “Have the People of Israel celebrate Passover at the set time. Celebrate it on schedule, on the evening of the fourteenth day of this month, following all the rules and procedures.”

4–5 Moses told the People of Israel to celebrate the Passover and they did—in the Wilderness of Sinai at evening of the fourteenth day of the first month. The People of Israel did it all just as God had commanded Moses.

6–7 But some of them couldn’t celebrate the Passover on the assigned day because they were ritually unclean on account of a corpse. So they presented themselves before Moses and Aaron on Passover and told Moses, “We have become ritually unclean because of a corpse, but why should we be barred from bringing God’s offering along with other Israelites on the day set for Passover?”

8 Moses said, “Give me some time; I’ll find out what God says in your circumstances.”

9–12 God spoke to Moses: “Tell the People of Israel, If one or another of you is ritually unclean because of a corpse, or you happen to be off on a long trip, you may still celebrate God’s Passover. But celebrate it on the fourteenth day of the second month at evening. Eat the lamb together with unraised bread and bitter herbs. Don’t leave any of it until morning. Don’t break any of its bones. Follow all the procedures.

13 “But a man who is ritually clean and is not off on a trip and still fails to celebrate the Passover must be cut off from his people because he did not present God’s offering at the set time. That man will pay for his sin.

14 “Any foreigner living among you who wants to celebrate God’s Passover is welcome to do it, but he must follow all the rules and procedures. The same procedures go for both foreigner and native-born.”

The Cloud

15–16 The day The Dwelling was set up, the Cloud covered The Dwelling of the Tent of Testimony. From sunset until daybreak it was over The Dwelling. It looked like fire. It was like that all the time, the Cloud over The Dwelling and at night looking like fire.

17–23 When the Cloud lifted above the Tent, the People of Israel marched out; and when the Cloud descended the people camped. The People of Israel marched at God’s command and they camped at his command. As long as the Cloud was over The Dwelling, they camped. Even when the Cloud hovered over The Dwelling for many days, they honored God’s command and wouldn’t march. They stayed in camp, obedient to God’s command, as long as the Cloud was over The Dwelling, but the moment God issued orders they marched. If the Cloud stayed only from sunset to daybreak and then lifted at daybreak, they marched. Night or day, it made no difference—when the Cloud lifted, they marched. It made no difference whether the Cloud hovered over The Dwelling for two days or a month or a year, as long as the Cloud was there, they were there. And when the Cloud went up, they got up and marched. They camped at God’s command and they marched at God’s command. They lived obediently by God’s orders as delivered by Moses.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Wednesday, October 01, 2025

by Winn Collier

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Isaiah 9:2-7

The people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light.

For those who lived in a land of deep shadows—

light! sunbursts of light!

You repopulated the nation,

you expanded its joy.

Oh, they’re so glad in your presence!

Festival joy!

The joy of a great celebration,

sharing rich gifts and warm greetings.

The abuse of oppressors and cruelty of tyrants—

all their whips and cudgels and curses—

Is gone, done away with, a deliverance

as surprising and sudden as Gideon’s old victory over Midian.

The boots of all those invading troops,

along with their shirts soaked with innocent blood,

Will be piled in a heap and burned,

a fire that will burn for days!

For a child has been born—for us!

the gift of a son—for us!

He’ll take over

the running of the world.

His names will be: Amazing Counselor,

Strong God,

Eternal Father,

Prince of Wholeness.

His ruling authority will grow,

and there’ll be no limits to the wholeness he brings.

He’ll rule from the historic David throne

over that promised kingdom.

He’ll put that kingdom on a firm footing

and keep it going

With fair dealing and right living,

beginning now and lasting always.

The zeal of God-of-the-Angel-Armies

will do all this.

Today's Insights

Oppressed by an Aram-Israel alliance, King Ahaz of Judah turned to Assyria for help (2 Kings 16:7-9; Isaiah 7:1-6). God told Ahaz He’d use Assyria to defeat Israel and Aram (Isaiah 7:7-9; 8:4-7), and because of Ahaz’s unfaithfulness, Judah too would be punished (7:13-25; 8:8). The punishment would be so severe the Israelites would “be thrust into utter darkness” (8:22). But God promised deliverance and restoration, starting with Zebulun and Naphtali (9:1), lands in Israel’s far north that had been ravaged by the Assyrians. Isaiah prophesied that with the birth of the Messiah, “the people walking in darkness [would see] a great light” (v. 2).

Seven hundred years later, Jesus fulfilled this prophecy as He began His ministry in that region (Matthew 4:12-17). Christ, that “great light,” calls us to follow Him: “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).

Out from the Dark

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. Isaiah 9:2

The tugboat sank twenty miles off the coast of Nigeria, turning upside down as it fell to the sea floor. Eleven crew members drowned, but the ship’s cook, Harrison Odjegba Okene, found an air pocket and waited. He only had one bottle of Coke for provisions, and both of his flashlights died within the first twenty-four hours. For three terrifying days, Okene was trapped alone in darkness at the bottom of the ocean. He’d begun to give up hope when divers on a mission to recover dead bodies found him hunkered and shivering deep in the hull.

The image of Okene alone in the dark for sixty hours is unnerving. He told reporters he still suffers nightmares from the horrifying ordeal. But can you imagine what he felt when he saw the diver’s powerful lamp piercing the darkness? What joy and elation, what hope. The prophet Isaiah foretold how, when the Messiah came, all “the people walking in darkness” would see “a great light” (9:2). Left to our own devices, we live “in the land of deep darkness,” but in Jesus, “a light has dawned” (v. 2).

Christ is “the light of the world,” and in Him we need never again fear the darkness for we “have the light of life” (John 8:12). We may feel trapped or hopeless, alone or in despair, but God illuminates good news. Jesus carries us out of the dark and into His marvelous light.

Reflect & Pray

What darkness are you facing? How do you need Jesus to be your light and bring you out of it?

Dear God, I need Your light in my life. Please bring me out of my dark place.

For further study, read Deceived by Disappointment.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, October 01, 2025

The Sphere of Exaltation

After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain. — Mark 9:2

We’ve all had times on the mountain, when we’ve seen from God’s viewpoint and have wanted to stay on high. But God will never allow this. The test of our spiritual life lies in our ability to keep the vision God gives on the mountain in our sights as we descend. If we only have the power to rise, something is wrong.

It’s a great thing to be up on the mountain with our Lord, but he only takes us up with him for one reason—so that we may go down again into the valley and lift up those around us. We aren’t built for the mountains and the dawns and the breathtaking views; they are for moments of inspiration, nothing else. We’re built for the valley, for the ordinary stuff of daily life. That is where we have to prove our mettle.

Spiritual selfishness always wants to get back to the mountaintop. When we are spiritually selfish, we are always claiming that of course we’d live like angels—if we could stay on high. We have to learn that moments of exaltation are exceptional. They have meaning in our life with God, but we have to make sure that spiritual selfishness doesn’t cause us to want them all the time.

We tend to think that everything that happens is meant to teach us something. A mountaintop experience isn’t meant to teach us anything; it’s meant to make us something new. God wants our experiences to develop our character.

When it comes to spiritual matters, there’s a great trap in asking, “What’s the point of this?” It isn’t for us to know the point. The moments on the mountaintop are rare, and they are meant for something in God’s own purpose.

Isaiah 11-13; Ephesians 4

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

We never enter into the Kingdom of God by having our head questions answered, but only by commitment.

The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 565 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Wednesday, October 01, 2025

THE MISSION RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU - #10103

When my wife and I were raising our three children, communication during the early morning shift at our house was, shall we say, non-verbal. There I was, getting ready for my day. The kids were getting ready for school, and my wife was doing her role of maid, chef, valet, chauffeur.

One morning I was shaving and thinking through an endless list of things I had to do on that particular Friday - all of it the Lord's work of course. I was mulling over a sermon I had coming up, and I was thinking about some radio programs, and about an appointment I had that day, and a couple of events I was planning. My son pops in.

Now, somehow I must have succeeded in letting him know - non-verbally - just how much I had on my mind, because he disappeared as quickly as he had appeared. I guess he got the message. Then as I was praying about all of the Lord's work I had to do that day, suddenly I remembered an important decision my son had to make that day; one that he probably needed to talk about. And the Lord woke me up in those early morning hours with what He told me, then, so I'm going to tell you.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Mission Right In Front Of You."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from John 4, and I'm going to begin reading at verse 30. It takes place after the woman of Samaria, who met Jesus at the well, has gone back and said, "I met a man who told me all I ever did." And now the town is starting to come to Him. The disciples, who have missed all this, have just returned. It says, "The Samaritans came out of the town and made their way toward Jesus. Jesus says to the disciples, 'Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, 'Open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.'" I think He was pointing at all those Samaritans streaming out of the village. "The harvest is here. Even now the reaper draws his wages," He said, "even now he harvests the crop for eternal life."

For the disciples, this town in Samaria was a pit stop. They're looking ahead to some great future ministry...four months till harvest. But they were missing the ministry right under their noses.

Sounds sort of like this man I heard about at the beginning of the program who was shaving, thinking about the ministry he had ahead, and missing a son who needed some ministry right there. You see, you don't have to leave your home to do the Lord's work. In fact, the Lord's work begins right in front of you, right at home. Interestingly enough, in the list of qualifications for leaders in 1 Timothy 3, it says, "Make sure you have somebody whose ministry at home is quality; who has his home under control."

So often we fill up our lives with ministry responsibilities, only to reach other people's kids while missing our own; to bring blessing to God's house while neglecting our first responsibility; the congregation at our house. Many husbands, and wives, and children, and parents, have been victims of a misguided view of God's work that you have to leave home before you start doing ministry.

That doesn't mean you withdraw from every responsibility, but it does mean you take care of the Lord's work at home first. Maybe your unbelieving family member would be better reached by you staying home and spending time with them than by you going to another prayer meeting to pray for them. Your mate, your child - they may need your ear, your encouragement, your counsel as much as anyone you're going to see at that meeting.

Look around your house for the needs that are right there before you. Before you go charging off somewhere else to find the Lord's work. Listen, it's right there in front of you.

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

Mark 13:21-37, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: WHEN YOUR HEART NEEDS PEACE - September 30, 2025

Jesus offers this assurance: “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27 NKJV).

Jesus contrasts two types of peace—the peace the world offers and the peace he offers. The peace the world offers depends upon circumstances. If the weather is right, if the traffic is light, if the stock market is up. If…If…If. Exchange if peace for his peace. We can have the peace of Jesus. We can uproot thoughts of catastrophe and replace them with truths like this one: “The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts” (Philippians 4:7 NKJV).

When your heart needs peace, trust God.

Tame Your Thoughts: Three Tools to Renew Your Mind and Transform Your Life

Mark 13:21-37

No One Knows the Day or Hour

21–23 “If anyone tries to flag you down, calling out, ‘Here’s the Messiah!’ or points, ‘There he is!’ don’t fall for it. Fake Messiahs and lying preachers are going to pop up everywhere. Their impressive credentials and dazzling performances will pull the wool over the eyes of even those who ought to know better. So watch out. I’ve given you fair warning.

24–25 “Following those hard times,

Sun will fade out,

moon cloud over,

Stars fall out of the sky,

cosmic powers tremble.

26–27 “And then they’ll see the Son of Man enter in grand style, his Arrival filling the sky—no one will miss it! He’ll dispatch the angels; they will pull in the chosen from the four winds, from pole to pole.

28–31 “Take a lesson from the fig tree. From the moment you notice its buds form, the merest hint of green, you know summer’s just around the corner. And so it is with you. When you see all these things, you know he is at the door. Don’t take this lightly. I’m not just saying this for some future generation, but for this one, too—these things will happen. Sky and earth will wear out; my words won’t wear out.

32–37 “But the exact day and hour? No one knows that, not even heaven’s angels, not even the Son. Only the Father. So keep a sharp lookout, for you don’t know the timetable. It’s like a man who takes a trip, leaving home and putting his servants in charge, each assigned a task, and commanding the gatekeeper to stand watch. So, stay at your post, watching. You have no idea when the homeowner is returning, whether evening, midnight, cockcrow, or morning. You don’t want him showing up unannounced, with you asleep on the job. I say it to you, and I’m saying it to all: Stay at your post. Keep watch.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

by Marvin Williams

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Ephesians 2:1-10

He Tore Down the Wall

1–6 2 It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.

7–10 Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

Today's Insights

Our need of Christ’s rescue is undeniable, given Paul’s clear teaching in Ephesians 2. Apart from Jesus we “were dead” (v. 1), and the dead can do absolutely nothing on their own behalf. How grateful we should be that God, out “of his great love for us” and His rich mercy (v. 4) has given us life through Christ’s death and resurrection on our behalf. In addition to giving us life, He’s given us a place “in the heavenly realms” (v. 6). All this was done to express God’s “kindness to us” (v. 7). Apart from Jesus (vv. 8-9), we’d be both lost and helpless, but He came and took our place. He’s rescued and brought to safety those who’ve believed in Him!

A Leap of Faith

It is by grace you have been saved, through faith. Ephesians 2:8

A French sailor, along with his cat, was sailing from Dutch Harbor—located on an island south of Alaska—to San Diego, California, when his yacht was capsized by a huge wave. The vessel righted itself, but the mariner lost his rudder and rigging to the violent swells. He reported his dire situation to the Coast Guard, saying he was stranded, had no control, and his boat was “pretty much dead in the water.” Eventually the Coast Guard contacted an oil drilling ship nearby, and they came to the sailor’s rescue. However, he still had to make a literal leap of faith—with his cat tucked under his jacket—from his boat to the rescue vessel.

In Ephesians 2, Paul described the sinful and hopeless condition of humanity—dead in the water spiritually and separated from God (v. 1). Moreover, we were disobedient to all that He desires (v. 2) and depraved—unable to do anything to merit salvation (v. 3). But “by grace,” Jesus made it possible for us to be “saved, through faith,” and this salvation is a “gift of God” (v. 8).

We were all stranded in the raging seas of sin and death, but praise God that we have a Savior who made it possible for us to leap into His saving arms by faith. Christ alone can rescue us and carry us to safety.

Reflect & Pray

What is the means of the rescue Jesus has made possible? How are faith in Him and the salvation He’s made possible linked?

Dear Jesus, Your mercy and grace led me to—by faith—leap into Your saving arms.

For further study, read What’s Wrong with the Sinner’s Prayer.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

The Commission of the Call

I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions. — Colossians 1:24

The call of God is utterly unique. We think we are answering God’s call when we devote ourselves to spiritual service, but once we get into a right relationship with him, we see how wrong we’ve been. When God calls, he calls us to something we’ve never dreamed of before. In one radiant, flashing moment, we see what he wants us to do—to “fill up” in our flesh “what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions”—and we are riveted with a terrific pain.

The call of God has nothing to do with personal holiness. It’s about being made broken bread and poured-out wine. If we are ever going to be made into wine, we will have to be crushed; you cannot drink whole grapes. But God can never crush those who resist the fingers he uses to do it. Those fingers may belong to someone we dislike, or to some set of circumstances to which we said we would never submit. We think, “If only God would use his own fingers to crush me, and do it in some special, heavenly way!” We have to learn that we cannot choose the scene or the means of our martyrdom.

I wonder what kind of fingers God has been using to squeeze you. Have you been hard as a marble and escaped? If God had persisted in squeezing you while you were still unripe, the wine would have been remarkably bitter. If you wish to be a person whom God can easily crush, you must allow his presence to govern every element of your natural life and to break those elements in his service.

We have to be rightly related to God before we can be broken in his hands. Keep right with him, let him do with you as he likes, and you will find that he is producing the kind of bread and wine that will benefit his other children.

Isaiah 9-10; Ephesians 3

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

We all have the trick of saying—If only I were not where I am!—If only I had not got the kind of people I have to live with! If our faith or our religion does not help us in the conditions we are in, we have either a further struggle to go through, or we had better abandon that faith and religion.

The Shadow of an Agony, 1178 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

THE WINNING NUMBER - 100% - #10102

Now, as a good football coach prepares his high school players for the season, he's going to bring up the dangers of what he will call playing tentatively. I know no one's anxious to get hurt, and so there's a natural tendency to hold back a little in a contact sport; to hold back when you hit, when you block, when you tackle. But the coach is going to tell you that the best way to get hurt is to play tentatively, half-heartedly. Either give it all you've got or don't play.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Winning Number - 100%."

Now, our word for today from the Word of God is from Ecclesiastes 9:10 - a verse that could be one of those life-principle verses like maybe a good wall plaque. It's almost a motto that you could repeat to yourself at work, and in sports, or while you're doing your homework, while you're doing dirty work, while you're listening to someone, or you're trying to finish a job. It's one of those repeat over and over statements. Okay, why don't we find out what it is? Ecclesiastes 9:10, "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might."

Well, that's consistent with four words that appear over and over in the Bible, "with all your heart." Whatever you do, do it with all your heart, or in this case with all your might. One of my personal heroes is Jim Elliott, who was a missionary that in the 1950s was one of five American missionaries martyred as they went to a tribe that had never even heard the name of God. And out of that martyrdom came a flow of missionaries and people in Christian service. Honestly, I'm one of them.

Well, one of Jim Elliott's mottos went like this - you ready? "Wherever you are, be all there." Somebody may have said to you, "You're not all there." Well, yes, wherever you are, be all there. If you've got something to do anyway, why not do it with all you've got? If you've got to be there, why not be there with all your heart?

There's a little wisdom up on a plaque in our kitchen. It says, "Lord, help me do with a smile the things I have to do anyway." Got to do them anyway, might as well really do them. A Christian should be known as a 100-percenter in everything he or she does. You listen with all your might. When it's time to work, you work with all your might. When you pray, you pray with all your might. When you play, you play with all your might. When you goof off, you goof off with all your might. When you help somebody, you help with all your might. When you study, oh yeah, you know by now, yeah, you do it with all your might.

You can do that because you know that you are leading a God-planned life. Psalm 37 says, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in His way." Psalm 16 says, "The Lord has assigned me my portion and my cup." Now, you know that every situation has been brought into your life by a God who loves you and knows best. So you make every situation the best it can be. And you do that when you tackle it with all your might; not just the things you like to do or not just the things you feel like doing.

This says "everything your hand finds to do." Don't play tentatively. Do it with intensity. In football, in everyday life, playing tentatively invites injury and defeat. Either give it all you've got or don't play.

Monday, September 29, 2025

Numbers 8 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: BE FULL OF JOY - September 29, 2025

Philippians 4:4 commands, “Be full of joy in the Lord always. Again I will say, be full of joy.”

How can you be full of joy when you’ve got bills to pay and kids to raise? Those anxious, negative thoughts? Refuse to indulge them. Grab the weed of anxiety and give it a good yank. Then before the enemy can sow a seed, remind him and yourself that you live life “in the Lord.”

If you believe you face your problems alone, you will never find deep and lasting peace. On the other hand, if you believe that you face your challenges in the Lord—in the presence of the Lord, in the name of the Lord, in the power of the Lord, in the protection of the Lord—then you can be full of joy because you are full of the Lord.

Tame Your Thoughts: Three Tools to Renew Your Mind and Transform Your Life

Numbers 8

The Lights

1–2 8 God spoke to Moses: “Tell Aaron, Install the seven lamps so they will throw light in front of the Lampstand.”

3–4 Aaron did just that. He installed the lamps so they threw light in front of the Lampstand, as God had instructed Moses. The Lampstand was made of hammered gold from its stem to its petals. It was made precisely to the design God had shown Moses.

Purifying the Levites

5–7 God spoke to Moses: “Take the Levites from the midst of the People of Israel and purify them for doing God’s work. This is the way you will do it: Sprinkle water of absolution on them; have them shave their entire bodies; have them scrub their clothes. Then they will have purified themselves.

8–11 “Have them take a young bull with its accompanying Grain-Offering of fine flour mixed with oil, plus a second young bull for an Absolution-Offering. Bring the Levites to the front of the Tent of Meeting and gather the entire community of Israel. Present the Levites before God as the People of Israel lay their hands on them. Aaron will present the Levites before God as a Wave-Offering from the People of Israel so that they will be ready to do God’s work.

12–14 “Have the Levites place their hands on the heads of the bulls, selecting one for the Absolution-Offering and another for the Whole-Burnt-Offering to God to make atonement for the Levites. Then have the Levites stand in front of Aaron and his sons and present them as a Wave-Offering to God. This is the procedure for setting apart the Levites from the rest of the People of Israel; the Levites are exclusively for my use.

15–19 “After you have purified the Levites and presented them as a Wave-Offering to God, they can go to work in the Tent of Meeting. The Levites have been selected out of the People of Israel for my exclusive use; they function in place of every firstborn male born to an Israelite woman. Every firstborn male in Israel, animal or human, is set apart for my use. When I struck down all the firstborn of Egypt, I consecrated them for my holy uses. But now I take the Levites as stand-ins in place of every firstborn son in Israel, selected out of the People of Israel, and I have given the Levites to Aaron and his sons to do all the work involved in the Tent of Meeting on behalf of all the People of Israel and to make atonement for them so that nothing bad will happen to them when they approach the Sanctuary.”

20–22 Moses, Aaron, and the entire community of the People of Israel carried out these procedures with the Levites, just as God had commanded Moses. The Levites purified themselves and scrubbed their clothes. Then Aaron presented them as a Wave-Offering before God and made atonement for them to purify them. Only then did the Levites go to work at the Tent of Meeting. Aaron and his sons supervised them following the directions God had given.

23–26 God spoke to Moses: “These are your instructions regarding the Levites: At the age of twenty-five they will join the workforce in the Tent of Meeting; at the age of fifty they must retire from the work. They can assist their brothers in the tasks in the Tent of Meeting, but they are not permitted to do the actual work themselves. These are the ground rules for the work of the Levites.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, September 29, 2025

by Nancy Gavilanes

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

John 11:38-44

Then Jesus, the anger again welling up within him, arrived at the tomb. It was a simple cave in the hillside with a slab of stone laid against it. Jesus said, “Remove the stone.”

The sister of the dead man, Martha, said, “Master, by this time there’s a stench. He’s been dead four days!”

40 Jesus looked her in the eye. “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

41–42 Then, to the others, “Go ahead, take away the stone.”

They removed the stone. Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and prayed, “Father, I’m grateful that you have listened to me. I know you always do listen, but on account of this crowd standing here I’ve spoken so that they might believe that you sent me.”

43–44 Then he shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” And he came out, a cadaver, wrapped from head to toe, and with a kerchief over his face.

Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him loose.”

Today's Insights

In John 11:1-2, Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary, is sick. Yet, instead of rushing to Bethany and the home of this beloved family, Jesus “stayed where he was two more days” (v. 6). The gospel tells us He waited because He would “be glorified through it” (v. 4). God is glorified when we acknowledge His sovereignty and power and trust in Him. In our passage today, Christ tells Martha, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” (11:40). Jesus was telling her to trust and believe in Him. Soon she’d see God’s supernatural, transcendent power (His glory) displayed. Martha, Mary, the disciples, and all those gathered at the graveside witnessed the miraculous resurrection of a man dead for four days (vv. 41-44)! We too are recipients of God’s miraculous power. He gives eternal life to all who turn from their sins and follow Him.

Christ’s Resurrection Power

Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out. John 11:43-44

Football fans were stunned when Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills collapsed on the field on live television after executing a seemingly routine tackle in January 2023. The twenty-four-year-old was in sudden cardiac arrest. His heart stopped beating but was restored by medical professionals while on the field. Amazingly, three months after dying and being resuscitated on the field, Hamlin was cleared to play football again.

Hamlin has stated that he’s grateful to God and the medical staff for saving his life. He plans to continue being an inspiration to others. In John chapter 11, Lazarus also had a remarkable recovery.

By the time Jesus had arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had been dead for four days. His distraught sisters, Mary and Martha, witnessed Jesus’ power over death and that He is “the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). “Jesus called in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face” (vv. 43-44).

We’re also examples of Christ’s resurrection power. We were once dead in our sins, but we’re now alive in Christ (Romans 6:1-11). As believers, the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead lives inside of us (8:10-11). Be encouraged. While we’ll all die a physical death, that’s not the end of our story. We’re promised eternal life with Jesus.

Reflect & Pray

How does the gift of eternal life give you hope? How does Jesus’ resurrection power encourage you?

Dear God, thank You for Your resurrection power.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, September 29, 2025

The Consciousness of the Call

I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! — 1 Corinthians 9:16

We are prone to forgetting the mystical, supernatural quality of the touch of God. If you can tell others where and when you received the call of God and all about what it was like, I question whether you’ve ever truly received it. The call to preach doesn’t come in a way that’s easy to describe; it’s much more supernatural. The call may come with a sudden thunderclap or with a gradual dawning, but however it comes, it comes with the undercurrent of the supernatural, something that cannot be put into words. It’s always accompanied by a glow.

“I chose you and appointed you” (John 15:16). At any moment, you may break into a sudden conscious awareness of this surprising, supernatural call that has taken hold of your life. The call of God has nothing to do with salvation and sanctification; it isn’t because you are saved and sanctified that you’ve been called to preach. The call to preach is entirely different. Paul describes it as a necessity, a compulsion, placed upon him: “I am compelled to preach.”

If you’ve been obliterating the great supernatural call of God in your life, review your circumstances and see where you’ve failed to put God first. Have you placed him after your idea of Christian service or your desire to use your natural abilities? God had no competition for first place in Paul’s life. Paul realized the call of God and devoted all his strength to answering it.

When someone is called by God, it doesn’t matter how difficult their circumstances are. Every circumstantial force that has been at work will serve God’s purposes in the end. Once you agree to answer the call, God will bring not only your conscious life but also the deeper regions of your life into harmony with his purposes.

Isaiah 7-8; Ephesians 2

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Seeing is never believing: we interpret what we see in the light of what we believe. Faith is confidence in God before you see God emerging; therefore the nature of faith is that it must be tried.

He Shall Glorify Me, 494 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Monday, September 29, 2025

AWESOME GOD, AWESOME LOVE - #10101

When you hear the word "superstar," you may think of some great athlete or A-list movie star or some television personality - a celebrity. I'm sorry, but I personally think that's a pretty lame use of the word when you hear about the kind of star that astronomers have been discovering. Like the largest known star in the universe! Conventional telescopes had missed it because of vast dust clouds. But the Hubble Space Telescope picked it up. It is (get this) 186 million miles wide and ten million times brighter than the Sun! That's a superstar. Don't even try to comprehend one star that enormous! Interesting footnote - according to many theories on how stars are formed, a star this large is an impossibility! It's there, it is not impossible.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Awesome God, Awesome Love."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Psalm 8:1-4. "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens...When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?"

It's hard to come up with a theory big enough to contain the infinity of what's out there. But it's not hard to come up with a creator big enough to explain it all. And speaking of Jesus, the Bible further explains in John 1:3 that "through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made."

When you consider that beyond that superstar are literally millions of galaxies, your mind just goes on overload. But there is something more staggering than the size of creation...and that is the possibility that you could have a personal love relationship with the creator of it all! That's what the psalmist couldn't grasp - in light of the splendor and magnitude of all you've created, God, why do you care about us little guys and girls on this speck of dust called earth?

But the amazing truth is that this awesome God has a deep, deep love for you. Here's how you can know that. In those same verses that tell us Jesus created it all, it says that He "became flesh and made His dwelling among us" (John 1:14). The One who created that mega-star - and countless millions of galaxies - left the Throne Room of the universe to come here as one of us. And everything in us screams, "But why?"

Answer - two chapters later. "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." Why? God loves you so much. So much that even though we've defied Him by running our own life, He sent His Son to go to a cross to bear the death penalty for my sin and yours. God does not want to lose you.

And when Jesus comes knocking on the door of your heart, offering you His love and His forgiveness, it just doesn't make any sense to reject Him or postpone Him. This is the One who made it all - who loved you enough to die for you. Why would you wait another day to begin a personal love-relationship with the most awesome person in all the universe?

Have you ever begun this relationship that Jesus died to make possible? He proved that He can give it to us, because He walked out of his grave under his own power. And only the One who's proven He has eternal life can give it to you. This is your day to be born into God's family; to begin your relationship you were made for.

Reach out to Jesus and say, "Jesus, I'm tired of running my own life. I resign from running my life. You died for the sin that's come from my decision to take over a life you were suppose to run. And today, Jesus, I'm pinning all my hopes on you. Thank you for loving me so much."

I think our website would help, would you go there today - ANewStory.com?

Jesus - the one who made the stars - the biggest Star of all - has come to you. Don't miss this amazing love.

Sunday, September 28, 2025

Numbers 7, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

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We can’t live with foreign objects buried in our bodies. Or our souls!

What would an X-ray of your interior reveal? Remorse over a poor choice? Shame about the marriage that didn’t work, the temptation you didn’t resist? Guilt lies hidden beneath the surface, festering, irritating. Sometimes so deeply embedded you don’t know the cause.

And you can be touchy, you know. Understandable, since you have a shank of shame lodged in your soul. Interested in an extraction?

Confess! Request a spiritual MRI. Like the one in Psalm 139:23- 24: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Confessors find a freedom that deniers don’t. If we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins! He will cleanse us. Not might, could, would, or should. He WILL!

From GRACE

Numbers 7

Offerings for the Dedication

1 7 When Moses finished setting up The Dwelling, he anointed it and consecrated it along with all that went with it. At the same time he anointed and consecrated the Altar and its accessories.

2–3 The leaders of Israel, the heads of the ancestral tribes who had carried out the census, brought offerings. They presented before God six covered wagons and twelve oxen, a wagon from each pair of leaders and an ox from each leader.

4–5 God spoke to Moses: ‘ ‘Receive these so that they can be used to transport the Tent of Meeting. Give them to the Levites according to what they need for their work.”

6–9 Moses took the wagons and oxen and gave them to the Levites. He gave two wagons and four oxen to the Gershonites for their work and four wagons and eight oxen to the Merarites for their work. They were all under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest. Moses didn’t give any to the Kohathites because they had to carry the holy things for which they were responsible on their shoulders.

10–11 When the Altar was anointed, the leaders brought their offerings for its dedication and presented them before the Altar because God had instructed Moses, “Each day one leader is to present his offering for the dedication of the Altar.”

12–13 On the first day, Nahshon son of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah, brought his offering. His offering was:

a silver plate weighing three and a quarter pounds and a silver bowl weighing one and three-quarter pounds (according to the standard Sanctuary weights), each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a Grain-Offering;

14 a gold vessel weighing four ounces, filled with incense;

15 a young bull, a ram, and a yearling lamb for a Whole-Burnt-Offering;

16 a he-goat for an Absolution-Offering;