Max Lucado Daily: The Good Shepherd
The Good Shepherd
Posted: 21 Apr 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep . . . and my sheep know me.” John 10:14-15
You have a God who hears you, the power of love behind you, the Holy Spirit within you, and all of heaven ahead of you. If you have the Shepherd, you have grace for every sin, direction for every turn, a candle for every corner, and an anchor for every storm.
You have everything you need.
Nehemiah 2
1-2 It was the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king. At the hour for serving wine I brought it in and gave it to the king. I had never been hangdog in his presence before, so he asked me, "Why the long face? You're not sick are you? Or are you depressed?"
2-3 That made me all the more agitated. I said, "Long live the king! And why shouldn't I be depressed when the city, the city where all my family is buried, is in ruins and the city gates have been reduced to cinders?"
4-5 The king then asked me, "So what do you want?"
Praying under my breath to the God-of-Heaven, I said, "If it please the king, and if the king thinks well of me, send me to Judah, to the city where my family is buried, so that I can rebuild it."
6 The king, with the queen sitting alongside him, said, "How long will your work take and when would you expect to return?"
I gave him a time, and the king gave his approval to send me.
7-8 Then I said, "If it please the king, provide me with letters to the governors across the Euphrates that authorize my travel through to Judah; and also an order to Asaph, keeper of the king's forest, to supply me with timber for the beams of The Temple fortress, the wall of the city, and the house where I'll be living."
8-9 The generous hand of my God was with me in this and the king gave them to me. When I met the governors across The River (the Euphrates) I showed them the king's letters. The king even sent along a cavalry escort.
10 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very upset, angry that anyone would come to look after the interests of the People of Israel.
"Come—Let's Build the Wall of Jerusalem"
11-12 And so I arrived in Jerusalem. After I had been there three days, I got up in the middle of the night, I and a few men who were with me. I hadn't told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. The only animal with us was the one I was riding.
13-16 Under cover of night I went past the Valley Gate toward the Dragon's Fountain to the Dung Gate looking over the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken through and whose gates had been burned up. I then crossed to the Fountain Gate and headed for the King's Pool but there wasn't enough room for the donkey I was riding to get through. So I went up the valley in the dark continuing my inspection of the wall. I came back in through the Valley Gate. The local officials had no idea where I'd gone or what I was doing—I hadn't breathed a word to the Jews, priests, nobles, local officials, or anyone else who would be working on the job.
17-18 Then I gave them my report: "Face it: we're in a bad way here. Jerusalem is a wreck; its gates are burned up. Come—let's build the wall of Jerusalem and not live with this disgrace any longer." I told them how God was supporting me and how the king was backing me up.
They said, "We're with you. Let's get started." They rolled up their sleeves, ready for the good work.
19 When Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they laughed at us, mocking, "Ha! What do you think you're doing? Do you think you can cross the king?"
20 I shot back, "The God-of-Heaven will make sure we succeed. We're his servants and we're going to work, rebuilding. You can keep your nose out of it. You get no say in this—Jerusalem's none of your business!"
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Romans 3:10-22
10 As it is written:
"There is no one righteous, not even one;
11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one."
13 "Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit." "The poison of vipers is on their lips."
14 "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness."
15 "Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 ruin and misery mark their ways,
17 and the way of peace they do not know."
18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes."
19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.
20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
Righteousness Through Faith
21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.
22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference,
The Rescue Business
April 22, 2010 — by Philip Yancey
There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. —Luke 15:10
Living in Colorado, I climb mountains. On summer weekends, I see casual hikers who have no idea what they are doing. In sandals, shorts, and T-shirts, carrying a single container of water, they start up a trail at mid-morning. They have no map, no compass, and no rain gear.
My neighbor, who volunteers for Alpine Rescue, has told me stories of tourists rescued from certain death after wandering off a trail. Regardless of the circumstances, Alpine Rescue always responds to a call for help. Not once have they lectured a hapless tourist, “Well, since you ignored the rules of the wilderness, you’ll just have to bear the consequences.” Their mission is rescue. They pursue every needy hiker, no matter how undeserving.
The central message of the Bible is one of rescue. Paul points out that none of us “deserve” God’s mercy and none of us can save ourselves. Like a stranded hiker, all we can do is call for help. Quoting the psalmist, he says, “There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God” (Rom. 3:10-11; Ps. 14:1-3).
The good news of the gospel is that in spite of our state, God seeks after us and responds to every plea for help. You might say that God is in the rescue business.
Thinking It Over
What keeps you from calling out to God for spiritual rescue? Your pride? Do you fear that you are too bad for God’s grace? What does Romans 3:23-26 say?
The heart of repentance is turning from sin and toward God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
April 22, 2010
The Light That Never Fails
We all, with unveiled face, beholding . . . the glory of the Lord . . . —2 Corinthians 3:18
A servant of God must stand so very much alone that he never realizes he is alone. In the early stages of the Christian life, disappointments will come— people who used to be lights will flicker out, and those who used to stand with us will turn away. We have to get so used to it that we will not even realize we are standing alone. Paul said, “. . . no one stood with me, but all forsook me . . . . But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me . . .” (2 Timothy 4:16-17 ). We must build our faith not on fading lights but on the Light that never fails. When “important” individuals go away we are sad, until we see that they are meant to go, so that only one thing is left for us to do— to look into the face of God for ourselves.
Allow nothing to keep you from looking with strong determination into the face of God regarding yourself and your doctrine. And every time you preach make sure you look God in the face about the message first, then the glory will remain through all of it. A Christian servant is one who perpetually looks into the face of God and then goes forth to talk to others. The ministry of Christ is characterized by an abiding glory of which the servant is totally unaware— “. . . Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him” ( Exodus 34:29 ).
We are never called on to display our doubts openly or to express the hidden joys and delights of our life with God. The secret of the servant’s life is that he stays in tune with God all the time.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Disappointing Investments - #6074
Thursday, April 22, 2010
It's late at night. I have finally made it to my motel room. It's been a long day, and I want a midnight snack; or at least a can of soda. As I step outside my room, I hear the "whirr" of vending machines just down the hall. I stand in front of that thing, pondering my hardest decision of the day. Then I put my money in and push the button. Usually, I get what I just paid for, but not always. Sometimes, nothing comes. I push the button again, and again, and again. Not only do I not get my selection, but the coin return isn't working either. Those most frustrating times of all are when you're desperate enough to try again, and maybe again, putting in your money - and still, getting nothing in return.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Disappointing Investments."
That vending machine turns out to be an investment with no return. You may have had financial investments like that, where you put a lot in, but you got very little back. Or you may have invested very heavily in a relationship, or even several relationships, only to be disappointed with the return.
There are people who have invested heavily in a marriage and they've ended up with little to show for all they gave. You may be one of them. We invest so much of our life in our children, sometimes to be disappointed with the return in their lives. All we gave to be successful, all we poured into what we thought would give us security or approval, so many times we keep putting more and more into it, hoping it will finally pay off. But for many, it's loneliness that's come back, or stress, or hurt, or regrets over all that we've paid to get so little.
Our word for today from the Word of God is for all of us who have made some disappointing life investments. In Isaiah 55:1-2, God says, "Come, all you who are thirsty and come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk, without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare."
God's offer is simple, "Come to Me and I will give you what all your searching and all your spending has never delivered, and I will give it to you without cost." The reason none of our earth-investments have been able to satisfy the thirst in our heart is because we've been trying to get from them what we were supposed to get from a personal relationship with our Creator - which we have totally missed.
In Isaiah, that same book of the Bible, God says, "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6). No one but the God who made you can fill the hole in your heart. Your sin has cut you off from Him, but God did something amazing to get you back. He invested His greatest treasure: His one and only Son.
The Bible tells us that in heaven, they are saying to Jesus: "With Your blood You purchased men for God" (Revelation 5:9). That's what Jesus invested in you: His blood; His life when He took on Himself all the shame and all the hell of all your sin when He died on the cross. That's why you accept God's invitation "without cost" because all your goodness and all your religion can't do a thing to remove your sin or get you into heaven. Only Jesus can. Only He paid the price.
And today, you have the opportunity to receive what you could never buy - eternal life and a love relationship with Almighty God himself. It begins when you tell Him, "Lord, I want what You died to give me. I have no hope but You and Your death on the cross for me. The door is open. Please come in, Jesus."
I'll tell you, the day I made that choice, someone was there to help me know how to get started with Jesus. I'd love to be that person for you today, if you'll just go to our website and you can read or listen to my brief message there on how to begin a relationship with Jesus. It's been an encouragement to many people at a turning point in their life. I would encourage you to go there today. Just go to YoursForLife.net. Or you can call us and get my Yours For Life booklet. Just call toll free at 877-741-1200.
He will never disappoint you.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Nehemiah 1, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: Back From The Dead
Back From The Dead
Posted: 20 Apr 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“Thomas said, ‘I will not believe it until I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were.’” John 20:25
Jesus gave Thomas exactly what he requested. He extended his hands one more time. And was Thomas ever surprised. He did a double take, fell flat on his face, and cried, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28).
Jesus must have smiled. He knew he had a winner in Thomas . . . Legend has him hopping a freighter to India where they had to kill him to get him to quit talking about his friend who came back from the dead.
Nehemiah 1
1-2The memoirs of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah.
It was the month of Kislev in the twentieth year. At the time I was in the palace complex at Susa. Hanani, one of my brothers, had just arrived from Judah with some fellow Jews. I asked them about the conditions among the Jews there who had survived the exile, and about Jerusalem.
3 They told me, "The exile survivors who are left there in the province are in bad shape. Conditions are appalling. The wall of Jerusalem is still rubble; the city gates are still cinders."
4 When I heard this, I sat down and wept. I mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God-of-Heaven.
5-6 I said, "God, God-of-Heaven, the great and awesome God, loyal to his covenant and faithful to those who love him and obey his commands: Look at me, listen to me. Pay attention to this prayer of your servant that I'm praying day and night in intercession for your servants, the People of Israel, confessing the sins of the People of Israel. And I'm including myself, I and my ancestors, among those who have sinned against you.
7-9 "We've treated you like dirt: We haven't done what you told us, haven't followed your commands, and haven't respected the decisions you gave to Moses your servant. All the same, remember the warning you posted to your servant Moses: 'If you betray me, I'll scatter you to the four winds, but if you come back to me and do what I tell you, I'll gather up all these scattered peoples from wherever they ended up and put them back in the place I chose to mark with my Name.'
10-11 "Well, there they are—your servants, your people whom you so powerfully and impressively redeemed. O Master, listen to me, listen to your servant's prayer—and yes, to all your servants who delight in honoring you—and make me successful today so that I get what I want from the king."
I was cupbearer to the king.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Ephesians 2:1-10
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.
6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--
9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
False Hope
April 21, 2010 — by Cindy Hess Kasper
The name of a pretty Bavarian town in Germany shares the name of a place of horror—Dachau. A museum on the grounds of this infamous Nazi concentration camp attracts many World War II history buffs.
As you look around, it would be hard to miss the misleading words welded to an iron gate: Arbeit Macht Frei. This phrase—Work Makes You Free—was just a cruel lie to give false hope to those who entered this place of death.
Many people today have false hope that they can earn a place in heaven by working at being good or by doing good things. God’s standard of perfection, however, requires a totally sinless life. There’s no way any of us can ever be “good enough.” It is only through the sacrifice of the sinless Savior that we are made righteous. God made Jesus “who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). Eternal life is given because of God’s gift of grace—not because of our good works (Eph. 2:8-9).
Don’t let Satan trick you by giving you false hope that your good works will save you. It is only through Jesus’ work on the cross that you can have real freedom.
Accept the teaching of the world
And hopeless you will be,
But trust in God’s eternal plan
If you want life that’s free. —Branon
We are not saved by good works, but by God’s work.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
April 21, 2010
Don’t Hurt the Lord
Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? —John 14:9
Our Lord must be repeatedly astounded at us-astounded at how “un-simple” we are. It is our own opinions that make us dense and slow to understand, but when we are simple we are never dense; we have discernment all the time. Philip expected the future revelation of a tremendous mystery, but not in Jesus, the Person he thought he already knew. The mystery of God is not in what is going to be-it is now, though we look for it to be revealed in the future in some overwhelming, momentous event. We have no reluctance to obey Jesus, but it is highly probable that we are hurting Him by what we ask-”Lord, show us the Father . . .” (John 14:8 ). His response immediately comes back to us as He says, “Can’t you see Him? He is always right here or He is nowhere to be found.” We look for God to exhibit Himself to His children, but God only exhibits Himself in His children. And while others see the evidence, the child of God does not. We want to be fully aware of what God is doing in us, but we cannot have complete awareness and expect to remain reasonable or balanced in our expectations of Him. If all we are asking God to give us is experiences, and the awareness of those experiences is blocking our way, we hurt the Lord. The very questions we ask hurt Jesus, because they are not the questions of a child.
“Let not your heart be troubled . . .” ( 14:1, 27 ). Am I then hurting Jesus by allowing my heart to be troubled? . If I believe in Jesus and His attributes, am I living up to my belief? Am I allowing anything to disturb my heart, or am I allowing any questions to come in which are unsound or unbalanced? I have to get to the point of the absolute and unquestionable relationship that takes everything exactly as it comes from Him. God never guides us at some time in the future, but always here and now. Realize that the Lord is here now, and the freedom you receive is immediate.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Open Door On the Storm Cellar - #6073
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
In recent years, there's been a stretch of Oklahoma, including Oklahoma City, that has seemed like "Tornado Alley." On the Weather Channel, many spring and summer days show that part of the country colored in the bright red that indicates severe weather. The most powerful tornado America ever had roared through the Oklahoma City area just a few years ago. As I drove through that area on a spring day between storm systems, I couldn't help but be impressed with what I saw as I drove by a church. Right in front of the church you could see an open door sticking up out of the ground. The church actually has a storm cellar right out on the street, and the door was wide open!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Open Door On the Storm Cellar."
That's how every church and Christian fellowship should be - a storm cellar with the door wide open for everybody to enter! Sadly, too many churches turn out to be a place where you find more storms. It's meant to be the safest place in town.
We've got a lot to learn from the original template of how God's people are supposed to operate together. It's described for us in our word for today from the Word of God in Acts 2, beginning with verse 42. These were the original Christians and they showed us how to do it right. "They devoted themselves," the Bible says, "to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer." There's the key to being Jesus' kind of church - stay focused on the majors and don't get mired in the minors. The majors are studying the Word of God together, celebrating your common ground in Christ, remembering His cross, and waging war together on your knees. Not majoring on personalities, buildings, budgets, music styles, or putting people in categories.
This powerful blueprint goes on to say that "all the believers were together...they gave to anyone as he had need." They focused on needs, not programs. And "every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people." Well, of course they won the favor of all the people! How could they miss when they provided a place where you could count on being loved, count on having people care about your needs, and count on finding a safe place. That's the storm cellar so many are looking for in an increasingly stormy world.
So, how do we let God's safe place deteriorate into just another storm: egos, personal agendas masquerading as God's agenda, making small issues into big issues, developing an unofficial caste system that effectively has one group of people who are the insiders and the rest who feel like the outsiders, judging people by their outward appearance instead of their heart, or treating people as categories instead of as individuals? Somehow, the church can become a place where we're known for something other than the one characteristic Jesus said would draw people to Him ... "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another."
We represent the welcoming Savior who said, "Come to Me, all you who are weary and heavily burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). The One who was called "the friend of sinners" ... who sought out the lostest of the lost, and He sought out those the religious people rejected. A welcoming Savior! We must be His welcoming representatives, providing one place where anyone and everyone can feel safe in this storm-ravaged world. We are the open door through which people can find the sanctuary of the love of Jesus Christ.
Back From The Dead
Posted: 20 Apr 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“Thomas said, ‘I will not believe it until I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were.’” John 20:25
Jesus gave Thomas exactly what he requested. He extended his hands one more time. And was Thomas ever surprised. He did a double take, fell flat on his face, and cried, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28).
Jesus must have smiled. He knew he had a winner in Thomas . . . Legend has him hopping a freighter to India where they had to kill him to get him to quit talking about his friend who came back from the dead.
Nehemiah 1
1-2The memoirs of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah.
It was the month of Kislev in the twentieth year. At the time I was in the palace complex at Susa. Hanani, one of my brothers, had just arrived from Judah with some fellow Jews. I asked them about the conditions among the Jews there who had survived the exile, and about Jerusalem.
3 They told me, "The exile survivors who are left there in the province are in bad shape. Conditions are appalling. The wall of Jerusalem is still rubble; the city gates are still cinders."
4 When I heard this, I sat down and wept. I mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God-of-Heaven.
5-6 I said, "God, God-of-Heaven, the great and awesome God, loyal to his covenant and faithful to those who love him and obey his commands: Look at me, listen to me. Pay attention to this prayer of your servant that I'm praying day and night in intercession for your servants, the People of Israel, confessing the sins of the People of Israel. And I'm including myself, I and my ancestors, among those who have sinned against you.
7-9 "We've treated you like dirt: We haven't done what you told us, haven't followed your commands, and haven't respected the decisions you gave to Moses your servant. All the same, remember the warning you posted to your servant Moses: 'If you betray me, I'll scatter you to the four winds, but if you come back to me and do what I tell you, I'll gather up all these scattered peoples from wherever they ended up and put them back in the place I chose to mark with my Name.'
10-11 "Well, there they are—your servants, your people whom you so powerfully and impressively redeemed. O Master, listen to me, listen to your servant's prayer—and yes, to all your servants who delight in honoring you—and make me successful today so that I get what I want from the king."
I was cupbearer to the king.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Ephesians 2:1-10
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.
6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--
9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
False Hope
April 21, 2010 — by Cindy Hess Kasper
The name of a pretty Bavarian town in Germany shares the name of a place of horror—Dachau. A museum on the grounds of this infamous Nazi concentration camp attracts many World War II history buffs.
As you look around, it would be hard to miss the misleading words welded to an iron gate: Arbeit Macht Frei. This phrase—Work Makes You Free—was just a cruel lie to give false hope to those who entered this place of death.
Many people today have false hope that they can earn a place in heaven by working at being good or by doing good things. God’s standard of perfection, however, requires a totally sinless life. There’s no way any of us can ever be “good enough.” It is only through the sacrifice of the sinless Savior that we are made righteous. God made Jesus “who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). Eternal life is given because of God’s gift of grace—not because of our good works (Eph. 2:8-9).
Don’t let Satan trick you by giving you false hope that your good works will save you. It is only through Jesus’ work on the cross that you can have real freedom.
Accept the teaching of the world
And hopeless you will be,
But trust in God’s eternal plan
If you want life that’s free. —Branon
We are not saved by good works, but by God’s work.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
April 21, 2010
Don’t Hurt the Lord
Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? —John 14:9
Our Lord must be repeatedly astounded at us-astounded at how “un-simple” we are. It is our own opinions that make us dense and slow to understand, but when we are simple we are never dense; we have discernment all the time. Philip expected the future revelation of a tremendous mystery, but not in Jesus, the Person he thought he already knew. The mystery of God is not in what is going to be-it is now, though we look for it to be revealed in the future in some overwhelming, momentous event. We have no reluctance to obey Jesus, but it is highly probable that we are hurting Him by what we ask-”Lord, show us the Father . . .” (John 14:8 ). His response immediately comes back to us as He says, “Can’t you see Him? He is always right here or He is nowhere to be found.” We look for God to exhibit Himself to His children, but God only exhibits Himself in His children. And while others see the evidence, the child of God does not. We want to be fully aware of what God is doing in us, but we cannot have complete awareness and expect to remain reasonable or balanced in our expectations of Him. If all we are asking God to give us is experiences, and the awareness of those experiences is blocking our way, we hurt the Lord. The very questions we ask hurt Jesus, because they are not the questions of a child.
“Let not your heart be troubled . . .” ( 14:1, 27 ). Am I then hurting Jesus by allowing my heart to be troubled? . If I believe in Jesus and His attributes, am I living up to my belief? Am I allowing anything to disturb my heart, or am I allowing any questions to come in which are unsound or unbalanced? I have to get to the point of the absolute and unquestionable relationship that takes everything exactly as it comes from Him. God never guides us at some time in the future, but always here and now. Realize that the Lord is here now, and the freedom you receive is immediate.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Open Door On the Storm Cellar - #6073
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
In recent years, there's been a stretch of Oklahoma, including Oklahoma City, that has seemed like "Tornado Alley." On the Weather Channel, many spring and summer days show that part of the country colored in the bright red that indicates severe weather. The most powerful tornado America ever had roared through the Oklahoma City area just a few years ago. As I drove through that area on a spring day between storm systems, I couldn't help but be impressed with what I saw as I drove by a church. Right in front of the church you could see an open door sticking up out of the ground. The church actually has a storm cellar right out on the street, and the door was wide open!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Open Door On the Storm Cellar."
That's how every church and Christian fellowship should be - a storm cellar with the door wide open for everybody to enter! Sadly, too many churches turn out to be a place where you find more storms. It's meant to be the safest place in town.
We've got a lot to learn from the original template of how God's people are supposed to operate together. It's described for us in our word for today from the Word of God in Acts 2, beginning with verse 42. These were the original Christians and they showed us how to do it right. "They devoted themselves," the Bible says, "to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer." There's the key to being Jesus' kind of church - stay focused on the majors and don't get mired in the minors. The majors are studying the Word of God together, celebrating your common ground in Christ, remembering His cross, and waging war together on your knees. Not majoring on personalities, buildings, budgets, music styles, or putting people in categories.
This powerful blueprint goes on to say that "all the believers were together...they gave to anyone as he had need." They focused on needs, not programs. And "every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people." Well, of course they won the favor of all the people! How could they miss when they provided a place where you could count on being loved, count on having people care about your needs, and count on finding a safe place. That's the storm cellar so many are looking for in an increasingly stormy world.
So, how do we let God's safe place deteriorate into just another storm: egos, personal agendas masquerading as God's agenda, making small issues into big issues, developing an unofficial caste system that effectively has one group of people who are the insiders and the rest who feel like the outsiders, judging people by their outward appearance instead of their heart, or treating people as categories instead of as individuals? Somehow, the church can become a place where we're known for something other than the one characteristic Jesus said would draw people to Him ... "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another."
We represent the welcoming Savior who said, "Come to Me, all you who are weary and heavily burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). The One who was called "the friend of sinners" ... who sought out the lostest of the lost, and He sought out those the religious people rejected. A welcoming Savior! We must be His welcoming representatives, providing one place where anyone and everyone can feel safe in this storm-ravaged world. We are the open door through which people can find the sanctuary of the love of Jesus Christ.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Esther 8, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: Wonderful Comfort
Wonderful Comfort
Posted: 19 Apr 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“What a wonderful God we have . . . who so wonderfully comforts and strengthens us.” 2 Corinthians 1:3, TLB
Encourage those who are struggling. Don’t know what to say? Then open your Bible . . .
To the grief stricken: “God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’” (Heb. 13:5 NIV)
To the guilt-ridden: “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1 NIV).
Esther 8
1-2 That same day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman, archenemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came before the king because Esther had explained their relationship. The king took off his signet ring, which he had taken back from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. Esther appointed Mordecai over Haman's estate.
3-6 Then Esther again spoke to the king, falling at his feet, begging with tears to counter the evil of Haman the Agagite and revoke the plan that he had plotted against the Jews. The king extended his gold scepter to Esther. She got to her feet and stood before the king. She said, "If it please the king and he regards me with favor and thinks this is right, and if he has any affection for me at all, let an order be written that cancels the bulletins authorizing the plan of Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite to annihilate the Jews in all the king's provinces. How can I stand to see this catastrophe wipe out my people? How can I bear to stand by and watch the massacre of my own relatives?"
7-8 King Xerxes said to Queen Esther and Mordecai the Jew: "I've given Haman's estate to Esther and he's been hanged on the gallows because he attacked the Jews. So go ahead now and write whatever you decide on behalf of the Jews; then seal it with the signet ring." (An order written in the king's name and sealed with his signet ring is irrevocable.)
9 So the king's secretaries were brought in on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month of Sivan, and the order regarding the Jews was written word for word as Mordecai dictated and was addressed to the satraps, governors, and officials of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces in all, to each province in its own script and each people in their own language, including the Jews in their script and language.
10 He wrote under the name of King Xerxes and sealed the order with the royal signet ring; he sent out the bulletins by couriers on horseback, riding the fastest royal steeds bred from the royal stud.
11-13 The king's order authorized the Jews in every city to arm and defend themselves to the death, killing anyone who threatened them or their women and children, and confiscating for themselves anything owned by their enemies. The day set for this in all King Xerxes' provinces was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar. The order was posted in public places in each province so everyone could read it, authorizing the Jews to be prepared on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.
14 The couriers, fired up by the king's order, raced off on their royal horses. At the same time, the order was posted in the palace complex of Susa.
15-17 Mordecai walked out of the king's presence wearing a royal robe of violet and white, a huge gold crown, and a purple cape of fine linen. The city of Susa exploded with joy. For Jews it was all sunshine and laughter: they celebrated, they were honored. It was that way all over the country, in every province, every city when the king's bulletin was posted: the Jews took to the streets in celebration, cheering, and feasting. Not only that, but many non-Jews became Jews—now it was dangerous not to be a Jew!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Matthew 23:1-13
1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:
2 "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.
3 So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
4 They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
5 "Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long;
6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues;
7 they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them 'Rabbi.'
8 "But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers.
9 And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.
10 Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ.
11 The greatest among you will be your servant.
12 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
13 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
Poor Examples
April 20, 2010 — by Marvin Williams
A woman in Oregon was caught driving 103 miles per hour with her 10-year-old grandson in the car. When she was stopped by the police, she told them that she was only trying to teach him never to drive that fast. I suppose she wanted him to do as she said, not as she did.
The Pharisees and teachers of the law seemed to have a similar problem. Jesus had a scathing assessment of them: They were spiritually bankrupt. He held these two groups directly responsible for this sad spiritual condition. As the successors of the lawgiver Moses, they were responsible for expounding the law so that people would walk in God’s ways and have a genuine and vibrant relationship with the Lord (Deut. 10:12-13). But their personal interpretation and application of the law became more important than God’s law. They did not practice what they preached. What they did observe was done not to bring glory to God but to honor themselves. Jesus exposed who they were—image managers, posers, and hypocrites.
The test of the effectiveness of following Jesus is not just in what we say but in how we live. Are we telling others God’s Word and doing what it says? Let’s model by words and actions what it means to follow Him.
Christians, remember you bear His dear name,
Your lives are for others to view;
You are living examples—men praise you or blame,
And measure your Savior by you. —Anon.
A good example preaches a powerful sermon.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
April 20, 2010
Can a Saint Falsely Accuse God?
All the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen . . . —2 Corinthians 1:20
Jesus’ parable of the talents recorded in Matthew 25:14-30 was a warning that it is possible for us to misjudge our capacities. This parable has nothing to do with natural gifts and abilities, but relates to the gift of the Holy Spirit as He was first given at Pentecost. We must never measure our spiritual capacity on the basis of our education or our intellect; our capacity in spiritual things is measured on the basis of the promises of God. If we get less than God wants us to have, we will falsely accuse Him as the servant falsely accused his master when he said, “You expect more of me than you gave me the power to do. You demand too much of me, and I cannot stand true to you here where you have placed me.” When it is a question of God’s Almighty Spirit, never say, “I can’t.” Never allow the limitation of your own natural ability to enter into the matter. If we have received the Holy Spirit, God expects the work of the Holy Spirit to be exhibited in us.
The servant justified himself, while condemning his lord on every point, as if to say, “Your demand on me is way out of proportion to what you gave to me.” Have we been falsely accusing God by daring to worry after He has said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you”? ( Matthew 6:33 ). Worrying means exactly what this servant implied— “I know your intent is to leave me unprotected and vulnerable.” A person who is lazy in the natural realm is always critical, saying, “I haven’t had a decent chance,” and someone who is lazy in the spiritual realm is critical of God. Lazy people always strike out at others in an independent way.
Never forget that our capacity and capability in spiritual matters is measured by, and based on, the promises of God. Is God able to fulfill His promises? Our answer depends on whether or not we have received the Holy Spirit.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
It Really is "How You Play the Game" - #6072
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
When you're five years old, you have a number of those milestone experiences - lots of "firsts." Like your first soccer game, which our five-year-old grandson had. I reminded our daughter that she had joined that much-talked about tribe called "soccer moms." Well, our grandson had never played soccer before, and he doesn't have an older brother or sister to learn from. So his first game was, shall we say, a great learning experience. And he did a good job. But not good enough for the kind of performance most firstborns expect of themselves. Though he got the ball several times for his team and moved it down the field, he didn't score any goals, and he was bothered that he missed one. Right after the game, he gave his mom his two-word summary of how he thought he did. He just said, "I tried."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "It Really is 'How You Play the Game.'"
Well, at least on God's team. That's why Jesus' finish line commendation for His players will be, "Well done, good and faithful servant" (Matthew 25:21), not "Well done, good and successful servant." What God cares about - what God rewards - is an all-out effort. The results are in His hands. The effort - that's in yours.
What impresses God about His players is clear in our word for today from the Word of God. He says in Colossians 3:23-24: "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." You're not playing for the applause of the crowd or even the approval of your teammates. As far as you're concerned, there's only one Person in that stadium - Jesus, your Coach. If you've got His smile, you're winning; not if you're winning, you've got His smile. He wants you to be able to honestly say, "Coach, I really tried."
If you're playing your position with all your heart, you are pleasing Jesus. Your wholehearted effort may mean you get A's or it may mean you get C's, that you're the best one they've got or just considered average. Maybe you'll get amazing results or you'll seldom see results. You can't give any more than all your heart. And though we live in a world that cares only if you score, only if you look good, only if you win, you can be free inside knowing you're playing for the One who gives the biggest rewards. And Jesus rewards relentless faithfulness. That means you're still in there fighting when everybody else has dropped out.
Maybe God's assigned you to play a position on His team that's behind the scenes, doing things for Him that few people ever notice or value. And even you feel like what you do doesn't matter much - even to God. Surely, it doesn't matter as much as the big, public things some of your brothers and sisters are doing for God. But remember who gets the Super Bowl ring - every member of the team, not just the guys who scored the points. That's how God looks at all of us. Your part, your reward, matters just as much to Him as that of some great pastor or evangelist. In fact, the less glory you get on earth, the more He will give you in heaven for your all-out effort for Him.
So hold your head high, no matter what position you play. Don't let that discouragement wear you down any more - not if you're giving it all you've got. If you are, then in God's eyes, the only opinion that ultimately matters you are a champion. Earth may not have many rewards for you. But God's gold medal will one day hang around your neck!
Wonderful Comfort
Posted: 19 Apr 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“What a wonderful God we have . . . who so wonderfully comforts and strengthens us.” 2 Corinthians 1:3, TLB
Encourage those who are struggling. Don’t know what to say? Then open your Bible . . .
To the grief stricken: “God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’” (Heb. 13:5 NIV)
To the guilt-ridden: “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1 NIV).
Esther 8
1-2 That same day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman, archenemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came before the king because Esther had explained their relationship. The king took off his signet ring, which he had taken back from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. Esther appointed Mordecai over Haman's estate.
3-6 Then Esther again spoke to the king, falling at his feet, begging with tears to counter the evil of Haman the Agagite and revoke the plan that he had plotted against the Jews. The king extended his gold scepter to Esther. She got to her feet and stood before the king. She said, "If it please the king and he regards me with favor and thinks this is right, and if he has any affection for me at all, let an order be written that cancels the bulletins authorizing the plan of Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite to annihilate the Jews in all the king's provinces. How can I stand to see this catastrophe wipe out my people? How can I bear to stand by and watch the massacre of my own relatives?"
7-8 King Xerxes said to Queen Esther and Mordecai the Jew: "I've given Haman's estate to Esther and he's been hanged on the gallows because he attacked the Jews. So go ahead now and write whatever you decide on behalf of the Jews; then seal it with the signet ring." (An order written in the king's name and sealed with his signet ring is irrevocable.)
9 So the king's secretaries were brought in on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month of Sivan, and the order regarding the Jews was written word for word as Mordecai dictated and was addressed to the satraps, governors, and officials of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces in all, to each province in its own script and each people in their own language, including the Jews in their script and language.
10 He wrote under the name of King Xerxes and sealed the order with the royal signet ring; he sent out the bulletins by couriers on horseback, riding the fastest royal steeds bred from the royal stud.
11-13 The king's order authorized the Jews in every city to arm and defend themselves to the death, killing anyone who threatened them or their women and children, and confiscating for themselves anything owned by their enemies. The day set for this in all King Xerxes' provinces was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar. The order was posted in public places in each province so everyone could read it, authorizing the Jews to be prepared on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.
14 The couriers, fired up by the king's order, raced off on their royal horses. At the same time, the order was posted in the palace complex of Susa.
15-17 Mordecai walked out of the king's presence wearing a royal robe of violet and white, a huge gold crown, and a purple cape of fine linen. The city of Susa exploded with joy. For Jews it was all sunshine and laughter: they celebrated, they were honored. It was that way all over the country, in every province, every city when the king's bulletin was posted: the Jews took to the streets in celebration, cheering, and feasting. Not only that, but many non-Jews became Jews—now it was dangerous not to be a Jew!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Matthew 23:1-13
1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:
2 "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.
3 So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
4 They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
5 "Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long;
6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues;
7 they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them 'Rabbi.'
8 "But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers.
9 And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.
10 Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ.
11 The greatest among you will be your servant.
12 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
13 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
Poor Examples
April 20, 2010 — by Marvin Williams
A woman in Oregon was caught driving 103 miles per hour with her 10-year-old grandson in the car. When she was stopped by the police, she told them that she was only trying to teach him never to drive that fast. I suppose she wanted him to do as she said, not as she did.
The Pharisees and teachers of the law seemed to have a similar problem. Jesus had a scathing assessment of them: They were spiritually bankrupt. He held these two groups directly responsible for this sad spiritual condition. As the successors of the lawgiver Moses, they were responsible for expounding the law so that people would walk in God’s ways and have a genuine and vibrant relationship with the Lord (Deut. 10:12-13). But their personal interpretation and application of the law became more important than God’s law. They did not practice what they preached. What they did observe was done not to bring glory to God but to honor themselves. Jesus exposed who they were—image managers, posers, and hypocrites.
The test of the effectiveness of following Jesus is not just in what we say but in how we live. Are we telling others God’s Word and doing what it says? Let’s model by words and actions what it means to follow Him.
Christians, remember you bear His dear name,
Your lives are for others to view;
You are living examples—men praise you or blame,
And measure your Savior by you. —Anon.
A good example preaches a powerful sermon.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
April 20, 2010
Can a Saint Falsely Accuse God?
All the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen . . . —2 Corinthians 1:20
Jesus’ parable of the talents recorded in Matthew 25:14-30 was a warning that it is possible for us to misjudge our capacities. This parable has nothing to do with natural gifts and abilities, but relates to the gift of the Holy Spirit as He was first given at Pentecost. We must never measure our spiritual capacity on the basis of our education or our intellect; our capacity in spiritual things is measured on the basis of the promises of God. If we get less than God wants us to have, we will falsely accuse Him as the servant falsely accused his master when he said, “You expect more of me than you gave me the power to do. You demand too much of me, and I cannot stand true to you here where you have placed me.” When it is a question of God’s Almighty Spirit, never say, “I can’t.” Never allow the limitation of your own natural ability to enter into the matter. If we have received the Holy Spirit, God expects the work of the Holy Spirit to be exhibited in us.
The servant justified himself, while condemning his lord on every point, as if to say, “Your demand on me is way out of proportion to what you gave to me.” Have we been falsely accusing God by daring to worry after He has said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you”? ( Matthew 6:33 ). Worrying means exactly what this servant implied— “I know your intent is to leave me unprotected and vulnerable.” A person who is lazy in the natural realm is always critical, saying, “I haven’t had a decent chance,” and someone who is lazy in the spiritual realm is critical of God. Lazy people always strike out at others in an independent way.
Never forget that our capacity and capability in spiritual matters is measured by, and based on, the promises of God. Is God able to fulfill His promises? Our answer depends on whether or not we have received the Holy Spirit.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
It Really is "How You Play the Game" - #6072
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
When you're five years old, you have a number of those milestone experiences - lots of "firsts." Like your first soccer game, which our five-year-old grandson had. I reminded our daughter that she had joined that much-talked about tribe called "soccer moms." Well, our grandson had never played soccer before, and he doesn't have an older brother or sister to learn from. So his first game was, shall we say, a great learning experience. And he did a good job. But not good enough for the kind of performance most firstborns expect of themselves. Though he got the ball several times for his team and moved it down the field, he didn't score any goals, and he was bothered that he missed one. Right after the game, he gave his mom his two-word summary of how he thought he did. He just said, "I tried."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "It Really is 'How You Play the Game.'"
Well, at least on God's team. That's why Jesus' finish line commendation for His players will be, "Well done, good and faithful servant" (Matthew 25:21), not "Well done, good and successful servant." What God cares about - what God rewards - is an all-out effort. The results are in His hands. The effort - that's in yours.
What impresses God about His players is clear in our word for today from the Word of God. He says in Colossians 3:23-24: "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." You're not playing for the applause of the crowd or even the approval of your teammates. As far as you're concerned, there's only one Person in that stadium - Jesus, your Coach. If you've got His smile, you're winning; not if you're winning, you've got His smile. He wants you to be able to honestly say, "Coach, I really tried."
If you're playing your position with all your heart, you are pleasing Jesus. Your wholehearted effort may mean you get A's or it may mean you get C's, that you're the best one they've got or just considered average. Maybe you'll get amazing results or you'll seldom see results. You can't give any more than all your heart. And though we live in a world that cares only if you score, only if you look good, only if you win, you can be free inside knowing you're playing for the One who gives the biggest rewards. And Jesus rewards relentless faithfulness. That means you're still in there fighting when everybody else has dropped out.
Maybe God's assigned you to play a position on His team that's behind the scenes, doing things for Him that few people ever notice or value. And even you feel like what you do doesn't matter much - even to God. Surely, it doesn't matter as much as the big, public things some of your brothers and sisters are doing for God. But remember who gets the Super Bowl ring - every member of the team, not just the guys who scored the points. That's how God looks at all of us. Your part, your reward, matters just as much to Him as that of some great pastor or evangelist. In fact, the less glory you get on earth, the more He will give you in heaven for your all-out effort for Him.
So hold your head high, no matter what position you play. Don't let that discouragement wear you down any more - not if you're giving it all you've got. If you are, then in God's eyes, the only opinion that ultimately matters you are a champion. Earth may not have many rewards for you. But God's gold medal will one day hang around your neck!
Monday, April 19, 2010
Esther 7, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: What To Do With The Cross
What To Do With The Cross
Posted: 18 Apr 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“I identified myself completely with him . . . I have been crucified with Christ.” Galatians 2:19, The Message
For every cunning Caiaphas there was a daring Nicodemus. For every cynical Herod there was a questioning Pilate . . . For every turncoat Judas there was a faithful John. There was something about the crucifixion that made every witness either step toward it or away from it . . .
Two thousand years later, the same is true . . . We can do what we want with the cross. We can examine its history. We can study its theology . . . Yet the one thing we can’t do is walk away neutral.
Esther 7
1-2 So the king and Haman went to dinner with Queen Esther. At this second dinner, while they were drinking wine the king again asked, "Queen Esther, what would you like? Half of my kingdom! Just ask and it's yours."
3 Queen Esther answered, "If I have found favor in your eyes, O King, and if it please the king, give me my life, and give my people their lives.
4 "We've been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed—sold to be massacred, eliminated. If we had just been sold off into slavery, I wouldn't even have brought it up; our troubles wouldn't have been worth bothering the king over."
5 King Xerxes exploded, "Who? Where is he? This is monstrous!"
6 "An enemy. An adversary. This evil Haman," said Esther.
Haman was terror-stricken before the king and queen.
7-8 The king, raging, left his wine and stalked out into the palace garden.
Haman stood there pleading with Queen Esther for his life—he could see that the king was finished with him and that he was doomed. As the king came back from the palace garden into the banquet hall, Haman was groveling at the couch on which Esther reclined. The king roared out, "Will he even molest the queen while I'm just around the corner?"
When that word left the king's mouth, all the blood drained from Haman's face.
9 Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, spoke up: "Look over there! There's the gallows that Haman had built for Mordecai, who saved the king's life. It's right next to Haman's house—seventy-five feet high!"
The king said, "Hang him on it!"
10 So Haman was hanged on the very gallows that he had built for Mordecai. And the king's hot anger cooled.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Isaiah 50:4-5
4 “The gLord God has given Me
The tongue of the learned,
That I should know how to speak
A word in season to him who is hweary.
He awakens Me morning by morning,
He awakens My ear
To hear as the learned.
5 The Lord God ihas opened My ear;
And I was not jrebellious,
Nor did I turn away.
The Secret Chamber
April 19, 2010 — by David H. Roper
Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light. —Matthew 10:27
People have some needs that are excruciatingly deep. Poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote, “Never morning wore to evening, but some heart did break.”
We find ourselves in conversation at times with heartbroken friends and may feel at an utter loss to know what to say. How can we “speak a word in season to him who is weary,” as it says in Isaiah 50:4?
Telling people what human teachers have taught us may have some impact on them. But the most helpful or persuasive words are spoken by those who are taught by the Lord Himself.
That’s why it’s essential for us to sit at Jesus’ feet and learn from Him. The more we receive from Him, the more we have to give to others. George MacDonald pictures this time with the Lord as having “a chamber in God Himself.” He continues: “Out of [that] chamber . . . man has to bring revelation and strength for his brethren. This is that for which he was made.”
It’s through our thoughtful and prayerful Bible study, reading, and quiet meditation that God speaks to our hearts. He gives us “the tongue of the learned” (Isa. 50:4) so that we have something to share with those who are in the depths of despair.
The comfort God has given us
He wants us all to share
With others who, with broken hearts,
Are caught in deep despair. —Sper
Listen to God’s heart, then speak from your heart to others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
April 19, 2010
Beware of the Least Likely Temptation
Joab had defected to Adonijah, though he had not defected to Absalom —1 Kings 2:28
Joab withstood the greatest test of his life, remaining absolutely loyal to David by not turning to follow after the fascinating and ambitious Absalom. Yet toward the end of his life he turned to follow after the weak and cowardly Adonijah. Always remain alert to the fact that where one person has turned back is exactly where anyone may be tempted to turn back (see 1 Corinthians 10:11-13 ). You may have just victoriously gone through a great crisis, but now be alert about the things that may appear to be the least likely to tempt you. Beware of thinking that the areas of your life where you have experienced victory in the past are now the least likely to cause you to stumble and fall.
We are apt to say, “It is not at all likely that having been through the greatest crisis of my life I would now turn back to the things of the world.” Do not try to predict where the temptation will come; it is the least likely thing that is the real danger. It is in the aftermath of a great spiritual event that the least likely things begin to have an effect. They may not be forceful and dominant, but they are there. And if you are not careful to be forewarned, they will trip you. You have remained true to God under great and intense trials— now beware of the undercurrent. Do not be abnormally examining your inner self, looking forward with dread, but stay alert; keep your memory sharp before God. Unguarded strength is actually a double weakness, because that is where the least likely temptations will be effective in sapping strength. The Bible characters stumbled over their strong points, never their weak ones.
“. . . kept by the power of God . . .”— that is the only safety. ( 1 Peter 1:5 ).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
When You're Tired of Love With Strings - #6071
Monday, April 19, 2010
Fashion models...they're considered the "beautiful people." Right? But all too often, they're also the unhappy people. That's what our friend Lindsey explained to us after she had left an enviable position as a model with one of the most prestigious agencies in the world. For example, Lindsey told about the eating disorders that plague young women for whom a small weight gain can actually cost them a well-paying job. Lindsey explained how she and others were carefully and critically weighed before every shoot. The gain of a pound or two meant that they didn't qualify anymore. You paid a price to be admired.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When You're Tired of Love With Strings."
The professional football players I've known over the years would never be mistaken for a fashion model. But they know the feeling of being accepted and appreciated based on how well they perform. You're as good as your last game, man! A salesman's as good as this week's sales; a student as good as their latest grades. For some, you'll be loved as long as you're loveable, or beautiful, or successful.
In many ways, we live in a world where we're loved on the basis of "I love you if..." Maybe you know the feeling of having to perform to feel loved or accepted. You have to meet the expectations; you have to do what they like. And maybe you know what it's like to be set aside, betrayed, discarded, and overlooked all because there were strings on their love.
Deep down in the human heart there is this voice that says, "Is there anyone who will love me, no matter what?" Love with strings, love that's conditional, is love you can lose...because things change, and people change. If you're tired of performance love, if you are ready for one love that you will not lose, have I got a story for you! It's a story Jesus told about a young man who literally did everything that would break his father's heart; that would make most any man stop loving him. It's in Luke 15, where we find our word for today from the Word of God - the famous story of the Prodigal Son.
This young man asks his father for his share of his estate; he can't wait until his father's dead. He then "...set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. He spent everything." He ends up working on a pig farm, an unthinkably defiling job for a Jew. But when, at the end of his rope he returns to his father, having blown everything his father ever gave him, the Bible says, "His father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him."
According to the Bible, I am that prodigal son, and so are you. We've taken the life and the gifts that our Heavenly Father has given us and we have used them for ourselves, ignoring the purpose He created us for. The Bible calls it sin, with the middle letter saying it all - s-I-n!
There's no human reason that a totally holy God would want us in His family. But in spite of all we've done that has broken God's laws and God's heart, He loves us. He loves you. In God's own words, "God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). We couldn't make it home to a sinless God with a lifetime of sin. The only way your sin and mine could be forgiven was for someone to pay the penalty for it, and someone did. God's Son did. Only He could. Picture in your mind that awful scene of Jesus on that cross, suspended by three nails, bleeding and dying in anguish. Then say these two words, "For me. He's dying there for every lie I've ever told, every hurt I've ever inflicted, every dirty or selfish thing I've ever done." That is love with no conditions and no strings. We gave Him every reason not to love us. But He's running your direction this very day, waiting to throw His arms around you and welcome you into His family.
But you've got to decide to come home to God through His Son. This could be your day to say, 'Jesus, this is not my life anymore. I'm Yours." You will then experience the one love that you will never lose.
I want to help you experience that love for yourself. That's why I want to invite you to our website. It's YoursForLife.net. Would you check it out today? He's waiting for you right now.
What To Do With The Cross
Posted: 18 Apr 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“I identified myself completely with him . . . I have been crucified with Christ.” Galatians 2:19, The Message
For every cunning Caiaphas there was a daring Nicodemus. For every cynical Herod there was a questioning Pilate . . . For every turncoat Judas there was a faithful John. There was something about the crucifixion that made every witness either step toward it or away from it . . .
Two thousand years later, the same is true . . . We can do what we want with the cross. We can examine its history. We can study its theology . . . Yet the one thing we can’t do is walk away neutral.
Esther 7
1-2 So the king and Haman went to dinner with Queen Esther. At this second dinner, while they were drinking wine the king again asked, "Queen Esther, what would you like? Half of my kingdom! Just ask and it's yours."
3 Queen Esther answered, "If I have found favor in your eyes, O King, and if it please the king, give me my life, and give my people their lives.
4 "We've been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed—sold to be massacred, eliminated. If we had just been sold off into slavery, I wouldn't even have brought it up; our troubles wouldn't have been worth bothering the king over."
5 King Xerxes exploded, "Who? Where is he? This is monstrous!"
6 "An enemy. An adversary. This evil Haman," said Esther.
Haman was terror-stricken before the king and queen.
7-8 The king, raging, left his wine and stalked out into the palace garden.
Haman stood there pleading with Queen Esther for his life—he could see that the king was finished with him and that he was doomed. As the king came back from the palace garden into the banquet hall, Haman was groveling at the couch on which Esther reclined. The king roared out, "Will he even molest the queen while I'm just around the corner?"
When that word left the king's mouth, all the blood drained from Haman's face.
9 Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, spoke up: "Look over there! There's the gallows that Haman had built for Mordecai, who saved the king's life. It's right next to Haman's house—seventy-five feet high!"
The king said, "Hang him on it!"
10 So Haman was hanged on the very gallows that he had built for Mordecai. And the king's hot anger cooled.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Isaiah 50:4-5
4 “The gLord God has given Me
The tongue of the learned,
That I should know how to speak
A word in season to him who is hweary.
He awakens Me morning by morning,
He awakens My ear
To hear as the learned.
5 The Lord God ihas opened My ear;
And I was not jrebellious,
Nor did I turn away.
The Secret Chamber
April 19, 2010 — by David H. Roper
Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light. —Matthew 10:27
People have some needs that are excruciatingly deep. Poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote, “Never morning wore to evening, but some heart did break.”
We find ourselves in conversation at times with heartbroken friends and may feel at an utter loss to know what to say. How can we “speak a word in season to him who is weary,” as it says in Isaiah 50:4?
Telling people what human teachers have taught us may have some impact on them. But the most helpful or persuasive words are spoken by those who are taught by the Lord Himself.
That’s why it’s essential for us to sit at Jesus’ feet and learn from Him. The more we receive from Him, the more we have to give to others. George MacDonald pictures this time with the Lord as having “a chamber in God Himself.” He continues: “Out of [that] chamber . . . man has to bring revelation and strength for his brethren. This is that for which he was made.”
It’s through our thoughtful and prayerful Bible study, reading, and quiet meditation that God speaks to our hearts. He gives us “the tongue of the learned” (Isa. 50:4) so that we have something to share with those who are in the depths of despair.
The comfort God has given us
He wants us all to share
With others who, with broken hearts,
Are caught in deep despair. —Sper
Listen to God’s heart, then speak from your heart to others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
April 19, 2010
Beware of the Least Likely Temptation
Joab had defected to Adonijah, though he had not defected to Absalom —1 Kings 2:28
Joab withstood the greatest test of his life, remaining absolutely loyal to David by not turning to follow after the fascinating and ambitious Absalom. Yet toward the end of his life he turned to follow after the weak and cowardly Adonijah. Always remain alert to the fact that where one person has turned back is exactly where anyone may be tempted to turn back (see 1 Corinthians 10:11-13 ). You may have just victoriously gone through a great crisis, but now be alert about the things that may appear to be the least likely to tempt you. Beware of thinking that the areas of your life where you have experienced victory in the past are now the least likely to cause you to stumble and fall.
We are apt to say, “It is not at all likely that having been through the greatest crisis of my life I would now turn back to the things of the world.” Do not try to predict where the temptation will come; it is the least likely thing that is the real danger. It is in the aftermath of a great spiritual event that the least likely things begin to have an effect. They may not be forceful and dominant, but they are there. And if you are not careful to be forewarned, they will trip you. You have remained true to God under great and intense trials— now beware of the undercurrent. Do not be abnormally examining your inner self, looking forward with dread, but stay alert; keep your memory sharp before God. Unguarded strength is actually a double weakness, because that is where the least likely temptations will be effective in sapping strength. The Bible characters stumbled over their strong points, never their weak ones.
“. . . kept by the power of God . . .”— that is the only safety. ( 1 Peter 1:5 ).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
When You're Tired of Love With Strings - #6071
Monday, April 19, 2010
Fashion models...they're considered the "beautiful people." Right? But all too often, they're also the unhappy people. That's what our friend Lindsey explained to us after she had left an enviable position as a model with one of the most prestigious agencies in the world. For example, Lindsey told about the eating disorders that plague young women for whom a small weight gain can actually cost them a well-paying job. Lindsey explained how she and others were carefully and critically weighed before every shoot. The gain of a pound or two meant that they didn't qualify anymore. You paid a price to be admired.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When You're Tired of Love With Strings."
The professional football players I've known over the years would never be mistaken for a fashion model. But they know the feeling of being accepted and appreciated based on how well they perform. You're as good as your last game, man! A salesman's as good as this week's sales; a student as good as their latest grades. For some, you'll be loved as long as you're loveable, or beautiful, or successful.
In many ways, we live in a world where we're loved on the basis of "I love you if..." Maybe you know the feeling of having to perform to feel loved or accepted. You have to meet the expectations; you have to do what they like. And maybe you know what it's like to be set aside, betrayed, discarded, and overlooked all because there were strings on their love.
Deep down in the human heart there is this voice that says, "Is there anyone who will love me, no matter what?" Love with strings, love that's conditional, is love you can lose...because things change, and people change. If you're tired of performance love, if you are ready for one love that you will not lose, have I got a story for you! It's a story Jesus told about a young man who literally did everything that would break his father's heart; that would make most any man stop loving him. It's in Luke 15, where we find our word for today from the Word of God - the famous story of the Prodigal Son.
This young man asks his father for his share of his estate; he can't wait until his father's dead. He then "...set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. He spent everything." He ends up working on a pig farm, an unthinkably defiling job for a Jew. But when, at the end of his rope he returns to his father, having blown everything his father ever gave him, the Bible says, "His father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him."
According to the Bible, I am that prodigal son, and so are you. We've taken the life and the gifts that our Heavenly Father has given us and we have used them for ourselves, ignoring the purpose He created us for. The Bible calls it sin, with the middle letter saying it all - s-I-n!
There's no human reason that a totally holy God would want us in His family. But in spite of all we've done that has broken God's laws and God's heart, He loves us. He loves you. In God's own words, "God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). We couldn't make it home to a sinless God with a lifetime of sin. The only way your sin and mine could be forgiven was for someone to pay the penalty for it, and someone did. God's Son did. Only He could. Picture in your mind that awful scene of Jesus on that cross, suspended by three nails, bleeding and dying in anguish. Then say these two words, "For me. He's dying there for every lie I've ever told, every hurt I've ever inflicted, every dirty or selfish thing I've ever done." That is love with no conditions and no strings. We gave Him every reason not to love us. But He's running your direction this very day, waiting to throw His arms around you and welcome you into His family.
But you've got to decide to come home to God through His Son. This could be your day to say, 'Jesus, this is not my life anymore. I'm Yours." You will then experience the one love that you will never lose.
I want to help you experience that love for yourself. That's why I want to invite you to our website. It's YoursForLife.net. Would you check it out today? He's waiting for you right now.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Esther 4, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: Using the Common
Using the Common
Posted: 17 Apr 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“When Moses reached out and took hold of the snake, it again became a stick in his hand.” Exodus 4:4
Just as Moses’ hand touched the squirmy scales of the snake, it hardened. And Moses lifted up the rod . . . The same rod he would lift up to divide the water and guide two million people through a desert. The rod that would remind Moses that if God can make a stick become a snake, then become a stick again—then perhaps he can do something with stubborn hearts and a stiff-necked people.
Perhaps be he can do something with the common.
Esther 4
1-3 When Mordecai learned what had been done, he ripped his clothes to shreds and put on sackcloth and ashes. Then he went out in the streets of the city crying out in loud and bitter cries. He came only as far as the King's Gate, for no one dressed in sackcloth was allowed to enter the King's Gate. As the king's order was posted in every province, there was loud lament among the Jews—fasting, weeping, wailing. And most of them stretched out on sackcloth and ashes.
4-8 Esther's maids and eunuchs came and told her. The queen was stunned. She sent fresh clothes to Mordecai so he could take off his sackcloth but he wouldn't accept them. Esther called for Hathach, one of the royal eunuchs whom the king had assigned to wait on her, and told him to go to Mordecai and get the full story of what was happening. So Hathach went to Mordecai in the town square in front of the King's Gate. Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him. He also told him the exact amount of money that Haman had promised to deposit in the royal bank to finance the massacre of the Jews. Mordecai also gave him a copy of the bulletin that had been posted in Susa ordering the massacre so he could show it to Esther when he reported back with instructions to go to the king and intercede and plead with him for her people.
9-11 Hathach came back and told Esther everything Mordecai had said. Esther talked it over with Hathach and then sent him back to Mordecai with this message: "Everyone who works for the king here, and even the people out in the provinces, knows that there is a single fate for every man or woman who approaches the king without being invited: death. The one exception is if the king extends his gold scepter; then he or she may live. And it's been thirty days now since I've been invited to come to the king."
12-14 When Hathach told Mordecai what Esther had said, Mordecai sent her this message: "Don't think that just because you live in the king's house you're the one Jew who will get out of this alive. If you persist in staying silent at a time like this, help and deliverance will arrive for the Jews from someplace else; but you and your family will be wiped out. Who knows? Maybe you were made queen for just such a time as this."
15-16 Esther sent back her answer to Mordecai: "Go and get all the Jews living in Susa together. Fast for me. Don't eat or drink for three days, either day or night. I and my maids will fast with you. If you will do this, I'll go to the king, even though it's forbidden. If I die, I die."
17 Mordecai left and carried out Esther's instructions.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
1 Tim 1:18-20
18 Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight,
19 holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith.
20 Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.
A Wrong Reading
April 18, 2010 — by Dennis Fisher
Read: 1 Timothy 1:18-20
Wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, . . . have suffered shipwreck. —1 Tim. 1:18-19
Bible in a year:
2 Samuel 3-5; Luke 14:25-35
William Scoresby was a British seafaring explorer in the 19th century who responded to God’s call to the ministry. An interest in the workings of navigational compasses stayed with him during his work as a clergyman. His research led to the discovery that all newly built iron ships had their own magnetic influence on compasses. This influence would change at sea for various reasons—leading crews to read the compass incorrectly. Often this led to disaster.
There is a striking parallel between the misread compass and false biblical teaching. In 1 Timothy 1, Paul warned against “fables and endless genealogies” (v.4)—-man-made changes in the doctrines of God’s Word. People who teach false doctrines “have suffered shipwreck,” Paul concludes (v.19). Two people who opposed the Word of God by placing false teaching in its place, and who thus faced spiritual shipwreck, were Alexander and Hymenaeus (v.20).
Biblical truth is being questioned and in some cases even replaced in the church today. Our opinions must never replace the truth of God’s Word. The Bible, not man’s erroneous opinions about it, is the ultimate guide for our conscience in navigating life’s changing seas. Beware of wrong readings.
God’s words of pure, eternal truth
Shall yet unshaken stay,
When all that man has thought or planned,
Like chaff has passed away. —Anon.
The first point of wisdom is to know the truth; the second, to discern what is false.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
April 18, 2010
Readiness
God called to him . . . . And he said, ’Here I am’ —Exodus 3:4
When God speaks, many of us are like people in a fog, and we give no answer. Moses’ reply to God revealed that he knew where he was and that he was ready. Readiness means having a right relationship to God and having the knowledge of where we are. We are so busy telling God where we would like to go. Yet the man or woman who is ready for God and His work is the one who receives the prize when the summons comes. We wait with the idea that some great opportunity or something sensational will be coming our way, and when it does come we are quick to cry out, “Here I am.” Whenever we sense that Jesus Christ is rising up to take authority over some great task, we are there, but we are not ready for some obscure duty.
Readiness for God means that we are prepared to do the smallest thing or the largest thing— it makes no difference. It means we have no choice in what we want to do, but that whatever God’s plans may be, we are there and ready. Whenever any duty presents itself, we hear God’s voice as our Lord heard His Father’s voice, and we are ready for it with the total readiness of our love for Him. Jesus Christ expects to do with us just as His Father did with Him. He can put us wherever He wants, in pleasant duties or in menial ones, because our union with Him is the same as His union with the Father. “. . . that they may be one just as We are one . . .” ( John 17:22 ).
Be ready for the sudden surprise visits of God. A ready person never needs to get ready— he is ready. Think of the time we waste trying to get ready once God has called! The burning bush is a symbol of everything that surrounds the person who is ready, and it is on fire with the presence of God Himself.
Using the Common
Posted: 17 Apr 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“When Moses reached out and took hold of the snake, it again became a stick in his hand.” Exodus 4:4
Just as Moses’ hand touched the squirmy scales of the snake, it hardened. And Moses lifted up the rod . . . The same rod he would lift up to divide the water and guide two million people through a desert. The rod that would remind Moses that if God can make a stick become a snake, then become a stick again—then perhaps he can do something with stubborn hearts and a stiff-necked people.
Perhaps be he can do something with the common.
Esther 4
1-3 When Mordecai learned what had been done, he ripped his clothes to shreds and put on sackcloth and ashes. Then he went out in the streets of the city crying out in loud and bitter cries. He came only as far as the King's Gate, for no one dressed in sackcloth was allowed to enter the King's Gate. As the king's order was posted in every province, there was loud lament among the Jews—fasting, weeping, wailing. And most of them stretched out on sackcloth and ashes.
4-8 Esther's maids and eunuchs came and told her. The queen was stunned. She sent fresh clothes to Mordecai so he could take off his sackcloth but he wouldn't accept them. Esther called for Hathach, one of the royal eunuchs whom the king had assigned to wait on her, and told him to go to Mordecai and get the full story of what was happening. So Hathach went to Mordecai in the town square in front of the King's Gate. Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him. He also told him the exact amount of money that Haman had promised to deposit in the royal bank to finance the massacre of the Jews. Mordecai also gave him a copy of the bulletin that had been posted in Susa ordering the massacre so he could show it to Esther when he reported back with instructions to go to the king and intercede and plead with him for her people.
9-11 Hathach came back and told Esther everything Mordecai had said. Esther talked it over with Hathach and then sent him back to Mordecai with this message: "Everyone who works for the king here, and even the people out in the provinces, knows that there is a single fate for every man or woman who approaches the king without being invited: death. The one exception is if the king extends his gold scepter; then he or she may live. And it's been thirty days now since I've been invited to come to the king."
12-14 When Hathach told Mordecai what Esther had said, Mordecai sent her this message: "Don't think that just because you live in the king's house you're the one Jew who will get out of this alive. If you persist in staying silent at a time like this, help and deliverance will arrive for the Jews from someplace else; but you and your family will be wiped out. Who knows? Maybe you were made queen for just such a time as this."
15-16 Esther sent back her answer to Mordecai: "Go and get all the Jews living in Susa together. Fast for me. Don't eat or drink for three days, either day or night. I and my maids will fast with you. If you will do this, I'll go to the king, even though it's forbidden. If I die, I die."
17 Mordecai left and carried out Esther's instructions.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
1 Tim 1:18-20
18 Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight,
19 holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith.
20 Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.
A Wrong Reading
April 18, 2010 — by Dennis Fisher
Read: 1 Timothy 1:18-20
Wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, . . . have suffered shipwreck. —1 Tim. 1:18-19
Bible in a year:
2 Samuel 3-5; Luke 14:25-35
William Scoresby was a British seafaring explorer in the 19th century who responded to God’s call to the ministry. An interest in the workings of navigational compasses stayed with him during his work as a clergyman. His research led to the discovery that all newly built iron ships had their own magnetic influence on compasses. This influence would change at sea for various reasons—leading crews to read the compass incorrectly. Often this led to disaster.
There is a striking parallel between the misread compass and false biblical teaching. In 1 Timothy 1, Paul warned against “fables and endless genealogies” (v.4)—-man-made changes in the doctrines of God’s Word. People who teach false doctrines “have suffered shipwreck,” Paul concludes (v.19). Two people who opposed the Word of God by placing false teaching in its place, and who thus faced spiritual shipwreck, were Alexander and Hymenaeus (v.20).
Biblical truth is being questioned and in some cases even replaced in the church today. Our opinions must never replace the truth of God’s Word. The Bible, not man’s erroneous opinions about it, is the ultimate guide for our conscience in navigating life’s changing seas. Beware of wrong readings.
God’s words of pure, eternal truth
Shall yet unshaken stay,
When all that man has thought or planned,
Like chaff has passed away. —Anon.
The first point of wisdom is to know the truth; the second, to discern what is false.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
April 18, 2010
Readiness
God called to him . . . . And he said, ’Here I am’ —Exodus 3:4
When God speaks, many of us are like people in a fog, and we give no answer. Moses’ reply to God revealed that he knew where he was and that he was ready. Readiness means having a right relationship to God and having the knowledge of where we are. We are so busy telling God where we would like to go. Yet the man or woman who is ready for God and His work is the one who receives the prize when the summons comes. We wait with the idea that some great opportunity or something sensational will be coming our way, and when it does come we are quick to cry out, “Here I am.” Whenever we sense that Jesus Christ is rising up to take authority over some great task, we are there, but we are not ready for some obscure duty.
Readiness for God means that we are prepared to do the smallest thing or the largest thing— it makes no difference. It means we have no choice in what we want to do, but that whatever God’s plans may be, we are there and ready. Whenever any duty presents itself, we hear God’s voice as our Lord heard His Father’s voice, and we are ready for it with the total readiness of our love for Him. Jesus Christ expects to do with us just as His Father did with Him. He can put us wherever He wants, in pleasant duties or in menial ones, because our union with Him is the same as His union with the Father. “. . . that they may be one just as We are one . . .” ( John 17:22 ).
Be ready for the sudden surprise visits of God. A ready person never needs to get ready— he is ready. Think of the time we waste trying to get ready once God has called! The burning bush is a symbol of everything that surrounds the person who is ready, and it is on fire with the presence of God Himself.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Esther 3, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: The Gopsel of the Second Chance
The Gopsel of the Second Chance
Posted: 16 Apr 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“Go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee.” Mark 16:7, NIV
If I might paraphrase the words, “Don’t stay here, go tell the disciples,” a pause, then a smile, “and especially tell Peter, that he is going before you to Galilee . . .”
It’s as if all of heaven had watched Peter fall–and it’s as if all of heaven wanted to help him back up again . . . No wonder they call it the gospel of the second chance.
Esther 3
1-2 Some time later, King Xerxes promoted Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, making him the highest-ranking official in the government. All the king's servants at the King's Gate used to honor him by bowing down and kneeling before Haman—that's what the king had commanded.
2-4 Except Mordecai. Mordecai wouldn't do it, wouldn't bow down and kneel. The king's servants at the King's Gate asked Mordecai about it: "Why do you cross the king's command?" Day after day they spoke to him about this but he wouldn't listen, so they went to Haman to see whether something shouldn't be done about it. Mordecai had told them that he was a Jew.
5-6 When Haman saw for himself that Mordecai didn't bow down and kneel before him, he was outraged. Meanwhile, having learned that Mordecai was a Jew, Haman hated to waste his fury on just one Jew; he looked for a way to eliminate not just Mordecai but all Jews throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes.
7 In the first month, the month of Nisan, of the twelfth year of Xerxes, the pur—that is, the lot—was cast under Haman's charge to determine the propitious day and month. The lot turned up the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.
8-9 Haman then spoke with King Xerxes: "There is an odd set of people scattered through the provinces of your kingdom who don't fit in. Their customs and ways are different from those of everybody else. Worse, they disregard the king's laws. They're an affront; the king shouldn't put up with them. If it please the king, let orders be given that they be destroyed. I'll pay for it myself. I'll deposit 375 tons of silver in the royal bank to finance the operation."
10 The king slipped his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, archenemy of the Jews.
11 "Go ahead," the king said to Haman. "It's your money—do whatever you want with those people."
12 The king's secretaries were brought in on the thirteenth day of the first month. The orders were written out word for word as Haman had addressed them to the king's satraps, the governors of every province, and the officials of every people. They were written in the script of each province and the language of each people in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with the royal signet ring.
13-14 Bulletins were sent out by couriers to all the king's provinces with orders to massacre, kill, and eliminate all the Jews—youngsters and old men, women and babies—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month Adar, and to plunder their goods. Copies of the bulletin were to be posted in each province, publicly available to all peoples, to get them ready for that day.
15 At the king's command, the couriers took off; the order was also posted in the palace complex of Susa. The king and Haman sat back and had a drink while the city of Susa reeled from the news.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 Corinthians 13
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Helping Love Grow
Text Size: Zoom InApril 17, 2010 — by Anne Cetas
A young man told his father, “Dad, I’m going to get married.”
“How do you know you’re ready to get married, Ron?” asked the father. “Are you in love?”
“I sure am!” he replied.
The father then asked, “Ron, how do you know you’re in love?”
“Last night as I was kissing my girlfriend goodnight, her dog bit me and I didn’t feel the pain until I got home!”
Ron has got that loving feeling, but he has a lot of growing to do. Vernon Grounds, a former writer for Our Daily Bread, who has been married for more than 70 years, shares these points about how to grow in love:
Ponder God’s love in Christ. Take time to reflect on how He gave His life for you. Read about Him in the Gospels, and thank Him.
Pray for the love of God. Ask Him to give you an understanding of His love and to teach you how to live that out in your relationships with your spouse and others (1 Cor. 13).
Practice the love of God. Give of yourself. A newlywed told me he thinks love is practical. He said, “My responsibility is to make life easier for my spouse.” The other, tougher side of love is to challenge each other to act in godly ways.
Love will grow when we ponder love, pray for love, and practice love.
This is my prayer, kind Father,
So direct me from above
That I may live a life for You
And reflect my Savior’s love. —Messenger
As Christ’s love grows in us, His love flows from us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
April 17, 2010
All or Nothing?
When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment . . . and plunged into the sea —John 21:7
Have you ever had a crisis in your life in which you deliberately, earnestly, and recklessly abandoned everything? It is a crisis of the will. You may come to that point many times externally, but it will amount to nothing. The true deep crisis of abandonment, or total surrender, is reached internally, not externally. The giving up of only external things may actually be an indication of your being in total bondage.
Have you deliberately committed your will to Jesus Christ? It is a transaction of the will, not of emotion; any positive emotion that results is simply a superficial blessing arising out of the transaction. If you focus your attention on the emotion, you will never make the transaction. Do not ask God what the transaction is to be, but make the determination to surrender your will regarding whatever you see, whether it is in the shallow or the deep, profound places internally.
If you have heard Jesus Christ’s voice on the waves of the sea, you can let your convictions and your consistency take care of themselves by concentrating on maintaining your intimate relationship to Him.
The Gopsel of the Second Chance
Posted: 16 Apr 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“Go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee.” Mark 16:7, NIV
If I might paraphrase the words, “Don’t stay here, go tell the disciples,” a pause, then a smile, “and especially tell Peter, that he is going before you to Galilee . . .”
It’s as if all of heaven had watched Peter fall–and it’s as if all of heaven wanted to help him back up again . . . No wonder they call it the gospel of the second chance.
Esther 3
1-2 Some time later, King Xerxes promoted Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, making him the highest-ranking official in the government. All the king's servants at the King's Gate used to honor him by bowing down and kneeling before Haman—that's what the king had commanded.
2-4 Except Mordecai. Mordecai wouldn't do it, wouldn't bow down and kneel. The king's servants at the King's Gate asked Mordecai about it: "Why do you cross the king's command?" Day after day they spoke to him about this but he wouldn't listen, so they went to Haman to see whether something shouldn't be done about it. Mordecai had told them that he was a Jew.
5-6 When Haman saw for himself that Mordecai didn't bow down and kneel before him, he was outraged. Meanwhile, having learned that Mordecai was a Jew, Haman hated to waste his fury on just one Jew; he looked for a way to eliminate not just Mordecai but all Jews throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes.
7 In the first month, the month of Nisan, of the twelfth year of Xerxes, the pur—that is, the lot—was cast under Haman's charge to determine the propitious day and month. The lot turned up the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.
8-9 Haman then spoke with King Xerxes: "There is an odd set of people scattered through the provinces of your kingdom who don't fit in. Their customs and ways are different from those of everybody else. Worse, they disregard the king's laws. They're an affront; the king shouldn't put up with them. If it please the king, let orders be given that they be destroyed. I'll pay for it myself. I'll deposit 375 tons of silver in the royal bank to finance the operation."
10 The king slipped his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, archenemy of the Jews.
11 "Go ahead," the king said to Haman. "It's your money—do whatever you want with those people."
12 The king's secretaries were brought in on the thirteenth day of the first month. The orders were written out word for word as Haman had addressed them to the king's satraps, the governors of every province, and the officials of every people. They were written in the script of each province and the language of each people in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with the royal signet ring.
13-14 Bulletins were sent out by couriers to all the king's provinces with orders to massacre, kill, and eliminate all the Jews—youngsters and old men, women and babies—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month Adar, and to plunder their goods. Copies of the bulletin were to be posted in each province, publicly available to all peoples, to get them ready for that day.
15 At the king's command, the couriers took off; the order was also posted in the palace complex of Susa. The king and Haman sat back and had a drink while the city of Susa reeled from the news.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 Corinthians 13
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Helping Love Grow
Text Size: Zoom InApril 17, 2010 — by Anne Cetas
A young man told his father, “Dad, I’m going to get married.”
“How do you know you’re ready to get married, Ron?” asked the father. “Are you in love?”
“I sure am!” he replied.
The father then asked, “Ron, how do you know you’re in love?”
“Last night as I was kissing my girlfriend goodnight, her dog bit me and I didn’t feel the pain until I got home!”
Ron has got that loving feeling, but he has a lot of growing to do. Vernon Grounds, a former writer for Our Daily Bread, who has been married for more than 70 years, shares these points about how to grow in love:
Ponder God’s love in Christ. Take time to reflect on how He gave His life for you. Read about Him in the Gospels, and thank Him.
Pray for the love of God. Ask Him to give you an understanding of His love and to teach you how to live that out in your relationships with your spouse and others (1 Cor. 13).
Practice the love of God. Give of yourself. A newlywed told me he thinks love is practical. He said, “My responsibility is to make life easier for my spouse.” The other, tougher side of love is to challenge each other to act in godly ways.
Love will grow when we ponder love, pray for love, and practice love.
This is my prayer, kind Father,
So direct me from above
That I may live a life for You
And reflect my Savior’s love. —Messenger
As Christ’s love grows in us, His love flows from us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
April 17, 2010
All or Nothing?
When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment . . . and plunged into the sea —John 21:7
Have you ever had a crisis in your life in which you deliberately, earnestly, and recklessly abandoned everything? It is a crisis of the will. You may come to that point many times externally, but it will amount to nothing. The true deep crisis of abandonment, or total surrender, is reached internally, not externally. The giving up of only external things may actually be an indication of your being in total bondage.
Have you deliberately committed your will to Jesus Christ? It is a transaction of the will, not of emotion; any positive emotion that results is simply a superficial blessing arising out of the transaction. If you focus your attention on the emotion, you will never make the transaction. Do not ask God what the transaction is to be, but make the determination to surrender your will regarding whatever you see, whether it is in the shallow or the deep, profound places internally.
If you have heard Jesus Christ’s voice on the waves of the sea, you can let your convictions and your consistency take care of themselves by concentrating on maintaining your intimate relationship to Him.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Esther 2, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: He Adopted You
He Adopted You
Posted: 15 Apr 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by sending Jesus Christ to die for us.” Ephesians 1:3, TLB
And you thought God adopted you because you were good-looking. You thought he needed your money or your wisdom. Sorry. God adopted you simply because he wanted to. You were in his good will and pleasure. Knowing full well the trouble you would be and the price he would pay, he signed his name next to yours and changed your name to his and took you home. Your Abba adopted you and became your Father.
Esther 2
1-4 Later, when King Xerxes' anger had cooled and he was having second thoughts about what Vashti had done and what he had ordered against her, the king's young attendants stepped in and got the ball rolling: "Let's begin a search for beautiful young virgins for the king. Let the king appoint officials in every province of his kingdom to bring every beautiful young virgin to the palace complex of Susa and to the harem run by Hegai, the king's eunuch who oversees the women; he will put them through their beauty treatments. Then let the girl who best pleases the king be made queen in place of Vashti."
The king liked this advice and took it.
5-7 Now there was a Jew who lived in the palace complex in Susa. His name was Mordecai the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish—a Benjaminite. His ancestors had been taken from Jerusalem with the exiles and carried off with King Jehoiachin of Judah by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon into exile. Mordecai had reared his cousin Hadassah, otherwise known as Esther, since she had no father or mother. The girl had a good figure and a beautiful face. After her parents died, Mordecai had adopted her.
8 When the king's order had been publicly posted, many young girls were brought to the palace complex of Susa and given over to Hegai who was overseer of the women. Esther was among them.
9-10 Hegai liked Esther and took a special interest in her. Right off he started her beauty treatments, ordered special food, assigned her seven personal maids from the palace, and put her and her maids in the best rooms in the harem. Esther didn't say anything about her family and racial background because Mordecai had told her not to.
11 Every day Mordecai strolled beside the court of the harem to find out how Esther was and get news of what she was doing.
12-14 Each girl's turn came to go in to King Xerxes after she had completed the twelve months of prescribed beauty treatments—six months' treatment with oil of myrrh followed by six months with perfumes and various cosmetics. When it was time for the girl to go to the king, she was given whatever she wanted to take with her when she left the harem for the king's quarters. She would go there in the evening; in the morning she would return to a second harem overseen by Shaashgaz, the king's eunuch in charge of the concubines. She never again went back to the king unless the king took a special liking to her and asked for her by name.
15 When it was Esther's turn to go to the king (Esther the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had adopted her as his daughter), she asked for nothing other than what Hegai, the king's eunuch in charge of the harem, had recommended. Esther, just as she was, won the admiration of everyone who saw her.
16 She was taken to King Xerxes in the royal palace in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of the king's reign.
17-18 The king fell in love with Esther far more than with any of his other women or any of the other virgins—he was totally smitten by her. He placed a royal crown on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti. Then the king gave a great banquet for all his nobles and officials—"Esther's Banquet." He proclaimed a holiday for all the provinces and handed out gifts with royal generosity.
19-20 On one of the occasions when the virgins were being gathered together, Mordecai was sitting at the King's Gate. All this time, Esther had kept her family background and race a secret as Mordecai had ordered; Esther still did what Mordecai told her, just as when she was being raised by him.
21-23 On this day, with Mordecai sitting at the King's Gate, Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs who guarded the entrance, had it in for the king and were making plans to kill King Xerxes. But Mordecai learned of the plot and told Queen Esther, who then told King Xerxes, giving credit to Mordecai. When the thing was investigated and confirmed as true, the two men were hanged on a gallows. This was all written down in a logbook kept for the king's use.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
2 Corinthians 4
Trial and Torture
1-2Since God has so generously let us in on what he is doing, we're not about to throw up our hands and walk off the job just because we run into occasional hard times. We refuse to wear masks and play games. We don't maneuver and manipulate behind the scenes. And we don't twist God's Word to suit ourselves. Rather, we keep everything we do and say out in the open, the whole truth on display, so that those who want to can see and judge for themselves in the presence of God.
3-4If our Message is obscure to anyone, it's not because we're holding back in any way. No, it's because these other people are looking or going the wrong way and refuse to give it serious attention. All they have eyes for is the fashionable god of darkness. They think he can give them what they want, and that they won't have to bother believing a Truth they can't see. They're stone-blind to the dayspring brightness of the Message that shines with Christ, who gives us the best picture of God we'll ever get.
5-6Remember, our Message is not about ourselves; we're proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Master. All we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you. It started when God said, "Light up the darkness!" and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful.
7-12If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us. As it is, there's not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we're not much to look at. We've been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we're not demoralized; we're not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we've been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn't left our side; we've been thrown down, but we haven't broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus' sake, which makes Jesus' life all the more evident in us. While we're going through the worst, you're getting in on the best!
April 16, 2010
The Treasure And The Pots
Listen Now | Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ: 2 Corinthians 4:1-11
We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. —2 Corinthians 4:7
It has been said that the Roman Empire ran on olive oil. It was used in cooking, bathing, medicine, ceremonies, lamps, and cosmetics. For decades, olive oil from southern Spain was shipped to Rome in large clay jugs called amphorae. Those jugs, not worth sending back, were discarded in a growing heap of broken shards known as Monte Testaccio. The fragments of an estimated 25 million amphorae created that man-made hill, which stands today on the bank of the Tiber River in Rome. In the ancient world, the value of those pots was not their beauty but their contents.
Because of this, the first-century followers of Christ would have clearly understood Paul’s illustration of the life of Jesus in every believer. “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us” (2 Cor. 4:7).
Our bodies, like amphorae, are temporary, fragile, and expendable. In our modern world that highly values outward beauty, we would be wise to remember that our greatest treasure is the life of Jesus within us. By God’s grace and power, may we live so that others can see Christ in us.
We are just the clay pots. Jesus is the true treasure within us. — David C. McCasland
Although my outward shell decays,
I’m inwardly renewed each day,
Because the life and power of Christ
Indwells this fragile jar of clay. —Sper
Christ is seen most clearly when we remain in the background.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
April 16, 2010
Can You Come Down From the Mountain?
While you have the light, believe in the light . . . —John 12:36
We all have moments when we feel better than ever before, and we say, “I feel fit for anything; if only I could always be like this!” We are not meant to be. Those moments are moments of insight which we have to live up to even when we do not feel like it. Many of us are no good for the everyday world when we are not on the mountaintop. Yet we must bring our everyday life up to the standard revealed to us on the mountaintop when we were there.
Never allow a feeling that was awakened in you on the mountaintop to evaporate. Don’t place yourself on the shelf by thinking, “How great to be in such a wonderful state of mind!” Act immediately— do something, even if your only reason to act is that you would rather not. If, during a prayer meeting, God shows you something to do, don’t say, “I’ll do it”— just do it! Pick yourself up by the back of the neck and shake off your fleshly laziness. Laziness can always be seen in our cravings for a mountaintop experience; all we talk about is our planning for our time on the mountain. We must learn to live in the ordinary “gray” day according to what we saw on the mountain.
Don’t give up because you have been blocked and confused once— go after it again. Burn your bridges behind you, and stand committed to God by an act of your own will. Never change your decisions, but be sure to make your decisions in the light of what you saw and learned on the mountain.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Problem with Looking at Yourself - #6070
Friday, April 16, 2010
It was one of those early spring days when we look out the window and see all kinds of beautiful birds. I saw this one that was actually pretty funny to watch. I'm not sure it was really funny for him. I think it was a bluebird and he was hovering near a rear window on our car, just fluttering back and forth, running into the glass over and over again. Now, he was obviously confused and disoriented. He was going nowhere, just fluttering, chattering, and crashing into the window. My wife said, "You know, I'll bet he sees himself in the glass, and that's what's got him acting crazy."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Problem with Looking at Yourself."
Poor bird. When he just kept looking at himself, he got all confused and disoriented, and he kept running into things. Just like us when we get all focused on ourselves, that is. And maybe that's where you are right now. The stress, the hurt, the load has gotten you all focusing on yourself, maybe without you're even realizing it. And you may actually be fluttering around emotionally, feeling disoriented and discouraged, even crashing sometimes.
God's given us a picture of what this looks like in our word for today from the Word of God in 1 Kings 19, beginning with verse 3. The great prophet Elijah has just come off the most powerful spiritual victory of his life - his showdown with 450 prophets of the idol Baal, where God proved who is Lord by consuming the sacrifice on the altar with fire from heaven. But now the wicked queen Jezebel has ordered a 'hit' on the prophet - and, man, has he changed.
The Bible says, "Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba...he went a day's journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die." Now, how does such a strong spiritual leader get so low so fast? Here's a clue in what he says to God: "I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have...put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too." Suddenly, it's all about me.
This is in sharp contrast to Elijah's focus when he prayed on the day of his showdown with the false prophets. There he said, "O Lord...let it be known today that You are God...that I am Your servant...so these people will know that You, O Lord, are God." See, when it's all about God, I'm on top of things. When it's all about me, things are on top of me.
Fear, discouragement, being all stressed - those aren't signs of being focused on your Lord. That's a bird who's looking at himself or herself and fluttering all over the place, crashing into things. Isaiah 26:3 says that God will keep in "perfect peace" the one who is "stayed on" Him.
Colossians 3:15 tells us to "...let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts." Self-pity, self-centeredness, self-promoting, self-reliance, the harder it gets, the more that self stuff starts to take over, and the more out of control we become.
If you've been looking at yourself too much, don't you think it's time to fly to a higher place where you can get your perspective back; to refocus your eyes away from your great load and back to your great Lord?
He Adopted You
Posted: 15 Apr 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by sending Jesus Christ to die for us.” Ephesians 1:3, TLB
And you thought God adopted you because you were good-looking. You thought he needed your money or your wisdom. Sorry. God adopted you simply because he wanted to. You were in his good will and pleasure. Knowing full well the trouble you would be and the price he would pay, he signed his name next to yours and changed your name to his and took you home. Your Abba adopted you and became your Father.
Esther 2
1-4 Later, when King Xerxes' anger had cooled and he was having second thoughts about what Vashti had done and what he had ordered against her, the king's young attendants stepped in and got the ball rolling: "Let's begin a search for beautiful young virgins for the king. Let the king appoint officials in every province of his kingdom to bring every beautiful young virgin to the palace complex of Susa and to the harem run by Hegai, the king's eunuch who oversees the women; he will put them through their beauty treatments. Then let the girl who best pleases the king be made queen in place of Vashti."
The king liked this advice and took it.
5-7 Now there was a Jew who lived in the palace complex in Susa. His name was Mordecai the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish—a Benjaminite. His ancestors had been taken from Jerusalem with the exiles and carried off with King Jehoiachin of Judah by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon into exile. Mordecai had reared his cousin Hadassah, otherwise known as Esther, since she had no father or mother. The girl had a good figure and a beautiful face. After her parents died, Mordecai had adopted her.
8 When the king's order had been publicly posted, many young girls were brought to the palace complex of Susa and given over to Hegai who was overseer of the women. Esther was among them.
9-10 Hegai liked Esther and took a special interest in her. Right off he started her beauty treatments, ordered special food, assigned her seven personal maids from the palace, and put her and her maids in the best rooms in the harem. Esther didn't say anything about her family and racial background because Mordecai had told her not to.
11 Every day Mordecai strolled beside the court of the harem to find out how Esther was and get news of what she was doing.
12-14 Each girl's turn came to go in to King Xerxes after she had completed the twelve months of prescribed beauty treatments—six months' treatment with oil of myrrh followed by six months with perfumes and various cosmetics. When it was time for the girl to go to the king, she was given whatever she wanted to take with her when she left the harem for the king's quarters. She would go there in the evening; in the morning she would return to a second harem overseen by Shaashgaz, the king's eunuch in charge of the concubines. She never again went back to the king unless the king took a special liking to her and asked for her by name.
15 When it was Esther's turn to go to the king (Esther the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had adopted her as his daughter), she asked for nothing other than what Hegai, the king's eunuch in charge of the harem, had recommended. Esther, just as she was, won the admiration of everyone who saw her.
16 She was taken to King Xerxes in the royal palace in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of the king's reign.
17-18 The king fell in love with Esther far more than with any of his other women or any of the other virgins—he was totally smitten by her. He placed a royal crown on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti. Then the king gave a great banquet for all his nobles and officials—"Esther's Banquet." He proclaimed a holiday for all the provinces and handed out gifts with royal generosity.
19-20 On one of the occasions when the virgins were being gathered together, Mordecai was sitting at the King's Gate. All this time, Esther had kept her family background and race a secret as Mordecai had ordered; Esther still did what Mordecai told her, just as when she was being raised by him.
21-23 On this day, with Mordecai sitting at the King's Gate, Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs who guarded the entrance, had it in for the king and were making plans to kill King Xerxes. But Mordecai learned of the plot and told Queen Esther, who then told King Xerxes, giving credit to Mordecai. When the thing was investigated and confirmed as true, the two men were hanged on a gallows. This was all written down in a logbook kept for the king's use.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
2 Corinthians 4
Trial and Torture
1-2Since God has so generously let us in on what he is doing, we're not about to throw up our hands and walk off the job just because we run into occasional hard times. We refuse to wear masks and play games. We don't maneuver and manipulate behind the scenes. And we don't twist God's Word to suit ourselves. Rather, we keep everything we do and say out in the open, the whole truth on display, so that those who want to can see and judge for themselves in the presence of God.
3-4If our Message is obscure to anyone, it's not because we're holding back in any way. No, it's because these other people are looking or going the wrong way and refuse to give it serious attention. All they have eyes for is the fashionable god of darkness. They think he can give them what they want, and that they won't have to bother believing a Truth they can't see. They're stone-blind to the dayspring brightness of the Message that shines with Christ, who gives us the best picture of God we'll ever get.
5-6Remember, our Message is not about ourselves; we're proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Master. All we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you. It started when God said, "Light up the darkness!" and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful.
7-12If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us. As it is, there's not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we're not much to look at. We've been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we're not demoralized; we're not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we've been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn't left our side; we've been thrown down, but we haven't broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus' sake, which makes Jesus' life all the more evident in us. While we're going through the worst, you're getting in on the best!
April 16, 2010
The Treasure And The Pots
Listen Now | Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ: 2 Corinthians 4:1-11
We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. —2 Corinthians 4:7
It has been said that the Roman Empire ran on olive oil. It was used in cooking, bathing, medicine, ceremonies, lamps, and cosmetics. For decades, olive oil from southern Spain was shipped to Rome in large clay jugs called amphorae. Those jugs, not worth sending back, were discarded in a growing heap of broken shards known as Monte Testaccio. The fragments of an estimated 25 million amphorae created that man-made hill, which stands today on the bank of the Tiber River in Rome. In the ancient world, the value of those pots was not their beauty but their contents.
Because of this, the first-century followers of Christ would have clearly understood Paul’s illustration of the life of Jesus in every believer. “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us” (2 Cor. 4:7).
Our bodies, like amphorae, are temporary, fragile, and expendable. In our modern world that highly values outward beauty, we would be wise to remember that our greatest treasure is the life of Jesus within us. By God’s grace and power, may we live so that others can see Christ in us.
We are just the clay pots. Jesus is the true treasure within us. — David C. McCasland
Although my outward shell decays,
I’m inwardly renewed each day,
Because the life and power of Christ
Indwells this fragile jar of clay. —Sper
Christ is seen most clearly when we remain in the background.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
April 16, 2010
Can You Come Down From the Mountain?
While you have the light, believe in the light . . . —John 12:36
We all have moments when we feel better than ever before, and we say, “I feel fit for anything; if only I could always be like this!” We are not meant to be. Those moments are moments of insight which we have to live up to even when we do not feel like it. Many of us are no good for the everyday world when we are not on the mountaintop. Yet we must bring our everyday life up to the standard revealed to us on the mountaintop when we were there.
Never allow a feeling that was awakened in you on the mountaintop to evaporate. Don’t place yourself on the shelf by thinking, “How great to be in such a wonderful state of mind!” Act immediately— do something, even if your only reason to act is that you would rather not. If, during a prayer meeting, God shows you something to do, don’t say, “I’ll do it”— just do it! Pick yourself up by the back of the neck and shake off your fleshly laziness. Laziness can always be seen in our cravings for a mountaintop experience; all we talk about is our planning for our time on the mountain. We must learn to live in the ordinary “gray” day according to what we saw on the mountain.
Don’t give up because you have been blocked and confused once— go after it again. Burn your bridges behind you, and stand committed to God by an act of your own will. Never change your decisions, but be sure to make your decisions in the light of what you saw and learned on the mountain.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Problem with Looking at Yourself - #6070
Friday, April 16, 2010
It was one of those early spring days when we look out the window and see all kinds of beautiful birds. I saw this one that was actually pretty funny to watch. I'm not sure it was really funny for him. I think it was a bluebird and he was hovering near a rear window on our car, just fluttering back and forth, running into the glass over and over again. Now, he was obviously confused and disoriented. He was going nowhere, just fluttering, chattering, and crashing into the window. My wife said, "You know, I'll bet he sees himself in the glass, and that's what's got him acting crazy."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Problem with Looking at Yourself."
Poor bird. When he just kept looking at himself, he got all confused and disoriented, and he kept running into things. Just like us when we get all focused on ourselves, that is. And maybe that's where you are right now. The stress, the hurt, the load has gotten you all focusing on yourself, maybe without you're even realizing it. And you may actually be fluttering around emotionally, feeling disoriented and discouraged, even crashing sometimes.
God's given us a picture of what this looks like in our word for today from the Word of God in 1 Kings 19, beginning with verse 3. The great prophet Elijah has just come off the most powerful spiritual victory of his life - his showdown with 450 prophets of the idol Baal, where God proved who is Lord by consuming the sacrifice on the altar with fire from heaven. But now the wicked queen Jezebel has ordered a 'hit' on the prophet - and, man, has he changed.
The Bible says, "Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba...he went a day's journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die." Now, how does such a strong spiritual leader get so low so fast? Here's a clue in what he says to God: "I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have...put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too." Suddenly, it's all about me.
This is in sharp contrast to Elijah's focus when he prayed on the day of his showdown with the false prophets. There he said, "O Lord...let it be known today that You are God...that I am Your servant...so these people will know that You, O Lord, are God." See, when it's all about God, I'm on top of things. When it's all about me, things are on top of me.
Fear, discouragement, being all stressed - those aren't signs of being focused on your Lord. That's a bird who's looking at himself or herself and fluttering all over the place, crashing into things. Isaiah 26:3 says that God will keep in "perfect peace" the one who is "stayed on" Him.
Colossians 3:15 tells us to "...let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts." Self-pity, self-centeredness, self-promoting, self-reliance, the harder it gets, the more that self stuff starts to take over, and the more out of control we become.
If you've been looking at yourself too much, don't you think it's time to fly to a higher place where you can get your perspective back; to refocus your eyes away from your great load and back to your great Lord?
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Esther 1, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
The Cross
Posted: 14 Apr 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“Christ died for our sins.” I Corinthians 15:3
The cross . . .
My, what a piece of wood! History has idolized it and despised it, gold-plated it and burned it, worn and trashed it. History has done everything to it but ignore it.
That’s the one option the cross does not offer.
No one can ignore it!
Esther 1
1-3This is the story of something that happened in the time of Xerxes, the Xerxes who ruled from India to Ethiopia—127 provinces in all. King Xerxes ruled from his royal throne in the palace complex of Susa. In the third year of his reign he gave a banquet for all his officials and ministers. The military brass of Persia and Media were also there, along with the princes and governors of the provinces.
4-7 For six months he put on exhibit the huge wealth of his empire and its stunningly beautiful royal splendors. At the conclusion of the exhibit, the king threw a weeklong party for everyone living in Susa, the capital—important and unimportant alike. The party was in the garden courtyard of the king's summer house. The courtyard was elaborately decorated with white and blue cotton curtains tied with linen and purple cords to silver rings on marble columns. Silver and gold couches were arranged on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl, and colored stones. Drinks were served in gold chalices, each chalice one-of-a-kind. The royal wine flowed freely—a generous king!
8-9 The guests could drink as much as they liked—king's orders!—with waiters at their elbows to refill the drinks. Meanwhile, Queen Vashti was throwing a separate party for women inside King Xerxes' royal palace.
10-11 On the seventh day of the party, the king, high on the wine, ordered the seven eunuchs who were his personal servants (Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas) to bring him Queen Vashti resplendent in her royal crown. He wanted to show off her beauty to the guests and officials. She was extremely good-looking.
12-15 But Queen Vashti refused to come, refused the summons delivered by the eunuchs. The king lost his temper. Seething with anger over her insolence, the king called in his counselors, all experts in legal matters. It was the king's practice to consult his expert advisors. Those closest to him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven highest-ranking princes of Persia and Media, the inner circle with access to the king's ear. He asked them what legal recourse they had against Queen Vashti for not obeying King Xerxes' summons delivered by the eunuchs.
16-18 Memucan spoke up in the council of the king and princes: "It's not only the king Queen Vashti has insulted, it's all of us, leaders and people alike in every last one of King Xerxes' provinces. The word's going to get out: 'Did you hear the latest about Queen Vashti? King Xerxes ordered her to be brought before him and she wouldn't do it!' When the women hear it, they'll start treating their husbands with contempt. The day the wives of the Persian and Mede officials get wind of the queen's insolence, they'll be out of control. Is that what we want, a country of angry women who don't know their place?
19-20 "So, if the king agrees, let him pronounce a royal ruling and have it recorded in the laws of the Persians and Medes so that it cannot be revoked, that Vashti is permanently banned from King Xerxes' presence. And then let the king give her royal position to a woman who knows her place. When the king's ruling becomes public knowledge throughout the kingdom, extensive as it is, every woman, regardless of her social position, will show proper respect to her husband."
21-22 The king and the princes liked this. The king did what Memucan proposed. He sent bulletins to every part of the kingdom, to each province in its own script, to each people in their own language: "Every man is master of his own house; whatever he says, goes."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
2 Timothy 2:19-26 (The Message)
19Meanwhile, God's firm foundation is as firm as ever, these sentences engraved on the stones:
god knows who belongs to him.
spurn evil, all you who name god as god.
20-21In a well-furnished kitchen there are not only crystal goblets and silver platters, but waste cans and compost buckets—some containers used to serve fine meals, others to take out the garbage. Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to his guests for their blessing.
22-26Run away from infantile indulgence. Run after mature righteousness—faith, love, peace—joining those who are in honest and serious prayer before God. Refuse to get involved in inane discussions; they always end up in fights. God's servant must not be argumentative, but a gentle listener and a teacher who keeps cool, working firmly but patiently with those who refuse to obey. You never know how or when God might sober them up with a change of heart and a turning to the truth, enabling them to escape the Devil's trap, where they are caught and held captive, forced to run his errands.
April 15, 2010
Agents Of Change
Listen Now | Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ: 2 Timothy 2:19-26
If anyone cleanses himself . . . , he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. —2 Timothy 2:21
With 4 years of seminary under my belt, I walked into my first ministry with a long agenda. As a new pastor, I thought I was there to change that place. Instead, God used that place to change me.
The board members were supportive, but they relentlessly kept my feet to the fire in administrative details. I needed to learn how to work with lay leadership, how to be careful in my work, and how to dream with others.
We often think God has assigned us to change the world around us when in reality He is interested in changing us. Why? To make each of us “a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work” (2 Tim. 2:21). God often uses the most unlikely people in the most unlikely places to teach us some of life’s most difficult lessons. And just when we think we’ve arrived, He is instructing us further.
Not long ago I entered a new season of ministry. I may be a “seasoned veteran,” but I’m still learning, still growing, and still amazed at how God continues to shape this vessel for His noble purposes.
If you want to be an agent of change, don’t resist the true Agent of Change. He has your best interest—and His—at heart! — Joe Stowell
What changes we would love to make
In others’ lives, for Jesus’ sake!
But first we must learn at His feet
The things that will make us complete. —Branon
Only when we are changed can we be agents of change.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
April 15, 2010
The Failure To Pay Close Attention
The high places were not removed from Israel. Nevertheless the heart of Asa was loyal all his days —2 Chronicles 15:17
Asa was not completely obedient in the outward, visible areas of his life. He was obedient in what he considered the most important areas, but he was not entirely right. Beware of ever thinking, “Oh, that thing in my life doesn’t matter much.” The fact that it doesn’t matter much to you may mean that it matters a great deal to God. Nothing should be considered a trivial matter by a child of God. How much longer are we going to prevent God from teaching us even one thing? But He keeps trying to teach us and He never loses patience. You say, “I know I am right with God”— yet the “high places” still remain in your life. There is still an area of disobedience. Do you protest that your heart is right with God, and yet there is something in your life He causes you to doubt? Whenever God causes a doubt about something, stop it immediately, no matter what it may be. Nothing in our lives is a mere insignificant detail to God.
Are there some things regarding your physical or intellectual life to which you have been paying no attention at all? If so, you may think you are all correct in the important areas, but you are careless— you are failing to concentrate or to focus properly. You no more need a day off from spiritual concentration on matters in your life than your heart needs a day off from beating. As you cannot take a day off morally and remain moral, neither can you take a day off spiritually and remain spiritual. God wants you to be entirely His, and it requires paying close attention to keep yourself fit. It also takes a tremendous amount of time. Yet some of us expect to rise above all of our problems, going from one mountaintop experience to another, with only a few minutes’ effort.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Living Unplugged - #6069
A Word With You - Your Personal Power
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Once you've gotten used to a new convenience, you find yourself asking, "How did we ever do without these?" Sadly, my cell phone is one of those new things that seems indispensable now. Especially when you have lots of irons in the fire and you're on the road a lot. Often, by the end of the day my cell phone and I have something in common - our battery is dead and we both need recharging. I get into a bed - my phone gets plugged into an outlet. Not long ago, I went through my night-night drill in my motel room, including plugging in my cell phone. It wasn't happy the next morning when I went to turn my cell phone back on. Oh, I had plugged it in - on one end. See, I had connected my phone cord into the phone. I just had forgotten to plug it into the wall. So, my dead phone was still very dead.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Living Unplugged."
When you forget to plug a cell phone into the power source, it's going to be powerless. It's the same for you and me. We're designed by our Creator to regularly plug into our power source. When we neglect to do that, we find ourselves increasingly losing power. Life becomes more and more overwhelming. The old you, the bad you, starts making a comeback. You become less kind and more harsh; less peaceful, more stressed; less about others and more about yourself. And as the demands increase, your power to meet those demands seems to be diminishing. Jesus becomes less real, and your cold or fearful heart becomes much too real.
Those are pretty clear indicators that you are trying to live unplugged. You have been "Martha-ed." I know that's not a verb, but it is now. Martha's story is in Luke 10:39-42 . It's our word for today from the Word of God. And it's an all too revealing mirror of what we're like when we have neglected our connection to our power source.
Jesus was a guest for dinner at Martha's house. The Bible says: "She had a sister called Mary, who sat at Jesus' feet, listening to what He said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to Him and asked, 'Lord, don't You care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!' 'Martha, Martha,' the Lord answered, 'you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.'"
That's pretty amazing! Martha has the Son of God right there in her home, and she is stressed, and critical, and miserable. That's when Jesus lets her know that all the important things she's hustling around doing are not as important as what Mary is doing - sitting at His feet, listening to Him. If life has become way too stressful and overwhelming for you, it's a good possibility you've been making that same mistake. You've let the bombardment and the overload squeeze out your personal time with Jesus, at the very time when you need Him the most! The busier and "behinder" you get, the more desperately you need the perspective and power that can come only from sitting at the feet of the Son of God.
In Psalm 42 , the psalmist cries out: "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?" That needs to be the cry of your heart. Because a regular time with Him is, as Jesus said, the "one thing (that) is needed." It's time for you to make your time with Jesus not an option, if and when you have time, but the singular non-negotiable of your daily schedule. You just can't afford to leave home without it, with the mercies that the Bible says are "new every morning" (Lamentations 3:23 ), mercies that keep us from being "consumed."
If you're running out of power, it's because you've been unplugged from the source of power too long. You're missing Jesus, and He's missing you. Get back to the source of your power.
Posted: 14 Apr 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“Christ died for our sins.” I Corinthians 15:3
The cross . . .
My, what a piece of wood! History has idolized it and despised it, gold-plated it and burned it, worn and trashed it. History has done everything to it but ignore it.
That’s the one option the cross does not offer.
No one can ignore it!
Esther 1
1-3This is the story of something that happened in the time of Xerxes, the Xerxes who ruled from India to Ethiopia—127 provinces in all. King Xerxes ruled from his royal throne in the palace complex of Susa. In the third year of his reign he gave a banquet for all his officials and ministers. The military brass of Persia and Media were also there, along with the princes and governors of the provinces.
4-7 For six months he put on exhibit the huge wealth of his empire and its stunningly beautiful royal splendors. At the conclusion of the exhibit, the king threw a weeklong party for everyone living in Susa, the capital—important and unimportant alike. The party was in the garden courtyard of the king's summer house. The courtyard was elaborately decorated with white and blue cotton curtains tied with linen and purple cords to silver rings on marble columns. Silver and gold couches were arranged on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl, and colored stones. Drinks were served in gold chalices, each chalice one-of-a-kind. The royal wine flowed freely—a generous king!
8-9 The guests could drink as much as they liked—king's orders!—with waiters at their elbows to refill the drinks. Meanwhile, Queen Vashti was throwing a separate party for women inside King Xerxes' royal palace.
10-11 On the seventh day of the party, the king, high on the wine, ordered the seven eunuchs who were his personal servants (Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas) to bring him Queen Vashti resplendent in her royal crown. He wanted to show off her beauty to the guests and officials. She was extremely good-looking.
12-15 But Queen Vashti refused to come, refused the summons delivered by the eunuchs. The king lost his temper. Seething with anger over her insolence, the king called in his counselors, all experts in legal matters. It was the king's practice to consult his expert advisors. Those closest to him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven highest-ranking princes of Persia and Media, the inner circle with access to the king's ear. He asked them what legal recourse they had against Queen Vashti for not obeying King Xerxes' summons delivered by the eunuchs.
16-18 Memucan spoke up in the council of the king and princes: "It's not only the king Queen Vashti has insulted, it's all of us, leaders and people alike in every last one of King Xerxes' provinces. The word's going to get out: 'Did you hear the latest about Queen Vashti? King Xerxes ordered her to be brought before him and she wouldn't do it!' When the women hear it, they'll start treating their husbands with contempt. The day the wives of the Persian and Mede officials get wind of the queen's insolence, they'll be out of control. Is that what we want, a country of angry women who don't know their place?
19-20 "So, if the king agrees, let him pronounce a royal ruling and have it recorded in the laws of the Persians and Medes so that it cannot be revoked, that Vashti is permanently banned from King Xerxes' presence. And then let the king give her royal position to a woman who knows her place. When the king's ruling becomes public knowledge throughout the kingdom, extensive as it is, every woman, regardless of her social position, will show proper respect to her husband."
21-22 The king and the princes liked this. The king did what Memucan proposed. He sent bulletins to every part of the kingdom, to each province in its own script, to each people in their own language: "Every man is master of his own house; whatever he says, goes."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
2 Timothy 2:19-26 (The Message)
19Meanwhile, God's firm foundation is as firm as ever, these sentences engraved on the stones:
god knows who belongs to him.
spurn evil, all you who name god as god.
20-21In a well-furnished kitchen there are not only crystal goblets and silver platters, but waste cans and compost buckets—some containers used to serve fine meals, others to take out the garbage. Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to his guests for their blessing.
22-26Run away from infantile indulgence. Run after mature righteousness—faith, love, peace—joining those who are in honest and serious prayer before God. Refuse to get involved in inane discussions; they always end up in fights. God's servant must not be argumentative, but a gentle listener and a teacher who keeps cool, working firmly but patiently with those who refuse to obey. You never know how or when God might sober them up with a change of heart and a turning to the truth, enabling them to escape the Devil's trap, where they are caught and held captive, forced to run his errands.
April 15, 2010
Agents Of Change
Listen Now | Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ: 2 Timothy 2:19-26
If anyone cleanses himself . . . , he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. —2 Timothy 2:21
With 4 years of seminary under my belt, I walked into my first ministry with a long agenda. As a new pastor, I thought I was there to change that place. Instead, God used that place to change me.
The board members were supportive, but they relentlessly kept my feet to the fire in administrative details. I needed to learn how to work with lay leadership, how to be careful in my work, and how to dream with others.
We often think God has assigned us to change the world around us when in reality He is interested in changing us. Why? To make each of us “a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work” (2 Tim. 2:21). God often uses the most unlikely people in the most unlikely places to teach us some of life’s most difficult lessons. And just when we think we’ve arrived, He is instructing us further.
Not long ago I entered a new season of ministry. I may be a “seasoned veteran,” but I’m still learning, still growing, and still amazed at how God continues to shape this vessel for His noble purposes.
If you want to be an agent of change, don’t resist the true Agent of Change. He has your best interest—and His—at heart! — Joe Stowell
What changes we would love to make
In others’ lives, for Jesus’ sake!
But first we must learn at His feet
The things that will make us complete. —Branon
Only when we are changed can we be agents of change.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
April 15, 2010
The Failure To Pay Close Attention
The high places were not removed from Israel. Nevertheless the heart of Asa was loyal all his days —2 Chronicles 15:17
Asa was not completely obedient in the outward, visible areas of his life. He was obedient in what he considered the most important areas, but he was not entirely right. Beware of ever thinking, “Oh, that thing in my life doesn’t matter much.” The fact that it doesn’t matter much to you may mean that it matters a great deal to God. Nothing should be considered a trivial matter by a child of God. How much longer are we going to prevent God from teaching us even one thing? But He keeps trying to teach us and He never loses patience. You say, “I know I am right with God”— yet the “high places” still remain in your life. There is still an area of disobedience. Do you protest that your heart is right with God, and yet there is something in your life He causes you to doubt? Whenever God causes a doubt about something, stop it immediately, no matter what it may be. Nothing in our lives is a mere insignificant detail to God.
Are there some things regarding your physical or intellectual life to which you have been paying no attention at all? If so, you may think you are all correct in the important areas, but you are careless— you are failing to concentrate or to focus properly. You no more need a day off from spiritual concentration on matters in your life than your heart needs a day off from beating. As you cannot take a day off morally and remain moral, neither can you take a day off spiritually and remain spiritual. God wants you to be entirely His, and it requires paying close attention to keep yourself fit. It also takes a tremendous amount of time. Yet some of us expect to rise above all of our problems, going from one mountaintop experience to another, with only a few minutes’ effort.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Living Unplugged - #6069
A Word With You - Your Personal Power
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Once you've gotten used to a new convenience, you find yourself asking, "How did we ever do without these?" Sadly, my cell phone is one of those new things that seems indispensable now. Especially when you have lots of irons in the fire and you're on the road a lot. Often, by the end of the day my cell phone and I have something in common - our battery is dead and we both need recharging. I get into a bed - my phone gets plugged into an outlet. Not long ago, I went through my night-night drill in my motel room, including plugging in my cell phone. It wasn't happy the next morning when I went to turn my cell phone back on. Oh, I had plugged it in - on one end. See, I had connected my phone cord into the phone. I just had forgotten to plug it into the wall. So, my dead phone was still very dead.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Living Unplugged."
When you forget to plug a cell phone into the power source, it's going to be powerless. It's the same for you and me. We're designed by our Creator to regularly plug into our power source. When we neglect to do that, we find ourselves increasingly losing power. Life becomes more and more overwhelming. The old you, the bad you, starts making a comeback. You become less kind and more harsh; less peaceful, more stressed; less about others and more about yourself. And as the demands increase, your power to meet those demands seems to be diminishing. Jesus becomes less real, and your cold or fearful heart becomes much too real.
Those are pretty clear indicators that you are trying to live unplugged. You have been "Martha-ed." I know that's not a verb, but it is now. Martha's story is in Luke 10:39-42 . It's our word for today from the Word of God. And it's an all too revealing mirror of what we're like when we have neglected our connection to our power source.
Jesus was a guest for dinner at Martha's house. The Bible says: "She had a sister called Mary, who sat at Jesus' feet, listening to what He said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to Him and asked, 'Lord, don't You care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!' 'Martha, Martha,' the Lord answered, 'you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.'"
That's pretty amazing! Martha has the Son of God right there in her home, and she is stressed, and critical, and miserable. That's when Jesus lets her know that all the important things she's hustling around doing are not as important as what Mary is doing - sitting at His feet, listening to Him. If life has become way too stressful and overwhelming for you, it's a good possibility you've been making that same mistake. You've let the bombardment and the overload squeeze out your personal time with Jesus, at the very time when you need Him the most! The busier and "behinder" you get, the more desperately you need the perspective and power that can come only from sitting at the feet of the Son of God.
In Psalm 42 , the psalmist cries out: "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?" That needs to be the cry of your heart. Because a regular time with Him is, as Jesus said, the "one thing (that) is needed." It's time for you to make your time with Jesus not an option, if and when you have time, but the singular non-negotiable of your daily schedule. You just can't afford to leave home without it, with the mercies that the Bible says are "new every morning" (Lamentations 3:23 ), mercies that keep us from being "consumed."
If you're running out of power, it's because you've been unplugged from the source of power too long. You're missing Jesus, and He's missing you. Get back to the source of your power.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Zechariah 2, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: Space For Us
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Space For Us
Posted: 13 Apr 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“There are many rooms in my Father’s house.” John 14:2
Jesus goes from heart to heart, asking if he might enter . . .
Every so often, he is welcomed. Someone throws open the door of his or her heart and invites him to stay. And to that person Jesus gives this great promise: “In my Father’s house are many rooms.”
“I have ample space for you,” he says . . . We make room for him in our hearts, and he makes room for us in his house.
Zechariah 2
Third Vision: The Man with the Tape Measure
1-5 I looked up and was surprised to see
a man holding a tape measure in his hand.
I said, "What are you up to?"
"I'm on my way," he said, "to survey Jerusalem,
to measure its width and length."
Just then the Messenger-Angel on his way out
met another angel coming in and said,
"Run! Tell the Surveyor, 'Jerusalem will burst its walls—
bursting with people, bursting with animals.
And I'll be right there with her'—God's Decree—'a wall of fire
around unwalled Jerusalem and a radiant presence within.'"
6-7"Up on your feet! Get out of there—and now!" God says so.
"Return from your far exile.
I scattered you to the four winds." God's Decree.
"Escape from Babylon, Zion, and come home—now!"
8-9God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the One of Glory who sent me on my mission, commenting on the godless nations who stripped you and left you homeless, said, "Anyone who hits you, hits me—bloodies my nose, blackens my eye. Yes, and at the right time I'll give the signal and they'll be stripped and thrown out by their own servants." Then you'll know for sure that God-of-the-Angel-Armies sent me on this mission.
10"Shout and celebrate, Daughter of Zion!
I'm on my way. I'm moving into your neighborhood!"
God's Decree.
11-12Many godless nations will be linked up with God at that time. ("They will become my family! I'll live in their homes!") And then you'll know for sure that God-of-the-Angel-Armies sent me on this mission. God will reclaim his Judah inheritance in the Holy Land. He'll again make clear that Jerusalem is his choice.
13Quiet, everyone! Shh! Silence before God. Something's afoot in his holy house. He's on the move!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Romans 12:1-10 (The Message)
Romans 12
Place Your Life Before God
1-2 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
3I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.
4-6In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's body, let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't.
6-8If you preach, just preach God's Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don't take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don't get bossy; if you're put in charge, don't manipulate; if you're called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don't let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.
9-10Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.
April 14, 2010
Unseen Workers
Listen Now | Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ: Romans 12:1-10
We have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function. —Romans 12:4
As I was giving myself a manicure, I started feeling sorry for my right hand. It does the most work, but my left hand gets the most attention. My right hand applies nail polish smoothly to my left-hand nails, but my left hand, lacking skill and coordination, does not return the favor. The polish on my right hand is always smeared and messy. One hand does the better work, but the other hand gets all the attention and honor.
As I worked on my fingernails, my thoughts turned toward something much more important—the people in my church, many of whom are highly skilled at tasks that make others look good. These hardworking folks, however, seldom get noticed, because their work puts the attention on someone else. It seems unfair that those who do such good work get little appreciation.
Truly servant-minded believers, though, don’t see it that way. They give preference to others (Rom. 12:10) because they know that God sees what others do not—and that He will reward those whose work is unseen by others (Matt. 6:4,6,18; 1 Cor. 12:24).
Is someone else reaping the benefit of your hard work? Be encouraged. God rewards those who work “invisibly” to make Christ visible to the world. — Julie Ackerman Link
The service that we do for God
May go unpraised by men;
But when we stand before the Lord,
He will reward us then. —Sper
No service for Christ goes unnoticed by Him.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
April 14, 2010
Inner Invincibility
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me . . . —Matthew 11:29
Whom the Lord loves He chastens . . .” ( Hebrews 12:6 ). How petty our complaining is! Our Lord begins to bring us to the point where we can have fellowship with Him, only to hear us moan and groan, saying, “Oh Lord, just let me be like other people!” Jesus is asking us to get beside Him and take one end of the yoke, so that we can pull together. That’s why Jesus says to us, “My yoke is easy and My burden is light” ( Matthew 11:30 ). Are you closely identified with the Lord Jesus like that? If so, you will thank God when you feel the pressure of His hand upon you.
“. . . to those who have no might He increases strength” (Isaiah 40:29 ). God comes and takes us out of our emotionalism, and then our complaining turns into a hymn of praise. The only way to know the strength of God is to take the yoke of Jesus upon us and to learn from Him.
“. . . the joy of the Lord is your strength” ( Nehemiah 8:10 ). Where do the saints get their joy? If we did not know some Christians well, we might think from just observing them that they have no burdens at all to bear. But we must lift the veil from our eyes. The fact that the peace, light, and joy of God is in them is proof that a burden is there as well. The burden that God places on us squeezes the grapes in our lives and produces the wine, but most of us see only the wine and not the burden. No power on earth or in hell can conquer the Spirit of God living within the human spirit; it creates an inner invincibility.
If your life is producing only a whine, instead of the wine, then ruthlessly kick it out. It is definitely a crime for a Christian to be weak in God’s strength.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Choice You Will Never Forget - #6068
A Word With You - Your Most Important Relationship
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Junior high band concerts; oh, there's a test of a parent's love. I know. We got to support our kids by being at seven years of their junior high concerts. It's nice to see those young teenagers making a nice effort. It's not necessarily a memorable musical experience. Wouldn't it be interesting to, oh, let's say hear those young musicians trying to play a major Beethoven symphony? What if you've never heard any of his great compositions? All you've heard is that Beethoven was a musical genius. Then you hear the junior high band play a Beethoven symphony. And what do you have to say about Beethoven? "Did you say this guy was a genius? I just heard Beethoven! It was awful!" You didn't hear Beethoven. All you heard was some people doing a bad job playing his music.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Choice You Will Never Forget."
Beethoven was a genius. Don't judge Beethoven based on how some people play his music. For 2,000 years, Jesus has been judged by how well His followers have played His "music." And sometimes, they have butchered it! And even the best of His followers has lived the lifestyle of Jesus imperfectly. And that's given many people a reason not to follow Jesus themselves. You may be one of those.
You've seen the hypocrites; you've seen the confusing divisions between people disagreeing in Jesus' name. Maybe your exposure to certain kinds of Christianity has given you reason to believe that it's mostly about money. And throughout history, and even now, there have been so many mistakes made and so many wrongs committed in the name of Christ. Maybe you've been personally wounded by some people who called themselves Christians.
But none of that was Jesus. Jesus wasn't a hypocrite. Jesus didn't come to start a religion called Christianity, let alone all the denominations that have come from it. And the wrongs done in Jesus' name were horrific things that Jesus would have no part of and for which He will hold people accountable.
Which brings us to the most important decision you will ever make. It was articulated by an unlikely spokesman; by the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, who tried Jesus. It's recorded in Matthew 27:22 , our word for today from the Word of God. He asked the question that will determine your eternity and mine. "What shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?" Not what will I do with Christians. Not what will I do with Christianity. But what will I do with Christ? Jesus said to person after person, "Follow Me." He didn't say follow My followers or follow My leaders or follow My religion. He said, "Follow Me." It's all about Jesus.
And on Judgment Day, it will be all about Jesus and what you did with the Man who died in your place to pay for all the sins of your life. He didn't stay dead. Three days after He died, He walked out of His grave under His own power. So He's alive, and you will see Him at the end of your journey. The only thing that will matter at that moment will be what you did with Jesus. God won't care what you did with Christianity, but He'll base your whole eternity on what you did with Jesus.
If your trust is in anything other than Jesus, you're hanging onto a life preserver that simply will not save you. Only the Man who paid your spiritual death penalty can do that. Only the Man who has eternal life can give you eternal life. And that can only be the Man who conquered death Himself.
Maybe God brought us together today so you could have this opportunity to answer the most important question you'll ever answer, "What will I do with Jesus?" I hope, I pray that you will relinquish your control of your life and put your life in the hands of the Man who died for you. Because the Bible says, "God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son" (1 John 5:12 ). If you've got Jesus, you've got heaven. Without Jesus, there's no chance of heaven.
I'd be grateful to do what I can to help you answer God's life-or-death question about His Son today. At our website, I've provided a brief explanation of just how to reach out to Jesus and begin your relationship with Him. I invite you to visit us there today. It's YoursForLife.net.
One old hymn writer puts this decision about Jesus in pretty sobering terms. He simply said, "What will you do with Jesus? Neutral you cannot be. For someday your soul will be asking, 'What will He do with me?'"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Space For Us
Posted: 13 Apr 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“There are many rooms in my Father’s house.” John 14:2
Jesus goes from heart to heart, asking if he might enter . . .
Every so often, he is welcomed. Someone throws open the door of his or her heart and invites him to stay. And to that person Jesus gives this great promise: “In my Father’s house are many rooms.”
“I have ample space for you,” he says . . . We make room for him in our hearts, and he makes room for us in his house.
Zechariah 2
Third Vision: The Man with the Tape Measure
1-5 I looked up and was surprised to see
a man holding a tape measure in his hand.
I said, "What are you up to?"
"I'm on my way," he said, "to survey Jerusalem,
to measure its width and length."
Just then the Messenger-Angel on his way out
met another angel coming in and said,
"Run! Tell the Surveyor, 'Jerusalem will burst its walls—
bursting with people, bursting with animals.
And I'll be right there with her'—God's Decree—'a wall of fire
around unwalled Jerusalem and a radiant presence within.'"
6-7"Up on your feet! Get out of there—and now!" God says so.
"Return from your far exile.
I scattered you to the four winds." God's Decree.
"Escape from Babylon, Zion, and come home—now!"
8-9God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the One of Glory who sent me on my mission, commenting on the godless nations who stripped you and left you homeless, said, "Anyone who hits you, hits me—bloodies my nose, blackens my eye. Yes, and at the right time I'll give the signal and they'll be stripped and thrown out by their own servants." Then you'll know for sure that God-of-the-Angel-Armies sent me on this mission.
10"Shout and celebrate, Daughter of Zion!
I'm on my way. I'm moving into your neighborhood!"
God's Decree.
11-12Many godless nations will be linked up with God at that time. ("They will become my family! I'll live in their homes!") And then you'll know for sure that God-of-the-Angel-Armies sent me on this mission. God will reclaim his Judah inheritance in the Holy Land. He'll again make clear that Jerusalem is his choice.
13Quiet, everyone! Shh! Silence before God. Something's afoot in his holy house. He's on the move!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Romans 12:1-10 (The Message)
Romans 12
Place Your Life Before God
1-2 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
3I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.
4-6In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's body, let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't.
6-8If you preach, just preach God's Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don't take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don't get bossy; if you're put in charge, don't manipulate; if you're called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don't let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.
9-10Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.
April 14, 2010
Unseen Workers
Listen Now | Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ: Romans 12:1-10
We have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function. —Romans 12:4
As I was giving myself a manicure, I started feeling sorry for my right hand. It does the most work, but my left hand gets the most attention. My right hand applies nail polish smoothly to my left-hand nails, but my left hand, lacking skill and coordination, does not return the favor. The polish on my right hand is always smeared and messy. One hand does the better work, but the other hand gets all the attention and honor.
As I worked on my fingernails, my thoughts turned toward something much more important—the people in my church, many of whom are highly skilled at tasks that make others look good. These hardworking folks, however, seldom get noticed, because their work puts the attention on someone else. It seems unfair that those who do such good work get little appreciation.
Truly servant-minded believers, though, don’t see it that way. They give preference to others (Rom. 12:10) because they know that God sees what others do not—and that He will reward those whose work is unseen by others (Matt. 6:4,6,18; 1 Cor. 12:24).
Is someone else reaping the benefit of your hard work? Be encouraged. God rewards those who work “invisibly” to make Christ visible to the world. — Julie Ackerman Link
The service that we do for God
May go unpraised by men;
But when we stand before the Lord,
He will reward us then. —Sper
No service for Christ goes unnoticed by Him.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
April 14, 2010
Inner Invincibility
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me . . . —Matthew 11:29
Whom the Lord loves He chastens . . .” ( Hebrews 12:6 ). How petty our complaining is! Our Lord begins to bring us to the point where we can have fellowship with Him, only to hear us moan and groan, saying, “Oh Lord, just let me be like other people!” Jesus is asking us to get beside Him and take one end of the yoke, so that we can pull together. That’s why Jesus says to us, “My yoke is easy and My burden is light” ( Matthew 11:30 ). Are you closely identified with the Lord Jesus like that? If so, you will thank God when you feel the pressure of His hand upon you.
“. . . to those who have no might He increases strength” (Isaiah 40:29 ). God comes and takes us out of our emotionalism, and then our complaining turns into a hymn of praise. The only way to know the strength of God is to take the yoke of Jesus upon us and to learn from Him.
“. . . the joy of the Lord is your strength” ( Nehemiah 8:10 ). Where do the saints get their joy? If we did not know some Christians well, we might think from just observing them that they have no burdens at all to bear. But we must lift the veil from our eyes. The fact that the peace, light, and joy of God is in them is proof that a burden is there as well. The burden that God places on us squeezes the grapes in our lives and produces the wine, but most of us see only the wine and not the burden. No power on earth or in hell can conquer the Spirit of God living within the human spirit; it creates an inner invincibility.
If your life is producing only a whine, instead of the wine, then ruthlessly kick it out. It is definitely a crime for a Christian to be weak in God’s strength.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Choice You Will Never Forget - #6068
A Word With You - Your Most Important Relationship
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Junior high band concerts; oh, there's a test of a parent's love. I know. We got to support our kids by being at seven years of their junior high concerts. It's nice to see those young teenagers making a nice effort. It's not necessarily a memorable musical experience. Wouldn't it be interesting to, oh, let's say hear those young musicians trying to play a major Beethoven symphony? What if you've never heard any of his great compositions? All you've heard is that Beethoven was a musical genius. Then you hear the junior high band play a Beethoven symphony. And what do you have to say about Beethoven? "Did you say this guy was a genius? I just heard Beethoven! It was awful!" You didn't hear Beethoven. All you heard was some people doing a bad job playing his music.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Choice You Will Never Forget."
Beethoven was a genius. Don't judge Beethoven based on how some people play his music. For 2,000 years, Jesus has been judged by how well His followers have played His "music." And sometimes, they have butchered it! And even the best of His followers has lived the lifestyle of Jesus imperfectly. And that's given many people a reason not to follow Jesus themselves. You may be one of those.
You've seen the hypocrites; you've seen the confusing divisions between people disagreeing in Jesus' name. Maybe your exposure to certain kinds of Christianity has given you reason to believe that it's mostly about money. And throughout history, and even now, there have been so many mistakes made and so many wrongs committed in the name of Christ. Maybe you've been personally wounded by some people who called themselves Christians.
But none of that was Jesus. Jesus wasn't a hypocrite. Jesus didn't come to start a religion called Christianity, let alone all the denominations that have come from it. And the wrongs done in Jesus' name were horrific things that Jesus would have no part of and for which He will hold people accountable.
Which brings us to the most important decision you will ever make. It was articulated by an unlikely spokesman; by the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, who tried Jesus. It's recorded in Matthew 27:22 , our word for today from the Word of God. He asked the question that will determine your eternity and mine. "What shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?" Not what will I do with Christians. Not what will I do with Christianity. But what will I do with Christ? Jesus said to person after person, "Follow Me." He didn't say follow My followers or follow My leaders or follow My religion. He said, "Follow Me." It's all about Jesus.
And on Judgment Day, it will be all about Jesus and what you did with the Man who died in your place to pay for all the sins of your life. He didn't stay dead. Three days after He died, He walked out of His grave under His own power. So He's alive, and you will see Him at the end of your journey. The only thing that will matter at that moment will be what you did with Jesus. God won't care what you did with Christianity, but He'll base your whole eternity on what you did with Jesus.
If your trust is in anything other than Jesus, you're hanging onto a life preserver that simply will not save you. Only the Man who paid your spiritual death penalty can do that. Only the Man who has eternal life can give you eternal life. And that can only be the Man who conquered death Himself.
Maybe God brought us together today so you could have this opportunity to answer the most important question you'll ever answer, "What will I do with Jesus?" I hope, I pray that you will relinquish your control of your life and put your life in the hands of the Man who died for you. Because the Bible says, "God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son" (1 John 5:12 ). If you've got Jesus, you've got heaven. Without Jesus, there's no chance of heaven.
I'd be grateful to do what I can to help you answer God's life-or-death question about His Son today. At our website, I've provided a brief explanation of just how to reach out to Jesus and begin your relationship with Him. I invite you to visit us there today. It's YoursForLife.net.
One old hymn writer puts this decision about Jesus in pretty sobering terms. He simply said, "What will you do with Jesus? Neutral you cannot be. For someday your soul will be asking, 'What will He do with me?'"
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