Jonah 4
Jonah's Anger at the Lord 's Compassion
1 But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. 2 He prayed to the LORD, "O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live." 4 But the LORD replied, "Have you any right to be angry?"
5 Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then the LORD God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, "It would be better for me to die than to live."
9 But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?" "I do," he said. "I am angry enough to die."
10 But the LORD said, "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?"
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion:
Philippians 1:3-11
Thanksgiving and Prayer
3I thank my God every time I remember you. 4In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 7It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. 8God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
9And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
January 6, 2008
Ripple EffectREAD: Philippians 1:3-11
I pray . . . that you may approve the things that are excellent. —Philippians 1:9-10 About this cover As a kid, one of my favorite pastimes was skipping stones across the surface of a smooth lake. Inevitably, ripples would flow from the impact of the stone.
It’s like that with choices. Every choice we make creates a ripple effect on our lives as well as on the lives of others. The choices we have made throughout life determine where we are and what we are becoming.
Choices are also telling. What we really want, love, and think show up in the choices we make.
It’s no wonder then that Paul urged us to make “excellent” choices—choices that emanate from a heart fully committed to Jesus. He stated that when our love abounds in knowledge and discernment, we are able to understand what is best, so that we may “approve the things that are excellent” (Phil. 1:9-10). Excellent choices are the proof of a life that is deeply committed to Jesus and His ways, and they have the ripple effect of filling our lives “with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God” (v.11).
As a friend of mine wisely told me, our lives are not made by the dreams we dream but by the choices we make. Let’s make excellent ones! —Joe Stowell
Do a deed of simple kindness,Though its end you may not see;It may reach, like widening ripples,Down a long eternity. —Norris
Make an excellent choice and watch the ripple effect of blessing.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers:
January 6, 2008
WorshipLISTEN: READ:
He moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord —Genesis 12:8 About this cover Worship is giving God the best that He has given you. Be careful what you do with the best you have. Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love-gift. Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship. If you hoard it for yourself, it will turn into spiritual dry rot, as the manna did when it was hoarded (see Exodus 16:20 ). God will never allow you to keep a spiritual blessing completely for yourself. It must be given back to Him so that He can make it a blessing to others.
Bethel is the symbol of fellowship with God; Ai is the symbol of the world. Abram "pitched his tent" between the two. The lasting value of our public service for God is measured by the depth of the intimacy of our private times of fellowship and oneness with Him. Rushing in and out of worship is wrong every time— there is always plenty of time to worship God. Days set apart for quiet can be a trap, detracting from the need to have daily quiet time with God. That is why we must "pitch our tents" where we will always have quiet times with Him, however noisy our times with the world may be. There are not three levels of spiritual life— worship, waiting, and work. Yet some of us seem to jump like spiritual frogs from worship to waiting, and from waiting to work. God’s idea is that the three should go together as one. They were always together in the life of our Lord and in perfect harmony. It is a discipline that must be developed; it will not happen overnight.
TGIF Devotional:
Receiving Only From GodOs Hillman
To this John replied, "A man can receive only what is given him from heaven." - John 3:27
"God never gave you that property," said my friend who had entered my life at a time of great turmoil. These were hard words at the time. I was separated in my marriage, and my financial resources were drying up on all fronts. It was like rowing a boat with five big holes in it, not knowing which one to try to plug. My business, my personal finances, my marriage, all seemed to be drying up at the same time. My friend had made an observation about some land we had purchased years before. His point was that I had acquired something that God had never given me. In other words, it was not a Spirit-directed purchase that was blessed by God. It was not a by-product of God's blessing; it was a source of sweat and toil born out of the wrong motives of the heart.
When John's disciples came to him and asked if he was the Messiah, he responded that he was not and that one could only be what God had given him to be. He was a forerunner to the Messiah, and he was fulfilling a call God had given him. We cannot acquire and become anything that God has not given us. God gave John that anointing. We must ask whether we are trying to be or trying to acquire anything God has not given us. When we seek to acquire anything that God has not given us, we can expect God to respond to us like any good father would to a child. He will remove that which the child is not supposed to have.
David understood this principle. When he was preparing to furnish the temple, he told God in his prayer, "Everything comes from You, and we have given You only what comes from Your hand" (1 Chron. 29:14b).
Tough Questions and Some answer's, Crash Course to follow Christ.
The Nature of Man
Biblical theology can be summed up by saying that God is holy and we are not. When we catch a glimpse of the holiness of God, we begin to see just how far we humans fall short of that standard. While we have already given some passages to convey the idea that man is sinful, we would like to explore this even further. It is crucial to understand this truth in order to understand Christianity. It is because of the depth of our sin that it was necessary for Christ to come to redeem us from our sin.
Read Genesis 6:5, Genesis 8:21, 1 Kings 8:46, Job 14:1-4, Job 25:2-6, Psalm 14, Psalm 51:3-5, Psalm 53:1-3, Psalm 58:3-5, Proverbs 14:12, Ecclesiastes 7:20, Isaiah 53:6, Isaiah 55:8-9, Isaiah 59:2, Isaiah 64:6, Jeremiah 17:9, Daniel 9:1-11, Mark 7:20-23, Romans 3:9-23, Romans 5:12-21, Romans 7:13-25, Romans 8:5-8, Romans 14:23, Galatians 5:16-21, Ephesians 2:1-3, James 2:10-11, 1 John 1:8-10.
We don’t necessarily need someone to tell us that we sin. We have a self-awareness of our own sin because we’ve been created by God with a conscience that has a sense of right and wrong—an innate moral code. For example, in every culture murder is wrong. Why? Because God has written a moral code on our hearts that all human life is sacred. Yet, there are those who insist that either sin does not exist, or that it does not matter. They say that, “That is just they way we are.” Statements like that are first of all naïve. We only have to examine ourselves to see that we are selfish, selfish, selfish. Nobody wakes up every morning with the thought, “How can I help all the people of the world who need help today?” Face it. We wake up with thoughts of our own problems and how we can serve ourselves. We want to make our own throne and sit on it.We do not whole heartedly seek God. Our thinking is distorted; our emotions and desires are unruly and misdirected. Man is carnal; he has corrupt affections; his will is stubborn. In this condition we are bent on rebellion. As put by Arnold Kuntz in his Prayers for Worship:
There is a tedious struggle within us, for our instincts and desires war against the ways that you would have us follow. Were you not the active agent in our Christian lives, how self-serving and how wicked we would be. Our inclinations run to lust, our motives tend toward envy. Our aims are self-indulgent. Forgive us for Jesus’ sake, and lead us out of darkness into light.
We mortals are not as bad as we could be—even Hitler had some positive traits. Yet every aspect of our being is tainted by sin. It affects our body, our capacity to think rationally without bias, indeed our whole self is infected with sin. Sin penetrates to the core. As Jesus said in Mark 7:20-23 sin comes from the heart, the very center of our existence. It is not, as some say, peripheral or incidental to mankind. The evidence from all of history cries out to the fact of man’s sinful nature. Evangelist Ray Comfort (http://www.livingwaters.com/) uses a series of questions using the Ten Commandments like the following to get people to see their sin. He first asks, “Have you ever told a lie?” (Most will say yes.) He then asks, “What does that make you?” (Most will admit that it makes them a liar.) He then asks, “Have you ever cheated or stolen anything at all?” (The honest person will normally again will say yes.) He then points out how Jesus taught that it is a sin to commit adultery even in one’s heart through lust (Matthew 5:28), the inner instincts being just as important as the external. Ray then asks, “Have you ever lusted after someone?” (Most say yes, of course.) Ray then summarizes with, “Then you have just admitted that you are a lying, stealing, adulterer at heart!” If we are honest, we must admit that on examination, we are in fact all lying, stealing, adulterers at heart. And this covers only three of the Ten Commandments! Go back to the Ten Commandments and look at each one honestly. Just start with the first two, “Have no other gods besides Me.” and “Make no graven image.” Do you ever put something higher than God on your priority list? If so, that “something” may even have become a god to you. Everyone has false gods that they worship. Just track the trail of you life—how you spend your time, your money, your thoughts—will lead one to the throne of the gods you worship. Do you ever blaspheme the name of God (Third Commandment)? Please do not take this commandment lightly. This is quite serious. Do you ever fail to honor the Sabbath day (Fourth Commandment)? You do, don’t you? Have you ever failed to honor your father or mother (Fifth Commandment)? The Bible says (1 John 3:15) that whoever hates his brother is a murderer. Do you ever have the feeling of hatred? Then you have broken the Sixth Commandment. Hatred and lust are where murder and adultery begin. Speaking personally, the writers of this study lesson are guilty of being angry, unloving, unaffirming, inconsiderate and too often have said unwarranted things even toward those people closest to us. We only have to look at ourselves honestly to see how far away we are from God’s standard of unconditional love toward others. Can you acknowledge the same? Have you ever failed to pay a bill on time, costing your creditor interest on his money? Fudged here and there on taxes or elsewhere? Downloaded music illegally? Then you have stolen (Eighth Commandment). What does that make you? A thief, right? Are you ever guilty of gossiping—saying things about someone else that tear down that person or which may not be entirely true? You are breaking the Ninth Commandment when you do that.Or have you ever coveted after something, or felt jealousy? Then you have broken the Tenth Commandment. This commandment alone should force the honest seeker to his knees. You may say, “Well, I’m just human. Everyone does these things.” But remember this. Every sin is a sin against God. It is less a matter of how great our sins are than the greatness of whom we sin against! Some people may deny their sin, thinking that sin only means murder or adultery. But sin is much more than these big and obvious sins. It is self-centeredness. If narcissism is the curse of the earth, Jesus is the antidote. Can you imagine what the world would be like if everyone around you loved perfectly? Other questions that can be asked of ourselves that reveal who we really are include: Have you done everything Jesus would have done? Have you always done everything you ought to have done? In fact, sin is not simply the result of a decision to do a bad thing; it is the result of failing to make a decision to do a good thing. (Read James 4:17.) Are you always a peacemaker (Matthew 5:9)? Do you ever lose your patience (Galatians 5:22)? Do you ever fail to exhibit self-control (Galatians 5:23)? Have you ever been disobedient, unfaithful, or lazy? Do you ever waste anything (John 6:12)? Or be arrogant, quick-tempered, or drunk (Titus 1:7). How about, do you ever do emotional injury to another person—or its opposite, the failure to build someone up? Or feel contemptuous toward another person? Or do you ever harbor partiality toward others (James 2:1-9)? If you are a parent, have you adequately inculcated the ways of God to your children (Deuteronomy 11:18-21, Proverbs 22:6, Ephesians 6:4)? Do you tend to retaliate or nurse grudges (Matthew 5:38-42)? In order to show us how far we are from God’s standard, Jesus told us that we must be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48). The Bible says that if we have broken even one item of the law, we are guilty of breaking the entire law (James 2:10). You may say, “That’s not fair!” But consider this, if a person goes into a store a hundred times and does not steal anything, but one time does steal something, is he guilty or innocent? The law considers him guilty! But the sinfulness of man goes even deeper than that. We sin every day in one way or another in thought, word, and deed. Every thought we have and every word we utter are recorded. On judgment day God hits the playback button! There are no secret sins (Ecclesiastes 12:14, Hebrews 4:13). Against God’s perfect holiness, we must acknowledge that we deserve his wrath. The Bible says that we suppress the truth. Read Romans 1:18-23. In some cases, the more we sin, the more we deny our sin. We get in our comfort zone and find it easy to deny our sin. Read what Jesus says about this in Revelation 3:17-18. Remember back in Genesis 3 how Adam blamed his sin on Eve, who in turn blamed it on the devil. Our nature is to just pass the buck. Human beings are into “impression management.” Examine how concerned we are with other people getting a good impression of us versus a true impression of us. Sin binds us to see ourselves better than are. In one study, out of a million respondents not even one person said that they considered themselves below average in their ability to get along with other people. Langdon Gilkey, who spent time in a minimum security Japanese internment camp in China, in his book Shantung Compound said this:
Most of us, in spite of whatever harm we may be doing to others, have long since convinced ourselves that the cause for which we do what we do is just and right...Having found these truths about human existence enacted before my eyes, I began to recall some of the theological ideas I had almost forgotten. The idea of original sin was so striking in this new context, it seemed ironic that of all the ideas linked with Christian belief, this one should probably strike the average man as most dubious. Yet, when one looks at the actual social behavior of people, this theological notion of a common, pervasive warping of our wills away from the good we wish to achieve is more descriptive of our actual experience of ourselves than is any other assessment of our situation. What the doctrine of sin has said about man’s present state seemed to fit the facts as I found them. In camp, both “good” people and “bad” people found it incredibly difficult to will the good; that is, to be objective in a situation of tension, and to be generous and fair to their neighbors. Though quite free to will whatever we wanted to do in a given situation, we were not free to will to love others, because the will did not really want to. We were literally bound in our own sin. This was, I knew, the way Christian thought had long viewed man’s predicament. It was also precisely what the facts of my experience seemed to substantiate.
The great faith leaders in history—for example, Augustine or John Calvin or Martin Luther or Billy Graham, etc.—assert that the more one seeks true spirituality, the more one realizes how truly weak and impotent the human condition really is. Even the great St. Paul, who wrote two-thirds of the New Testament, acknowledged his constant failure (Romans 7:18-20). Let’s face it. When we look in the mirror we see a sinner. And what is needed are not some small adjustments to our behavior. What is needed is a radical solution for our sin.
Jesus often spoke of sin in metaphors that illustrate the havoc sin can wreak in one’s life. He described sin as blindness (Matthew 23:16-26), sickness (Matthew 9:12), being enslaved in bondage (John 8:34), and living in darkness (John 8:12, John 12:35-46). Jesus also taught that both inner thoughts and external acts render a person guilty (Matthew 5:28). He taught that from within the human heart come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly (Mark 7:21-23). The fact is that at times we are all condemning, spiteful, arrogant, and conniving. The unclean thoughts we all have convicts us. Jesus affirmed that God is fully aware of every person’s sins, both external acts and inner thoughts; nothing escapes his notice (Matthew 22:18, Luke 6:8, John 4:17-19).
Theologian R. C. Sproul in his book Saved from What? says this: In addition to the external measuring rod there is also the consideration of the heart, the internal motivation for our behavior. We judge outward appearance. God looks on the heart. From a biblical perspective, to do a good deed in the fullest sense of the word requires not only that the deed conform outwardly to the standards of God’s Law but that it proceed from a heart that loves Him and wants to honor Him. We remember the great commandment: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart’ (Matthew 22:37). Let’s just stop there for a second. Is there anybody in this world who has loved God with all of his heart for even the last five minutes? No. Nobody has loved God with all of his heart since being born, nor have we loved Him with all of our mind or strength. I know that one of the things I will be accountable for on judgment day is the way in which I have failed in the pursuit of the knowledge of God. Many times I have been lazy and slothful and too bored to apply myself to the fullest possible measure of knowing God. I have not loved God with all of my mind [also Matthew 22:37]. If I loved God with all of my mind, there would never be an impure thought in my head. But that’s not the way my head works. Michael W. Smith and Kirkpatrick cry out to God in their beautiful song Never Been Unloved.
I have been unfaithful.I have been unworthy.I have been unrighteous.And I have been unmerciful.
I have been unreachable.I have been unteachable.I have been unwilling.And I have been undesirable.
And sometimes, I have been unwise.I’ve been undone by what I’m unsure of.But because of you, And all that you went through,I know that I have never been unloved.
I have been unbroken.I have been unmended.I have been uneasy.And I’ve been unapproachable.
I’ve been unemotional.I’ve been unexceptional.I’ve been undecided.And I have been unqualified.
Unaware, I have been unfair.I’ve been unfit for blessings from above.But even I can see the sacrifice you made for me.To show that I have never been unloved.
In the site of an all-powerful and holy God, we are all guilty and must face judgment. In fact, we are not just simply guilty. We are regularly and eternally guilty. We deserve eternal punishment. Yet there is a way to gain favor before our righteous God.
May we pray. Oh Father. We acknowledge who you are in contrast to who we are. You are holy; we are lowly. You are loving—indeed love itself; yet we are selfish, spiteful, deceitful, and bent toward revenge. You are the powerful creator of the universe, and we cannot even control our own emotions—our lack of self-discipline weighs on our being. You are the truth; yet we cannot even be honest with ourselves, putting up smokescreens to avoid the truth. You are the just judge; and we think we can ignore your plain commands with impunity. You are faithful; we bend in the wind. You are diligent; we procrastinate. Father, we fall so short. Help us with our condition. We beseech you.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Jonah 3 and devotionals
Jonah 3
Jonah Goes to Nineveh
1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you." 3 Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city—a visit required three days. 4 On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned." 5 The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
6 When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. 7 Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: "By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish."
10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotional:
Deuteronomy 4:1-10
4Obedience Commanded 1 Hear now, O Israel, the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 2 Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you. 3 You saw with your own eyes what the LORD did at Baal Peor. The LORD your God destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor, 4 but all of you who held fast to the LORD your God are still alive today.
5 See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. 6 Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." 7 What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him? 8 And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?
9 Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. 10 Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when he said to me, "Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children."
January 5, 2008
Going Nowhere FastREAD: Deuteronomy 4:1-10
Only take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen. —Deuteronomy 4:9 About this cover I walked as fast as possible. Worked up quite a sweat, in fact. After about a mile, I broke into a jog and then ran as hard as I could. Finally, after about 25 minutes, I stopped. My heart was pounding. My shirt was soaked. But I had gone nowhere. I had just done 2.5 miles on the treadmill.
After I cooled off, I sat down with my Bible. I was following a reading schedule and the selection for the day was from the book of Numbers. I read some of it slowly and some faster, but I felt at times that I wasn’t getting anywhere—like I was back on the treadmill. Censuses were taken. The long journey was recapped. The tribes were listed and relisted. The next day, I moved into Deuteronomy. More wanderings. More about the Israelites and their land.
But when I got to chapter 4, I was told why all that recapping was important. Moses told the people not to “forget the things your eyes have seen . . . . Teach them to your children” (4:9). The previous reading was not about Israel going nowhere fast. It was about training, about a lesson in using God’s past workings as instruction for future godly living.
All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God. So even when it may seem unimportant—keep reading. Sometimes we have to be patient to realize its full purpose. —Dave Branon
Search the Scriptures’ precious store—As a miner digs for ore,Search, and you will surely findTreasures to enrich the mind. —Anon.
God speaks to us through His Word; take time to listen.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
January 5, 2008
The Life of Power to FollowLISTEN: READ:
Jesus answered him, ’Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward’ —John 13:36 About this cover "And when He had spoken this, He said to him, ’Follow Me’ " (John 21:19). Three years earlier Jesus had said, "Follow Me" (Matthew 4:19), and Peter followed with no hesitation. The irresistible attraction of Jesus was upon him and he did not need the Holy Spirit to help him do it. Later he came to the place where he denied Jesus, and his heart broke. Then he received the Holy Spirit and Jesus said again, "Follow Me" (John 21:19). Now no one is in front of Peter except the Lord Jesus Christ. The first "Follow Me" was nothing mysterious; it was an external following. Jesus is now asking for an internal sacrifice and yielding (see John 21:18 ).
Between these two times Peter denied Jesus with oaths and curses (see Matthew 26:69-75). But then he came completely to the end of himself and all of his self-sufficiency. There was no part of himself he would ever rely on again. In his state of destitution, he was finally ready to receive all that the risen Lord had for him. ". . . He breathed on them, and said to them, ’Receive the Holy Spirit’ " (John 20:22 ). No matter what changes God has performed in you, never rely on them. Build only on a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, and on the Spirit He gives.
All our promises and resolutions end in denial because we have no power to accomplish them. When we come to the end of ourselves, not just mentally but completely, we are able to "receive the Holy Spirit." "Receive the Holy Spirit "— the idea is that of invasion. There is now only One who directs the course of your life, the Lord Jesus Christ.
TGIF devotional
Failure That Leads to GodlinessOs Hillman
All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader.... - 1 Samuel 22:2
God uses broken things to accomplish His greatest work. When David was anointed to be the next king, he was just a boy, the youngest among all his brothers. Little did he know that the next several years would be years of fleeing from Saul whose successes turned into obsessions as a leader who had fallen from God's anointing. Perhaps David thought, "Why am I living a life as a fugitive?” I am the next king of Israel. Yet, his life was filled with adversity after adversity before he ever fulfilled the ultimate calling God had for him. Others began to hear of David's successes and identify with his plight. But, it wasn't the successful and polished who came to join him. It was "those who were in distress or in debt or discontented" who would be part of his army—and an army it was! His army would become known throughout the world as the greatest ever assembled, not because of their skill, but because of the God behind the army. God turned David's men into "mighty men of valor" (see 1 Chron. 11:10).
God often uses failure to make us useful. When Jesus called the disciples, He did not go out and find the most qualified and successful people. He found the most willing, and He found them in the workplace. He found a fisherman, a tax collector, a farmer, and a doctor.
The Hebrews knew that failure was a part of maturing in God. The Greeks used failure as a reason for disqualification. Sadly, in the Church, we often treat one another in this way. This is not God's way. We need to understand that failing does not make us failures. It makes us experienced. It makes us more prepared to be useful in God's Kingdom—if we have learned from it. And that is the most important ingredient for what God wants in His children.
What about people who have never heard of Christ? The Bible makes it clear that through nature and conscience each person has some knowledge about God and sin for which he is accountable. (Read Romans 1:18-2:16.) Thus, everyone really knows, if he is honest, that God exists. Christianity teaches that one is condemned for continually thumbing his nose at God. But the Bible also teaches that God is fair as well as just. Ultimately only God can judge as only He knows the individual's heart. Another way this question is often phrased is, "What about the innocent natives in Africa?" The truth is, there are no innocent people. The Bible teaches that we are all imperfect, selfish, weak, sinful, and spiritually unclean. (For a more thorough examination of this, see our Christian Cram Course.) On the one hand, we are confident that God will not hold anyone accountable for any knowledge he did not receive. At the same time, the Bible emphatically states that Christ is the only sure way to salvation. Anyone who has heard of the saving grace of Jesus, and rejects it, would be thumbing his nose at God. To reject Jesus is a serious matter. It is tantamount to refusing God's offer of reconcilation to sinful man. As R.C. Sproul points out (book, noted in the resource list), those who have heard and reject Christ face double jeopardy. Thus "religion" without Christ does not redeem people but may add to their ultimate guilt.
Jonah Goes to Nineveh
1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you." 3 Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city—a visit required three days. 4 On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned." 5 The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
6 When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. 7 Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: "By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish."
10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotional:
Deuteronomy 4:1-10
4Obedience Commanded 1 Hear now, O Israel, the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 2 Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you. 3 You saw with your own eyes what the LORD did at Baal Peor. The LORD your God destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor, 4 but all of you who held fast to the LORD your God are still alive today.
5 See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. 6 Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." 7 What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him? 8 And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?
9 Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. 10 Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when he said to me, "Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children."
January 5, 2008
Going Nowhere FastREAD: Deuteronomy 4:1-10
Only take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen. —Deuteronomy 4:9 About this cover I walked as fast as possible. Worked up quite a sweat, in fact. After about a mile, I broke into a jog and then ran as hard as I could. Finally, after about 25 minutes, I stopped. My heart was pounding. My shirt was soaked. But I had gone nowhere. I had just done 2.5 miles on the treadmill.
After I cooled off, I sat down with my Bible. I was following a reading schedule and the selection for the day was from the book of Numbers. I read some of it slowly and some faster, but I felt at times that I wasn’t getting anywhere—like I was back on the treadmill. Censuses were taken. The long journey was recapped. The tribes were listed and relisted. The next day, I moved into Deuteronomy. More wanderings. More about the Israelites and their land.
But when I got to chapter 4, I was told why all that recapping was important. Moses told the people not to “forget the things your eyes have seen . . . . Teach them to your children” (4:9). The previous reading was not about Israel going nowhere fast. It was about training, about a lesson in using God’s past workings as instruction for future godly living.
All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God. So even when it may seem unimportant—keep reading. Sometimes we have to be patient to realize its full purpose. —Dave Branon
Search the Scriptures’ precious store—As a miner digs for ore,Search, and you will surely findTreasures to enrich the mind. —Anon.
God speaks to us through His Word; take time to listen.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
January 5, 2008
The Life of Power to FollowLISTEN: READ:
Jesus answered him, ’Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward’ —John 13:36 About this cover "And when He had spoken this, He said to him, ’Follow Me’ " (John 21:19). Three years earlier Jesus had said, "Follow Me" (Matthew 4:19), and Peter followed with no hesitation. The irresistible attraction of Jesus was upon him and he did not need the Holy Spirit to help him do it. Later he came to the place where he denied Jesus, and his heart broke. Then he received the Holy Spirit and Jesus said again, "Follow Me" (John 21:19). Now no one is in front of Peter except the Lord Jesus Christ. The first "Follow Me" was nothing mysterious; it was an external following. Jesus is now asking for an internal sacrifice and yielding (see John 21:18 ).
Between these two times Peter denied Jesus with oaths and curses (see Matthew 26:69-75). But then he came completely to the end of himself and all of his self-sufficiency. There was no part of himself he would ever rely on again. In his state of destitution, he was finally ready to receive all that the risen Lord had for him. ". . . He breathed on them, and said to them, ’Receive the Holy Spirit’ " (John 20:22 ). No matter what changes God has performed in you, never rely on them. Build only on a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, and on the Spirit He gives.
All our promises and resolutions end in denial because we have no power to accomplish them. When we come to the end of ourselves, not just mentally but completely, we are able to "receive the Holy Spirit." "Receive the Holy Spirit "— the idea is that of invasion. There is now only One who directs the course of your life, the Lord Jesus Christ.
TGIF devotional
Failure That Leads to GodlinessOs Hillman
All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader.... - 1 Samuel 22:2
God uses broken things to accomplish His greatest work. When David was anointed to be the next king, he was just a boy, the youngest among all his brothers. Little did he know that the next several years would be years of fleeing from Saul whose successes turned into obsessions as a leader who had fallen from God's anointing. Perhaps David thought, "Why am I living a life as a fugitive?” I am the next king of Israel. Yet, his life was filled with adversity after adversity before he ever fulfilled the ultimate calling God had for him. Others began to hear of David's successes and identify with his plight. But, it wasn't the successful and polished who came to join him. It was "those who were in distress or in debt or discontented" who would be part of his army—and an army it was! His army would become known throughout the world as the greatest ever assembled, not because of their skill, but because of the God behind the army. God turned David's men into "mighty men of valor" (see 1 Chron. 11:10).
God often uses failure to make us useful. When Jesus called the disciples, He did not go out and find the most qualified and successful people. He found the most willing, and He found them in the workplace. He found a fisherman, a tax collector, a farmer, and a doctor.
The Hebrews knew that failure was a part of maturing in God. The Greeks used failure as a reason for disqualification. Sadly, in the Church, we often treat one another in this way. This is not God's way. We need to understand that failing does not make us failures. It makes us experienced. It makes us more prepared to be useful in God's Kingdom—if we have learned from it. And that is the most important ingredient for what God wants in His children.
What about people who have never heard of Christ? The Bible makes it clear that through nature and conscience each person has some knowledge about God and sin for which he is accountable. (Read Romans 1:18-2:16.) Thus, everyone really knows, if he is honest, that God exists. Christianity teaches that one is condemned for continually thumbing his nose at God. But the Bible also teaches that God is fair as well as just. Ultimately only God can judge as only He knows the individual's heart. Another way this question is often phrased is, "What about the innocent natives in Africa?" The truth is, there are no innocent people. The Bible teaches that we are all imperfect, selfish, weak, sinful, and spiritually unclean. (For a more thorough examination of this, see our Christian Cram Course.) On the one hand, we are confident that God will not hold anyone accountable for any knowledge he did not receive. At the same time, the Bible emphatically states that Christ is the only sure way to salvation. Anyone who has heard of the saving grace of Jesus, and rejects it, would be thumbing his nose at God. To reject Jesus is a serious matter. It is tantamount to refusing God's offer of reconcilation to sinful man. As R.C. Sproul points out (book, noted in the resource list), those who have heard and reject Christ face double jeopardy. Thus "religion" without Christ does not redeem people but may add to their ultimate guilt.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Jonah 2 and devotionals
Jonah 2
Jonah's Prayer
1 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God. 2 He said: "In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave [a] I called for help, and you listened to my cry. 3 You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me.
4 I said, 'I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.'
5 The engulfing waters threatened me, [b] the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.
6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O LORD my God.
7 "When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.
8 "Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.
9 But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the LORD."
10 And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotional
Psalm 90BOOK IV : Psalms 90-106 A prayer of Moses the man of God. 1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. 2 Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
3 You turn men back to dust, saying, "Return to dust, O sons of men."
4 For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.
5 You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning-
6 though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered.
7 We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation.
8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.
9 All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan.
10 The length of our days is seventy years— or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span [a] is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
11 Who knows the power of your anger? For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.
12 Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
13 Relent, O LORD! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants.
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble.
16 May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children.
17 May the favor [b] of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands.
January 4, 2008
What Will You Write?
ODB RADIO: Listen Now Download
READ: Psalm 90
You do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. —James 4:14 About this cover In January 2006, a mine explosion in rural West Virginia threatened the lives of 13 coal miners. Having grown up in that state, I was among the millions riveted to the news for the next few days. Tragically, all but one of the miners were found dead. To compound the pain of that loss, the first reports given to the families said that all but one had been found alive. When the grim news of the deaths came, the grief was compounded with anger—and a desire to blame someone for the whole gut-wrenching event.
At one of the funerals, however, Rev. Wease Day asked the hurting to look in a different direction—within. During their last hours, some of the miners had written notes to their families, in some cases offering comfort and hope. In light of that, Pastor Day urged his congregation not to seek to fix blame. He instead challenged them to imagine what they would write in a farewell note if they had only hours to live.
In some ways we are like those miners. We are trapped in a dark world and are facing physical death. How we live our lives as followers of Christ becomes our “note” to the world. James wrote that life is “a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (4:14). By God’s grace, what will you write with your life today? —Bill Crowder
Lord and Savior, Christ divine,Reign within this heart of mine;May my witness ever beAlways, only, Lord for Thee. —Brandt
A Christlike life is a message of hope to a searching world.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
January 4, 2008
Why Can I Not Follow You Now?LISTEN: READ:
Peter said to Him, ’Lord, why can I not follow You now?’ —John 13:37 About this cover There are times when you can’t understand why you cannot do what you want to do. When God brings a time of waiting, and appears to be unresponsive, don’t fill it with busyness, just wait. The time of waiting may come to teach you the meaning of sanctification— to be set apart from sin and made holy— or it may come after the process of sanctification has begun to teach you what service means. Never run before God gives you His direction. If you have the slightest doubt, then He is not guiding. Whenever there is doubt— wait.
At first you may see clearly what God’s will is— the severance of a friendship, the breaking off of a business relationship, or something else you feel is distinctly God’s will for you to do. But never act on the impulse of that feeling. If you do, you will cause difficult situations to arise which will take years to untangle. Wait for God’s timing and He will do it without any heartache or disappointment. When it is a question of the providential will of God, wait for God to move.
Peter did not wait for God. He predicted in his own mind where the test would come, and it came where he did not expect it. "I will lay down my life for Your sake." Peter’s statement was honest but ignorant. "Jesus answered him, ’ . . . the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times’ " (John 13:38). This was said with a deeper knowledge of Peter than Peter had of himself. He could not follow Jesus because he did not know himself or his own capabilities well enough. Natural devotion may be enough to attract us to Jesus, to make us feel His irresistible charm, but it will never make us disciples. Natural devotion will deny Jesus, always falling short of what it means to truly follow Him.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Myth of Secret Sin - #5475 Friday, January 04, 2008
It's one of the most popular convention locations in the United States - Las Vegas. We can each guess as to what some of the reasons for its popularity might be. But it's become a popular destination for people other than conventioneers. A recent advertising campaign is offering Las Vegas as the place to go if you want to get away with something. Using some scenes that suggest some covert relationships and secret romantic liaisons, the tantalizing promise that flashes across the screen simply says: "What you do here stays here." Wrong!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "The Myth of Secret Sin."
This isn't about a particular city or an advertising campaign. It's about that dark side of all of us that the idea of "getting away with it" appeals to. There is this instinct in us that seems to say, "What you do when you're alone, when you're away from home, when you're 'off duty,' when no one knows you, you can do it and no one will ever know. It doesn't count." What a lie!
Hebrews 4:13, our word for today from the Word of God, assures us that "nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." It couldn't be more blunt. God has seen it all. And if God knows, and He does, you're caught. Oh, the consequences, the judgment may not come instantaneously, but be sure they will come. In the words of Numbers 32:23, "Be sure your sin will find you out." There's no such thing as anonymous sin; as sin you get away with.
What we just read describes God, the great Creator of the universe and the Creator of you, as "Him to whom we must give account." You will stand before God one day, and no one knows when their appointment with God is. There will be no excuses, no rationalizations, no cover-ups, no plea bargains—only reckoning. What you think is a secret is not a secret with the only One who really matters. Romans 2:16 says, "God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ" (Romans 2:16). Maybe you've fooled everyone. You can't fool Him.
The thought of facing the judgment of the God against whom we've all rebelled is nothing short of terrifying. As the Bible says, "It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31). But the amazing good news Jesus brought is that you and I don't have to pay the awful, eternal death penalty for our sin. Someone already did. Jesus did. In the words of the Bible, "He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:10). Imagine, God's love for you is so great that He poured the hell for your sin against Him on His own Son so you would never have to pay for it yourself. So you could spend eternity in the heaven that you could never deserve rather than the hell you do deserve. He really, really loves you. He went a long way to forgive you.
But you have to first face your sin and see it for what it is—the defiant hijacking of your life from the God who made you. Then you have to decide you're ready to turn from the sin that killed Him and place your life in His hands, which is where you were created to be anyway. And the weight of a lifetime of sinning the weight of a lifetime of secrets and darkness can come off your shoulders this very day because, as the Bible says, "The blood of Jesus His Son, purifies us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). He is alive today. You can tell Him right now, "Jesus, Your death for my sin is my only hope and I am Yours."
If that's what you want, I want to encourage you to visit our website where I think there’s some things I’ve put there that will help you be sure you’ve begun your relationship with Him. I hope you know how to do that. Here’s the website. It’s yoursforlife.net. Or I have a little booklet called Yours For Life with that information in it, and you can call toll free for it at 877-741-1200.
This can be the day of your new beginning, when God's spiritual shower makes you clean and every sin of your life is erased from His book forever. This could be the day that your judgment is cancelled.
To find out how you can begin a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, please visit: yoursforlife.net or call 1-888-966-7325.
The Myth of Secret Sin - #5475 Friday, January 04, 2008
It's one of the most popular convention locations in the United States - Las Vegas. We can each guess as to what some of the reasons for its popularity might be. But it's become a popular destination for people other than conventioneers. A recent advertising campaign is offering Las Vegas as the place to go if you want to get away with something. Using some scenes that suggest some covert relationships and secret romantic liaisons, the tantalizing promise that flashes across the screen simply says: "What you do here stays here." Wrong!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "The Myth of Secret Sin."
This isn't about a particular city or an advertising campaign. It's about that dark side of all of us that the idea of "getting away with it" appeals to. There is this instinct in us that seems to say, "What you do when you're alone, when you're away from home, when you're 'off duty,' when no one knows you, you can do it and no one will ever know. It doesn't count." What a lie!
Hebrews 4:13, our word for today from the Word of God, assures us that "nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." It couldn't be more blunt. God has seen it all. And if God knows, and He does, you're caught. Oh, the consequences, the judgment may not come instantaneously, but be sure they will come. In the words of Numbers 32:23, "Be sure your sin will find you out." There's no such thing as anonymous sin; as sin you get away with.
What we just read describes God, the great Creator of the universe and the Creator of you, as "Him to whom we must give account." You will stand before God one day, and no one knows when their appointment with God is. There will be no excuses, no rationalizations, no cover-ups, no plea bargains—only reckoning. What you think is a secret is not a secret with the only One who really matters. Romans 2:16 says, "God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ" (Romans 2:16). Maybe you've fooled everyone. You can't fool Him.
The thought of facing the judgment of the God against whom we've all rebelled is nothing short of terrifying. As the Bible says, "It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31). But the amazing good news Jesus brought is that you and I don't have to pay the awful, eternal death penalty for our sin. Someone already did. Jesus did. In the words of the Bible, "He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:10). Imagine, God's love for you is so great that He poured the hell for your sin against Him on His own Son so you would never have to pay for it yourself. So you could spend eternity in the heaven that you could never deserve rather than the hell you do deserve. He really, really loves you. He went a long way to forgive you.
But you have to first face your sin and see it for what it is—the defiant hijacking of your life from the God who made you. Then you have to decide you're ready to turn from the sin that killed Him and place your life in His hands, which is where you were created to be anyway. And the weight of a lifetime of sinning the weight of a lifetime of secrets and darkness can come off your shoulders this very day because, as the Bible says, "The blood of Jesus His Son, purifies us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). He is alive today. You can tell Him right now, "Jesus, Your death for my sin is my only hope and I am Yours."
If that's what you want, I want to encourage you to visit our website where I think there’s some things I’ve put there that will help you be sure you’ve begun your relationship with Him. I hope you know how to do that. Here’s the website. It’s yoursforlife.net. Or I have a little booklet called Yours For Life with that information in it, and you can call toll free for it at 877-741-1200.
This can be the day of your new beginning, when God's spiritual shower makes you clean and every sin of your life is erased from His book forever. This could be the day that your judgment is cancelled.
To find out how you can begin a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, please visit: yoursforlife.net or call 1-888-966-7325.
Jonah's Prayer
1 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God. 2 He said: "In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave [a] I called for help, and you listened to my cry. 3 You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me.
4 I said, 'I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.'
5 The engulfing waters threatened me, [b] the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.
6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O LORD my God.
7 "When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.
8 "Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.
9 But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the LORD."
10 And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotional
Psalm 90BOOK IV : Psalms 90-106 A prayer of Moses the man of God. 1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. 2 Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
3 You turn men back to dust, saying, "Return to dust, O sons of men."
4 For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.
5 You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning-
6 though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered.
7 We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation.
8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.
9 All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan.
10 The length of our days is seventy years— or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span [a] is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
11 Who knows the power of your anger? For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.
12 Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
13 Relent, O LORD! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants.
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble.
16 May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children.
17 May the favor [b] of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands.
January 4, 2008
What Will You Write?
ODB RADIO: Listen Now Download
READ: Psalm 90
You do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. —James 4:14 About this cover In January 2006, a mine explosion in rural West Virginia threatened the lives of 13 coal miners. Having grown up in that state, I was among the millions riveted to the news for the next few days. Tragically, all but one of the miners were found dead. To compound the pain of that loss, the first reports given to the families said that all but one had been found alive. When the grim news of the deaths came, the grief was compounded with anger—and a desire to blame someone for the whole gut-wrenching event.
At one of the funerals, however, Rev. Wease Day asked the hurting to look in a different direction—within. During their last hours, some of the miners had written notes to their families, in some cases offering comfort and hope. In light of that, Pastor Day urged his congregation not to seek to fix blame. He instead challenged them to imagine what they would write in a farewell note if they had only hours to live.
In some ways we are like those miners. We are trapped in a dark world and are facing physical death. How we live our lives as followers of Christ becomes our “note” to the world. James wrote that life is “a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (4:14). By God’s grace, what will you write with your life today? —Bill Crowder
Lord and Savior, Christ divine,Reign within this heart of mine;May my witness ever beAlways, only, Lord for Thee. —Brandt
A Christlike life is a message of hope to a searching world.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
January 4, 2008
Why Can I Not Follow You Now?LISTEN: READ:
Peter said to Him, ’Lord, why can I not follow You now?’ —John 13:37 About this cover There are times when you can’t understand why you cannot do what you want to do. When God brings a time of waiting, and appears to be unresponsive, don’t fill it with busyness, just wait. The time of waiting may come to teach you the meaning of sanctification— to be set apart from sin and made holy— or it may come after the process of sanctification has begun to teach you what service means. Never run before God gives you His direction. If you have the slightest doubt, then He is not guiding. Whenever there is doubt— wait.
At first you may see clearly what God’s will is— the severance of a friendship, the breaking off of a business relationship, or something else you feel is distinctly God’s will for you to do. But never act on the impulse of that feeling. If you do, you will cause difficult situations to arise which will take years to untangle. Wait for God’s timing and He will do it without any heartache or disappointment. When it is a question of the providential will of God, wait for God to move.
Peter did not wait for God. He predicted in his own mind where the test would come, and it came where he did not expect it. "I will lay down my life for Your sake." Peter’s statement was honest but ignorant. "Jesus answered him, ’ . . . the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times’ " (John 13:38). This was said with a deeper knowledge of Peter than Peter had of himself. He could not follow Jesus because he did not know himself or his own capabilities well enough. Natural devotion may be enough to attract us to Jesus, to make us feel His irresistible charm, but it will never make us disciples. Natural devotion will deny Jesus, always falling short of what it means to truly follow Him.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Myth of Secret Sin - #5475 Friday, January 04, 2008
It's one of the most popular convention locations in the United States - Las Vegas. We can each guess as to what some of the reasons for its popularity might be. But it's become a popular destination for people other than conventioneers. A recent advertising campaign is offering Las Vegas as the place to go if you want to get away with something. Using some scenes that suggest some covert relationships and secret romantic liaisons, the tantalizing promise that flashes across the screen simply says: "What you do here stays here." Wrong!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "The Myth of Secret Sin."
This isn't about a particular city or an advertising campaign. It's about that dark side of all of us that the idea of "getting away with it" appeals to. There is this instinct in us that seems to say, "What you do when you're alone, when you're away from home, when you're 'off duty,' when no one knows you, you can do it and no one will ever know. It doesn't count." What a lie!
Hebrews 4:13, our word for today from the Word of God, assures us that "nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." It couldn't be more blunt. God has seen it all. And if God knows, and He does, you're caught. Oh, the consequences, the judgment may not come instantaneously, but be sure they will come. In the words of Numbers 32:23, "Be sure your sin will find you out." There's no such thing as anonymous sin; as sin you get away with.
What we just read describes God, the great Creator of the universe and the Creator of you, as "Him to whom we must give account." You will stand before God one day, and no one knows when their appointment with God is. There will be no excuses, no rationalizations, no cover-ups, no plea bargains—only reckoning. What you think is a secret is not a secret with the only One who really matters. Romans 2:16 says, "God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ" (Romans 2:16). Maybe you've fooled everyone. You can't fool Him.
The thought of facing the judgment of the God against whom we've all rebelled is nothing short of terrifying. As the Bible says, "It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31). But the amazing good news Jesus brought is that you and I don't have to pay the awful, eternal death penalty for our sin. Someone already did. Jesus did. In the words of the Bible, "He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:10). Imagine, God's love for you is so great that He poured the hell for your sin against Him on His own Son so you would never have to pay for it yourself. So you could spend eternity in the heaven that you could never deserve rather than the hell you do deserve. He really, really loves you. He went a long way to forgive you.
But you have to first face your sin and see it for what it is—the defiant hijacking of your life from the God who made you. Then you have to decide you're ready to turn from the sin that killed Him and place your life in His hands, which is where you were created to be anyway. And the weight of a lifetime of sinning the weight of a lifetime of secrets and darkness can come off your shoulders this very day because, as the Bible says, "The blood of Jesus His Son, purifies us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). He is alive today. You can tell Him right now, "Jesus, Your death for my sin is my only hope and I am Yours."
If that's what you want, I want to encourage you to visit our website where I think there’s some things I’ve put there that will help you be sure you’ve begun your relationship with Him. I hope you know how to do that. Here’s the website. It’s yoursforlife.net. Or I have a little booklet called Yours For Life with that information in it, and you can call toll free for it at 877-741-1200.
This can be the day of your new beginning, when God's spiritual shower makes you clean and every sin of your life is erased from His book forever. This could be the day that your judgment is cancelled.
To find out how you can begin a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, please visit: yoursforlife.net or call 1-888-966-7325.
The Myth of Secret Sin - #5475 Friday, January 04, 2008
It's one of the most popular convention locations in the United States - Las Vegas. We can each guess as to what some of the reasons for its popularity might be. But it's become a popular destination for people other than conventioneers. A recent advertising campaign is offering Las Vegas as the place to go if you want to get away with something. Using some scenes that suggest some covert relationships and secret romantic liaisons, the tantalizing promise that flashes across the screen simply says: "What you do here stays here." Wrong!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "The Myth of Secret Sin."
This isn't about a particular city or an advertising campaign. It's about that dark side of all of us that the idea of "getting away with it" appeals to. There is this instinct in us that seems to say, "What you do when you're alone, when you're away from home, when you're 'off duty,' when no one knows you, you can do it and no one will ever know. It doesn't count." What a lie!
Hebrews 4:13, our word for today from the Word of God, assures us that "nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." It couldn't be more blunt. God has seen it all. And if God knows, and He does, you're caught. Oh, the consequences, the judgment may not come instantaneously, but be sure they will come. In the words of Numbers 32:23, "Be sure your sin will find you out." There's no such thing as anonymous sin; as sin you get away with.
What we just read describes God, the great Creator of the universe and the Creator of you, as "Him to whom we must give account." You will stand before God one day, and no one knows when their appointment with God is. There will be no excuses, no rationalizations, no cover-ups, no plea bargains—only reckoning. What you think is a secret is not a secret with the only One who really matters. Romans 2:16 says, "God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ" (Romans 2:16). Maybe you've fooled everyone. You can't fool Him.
The thought of facing the judgment of the God against whom we've all rebelled is nothing short of terrifying. As the Bible says, "It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31). But the amazing good news Jesus brought is that you and I don't have to pay the awful, eternal death penalty for our sin. Someone already did. Jesus did. In the words of the Bible, "He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:10). Imagine, God's love for you is so great that He poured the hell for your sin against Him on His own Son so you would never have to pay for it yourself. So you could spend eternity in the heaven that you could never deserve rather than the hell you do deserve. He really, really loves you. He went a long way to forgive you.
But you have to first face your sin and see it for what it is—the defiant hijacking of your life from the God who made you. Then you have to decide you're ready to turn from the sin that killed Him and place your life in His hands, which is where you were created to be anyway. And the weight of a lifetime of sinning the weight of a lifetime of secrets and darkness can come off your shoulders this very day because, as the Bible says, "The blood of Jesus His Son, purifies us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). He is alive today. You can tell Him right now, "Jesus, Your death for my sin is my only hope and I am Yours."
If that's what you want, I want to encourage you to visit our website where I think there’s some things I’ve put there that will help you be sure you’ve begun your relationship with Him. I hope you know how to do that. Here’s the website. It’s yoursforlife.net. Or I have a little booklet called Yours For Life with that information in it, and you can call toll free for it at 877-741-1200.
This can be the day of your new beginning, when God's spiritual shower makes you clean and every sin of your life is erased from His book forever. This could be the day that your judgment is cancelled.
To find out how you can begin a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, please visit: yoursforlife.net or call 1-888-966-7325.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Jonah 1 and devotionals
Jonah 1
Jonah Flees From the LORD
1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me." 3 But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.
4 Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish."
7 Then the sailors said to each other, "Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity." They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.
8 So they asked him, "Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?"
9 He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land."
10 This terrified them and they asked, "What have you done?" (They knew he was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so.)
11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?"
12 "Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you."
13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried to the LORD, "O LORD, please do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O LORD, have done as you pleased." 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.
17 But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Psalm 119:25-32
Daleth 25 I am laid low in the dust; preserve my life according to your word. 26 I recounted my ways and you answered me; teach me your decrees.
27 Let me understand the teaching of your precepts; then I will meditate on your wonders.
28 My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word.
29 Keep me from deceitful ways; be gracious to me through your law.
30 I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart on your laws.
31 I hold fast to your statutes, O LORD; do not let me be put to shame.
32 I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.
January 3, 2008
Start Today!
ODB RADIO: Listen Now Download
READ: Psalm 119:25-32
I cling to Your testimonies; O Lord, do not put me to shame! I will run the course of Your commandments. —Psalm 119:31-32 About this cover Many people make resolutions on New Year’s Day, promising themselves (and sometimes God) that the next year of life will be different. We determine that habits are going to be changed and new patterns of behavior developed.
Resolutions like these are highly commendable and can often serve as a stimulus to spiritual growth. But not always. Sometimes our resolutions are carried out only for a little while and all too soon are forgotten.
Samuel Johnson, a deeply committed Christian who lived in the 18th century, frequently wrote resolutions in his journals. Here is a typical entry: “I have corrected no external habits, nor kept any of the resolutions made in the beginning of the year, yet I hope still to be reformed, and not to lose my whole life in idle purposes.”
It is good to engage now and then in self-examination. We should face up to the changes that need to be made, and then make plans for the way we’re going to implement them. For example, if we realize that our devotional habits are weak and inconsistent, let’s resolve to spend some time daily in focused fellowship with God. Let’s ask the Spirit to help us in this consistent practice through all our tomorrows.
Today is a good day to start. —Vernon C Grounds
You’ll go forth a little strongerWith a fresh supply of grace,If each day you meet the SaviorIn a secret, quiet place. —Adams
God speaks to those who take time to listen, and He listens to those who take time to pray.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
January 3, 2008
Clouds and DarknessLISTEN: READ:
Clouds and darkness surround Him . . . —Psalm 97:2 About this cover A person who has not been born again by the Spirit of God will tell you that the teachings of Jesus are simple. But when he is baptized by the Holy Spirit, he finds that "clouds and darkness surround Him . . . ." When we come into close contact with the teachings of Jesus Christ we have our first realization of this. The only possible way to have full understanding of the teachings of Jesus is through the light of the Spirit of God shining inside us. If we have never had the experience of taking our casual, religious shoes off our casual, religious feet— getting rid of all the excessive informality with which we approach God— it is questionable whether we have ever stood in His presence. The people who are flippant and disrespectful in their approach to God are those who have never been introduced to Jesus Christ. Only after the amazing delight and liberty of realizing what Jesus Christ does, comes the impenetrable "darkness" of realizing who He is.
Jesus said, "The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63). Once, the Bible was just so many words to us — "clouds and darkness"— then, suddenly, the words become spirit and life because Jesus re-speaks them to us when our circumstances make the words new. That is the way God speaks to us; not by visions and dreams, but by words. When a man gets to God, it is by the most simple way— words.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Binoculars for God - #5474 Thursday, January 03, 2008
Usually a total eclipse of the moon seems to happen when I'm counting sheep in the middle of the night. But this one started about 9:00 at night, and this one I got a chance to see. It's a pretty amazing sight to watch that shadow slowly move across the moon until it eventually covers it completely. I said to the friend who was assisting us with ministry that weekend, "I just wish we had binoculars." "Me, too," he said. Then it dawned on him, "Hey, I do have binoculars in my truck!" All of a sudden we moved from seats near the back to something like front row seats on the eclipse. Those binoculars revealed the craters and all the fascinating details of that disappearing moon. What a difference it made to see it up close!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "Binoculars for God."
Whether it's watching the heavens or watching some faraway wildlife right here on earth, binoculars really do make a difference. They make it big by bringing it close, which is exactly what you're supposed to be doing with the God you belong to—making Him big to the people around you by bringing Him close. I guess that would make you binoculars for God.
The famed Westminster Catechism of the Christian faith opens with this powerful summary of why we're all here: "The chief end of man is to glorify God." That's really clear in our word for today from the Word of God in Ephesians 1, beginning with verses 5 and 6. Like the Hubble Telescope, this passage shows us things about our spiritual universe that we could never see without it. Like the purpose for our lives, for example.
The Bible says: "He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves." Before there was a world, before there was a you, God had a plan for you to rescue you through His Son, so you could live for "the praise of His glorious grace." Verses 11 and 12 talk about His plan, "the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will..." And what is His purpose that guides His plan? "...that we might be for the praise of His glory." Later, it says He bought us with blood to be for this ultimate outcome: "To the praise of His glory."
God believes in what management consultants call MBO—Management By Objective. Since before there was a world, right up to you and me and this day and right on through to eternity, God's running His plan by one objective, "the praise of His glory." Since God is the source of everything that exists, our life makes sense and makes a difference when we bring people back to that source. What does it mean to "glorify God?" Think binoculars. It's making Him look as big as He really is to the people we meet.
They have no idea what an awesome, loving, totally powerful Father He is. We're to live in such a way that we draw attention to the greatness of our Father. And how do we do that? By living in such a way that we bring Him close to people who otherwise might never see Him or touch Him.
Jesus said we were to be a light shining so "people will see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:16). So here's one good way to see if you're carrying out the purpose you were created for: When people are around you, do they end up impressed with your God? If not, you must be filling their view with you, how great you are, or how many problems you have, how stressed you are, or just the trivia of your life. They may know you as a happy person, a caring person, a strong person, but have you ever told them it's because of what Jesus has done for you? Have you ever prayed with them when they share a need with you so they can taste that relationship with a miracle-working God? Do you ask in every situation, "Lord, how can you use this to draw people to you?"
That's the mind and heart of someone who knows why they're here. God's looking for some human binoculars — like you — that will bring Him close so people can see how very big and how very close He really is.
Jonah Flees From the LORD
1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me." 3 But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.
4 Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish."
7 Then the sailors said to each other, "Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity." They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.
8 So they asked him, "Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?"
9 He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land."
10 This terrified them and they asked, "What have you done?" (They knew he was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so.)
11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?"
12 "Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you."
13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried to the LORD, "O LORD, please do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O LORD, have done as you pleased." 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.
17 But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Psalm 119:25-32
Daleth 25 I am laid low in the dust; preserve my life according to your word. 26 I recounted my ways and you answered me; teach me your decrees.
27 Let me understand the teaching of your precepts; then I will meditate on your wonders.
28 My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word.
29 Keep me from deceitful ways; be gracious to me through your law.
30 I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart on your laws.
31 I hold fast to your statutes, O LORD; do not let me be put to shame.
32 I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.
January 3, 2008
Start Today!
ODB RADIO: Listen Now Download
READ: Psalm 119:25-32
I cling to Your testimonies; O Lord, do not put me to shame! I will run the course of Your commandments. —Psalm 119:31-32 About this cover Many people make resolutions on New Year’s Day, promising themselves (and sometimes God) that the next year of life will be different. We determine that habits are going to be changed and new patterns of behavior developed.
Resolutions like these are highly commendable and can often serve as a stimulus to spiritual growth. But not always. Sometimes our resolutions are carried out only for a little while and all too soon are forgotten.
Samuel Johnson, a deeply committed Christian who lived in the 18th century, frequently wrote resolutions in his journals. Here is a typical entry: “I have corrected no external habits, nor kept any of the resolutions made in the beginning of the year, yet I hope still to be reformed, and not to lose my whole life in idle purposes.”
It is good to engage now and then in self-examination. We should face up to the changes that need to be made, and then make plans for the way we’re going to implement them. For example, if we realize that our devotional habits are weak and inconsistent, let’s resolve to spend some time daily in focused fellowship with God. Let’s ask the Spirit to help us in this consistent practice through all our tomorrows.
Today is a good day to start. —Vernon C Grounds
You’ll go forth a little strongerWith a fresh supply of grace,If each day you meet the SaviorIn a secret, quiet place. —Adams
God speaks to those who take time to listen, and He listens to those who take time to pray.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
January 3, 2008
Clouds and DarknessLISTEN: READ:
Clouds and darkness surround Him . . . —Psalm 97:2 About this cover A person who has not been born again by the Spirit of God will tell you that the teachings of Jesus are simple. But when he is baptized by the Holy Spirit, he finds that "clouds and darkness surround Him . . . ." When we come into close contact with the teachings of Jesus Christ we have our first realization of this. The only possible way to have full understanding of the teachings of Jesus is through the light of the Spirit of God shining inside us. If we have never had the experience of taking our casual, religious shoes off our casual, religious feet— getting rid of all the excessive informality with which we approach God— it is questionable whether we have ever stood in His presence. The people who are flippant and disrespectful in their approach to God are those who have never been introduced to Jesus Christ. Only after the amazing delight and liberty of realizing what Jesus Christ does, comes the impenetrable "darkness" of realizing who He is.
Jesus said, "The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63). Once, the Bible was just so many words to us — "clouds and darkness"— then, suddenly, the words become spirit and life because Jesus re-speaks them to us when our circumstances make the words new. That is the way God speaks to us; not by visions and dreams, but by words. When a man gets to God, it is by the most simple way— words.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Binoculars for God - #5474 Thursday, January 03, 2008
Usually a total eclipse of the moon seems to happen when I'm counting sheep in the middle of the night. But this one started about 9:00 at night, and this one I got a chance to see. It's a pretty amazing sight to watch that shadow slowly move across the moon until it eventually covers it completely. I said to the friend who was assisting us with ministry that weekend, "I just wish we had binoculars." "Me, too," he said. Then it dawned on him, "Hey, I do have binoculars in my truck!" All of a sudden we moved from seats near the back to something like front row seats on the eclipse. Those binoculars revealed the craters and all the fascinating details of that disappearing moon. What a difference it made to see it up close!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "Binoculars for God."
Whether it's watching the heavens or watching some faraway wildlife right here on earth, binoculars really do make a difference. They make it big by bringing it close, which is exactly what you're supposed to be doing with the God you belong to—making Him big to the people around you by bringing Him close. I guess that would make you binoculars for God.
The famed Westminster Catechism of the Christian faith opens with this powerful summary of why we're all here: "The chief end of man is to glorify God." That's really clear in our word for today from the Word of God in Ephesians 1, beginning with verses 5 and 6. Like the Hubble Telescope, this passage shows us things about our spiritual universe that we could never see without it. Like the purpose for our lives, for example.
The Bible says: "He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves." Before there was a world, before there was a you, God had a plan for you to rescue you through His Son, so you could live for "the praise of His glorious grace." Verses 11 and 12 talk about His plan, "the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will..." And what is His purpose that guides His plan? "...that we might be for the praise of His glory." Later, it says He bought us with blood to be for this ultimate outcome: "To the praise of His glory."
God believes in what management consultants call MBO—Management By Objective. Since before there was a world, right up to you and me and this day and right on through to eternity, God's running His plan by one objective, "the praise of His glory." Since God is the source of everything that exists, our life makes sense and makes a difference when we bring people back to that source. What does it mean to "glorify God?" Think binoculars. It's making Him look as big as He really is to the people we meet.
They have no idea what an awesome, loving, totally powerful Father He is. We're to live in such a way that we draw attention to the greatness of our Father. And how do we do that? By living in such a way that we bring Him close to people who otherwise might never see Him or touch Him.
Jesus said we were to be a light shining so "people will see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:16). So here's one good way to see if you're carrying out the purpose you were created for: When people are around you, do they end up impressed with your God? If not, you must be filling their view with you, how great you are, or how many problems you have, how stressed you are, or just the trivia of your life. They may know you as a happy person, a caring person, a strong person, but have you ever told them it's because of what Jesus has done for you? Have you ever prayed with them when they share a need with you so they can taste that relationship with a miracle-working God? Do you ask in every situation, "Lord, how can you use this to draw people to you?"
That's the mind and heart of someone who knows why they're here. God's looking for some human binoculars — like you — that will bring Him close so people can see how very big and how very close He really is.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Obadiah 1 and devotionals
Obadiah 1
1 The vision of Obadiah. This is what the Sovereign LORD says about Edom— We have heard a message from the LORD : An envoy was sent to the nations to say, "Rise, and let us go against her for battle"-
2 "See, I will make you small among the nations; you will be utterly despised.
3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks [a] and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, 'Who can bring me down to the ground?'
4 Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down," declares the LORD.
5 "If thieves came to you, if robbers in the night— Oh, what a disaster awaits you— would they not steal only as much as they wanted? If grape pickers came to you, would they not leave a few grapes?
6 But how Esau will be ransacked, his hidden treasures pillaged!
7 All your allies will force you to the border; your friends will deceive and overpower you; those who eat your bread will set a trap for you, [b] but you will not detect it.
8 "In that day," declares the LORD, "will I not destroy the wise men of Edom, men of understanding in the mountains of Esau?
9 Your warriors, O Teman, will be terrified, and everyone in Esau's mountains will be cut down in the slaughter.
10 Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame; you will be destroyed forever.
11 On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them.
12 You should not look down on your brother in the day of his misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast so much in the day of their trouble.
13 You should not march through the gates of my people in the day of their disaster, nor look down on them in their calamity in the day of their disaster, nor seize their wealth in the day of their disaster.
14 You should not wait at the crossroads to cut down their fugitives, nor hand over their survivors in the day of their trouble.
15 "The day of the LORD is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head.
16 Just as you drank on my holy hill, so all the nations will drink continually; they will drink and drink and be as if they had never been.
17 But on Mount Zion will be deliverance; it will be holy, and the house of Jacob will possess its inheritance.
18 The house of Jacob will be a fire and the house of Joseph a flame; the house of Esau will be stubble, and they will set it on fire and consume it. There will be no survivors from the house of Esau." The LORD has spoken.
19 People from the Negev will occupy the mountains of Esau, and people from the foothills will possess the land of the Philistines. They will occupy the fields of Ephraim and Samaria, and Benjamin will possess Gilead.
20 This company of Israelite exiles who are in Canaan will possess the land as far as Zarephath; the exiles from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad will possess the towns of the Negev.
21 Deliverers will go up on [c] Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom will be the LORD's.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotional
Psalm 119:17-24
Gimel 17 Do good to your servant, and I will live; I will obey your word. 18 Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.
19 I am a stranger on earth; do not hide your commands from me.
20 My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times.
21 You rebuke the arrogant, who are cursed and who stray from your commands.
22 Remove from me scorn and contempt, for I keep your statutes.
23 Though rulers sit together and slander me, your servant will meditate on your decrees.
24 Your statutes are my delight; they are my counselors
January 2, 2008
Lord, I’m Excited!
ODB RADIO: Listen Now Download
READ: Psalm 119:17-24
Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law. —Psalm 119:18 About this cover People use Our Daily Bread in many different ways. Small groups have informed me that they meet before work to read the online devotional on their laptops. Families read it together at a meal. Others reach for it on a break or during a quiet moment of the day.
A letter from one reader inspired me with her approach each morning: “As I open Our Daily Bread, I tell God that I am excited about what His Word is going to teach me. Then I read the Scripture (if it’s short, I include all the surrounding context), and I meditate [on it] and write what it is saying to me before I read what God gave the writer . . . . Since I am indexing my journal, both Scripture and topics, as I go along, I can refer back to pertinent topics at any time. I love it.”
What impressed me is her enthusiasm for the Word and the anticipation of what the Lord has for her in the Bible. She echoes the psalmist’s prayer, “Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law” (Ps. 119:18).
A writer’s thoughts are no substitute for the powerful Word of God. It’s the only place to find spiritual nourishment and strength for each day. And that’s exciting! —David C. McCasland
Give me, O Lord, a strong desireTo look within Your Word each day;Help me to hide it in my heart,Lest from its truth my feet would stray. —Branon
The Bible is the Bread of Life, and it never becomes stale.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
January 2, 2008
Will You Go Out Without Knowing?LISTEN: READ:
He went out, not knowing where he was going —Hebrews 11:8 About this cover Have you ever "gone out" in this way? If so, there is no logical answer possible when anyone asks you what you are doing. One of the most difficult questions to answer in Christian work is, "What do you expect to do?" You don’t know what you are going to do. The only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing. Continually examine your attitude toward God to see if you are willing to "go out" in every area of your life, trusting in God entirely. It is this attitude that keeps you in constant wonder, because you don’t know what God is going to do next. Each morning as you wake, there is a new opportunity to "go out," building your confidence in God. ". . . do not worry about your life . . . nor about the body . . ." (Luke 12:22). In other words, don’t worry about the things that concerned you before you did "go out."
Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do— He reveals to you who He is. Do you believe in a miracle-working God, and will you "go out" in complete surrender to Him until you are not surprised one iota by anything He does?
Believe God is always the God you know Him to be when you are nearest to Him. Then think how unnecessary and disrespectful worry is! Let the attitude of your life be a continual willingness to "go out" in dependence upon God, and your life will have a sacred and inexpressible charm about it that is very satisfying to Jesus. You must learn to "go out" through your convictions, creeds, or experiences until you come to the point in your faith where there is nothing between yourself and God.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
What Your Child May be Missing - #5473 Wednesday, January 02, 2008
It's not much fun to perform without an audience. Toddlers believe that for sure. Our family was having one of those rare opportunities to have all of us together, and we were having some great conversations, keeping one eye on our little two-year-old granddaughter. And one eye wasn't enough for her. Using her recently enhanced motor skills, she started running wide circles right in the middle of the room. After her first two spins—which did manage to get our attention—she called out two little words I didn't even know she knew, "Watch this!" We did.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "What Your Child May be Missing."
Our granddaughter wanted our attention and our approval—maybe even a little applause. She got all three. She's not unusual. All children, no matter how old they are, need to know that their mom or dad loves them and is proud of them. It's that triple-A combination: our attention, our approval, our applause. Sadly, far too many sons and daughters, some all grown up now, are starved for their parent's blessing. Without it, they can make a lot of mistakes looking in all the wrong places for what only Mom and Dad can give them.
In a number of places in the Bible, we see examples of parents giving their children this great gift. In Genesis 49:28, for example, our word for today from the Word of God, it speaks of Jacob and his sons: "This is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him." That should be going on in every family, with every mother and father, every daughter and son. Hebrews 12:17 tells us about a son who missed his father's blessing—Esau. It says that his whole life "he sought the blessing with tears."
When you feel like you've never really gotten your mom or dad's blessing, it leaves this gaping hole inside. If you never got it from your parents, you know how it feels. Don't pass on that deficit; don’t pass on that hurt to any child of yours, any grandchild of yours. What happens when a person has this blessing deficit? Sometimes they give up on trying to please Mom or Dad and they just go entirely the other direction so nothing is expected of them. Some will become rebels because they never were good enough for the most important people in their life. Others may just turn hard to cover up the hurt and look like they don't care. And some drive themselves mercilessly, even after their parent is gone, trying to please anyone who may give them that blessing that a parent failed to give. But it will never be enough.
We bless our son or daughter when we tell them what we like about them, what's good about them. When we compliment them on even small progress or achievements. When we point out to them, not only their positive abilities, but their positive qualities. Those are things that you don't get awards or grades for, but they're the things that really matter—being generous, being unselfish, being a good listener, having good radar for people's feelings, being a leader, being organized, being a problem-solver.
Praise what's good, and praise it regularly and specifically. Water what you want to grow, and learn to swallow what's negative and critical and shame-producing. In the Bible's words, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building others up, according to their needs" (Ephesians 4:29). Don't focus on the problems and the areas that need improving. You have such incredible power to make your son or daughter feel either very big or very small; very secure or very insecure; very valuable or very worthless. It's all wrapped up in "giving each the blessing appropriate to him" or her.
And let your son or daughter know that there is a Father whose love does not ever have to be earned. In fact, it can't be earned. God is that Father whose unconditional love sent His Son to a cross for us; thus making possible for each of us one love, one blessing, and one safe relationship that we can always count on. We parents pride ourselves on providing for our children all the things they need. There are few things they need more than your blessing. Please, don't fail them.
1 The vision of Obadiah. This is what the Sovereign LORD says about Edom— We have heard a message from the LORD : An envoy was sent to the nations to say, "Rise, and let us go against her for battle"-
2 "See, I will make you small among the nations; you will be utterly despised.
3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks [a] and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, 'Who can bring me down to the ground?'
4 Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down," declares the LORD.
5 "If thieves came to you, if robbers in the night— Oh, what a disaster awaits you— would they not steal only as much as they wanted? If grape pickers came to you, would they not leave a few grapes?
6 But how Esau will be ransacked, his hidden treasures pillaged!
7 All your allies will force you to the border; your friends will deceive and overpower you; those who eat your bread will set a trap for you, [b] but you will not detect it.
8 "In that day," declares the LORD, "will I not destroy the wise men of Edom, men of understanding in the mountains of Esau?
9 Your warriors, O Teman, will be terrified, and everyone in Esau's mountains will be cut down in the slaughter.
10 Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame; you will be destroyed forever.
11 On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them.
12 You should not look down on your brother in the day of his misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast so much in the day of their trouble.
13 You should not march through the gates of my people in the day of their disaster, nor look down on them in their calamity in the day of their disaster, nor seize their wealth in the day of their disaster.
14 You should not wait at the crossroads to cut down their fugitives, nor hand over their survivors in the day of their trouble.
15 "The day of the LORD is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head.
16 Just as you drank on my holy hill, so all the nations will drink continually; they will drink and drink and be as if they had never been.
17 But on Mount Zion will be deliverance; it will be holy, and the house of Jacob will possess its inheritance.
18 The house of Jacob will be a fire and the house of Joseph a flame; the house of Esau will be stubble, and they will set it on fire and consume it. There will be no survivors from the house of Esau." The LORD has spoken.
19 People from the Negev will occupy the mountains of Esau, and people from the foothills will possess the land of the Philistines. They will occupy the fields of Ephraim and Samaria, and Benjamin will possess Gilead.
20 This company of Israelite exiles who are in Canaan will possess the land as far as Zarephath; the exiles from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad will possess the towns of the Negev.
21 Deliverers will go up on [c] Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom will be the LORD's.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotional
Psalm 119:17-24
Gimel 17 Do good to your servant, and I will live; I will obey your word. 18 Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.
19 I am a stranger on earth; do not hide your commands from me.
20 My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times.
21 You rebuke the arrogant, who are cursed and who stray from your commands.
22 Remove from me scorn and contempt, for I keep your statutes.
23 Though rulers sit together and slander me, your servant will meditate on your decrees.
24 Your statutes are my delight; they are my counselors
January 2, 2008
Lord, I’m Excited!
ODB RADIO: Listen Now Download
READ: Psalm 119:17-24
Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law. —Psalm 119:18 About this cover People use Our Daily Bread in many different ways. Small groups have informed me that they meet before work to read the online devotional on their laptops. Families read it together at a meal. Others reach for it on a break or during a quiet moment of the day.
A letter from one reader inspired me with her approach each morning: “As I open Our Daily Bread, I tell God that I am excited about what His Word is going to teach me. Then I read the Scripture (if it’s short, I include all the surrounding context), and I meditate [on it] and write what it is saying to me before I read what God gave the writer . . . . Since I am indexing my journal, both Scripture and topics, as I go along, I can refer back to pertinent topics at any time. I love it.”
What impressed me is her enthusiasm for the Word and the anticipation of what the Lord has for her in the Bible. She echoes the psalmist’s prayer, “Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law” (Ps. 119:18).
A writer’s thoughts are no substitute for the powerful Word of God. It’s the only place to find spiritual nourishment and strength for each day. And that’s exciting! —David C. McCasland
Give me, O Lord, a strong desireTo look within Your Word each day;Help me to hide it in my heart,Lest from its truth my feet would stray. —Branon
The Bible is the Bread of Life, and it never becomes stale.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
January 2, 2008
Will You Go Out Without Knowing?LISTEN: READ:
He went out, not knowing where he was going —Hebrews 11:8 About this cover Have you ever "gone out" in this way? If so, there is no logical answer possible when anyone asks you what you are doing. One of the most difficult questions to answer in Christian work is, "What do you expect to do?" You don’t know what you are going to do. The only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing. Continually examine your attitude toward God to see if you are willing to "go out" in every area of your life, trusting in God entirely. It is this attitude that keeps you in constant wonder, because you don’t know what God is going to do next. Each morning as you wake, there is a new opportunity to "go out," building your confidence in God. ". . . do not worry about your life . . . nor about the body . . ." (Luke 12:22). In other words, don’t worry about the things that concerned you before you did "go out."
Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do— He reveals to you who He is. Do you believe in a miracle-working God, and will you "go out" in complete surrender to Him until you are not surprised one iota by anything He does?
Believe God is always the God you know Him to be when you are nearest to Him. Then think how unnecessary and disrespectful worry is! Let the attitude of your life be a continual willingness to "go out" in dependence upon God, and your life will have a sacred and inexpressible charm about it that is very satisfying to Jesus. You must learn to "go out" through your convictions, creeds, or experiences until you come to the point in your faith where there is nothing between yourself and God.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
What Your Child May be Missing - #5473 Wednesday, January 02, 2008
It's not much fun to perform without an audience. Toddlers believe that for sure. Our family was having one of those rare opportunities to have all of us together, and we were having some great conversations, keeping one eye on our little two-year-old granddaughter. And one eye wasn't enough for her. Using her recently enhanced motor skills, she started running wide circles right in the middle of the room. After her first two spins—which did manage to get our attention—she called out two little words I didn't even know she knew, "Watch this!" We did.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "What Your Child May be Missing."
Our granddaughter wanted our attention and our approval—maybe even a little applause. She got all three. She's not unusual. All children, no matter how old they are, need to know that their mom or dad loves them and is proud of them. It's that triple-A combination: our attention, our approval, our applause. Sadly, far too many sons and daughters, some all grown up now, are starved for their parent's blessing. Without it, they can make a lot of mistakes looking in all the wrong places for what only Mom and Dad can give them.
In a number of places in the Bible, we see examples of parents giving their children this great gift. In Genesis 49:28, for example, our word for today from the Word of God, it speaks of Jacob and his sons: "This is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him." That should be going on in every family, with every mother and father, every daughter and son. Hebrews 12:17 tells us about a son who missed his father's blessing—Esau. It says that his whole life "he sought the blessing with tears."
When you feel like you've never really gotten your mom or dad's blessing, it leaves this gaping hole inside. If you never got it from your parents, you know how it feels. Don't pass on that deficit; don’t pass on that hurt to any child of yours, any grandchild of yours. What happens when a person has this blessing deficit? Sometimes they give up on trying to please Mom or Dad and they just go entirely the other direction so nothing is expected of them. Some will become rebels because they never were good enough for the most important people in their life. Others may just turn hard to cover up the hurt and look like they don't care. And some drive themselves mercilessly, even after their parent is gone, trying to please anyone who may give them that blessing that a parent failed to give. But it will never be enough.
We bless our son or daughter when we tell them what we like about them, what's good about them. When we compliment them on even small progress or achievements. When we point out to them, not only their positive abilities, but their positive qualities. Those are things that you don't get awards or grades for, but they're the things that really matter—being generous, being unselfish, being a good listener, having good radar for people's feelings, being a leader, being organized, being a problem-solver.
Praise what's good, and praise it regularly and specifically. Water what you want to grow, and learn to swallow what's negative and critical and shame-producing. In the Bible's words, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building others up, according to their needs" (Ephesians 4:29). Don't focus on the problems and the areas that need improving. You have such incredible power to make your son or daughter feel either very big or very small; very secure or very insecure; very valuable or very worthless. It's all wrapped up in "giving each the blessing appropriate to him" or her.
And let your son or daughter know that there is a Father whose love does not ever have to be earned. In fact, it can't be earned. God is that Father whose unconditional love sent His Son to a cross for us; thus making possible for each of us one love, one blessing, and one safe relationship that we can always count on. We parents pride ourselves on providing for our children all the things they need. There are few things they need more than your blessing. Please, don't fail them.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Amos 9 and devotionals
Amos 9
Israel to Be Destroyed
1 I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said: "Strike the tops of the pillars so that the thresholds shake. Bring them down on the heads of all the people; those who are left I will kill with the sword. Not one will get away, none will escape. 2 Though they dig down to the depths of the grave, [a] from there my hand will take them. Though they climb up to the heavens, from there I will bring them down.
3 Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, there I will hunt them down and seize them. Though they hide from me at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them.
4 Though they are driven into exile by their enemies, there I will command the sword to slay them. I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good."
5 The Lord, the LORD Almighty, he who touches the earth and it melts, and all who live in it mourn— the whole land rises like the Nile, then sinks like the river of Egypt-
6 he who builds his lofty palace [b] in the heavens and sets its foundation [c] on the earth, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land— the LORD is his name.
7 "Are not you Israelites the same to me as the Cushites [d] ?" declares the LORD . "Did I not bring Israel up from Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor [e] and the Arameans from Kir?
8 "Surely the eyes of the Sovereign LORD are on the sinful kingdom. I will destroy it from the face of the earth— yet I will not totally destroy the house of Jacob," declares the LORD.
9 "For I will give the command, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations as grain is shaken in a sieve, and not a pebble will reach the ground.
10 All the sinners among my people will die by the sword, all those who say, 'Disaster will not overtake or meet us.'
Israel's Restoration 11 "In that day I will restore David's fallen tent. I will repair its broken places, restore its ruins, and build it as it used to be, 12 so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name, [f] " declares the LORD, who will do these things.
13 "The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills.
14 I will bring back my exiled [g] people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
15 I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them," says the LORD your God.
Our Daily Bread readings and devotional.
Nehemiah 10:28-31
28 "The rest of the people—priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, temple servants and all who separated themselves from the neighboring peoples for the sake of the Law of God, together with their wives and all their sons and daughters who are able to understand- 29 all these now join their brothers the nobles, and bind themselves with a curse and an oath to follow the Law of God given through Moses the servant of God and to obey carefully all the commands, regulations and decrees of the LORD our Lord.
30 "We promise not to give our daughters in marriage to the peoples around us or take their daughters for our sons.
31 "When the neighboring peoples bring merchandise or grain to sell on the Sabbath, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on any holy day. Every seventh year we will forgo working the land and will cancel all debts.
January 1, 2008
Resolutions
ODB RADIO: Listen Now Download
READ: Nehemiah 10:28-31
[They] entered into . . . an oath to walk in God’s Law, . . . and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord. —Nehemiah 10:29 About this cover In 1722, Jonathan Edwards drew up a list of 70 resolutions, dedicating himself to live in harmony with God and others. The following resolutions give a picture of the serious purpose with which Edwards approached his relationship with God. He resolved:
• To do whatever is most to God’s glory.
• To do my duty, for the good of mankind in general.
• Never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.
• To study the Scriptures steadily, constantly, and frequently.
• To ask myself at the end of every day, week, month, and year if I could possibly have done better.
• Until I die, not to act as if I were my own, but entirely and altogether God’s.
In Nehemiah 10, God’s people made an oath, vowing to follow all the commands, laws, and regulations of the Lord. This oath was so serious that they were willing to accept the curse of God if they failed to keep these commands.
Our resolutions need not be so serious as that. But any resolution to follow God is not a casual promise. Rather, it is a solemn and serious declaration that—with the help of the Holy Spirit—we can renew every day. —Marvin Williams
My Resolutions This Year Are:
1. _____________________________________
2. _____________________________________
3. _____________________________________
Act on your resolutions.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
January 1, 2008
Let Us Keep to the PointLISTEN: READ:
". . . my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death" —Philippians 1:20 About this cover My Utmost for His Highest. ". . . my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed . . . ." We will all feel very much ashamed if we do not yield to Jesus the areas of our lives He has asked us to yield to Him. It’s as if Paul were saying, "My determined purpose is to be my utmost for His highest— my best for His glory." To reach that level of determination is a matter of the will, not of debate or of reasoning. It is absolute and irrevocable surrender of the will at that point. An undue amount of thought and consideration for ourselves is what keeps us from making that decision, although we cover it up with the pretense that it is others we are considering. When we think seriously about what it will cost others if we obey the call of Jesus, we tell God He doesn’t know what our obedience will mean. Keep to the point— He does know. Shut out every other thought and keep yourself before God in this one thing only— my utmost for His highest. I am determined to be absolutely and entirely for Him and Him alone.
My Unstoppable Determination for His Holiness. "Whether it means life or death-it makes no difference!" (see Philippians 1:21). Paul was determined that nothing would stop him from doing exactly what God wanted. But before we choose to follow God’s will, a crisis must develop in our lives. This happens because we tend to be unresponsive to God’s gentler nudges. He brings us to the place where He asks us to be our utmost for Him and we begin to debate. He then providentially produces a crisis where we have to decide— for or against. That moment becomes a great crossroads in our lives. If a crisis has come to you on any front, surrender your will to Jesus absolutely and irrevocably.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Human Jumper Cables - #5472 Tuesday, January 01, 2008
One little light. That's all it took to render our car totally unusable. The little light in the rear of our vehicle was left on one night after we unloaded some things, and it stayed on for several days while we were gone. When we got back, everything in that car said, "I'm not starting, pal!" because that one little light totally drained our battery, of course. But then came the hero—our friend in his pickup truck with his trusty jumper cables. And those cables delivered the energy that my flat old battery needed to run again!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "Human Jumper Cables."
What does it take to get a drained and tired battery going again? A jolt from jumper cables that infuses the energy needed to revive it. And what does it take to get a drained and tired person going again? Human jumper cables that deliver new energy to revive them.
I'm guessing that you know someone right now who is pretty depleted—emotionally, mentally, maybe spiritually, even physically. When they turn the key, not much is happening because their battles, their responsibilities have left them unable to get going again. That's why God has given us each other. To be jumper cables for each other when we sense that someone we know is pretty run down. If you've got your eyes open for them, you'll see someone in need of an emotional and spiritual "jump" most every day of your life.
There's a wonderful example of that in II Timothy 1:16-17, our word for today from the Word of God. This is the last letter Paul ever wrote. He's away from most of his friends, he's locked up in Caesar's prison in Rome, and he knows he may never leave there alive. And in fact, he won't. Then along comes an unsung hero named Onesiphorus, and he is God's jumper cables to help the great apostle find the energy to go on. Listen to Paul's testimony and think about how you can be this for someone you know: "May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains...When he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me."
When you're one of God's jump starters, you wake up in the morning and you say, "Lord, show me who needs me today." Then you look for, even go out of your way if necessary, to call that person who needs encouragement, to write them, e-mail them, visit with them, or just stop and take time with them. It's almost always a sacrifice to do that because of all the things you have to do. But you may have nothing more important to do than this extension of Jesus' love to someone who's really depleted. Your joy can jump start theirs. Your praying in faith can jump start theirs. Your affirmation of their value and their significance can jump start them believing it again themselves. Your belief in them can re-energize their courage to get back in the ring for another round. Your reminder of who they really are to God and to you may be just the spiritual jolt they need to get going again.
You may say, "Yeah, well, I need someone to jump start me!" You're thinking a lot lately about your burdens, your problems, and your feelings. The greatest way to get out of your pit is to reach out and help someone else get out of theirs. Proverbs 11:25 says: "He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed."
You have what someone needs today to get started again. Don't just cruise on by, oblivious to the needs right in front of you. "Lord, show me who needs me today." That's the prayer that will make you the conduit to deliver the resources of God to someone who really can't go on without them. You are God’s jumper cables!
Israel to Be Destroyed
1 I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said: "Strike the tops of the pillars so that the thresholds shake. Bring them down on the heads of all the people; those who are left I will kill with the sword. Not one will get away, none will escape. 2 Though they dig down to the depths of the grave, [a] from there my hand will take them. Though they climb up to the heavens, from there I will bring them down.
3 Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, there I will hunt them down and seize them. Though they hide from me at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them.
4 Though they are driven into exile by their enemies, there I will command the sword to slay them. I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good."
5 The Lord, the LORD Almighty, he who touches the earth and it melts, and all who live in it mourn— the whole land rises like the Nile, then sinks like the river of Egypt-
6 he who builds his lofty palace [b] in the heavens and sets its foundation [c] on the earth, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land— the LORD is his name.
7 "Are not you Israelites the same to me as the Cushites [d] ?" declares the LORD . "Did I not bring Israel up from Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor [e] and the Arameans from Kir?
8 "Surely the eyes of the Sovereign LORD are on the sinful kingdom. I will destroy it from the face of the earth— yet I will not totally destroy the house of Jacob," declares the LORD.
9 "For I will give the command, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations as grain is shaken in a sieve, and not a pebble will reach the ground.
10 All the sinners among my people will die by the sword, all those who say, 'Disaster will not overtake or meet us.'
Israel's Restoration 11 "In that day I will restore David's fallen tent. I will repair its broken places, restore its ruins, and build it as it used to be, 12 so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name, [f] " declares the LORD, who will do these things.
13 "The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills.
14 I will bring back my exiled [g] people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
15 I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them," says the LORD your God.
Our Daily Bread readings and devotional.
Nehemiah 10:28-31
28 "The rest of the people—priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, temple servants and all who separated themselves from the neighboring peoples for the sake of the Law of God, together with their wives and all their sons and daughters who are able to understand- 29 all these now join their brothers the nobles, and bind themselves with a curse and an oath to follow the Law of God given through Moses the servant of God and to obey carefully all the commands, regulations and decrees of the LORD our Lord.
30 "We promise not to give our daughters in marriage to the peoples around us or take their daughters for our sons.
31 "When the neighboring peoples bring merchandise or grain to sell on the Sabbath, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on any holy day. Every seventh year we will forgo working the land and will cancel all debts.
January 1, 2008
Resolutions
ODB RADIO: Listen Now Download
READ: Nehemiah 10:28-31
[They] entered into . . . an oath to walk in God’s Law, . . . and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord. —Nehemiah 10:29 About this cover In 1722, Jonathan Edwards drew up a list of 70 resolutions, dedicating himself to live in harmony with God and others. The following resolutions give a picture of the serious purpose with which Edwards approached his relationship with God. He resolved:
• To do whatever is most to God’s glory.
• To do my duty, for the good of mankind in general.
• Never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.
• To study the Scriptures steadily, constantly, and frequently.
• To ask myself at the end of every day, week, month, and year if I could possibly have done better.
• Until I die, not to act as if I were my own, but entirely and altogether God’s.
In Nehemiah 10, God’s people made an oath, vowing to follow all the commands, laws, and regulations of the Lord. This oath was so serious that they were willing to accept the curse of God if they failed to keep these commands.
Our resolutions need not be so serious as that. But any resolution to follow God is not a casual promise. Rather, it is a solemn and serious declaration that—with the help of the Holy Spirit—we can renew every day. —Marvin Williams
My Resolutions This Year Are:
1. _____________________________________
2. _____________________________________
3. _____________________________________
Act on your resolutions.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
January 1, 2008
Let Us Keep to the PointLISTEN: READ:
". . . my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death" —Philippians 1:20 About this cover My Utmost for His Highest. ". . . my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed . . . ." We will all feel very much ashamed if we do not yield to Jesus the areas of our lives He has asked us to yield to Him. It’s as if Paul were saying, "My determined purpose is to be my utmost for His highest— my best for His glory." To reach that level of determination is a matter of the will, not of debate or of reasoning. It is absolute and irrevocable surrender of the will at that point. An undue amount of thought and consideration for ourselves is what keeps us from making that decision, although we cover it up with the pretense that it is others we are considering. When we think seriously about what it will cost others if we obey the call of Jesus, we tell God He doesn’t know what our obedience will mean. Keep to the point— He does know. Shut out every other thought and keep yourself before God in this one thing only— my utmost for His highest. I am determined to be absolutely and entirely for Him and Him alone.
My Unstoppable Determination for His Holiness. "Whether it means life or death-it makes no difference!" (see Philippians 1:21). Paul was determined that nothing would stop him from doing exactly what God wanted. But before we choose to follow God’s will, a crisis must develop in our lives. This happens because we tend to be unresponsive to God’s gentler nudges. He brings us to the place where He asks us to be our utmost for Him and we begin to debate. He then providentially produces a crisis where we have to decide— for or against. That moment becomes a great crossroads in our lives. If a crisis has come to you on any front, surrender your will to Jesus absolutely and irrevocably.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Human Jumper Cables - #5472 Tuesday, January 01, 2008
One little light. That's all it took to render our car totally unusable. The little light in the rear of our vehicle was left on one night after we unloaded some things, and it stayed on for several days while we were gone. When we got back, everything in that car said, "I'm not starting, pal!" because that one little light totally drained our battery, of course. But then came the hero—our friend in his pickup truck with his trusty jumper cables. And those cables delivered the energy that my flat old battery needed to run again!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "Human Jumper Cables."
What does it take to get a drained and tired battery going again? A jolt from jumper cables that infuses the energy needed to revive it. And what does it take to get a drained and tired person going again? Human jumper cables that deliver new energy to revive them.
I'm guessing that you know someone right now who is pretty depleted—emotionally, mentally, maybe spiritually, even physically. When they turn the key, not much is happening because their battles, their responsibilities have left them unable to get going again. That's why God has given us each other. To be jumper cables for each other when we sense that someone we know is pretty run down. If you've got your eyes open for them, you'll see someone in need of an emotional and spiritual "jump" most every day of your life.
There's a wonderful example of that in II Timothy 1:16-17, our word for today from the Word of God. This is the last letter Paul ever wrote. He's away from most of his friends, he's locked up in Caesar's prison in Rome, and he knows he may never leave there alive. And in fact, he won't. Then along comes an unsung hero named Onesiphorus, and he is God's jumper cables to help the great apostle find the energy to go on. Listen to Paul's testimony and think about how you can be this for someone you know: "May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains...When he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me."
When you're one of God's jump starters, you wake up in the morning and you say, "Lord, show me who needs me today." Then you look for, even go out of your way if necessary, to call that person who needs encouragement, to write them, e-mail them, visit with them, or just stop and take time with them. It's almost always a sacrifice to do that because of all the things you have to do. But you may have nothing more important to do than this extension of Jesus' love to someone who's really depleted. Your joy can jump start theirs. Your praying in faith can jump start theirs. Your affirmation of their value and their significance can jump start them believing it again themselves. Your belief in them can re-energize their courage to get back in the ring for another round. Your reminder of who they really are to God and to you may be just the spiritual jolt they need to get going again.
You may say, "Yeah, well, I need someone to jump start me!" You're thinking a lot lately about your burdens, your problems, and your feelings. The greatest way to get out of your pit is to reach out and help someone else get out of theirs. Proverbs 11:25 says: "He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed."
You have what someone needs today to get started again. Don't just cruise on by, oblivious to the needs right in front of you. "Lord, show me who needs me today." That's the prayer that will make you the conduit to deliver the resources of God to someone who really can't go on without them. You are God’s jumper cables!
Monday, December 31, 2007
Amos 8 and devotionals
Amos 8
A Basket of Ripe Fruit 1 This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: a basket of ripe fruit. 2 "What do you see, Amos?" he asked. "A basket of ripe fruit," I answered. Then the LORD said to me, "The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer. 3 "In that day," declares the Sovereign LORD, "the songs in the temple will turn to wailing. [a] Many, many bodies—flung everywhere! Silence!"
4 Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land,
5 saying, "When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?"— skimping the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales,
6 buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat.
7 The LORD has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: "I will never forget anything they have done.
8 "Will not the land tremble for this, and all who live in it mourn? The whole land will rise like the Nile; it will be stirred up and then sink like the river of Egypt.
9 "In that day," declares the Sovereign LORD, "I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.
10 I will turn your religious feasts into mourning and all your singing into weeping. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.
11 "The days are coming," declares the Sovereign LORD, "when I will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.
12 Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it.
13 "In that day "the lovely young women and strong young men will faint because of thirst.
14 They who swear by the shame [b] of Samaria, or say, 'As surely as your god lives, O Dan,' or, 'As surely as the god [c] of Beersheba lives'— they will fall, never to rise again."
Our Daily Bread readings and devotional
Timothy 3:10-17
Paul's Charge to Timothy 10You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
December 31, 2007
Profitable For Growth
ODB RADIO: Listen Now Download
READ: 2 Timothy 3:10-17
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. —2 Timothy 3:16 About this cover Which of the following quotes are in the Bible?
1. Cleanliness is next to godliness.
2. God helps those who help themselves.
3. Confession is good for the soul.
4. Man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
5. Money is the root of all evil.
6. Honesty is the best policy.
Believe it or not, only one of those quotes is found in the Bible. The fourth one is from Job 5:7.
George Müller, a pastor and orphanage director in the 1800s, wouldn’t have had trouble knowing which of those quotes were from the Bible. Why? Because he read through it more than 100 times! He said: “I look upon it as a lost day when I have not had a good time over the Word of God. . . . I have always made it a rule never to begin work until I have had a good season with God and His Word. The blessing I have received has been wonderful.”
We don’t need to feel guilty if we don’t read the Bible as much as Müller did. But consider with me reading it through at least once this coming year—not so that we can answer some trick questions about it, but because it was given to us by God and is profitable for our spiritual growth (2 Tim. 3:16-17). —Anne Cetas
God’s Word is like refreshing rainThat waters crops and seed;It brings new life to open hearts,And meets us in our need. —Sper
Read the Bible to be wise, believe it to be safe, practice it to be holy.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 31, 2007
YesterdayLISTEN: READ:
You shall not go out with haste, . . . for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard —Isaiah 52:12 About this cover Security from Yesterday. ". . . God requires an account of what is past" ( Ecclesiastes 3:15 ). At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to arise when we remember our yesterdays. Our present enjoyment of God’s grace tends to be lessened by the memory of yesterday’s sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual growth for our future. God reminds us of the past to protect us from a very shallow security in the present.
Security for Tomorrow. ". . . the Lord will go before you . . . ." This is a gracious revelation— that God will send His forces out where we have failed to do so. He will keep watch so that we will not be tripped up again by the same failures, as would undoubtedly happen if He were not our "rear guard." And God’s hand reaches back to the past, settling all the claims against our conscience.
Security for Today. "You shall not go out with haste . . . ." As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the haste of impetuous, forgetful delight, nor with the quickness of impulsive thoughtlessness. But let us go out with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel will go before us. Our yesterdays hold broken and irreversible things for us. It is true that we have lost opportunities that will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past rest, but let it rest in the sweet embrace of Christ.
Leave the broken, irreversible past in His hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
So Beautiful, So Dead - #5471 Monday, December 31, 2007
Flowers are always special. They just seem even more special in the winter. A lady who works in my end of our ministry offices had some flowers on her desk. I stopped by to pick up some work, and there I saw these beautiful flowers in a vase. That's pretty significant. After all, how many times do the words "man" and "notice" ever go together in the same sentence, right? I actually noticed a few more times as I hustled down the hall past her door. Then I actually put on the brakes for a moment and I stuck my head in to smell the flowers on her desk. It wasn't worth the stop. No smell. They're fake!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "So Beautiful, So Dead."
Those flowers can sure fool you. They look so real, but they have no life. Just like so many folks who look like they really belong to Jesus Christ, but there's no life there. Jesus warned us about this fatal difference in His story about God's Kingdom being like a wheat field where wheat grows right next to another grass that looks just like wheat. Jesus said no man can tell which is the real wheat until harvest time, or Judgment Day. Then the "wheat" will be gathered into heaven and the wheat lookalike will be burned.
In another place, Jesus describes people who will come before Him on Judgment Day, talking all the right Christian words and beliefs and activities. But He'll tell them, "I never knew you." That's frightening stuff. You can see why the Bible says in II Corinthians 13:5, our word for today from the Word of God, "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you - unless, of course, you fail the test?" The time to realize that you know about Jesus but you don't know Him is now, not when you're standing before Him, because then it's too late.
Just like those artificial flowers that are so beautiful but so dead, it's so easy to look like someone who belongs to Jesus but not really know Him. Especially if you've been around Jesus most of your life. You know the words. You believe the beliefs. You try to do the right things. You go to the right meetings. You give to the right things. And, quite possibly, everyone around you assumes you belong to Him except Jesus. And He's the only one who matters. That "examine yourself" verse says to make sure "Christ Jesus is in you." A lot of people have Jesus around them, but not in them because there's never been a time when they consciously and personally really opened up their life to Him. He can be in your head, but not in your heart. Which means you will miss heaven by eighteen inches. That's how far it is from your head to your heart. And God says, "It is with the heart man believes and is saved" (Romans 10:9).
One night I went into a church not married. The woman I wanted to marry came down the aisle. We stood in front of the minister. We walked out together, but I left still not married. It was the rehearsal. The next night, same woman, same man, same minister, same aisle, but this time I walked out married. The first night I was just going through the motions. The second night I committed my life to her. Maybe you've been going through all the motions of knowing Jesus. But somewhere, you've missed the step of saying, "Jesus, I know what you did on that cross was for me. And you're my only hope. Beginning right here, beginning right now, I am Yours!" That's when you commit yourself to Him.
If you know you've done that, you really do belong to Him. If you don't know you've done that, you probably haven't. But that could change this very day. And what a relief, what a difference there's going to be when you are His for real. I want to encourage you to go to our website. Let me walk you through there - the beginning of a relationship with Jesus Christ so you can be sure you belong to Him. That website is yoursforlife.net. Or you can call a toll free number and get my little booklet Yours For Life. The number is 877-741-1200.
There’s no more going through the motions, because this can be your personal Jesus-day!
To find out how you can begin a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, please visit: yoursforlife.net or call 1-888-966-7325.
A Basket of Ripe Fruit 1 This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: a basket of ripe fruit. 2 "What do you see, Amos?" he asked. "A basket of ripe fruit," I answered. Then the LORD said to me, "The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer. 3 "In that day," declares the Sovereign LORD, "the songs in the temple will turn to wailing. [a] Many, many bodies—flung everywhere! Silence!"
4 Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land,
5 saying, "When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?"— skimping the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales,
6 buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat.
7 The LORD has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: "I will never forget anything they have done.
8 "Will not the land tremble for this, and all who live in it mourn? The whole land will rise like the Nile; it will be stirred up and then sink like the river of Egypt.
9 "In that day," declares the Sovereign LORD, "I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.
10 I will turn your religious feasts into mourning and all your singing into weeping. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.
11 "The days are coming," declares the Sovereign LORD, "when I will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.
12 Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it.
13 "In that day "the lovely young women and strong young men will faint because of thirst.
14 They who swear by the shame [b] of Samaria, or say, 'As surely as your god lives, O Dan,' or, 'As surely as the god [c] of Beersheba lives'— they will fall, never to rise again."
Our Daily Bread readings and devotional
Timothy 3:10-17
Paul's Charge to Timothy 10You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
December 31, 2007
Profitable For Growth
ODB RADIO: Listen Now Download
READ: 2 Timothy 3:10-17
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. —2 Timothy 3:16 About this cover Which of the following quotes are in the Bible?
1. Cleanliness is next to godliness.
2. God helps those who help themselves.
3. Confession is good for the soul.
4. Man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
5. Money is the root of all evil.
6. Honesty is the best policy.
Believe it or not, only one of those quotes is found in the Bible. The fourth one is from Job 5:7.
George Müller, a pastor and orphanage director in the 1800s, wouldn’t have had trouble knowing which of those quotes were from the Bible. Why? Because he read through it more than 100 times! He said: “I look upon it as a lost day when I have not had a good time over the Word of God. . . . I have always made it a rule never to begin work until I have had a good season with God and His Word. The blessing I have received has been wonderful.”
We don’t need to feel guilty if we don’t read the Bible as much as Müller did. But consider with me reading it through at least once this coming year—not so that we can answer some trick questions about it, but because it was given to us by God and is profitable for our spiritual growth (2 Tim. 3:16-17). —Anne Cetas
God’s Word is like refreshing rainThat waters crops and seed;It brings new life to open hearts,And meets us in our need. —Sper
Read the Bible to be wise, believe it to be safe, practice it to be holy.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 31, 2007
YesterdayLISTEN: READ:
You shall not go out with haste, . . . for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard —Isaiah 52:12 About this cover Security from Yesterday. ". . . God requires an account of what is past" ( Ecclesiastes 3:15 ). At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to arise when we remember our yesterdays. Our present enjoyment of God’s grace tends to be lessened by the memory of yesterday’s sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual growth for our future. God reminds us of the past to protect us from a very shallow security in the present.
Security for Tomorrow. ". . . the Lord will go before you . . . ." This is a gracious revelation— that God will send His forces out where we have failed to do so. He will keep watch so that we will not be tripped up again by the same failures, as would undoubtedly happen if He were not our "rear guard." And God’s hand reaches back to the past, settling all the claims against our conscience.
Security for Today. "You shall not go out with haste . . . ." As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the haste of impetuous, forgetful delight, nor with the quickness of impulsive thoughtlessness. But let us go out with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel will go before us. Our yesterdays hold broken and irreversible things for us. It is true that we have lost opportunities that will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past rest, but let it rest in the sweet embrace of Christ.
Leave the broken, irreversible past in His hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
So Beautiful, So Dead - #5471 Monday, December 31, 2007
Flowers are always special. They just seem even more special in the winter. A lady who works in my end of our ministry offices had some flowers on her desk. I stopped by to pick up some work, and there I saw these beautiful flowers in a vase. That's pretty significant. After all, how many times do the words "man" and "notice" ever go together in the same sentence, right? I actually noticed a few more times as I hustled down the hall past her door. Then I actually put on the brakes for a moment and I stuck my head in to smell the flowers on her desk. It wasn't worth the stop. No smell. They're fake!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "So Beautiful, So Dead."
Those flowers can sure fool you. They look so real, but they have no life. Just like so many folks who look like they really belong to Jesus Christ, but there's no life there. Jesus warned us about this fatal difference in His story about God's Kingdom being like a wheat field where wheat grows right next to another grass that looks just like wheat. Jesus said no man can tell which is the real wheat until harvest time, or Judgment Day. Then the "wheat" will be gathered into heaven and the wheat lookalike will be burned.
In another place, Jesus describes people who will come before Him on Judgment Day, talking all the right Christian words and beliefs and activities. But He'll tell them, "I never knew you." That's frightening stuff. You can see why the Bible says in II Corinthians 13:5, our word for today from the Word of God, "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you - unless, of course, you fail the test?" The time to realize that you know about Jesus but you don't know Him is now, not when you're standing before Him, because then it's too late.
Just like those artificial flowers that are so beautiful but so dead, it's so easy to look like someone who belongs to Jesus but not really know Him. Especially if you've been around Jesus most of your life. You know the words. You believe the beliefs. You try to do the right things. You go to the right meetings. You give to the right things. And, quite possibly, everyone around you assumes you belong to Him except Jesus. And He's the only one who matters. That "examine yourself" verse says to make sure "Christ Jesus is in you." A lot of people have Jesus around them, but not in them because there's never been a time when they consciously and personally really opened up their life to Him. He can be in your head, but not in your heart. Which means you will miss heaven by eighteen inches. That's how far it is from your head to your heart. And God says, "It is with the heart man believes and is saved" (Romans 10:9).
One night I went into a church not married. The woman I wanted to marry came down the aisle. We stood in front of the minister. We walked out together, but I left still not married. It was the rehearsal. The next night, same woman, same man, same minister, same aisle, but this time I walked out married. The first night I was just going through the motions. The second night I committed my life to her. Maybe you've been going through all the motions of knowing Jesus. But somewhere, you've missed the step of saying, "Jesus, I know what you did on that cross was for me. And you're my only hope. Beginning right here, beginning right now, I am Yours!" That's when you commit yourself to Him.
If you know you've done that, you really do belong to Him. If you don't know you've done that, you probably haven't. But that could change this very day. And what a relief, what a difference there's going to be when you are His for real. I want to encourage you to go to our website. Let me walk you through there - the beginning of a relationship with Jesus Christ so you can be sure you belong to Him. That website is yoursforlife.net. Or you can call a toll free number and get my little booklet Yours For Life. The number is 877-741-1200.
There’s no more going through the motions, because this can be your personal Jesus-day!
To find out how you can begin a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, please visit: yoursforlife.net or call 1-888-966-7325.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Amos 1 and Devotionals
Amos 1 1 The words of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa—what he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash [a] was king of Israel.
2 He said: "The LORD roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds dry up, [b] and the top of Carmel withers."
Judgment on Israel's Neighbors 3 This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Damascus, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath . Because she threshed Gilead with sledges having iron teeth, 4 I will send fire upon the house of Hazael that will consume the fortresses of Ben-Hadad.
5 I will break down the gate of Damascus; I will destroy the king who is in [c] the Valley of Aven [d] and the one who holds the scepter in Beth Eden. The people of Aram will go into exile to Kir," says the LORD.
6 This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Gaza, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath . Because she took captive whole communities and sold them to Edom,
7 I will send fire upon the walls of Gaza that will consume her fortresses.
8 I will destroy the king [e] of Ashdod and the one who holds the scepter in Ashkelon. I will turn my hand against Ekron, till the last of the Philistines is dead," says the Sovereign LORD.
9 This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Tyre, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath . Because she sold whole communities of captives to Edom, disregarding a treaty of brotherhood,
10 I will send fire upon the walls of Tyre that will consume her fortresses."
11 This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Edom, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath . Because he pursued his brother with a sword, stifling all compassion, [f] because his anger raged continually and his fury flamed unchecked,
12 I will send fire upon Teman that will consume the fortresses of Bozrah."
13 This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Ammon, even for four, I will not turn back {my wrath}. Because he ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to extend his borders,
14 I will set fire to the walls of Rabbah that will consume her fortresses amid war cries on the day of battle, amid violent winds on a stormy day.
15 Her king [g] will go into exile, he and his officials together," says the LORD.
Luke 1:46-55 (New International Version)New International Version (NIV)Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
Mary's Song 46And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord 47and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, 49for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name. 50His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. 51He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. 52He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. 53He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. 54He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers."
December 25, 2007
The Blessing Tree
ODB RADIO: Listen Now Download
READ: Luke 1:46-55
He who is mighty has done great things for me. —Luke 1:49 About this cover I read about a young couple whose business had failed, and they had little money to spend at Christmas. They were going to have to move out of their house after the new year. But they didn’t want their holiday season to be spoiled because of it. So they decided to throw a party. When the guests arrived, they saw a cedar tree decorated with one string of lights and small rolled-up pieces of paper tied to the limbs with ribbon.
“Welcome to our ‘blessing tree’!” they said, beaming. “In spite of hard times, God has blessed us in so many ways that we decided to dedicate our tree to Him. Each piece of paper describes a blessing He has given us this year.”
This couple has faced more trials since then, but they have chosen to stay focused on the Lord. They often remark that the Christmas with the “blessing tree” was one of their most beautiful, because they could testify as Mary did: “My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. . . . He who is mighty has done great things for me” (Luke 1:47-49).
Whatever your difficulties, they needn’t spoil Christmas, for nothing can spoil Christ! Stay focused on Jesus and seek ways to share His blessings with others—perhaps through your own “blessing tree.” —Joanie Yoder
Jesus came—and came for me!Simple words, and yet expressingDepths of holy mystery,Depths of wondrous love and blessing. —Havergal
To give meaning to Christmas, give Christ first place.
December 25, 2007
His Birth and Our New BirthLISTEN: READ:
’Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ’God with us’ —Matthew 1:23 About this cover His Birth in History. ". . . that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God ( Luke 1:35 ). Jesus Christ was born into this world, not from it. He did not emerge out of history; He came into history from the outside. Jesus Christ is not the best human being the human race can boast of— He is a Being for whom the human race can take no credit at all. He is not man becoming God, but God Incarnate— God coming into human flesh from outside it. His life is the highest and the holiest entering through the most humble of doors. Our Lord’s birth was an advent— the appearance of God in human form.
His Birth in Me. "My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you . . ." (Galatians 4:19 ). Just as our Lord came into human history from outside it, He must also come into me from outside. Have I allowed my personal human life to become a "Bethlehem" for the Son of God? I cannot enter the realm of the kingdom of God unless I am born again from above by a birth totally unlike physical birth. "You must be born again" ( John 3:7 ). This is not a command, but a fact based on the authority of God. The evidence of the new birth is that I yield myself so completely to God that "Christ is formed" in me. And once "Christ is formed" in me, His nature immediately begins to work through me.
God Evident in the Flesh. This is what is made so profoundly possible for you and for me through the redemption of man by Jesus Christ.
The Role of IntercessionOs Hillman
Coming over to us, he [Agabus] took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, "The Holy Spirit says, 'In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.' " When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. - Acts 21:11-12
In my own personal spiritual pilgrimage, God has allowed me to come into relationship with those in the Body of Christ who are called to a greater level of intercessory prayer. God calls each of us to be intercessory prayer warriors, but there are individuals in the Body of Christ who are called to be frontline warriors and who are more skilled in the area of intercession. These individuals often can have a gift of prophecy as part of their intercessory anointing. Such appears to be the case of Agabus in the Book of Acts.
Agabus seems to have received a word from God, and by way of a physical demonstration, tied Paul's belt around himself to let him know that he would be bound in Jerusalem if he went to this city. Agabus and the others immediately drew a conclusion that he was not to go to Jerusalem. Paul disagreed and proceeded to Jerusalem where he was, in fact, bound and beaten after giving testimony to the people and religious leaders of Jerusalem.
God calls intercessors to the role of seeing. He calls leaders to the role of interpreting actions.
God allows intercessors to see a more complete picture. However, actions are never left for the intercessors to determine. Conversely, leaders need to get the spiritual picture of what they are dealing with. This is why they need gifted intercessors. They must not make the mistake of believing they can see the entire picture without the intercessors. Once they have the intercessors' insights, they must determine the right course of action. This is their role. Conflicts arise when either tries to fulfill both roles.
Paul knew he was to go to Jerusalem, even if it meant being beaten. He did go and was beaten. However, we sense that he made the right decision based on Jesus' comments to him in Acts chapter 23, verse 11: "The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, 'Take courage! As you have testified about Me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.' "
Pray that God will bring intercessors and leaders into your life. He wants you to have a complete picture of the situations you face each day and to know the actions necessary for fulfilling His will for your life.
2 He said: "The LORD roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds dry up, [b] and the top of Carmel withers."
Judgment on Israel's Neighbors 3 This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Damascus, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath . Because she threshed Gilead with sledges having iron teeth, 4 I will send fire upon the house of Hazael that will consume the fortresses of Ben-Hadad.
5 I will break down the gate of Damascus; I will destroy the king who is in [c] the Valley of Aven [d] and the one who holds the scepter in Beth Eden. The people of Aram will go into exile to Kir," says the LORD.
6 This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Gaza, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath . Because she took captive whole communities and sold them to Edom,
7 I will send fire upon the walls of Gaza that will consume her fortresses.
8 I will destroy the king [e] of Ashdod and the one who holds the scepter in Ashkelon. I will turn my hand against Ekron, till the last of the Philistines is dead," says the Sovereign LORD.
9 This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Tyre, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath . Because she sold whole communities of captives to Edom, disregarding a treaty of brotherhood,
10 I will send fire upon the walls of Tyre that will consume her fortresses."
11 This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Edom, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath . Because he pursued his brother with a sword, stifling all compassion, [f] because his anger raged continually and his fury flamed unchecked,
12 I will send fire upon Teman that will consume the fortresses of Bozrah."
13 This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Ammon, even for four, I will not turn back {my wrath}. Because he ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to extend his borders,
14 I will set fire to the walls of Rabbah that will consume her fortresses amid war cries on the day of battle, amid violent winds on a stormy day.
15 Her king [g] will go into exile, he and his officials together," says the LORD.
Luke 1:46-55 (New International Version)New International Version (NIV)Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
Mary's Song 46And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord 47and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, 49for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name. 50His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. 51He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. 52He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. 53He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. 54He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers."
December 25, 2007
The Blessing Tree
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READ: Luke 1:46-55
He who is mighty has done great things for me. —Luke 1:49 About this cover I read about a young couple whose business had failed, and they had little money to spend at Christmas. They were going to have to move out of their house after the new year. But they didn’t want their holiday season to be spoiled because of it. So they decided to throw a party. When the guests arrived, they saw a cedar tree decorated with one string of lights and small rolled-up pieces of paper tied to the limbs with ribbon.
“Welcome to our ‘blessing tree’!” they said, beaming. “In spite of hard times, God has blessed us in so many ways that we decided to dedicate our tree to Him. Each piece of paper describes a blessing He has given us this year.”
This couple has faced more trials since then, but they have chosen to stay focused on the Lord. They often remark that the Christmas with the “blessing tree” was one of their most beautiful, because they could testify as Mary did: “My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. . . . He who is mighty has done great things for me” (Luke 1:47-49).
Whatever your difficulties, they needn’t spoil Christmas, for nothing can spoil Christ! Stay focused on Jesus and seek ways to share His blessings with others—perhaps through your own “blessing tree.” —Joanie Yoder
Jesus came—and came for me!Simple words, and yet expressingDepths of holy mystery,Depths of wondrous love and blessing. —Havergal
To give meaning to Christmas, give Christ first place.
December 25, 2007
His Birth and Our New BirthLISTEN: READ:
’Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ’God with us’ —Matthew 1:23 About this cover His Birth in History. ". . . that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God ( Luke 1:35 ). Jesus Christ was born into this world, not from it. He did not emerge out of history; He came into history from the outside. Jesus Christ is not the best human being the human race can boast of— He is a Being for whom the human race can take no credit at all. He is not man becoming God, but God Incarnate— God coming into human flesh from outside it. His life is the highest and the holiest entering through the most humble of doors. Our Lord’s birth was an advent— the appearance of God in human form.
His Birth in Me. "My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you . . ." (Galatians 4:19 ). Just as our Lord came into human history from outside it, He must also come into me from outside. Have I allowed my personal human life to become a "Bethlehem" for the Son of God? I cannot enter the realm of the kingdom of God unless I am born again from above by a birth totally unlike physical birth. "You must be born again" ( John 3:7 ). This is not a command, but a fact based on the authority of God. The evidence of the new birth is that I yield myself so completely to God that "Christ is formed" in me. And once "Christ is formed" in me, His nature immediately begins to work through me.
God Evident in the Flesh. This is what is made so profoundly possible for you and for me through the redemption of man by Jesus Christ.
The Role of IntercessionOs Hillman
Coming over to us, he [Agabus] took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, "The Holy Spirit says, 'In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.' " When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. - Acts 21:11-12
In my own personal spiritual pilgrimage, God has allowed me to come into relationship with those in the Body of Christ who are called to a greater level of intercessory prayer. God calls each of us to be intercessory prayer warriors, but there are individuals in the Body of Christ who are called to be frontline warriors and who are more skilled in the area of intercession. These individuals often can have a gift of prophecy as part of their intercessory anointing. Such appears to be the case of Agabus in the Book of Acts.
Agabus seems to have received a word from God, and by way of a physical demonstration, tied Paul's belt around himself to let him know that he would be bound in Jerusalem if he went to this city. Agabus and the others immediately drew a conclusion that he was not to go to Jerusalem. Paul disagreed and proceeded to Jerusalem where he was, in fact, bound and beaten after giving testimony to the people and religious leaders of Jerusalem.
God calls intercessors to the role of seeing. He calls leaders to the role of interpreting actions.
God allows intercessors to see a more complete picture. However, actions are never left for the intercessors to determine. Conversely, leaders need to get the spiritual picture of what they are dealing with. This is why they need gifted intercessors. They must not make the mistake of believing they can see the entire picture without the intercessors. Once they have the intercessors' insights, they must determine the right course of action. This is their role. Conflicts arise when either tries to fulfill both roles.
Paul knew he was to go to Jerusalem, even if it meant being beaten. He did go and was beaten. However, we sense that he made the right decision based on Jesus' comments to him in Acts chapter 23, verse 11: "The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, 'Take courage! As you have testified about Me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.' "
Pray that God will bring intercessors and leaders into your life. He wants you to have a complete picture of the situations you face each day and to know the actions necessary for fulfilling His will for your life.
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