Max Lucado Daily: Jesus Works in Community
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Acts 1:8”
None of us can do what all of us can do—Jesus works in community!
In 1976, an earthquake devastated the highlands of Guatemala. Thousands were killed and even more left homeless. Twelve of us from our college volunteered to help out during spring break. Most of us were ministry students. All of us loved to discuss theology. I can’t remember the list. But by the time we reached Guatemala, I’d discerned the faithful from the infidels. I knew who was in and who was out!
But our task turned rivals into partners. We were a team. We began to sing together. Pray together. It was Jesus’ plan all along. Jesus didn’t issue individual assignments. He didn’t move one-by-one down the line and knight each individual. He did, however, say in Acts 1:8, “You—all of you collectively—shall be my witnesses!”
John 20
The Empty Tomb
1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
Jesus Appears to His Disciples
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Jesus Appears to Thomas
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus[a]), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
The Purpose of John’s Gospel
30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe[b] that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 98
A psalm.
1 Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done marvelous things;
his right hand and his holy arm
have worked salvation for him.
2 The LORD has made his salvation known
and revealed his righteousness to the nations.
3 He has remembered his love
and his faithfulness to Israel;
all the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
4 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth,
burst into jubilant song with music;
5 make music to the LORD with the harp,
with the harp and the sound of singing,
6 with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn—
shout for joy before the LORD, the King.
7 Let the sea resound, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it.
8 Let the rivers clap their hands,
let the mountains sing together for joy;
9 let them sing before the LORD,
for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples with equity.
The Wonder Of Wilderness
March 19, 2012 — by Philip Yancey
Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth; break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises. —Psalm 98:4
The psalmists had an advantage in praise because of their closer tie to the natural world. David began life outdoors as a shepherd, then spent years hiding in the rocky terrain of Israel. Not surprisingly, a great love, even reverence, for the natural world shines through many of his poems. The psalms present a world that fits together as a whole, with everything upheld by a personal God watching over it.
Wilderness announces to our senses the splendor of an invisible, untamable God. How can we not offer praise to the One who dreamed up porcupines and elk, who splashed bright-green aspen trees across hillsides of gray rock, who transforms the same landscape into a work of art with every blizzard?
The world, in the psalmist’s imagination, cannot contain the delight God inspires. “Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth; break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises” (Ps. 98:4). Nature itself joins in: “Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills be joyful together before the Lord” (v.8).
The psalms wonderfully solve the problem of a praise-deficient culture by providing the necessary words. We merely need to enter into those words, letting God use the psalms to realign our inner attitudes.
All creatures of our God and King,
Lift up your voice and with us sing, Alleluia! Alleluia!
Thou burning sun with golden beam, Thou silver moon
with softer gleam! O praise Him! —St. Francis of Assisi
In praise, the creature happily acknowledges that everything good comes from the Creator.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, March 19, 2012
Abraham’s Life of Faith
He went out, not knowing where he was going —Hebrews 11:8
In the Old Testament, a person’s relationship with God was seen by the degree of separation in that person’s life. This separation is exhibited in the life of Abraham by his separation from his country and his family. When we think of separation today, we do not mean to be literally separated from those family members who do not have a personal relationship with God, but to be separated mentally and morally from their viewpoints. This is what Jesus Christ was referring to in Luke 14:26.
Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led. But it does mean loving and knowing the One who is leading. It is literally a life of faith, not of understanding and reason—a life of knowing Him who calls us to go. Faith is rooted in the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest traps we fall into is the belief that if we have faith, God will surely lead us to success in the world.
The final stage in the life of faith is the attainment of character, and we encounter many changes in the process. We feel the presence of God around us when we pray, yet we are only momentarily changed. We tend to keep going back to our everyday ways and the glory vanishes. A life of faith is not a life of one glorious mountaintop experience after another, like soaring on eagles’ wings, but is a life of day—in and day—out consistency; a life of walking without fainting (see Isaiah 40:31). It is not even a question of the holiness of sanctification, but of something which comes much farther down the road. It is a faith that has been tried and proved and has withstood the test. Abraham is not a type or an example of the holiness of sanctification, but a type of the life of faith—a faith, tested and true, built on the true God. “Abraham believed God. . .” (Romans 4:3).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
So Much Hurt - #6571
Monday, March 19, 2012
Maybe it's Prozac I need before I watch the news any more, because I know I'm going to be hit with stories and numbers that just quantify a lot of hurt in a lot of lives. I mean, there's jobs lost, and homes lost, and loved ones lost, record numbers living in poverty, and struggling families, and devastating disasters, and always, always, people dying.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You about "So Much Hurt."
Recently, as I called a bunch of friends about an upcoming event, I kept running into that hurt in people I know. Kathy's husband died from a massive brain tumor only days after they returned from their family vacation. She's trying to figure out life without him.
One friend poured out a heart broken by what's happening to their family. Travis talked about the collapse of the construction business and their battle to save their own home and their son's. Rob - who's like Mr. Healthy - is suddenly in this pain-wracked battle to beat the cancer that just seemed to come out of nowhere. More calls, more pain. And that's just one day's phone conversations.
It's a reminder that behind all those statistics and news stories are very real, very hurting people. These conversations have elevated three strong realities that sometimes slip off my radar. One, I don't pray enough for my friends. Two, my problems really aren't that big. Three, well, this one takes me back to an unforgettable moment in a funeral home.
Bob was the young assistant pastor at our church, and he died very suddenly. And by human reckoning, way too soon. I struggled for what to say as I walked up to his casket, and here's his widow, Judy, standing there with their three young, unfinished children. Before I could try to comfort Judy, she comforted me. She held her kids close and just said three words, "Jesus is enough." Wow!
And that was the recurring bottom line in my phone conversations. Because my friends weren't just talking about hurt. They were talking about hope. They were talking about their Jesus who continues to be "enough." Our word for today from the Word of God is in Psalm 34:18. It says, "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted." You know what? They are feeling Him unusually close. They have His promise that "your strength will equal your days" (Deuteronomy 33:25). And they're telling me about uncommon strength they cannot explain.
They are believing what the Bible says, "All things work together for good to those who love God" (Romans 8:28). Yes, a chapter may be over, but their life isn't. Because there is a Plan! My friend in construction can see some of the Plan in the pain. He said, "Because of it, we're closer to God and each other than ever before." There is a Savior who provides for you, whether or not there's a paycheck, who sustains you when you can barely move, who holds you when no one on earth can help.
I honestly don't know how folks do life's deepest valleys without Jesus. He is literally the margin of emotional and spiritual survival. David said, "And though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil." Why? "Because You are with me" (Psalm 23:4). Jesus said, "I am with you always" (Matthew 28:20). I know He'll never leave me. Because if He was ever going to, it would have been when He was pouring out His life for me on the cross to pay for everything I've ever done against Him. He didn't leave me then. He won't leave me now.
Our suddenly-widowed friend, Kathy, said there are some days that she pulls in the driveway from the grocery store and says, "I don't even know how I got there and back." I think I know how.
When our son was three years old, we visited the U.S. Capitol in Washington. I remember him looking up that massive flight of steps and thinking, "Man, there's no way." Well, he made it to the top, because his Daddy carried him where he couldn't go. See, when you can't walk, your Father will carry you. I really can do "all things through Christ who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:13), because Jesus really is enough.
A call from my wife came recently with crushing news about a couple dear to us. They are frontline spiritual heroes. The wife, Nancy, died earlier that morning after a long, grueling battle with cancer, and our hearts were heavy. But she had recently said, "The only question is where I'm going to get healed - either here or in heaven."
She had walked through the valley of the shadow of death with Jesus by her side all the way, and that was all the difference. And her husband? Well, his Daddy is carrying him.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Proverbs 7, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals (Click to listen to God’s teaching)
Max Lucado Daily: Works Matter
“If people say they have faith, but do nothing, their faith is worth nothing. Can faith like that save them?” James 2:14
James’ message is bare-knuckled; his style is bare-boned. Talk is cheap, he argues. Service is invaluable.
It’s not that works save the Christian, but that works mark the Christian. In James’ book of logic, it only makes sense that we who have been given much should give much. Not just with words. But with our lives.
Proverbs 7
Warning Against the Adulterous Woman
1 My son, keep my words
and store up my commands within you.
2 Keep my commands and you will live;
guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.
3 Bind them on your fingers;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
and to insight, “You are my relative.”
5 They will keep you from the adulterous woman,
from the wayward woman with her seductive words.
6 At the window of my house
I looked down through the lattice.
7 I saw among the simple,
I noticed among the young men,
a youth who had no sense.
8 He was going down the street near her corner,
walking along in the direction of her house
9 at twilight, as the day was fading,
as the dark of night set in.
10 Then out came a woman to meet him,
dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent.
11 (She is unruly and defiant,
her feet never stay at home;
12 now in the street, now in the squares,
at every corner she lurks.)
13 She took hold of him and kissed him
and with a brazen face she said:
14 “Today I fulfilled my vows,
and I have food from my fellowship offering at home.
15 So I came out to meet you;
I looked for you and have found you!
16 I have covered my bed
with colored linens from Egypt.
17 I have perfumed my bed
with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.
18 Come, let’s drink deeply of love till morning;
let’s enjoy ourselves with love!
19 My husband is not at home;
he has gone on a long journey.
20 He took his purse filled with money
and will not be home till full moon.”
21 With persuasive words she led him astray;
she seduced him with her smooth talk.
22 All at once he followed her
like an ox going to the slaughter,
like a deer[c] stepping into a noose[d]
23 till an arrow pierces his liver,
like a bird darting into a snare,
little knowing it will cost him his life.
24 Now then, my sons, listen to me;
pay attention to what I say.
25 Do not let your heart turn to her ways
or stray into her paths.
26 Many are the victims she has brought down;
her slain are a mighty throng.
27 Her house is a highway to the grave,
leading down to the chambers of death.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 Samuel 15:10-23
10 Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel: 11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the LORD all that night.
12 Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.”
13 When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The LORD bless you! I have carried out the LORD’s instructions.”
14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?”
15 Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.”
16 “Enough!” Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night.”
“Tell me,” Saul replied.
17 Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel. 18 And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’ 19 Why did you not obey the LORD? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the LORD?”
20 “But I did obey the LORD,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the LORD assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. 21 The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal.”
22 But Samuel replied:
“Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the LORD?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD,
he has rejected you as king.”
The Slippery Slope Of Success
March 18, 2012 — by David C. McCasland
When you were little in your own eyes, . . . did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel? —1 Samuel 15:17
Among the more than 19,000 original epigrams penned by chemist and writer Dr. O. A. Battista is this wise observation: “You have reached the pinnacle of success as soon as you become uninterested in money, compliments, or publicity.” Unfortunately, just the opposite often happens when something we have done is praised and rewarded. A humble heart can quickly become a swelled head.
Just before Saul was anointed king, he saw himself as a member of an insignificant family in the smallest tribe of Israel (1 Sam. 9:21). Within a few years, however, he had erected a monument in his own honor and had become the supreme authority for his conduct (15:11-12). The prophet Samuel confronted Saul for his disobedience to God by reminding him, “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel?” (v.17).
Self-importance is the first step down the slippery slope of what we call success. It begins when we claim credit for God-given victories and modify His commands to suit our desires.
True success is staying on God’s path by following His Word and giving Him praise instead of craving it for ourselves.
Help me, O Lord, lest my heart become proud,
For all of my talents by You are endowed;
Nothing I have can I claim as my own—
What mercy and grace in my life You have shown! —D. De Haan
True humility credits God for every success.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Will I Bring Myself Up to This Level?
. . . perfecting holiness in the fear of God —2 Corinthians 7:1
Therefore, having these promises. . . .” I claim God’s promises for my life and look to their fulfillment, and rightly so, but that shows only the human perspective on them. God’s perspective is that through His promises I will come to recognize His claim of ownership on me. For example, do I realize that my “body is the temple of the Holy Spirit,” or am I condoning some habit in my body which clearly could not withstand the light of God on it? (1 Corinthians 6:19). God formed His Son in me through sanctification, setting me apart from sin and making me holy in His sight (see Galatians 4:19). But I must begin to transform my natural life into spiritual life by obedience to Him. God instructs us even in the smallest details of life. And when He brings you conviction of sin, do not “confer with flesh and blood,” but cleanse yourself from it at once (Galatians 1:16). Keep yourself cleansed in your daily walk.
I must cleanse myself from all filthiness in my flesh and my spirit until both are in harmony with the nature of God. Is the mind of my spirit in perfect agreement with the life of the Son of God in me, or am I mentally rebellious and defiant? Am I allowing the mind of Christ to be formed in me? (see Philippians 2:5). Christ never spoke of His right to Himself, but always maintained an inner vigilance to submit His spirit continually to His Father. I also have the responsibility to keep my spirit in agreement with His Spirit. And when I do, Jesus gradually lifts me up to the level where He lived-a level of perfect submission to His Father’s will— where I pay no attention to anything else. Am I perfecting this kind of holiness in the fear of God? Is God having His way with me, and are people beginning to see God in my life more and more?
Be serious in your commitment to God and gladly leave everything else alone. Literally put God first in your life.
“If people say they have faith, but do nothing, their faith is worth nothing. Can faith like that save them?” James 2:14
James’ message is bare-knuckled; his style is bare-boned. Talk is cheap, he argues. Service is invaluable.
It’s not that works save the Christian, but that works mark the Christian. In James’ book of logic, it only makes sense that we who have been given much should give much. Not just with words. But with our lives.
Proverbs 7
Warning Against the Adulterous Woman
1 My son, keep my words
and store up my commands within you.
2 Keep my commands and you will live;
guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.
3 Bind them on your fingers;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
and to insight, “You are my relative.”
5 They will keep you from the adulterous woman,
from the wayward woman with her seductive words.
6 At the window of my house
I looked down through the lattice.
7 I saw among the simple,
I noticed among the young men,
a youth who had no sense.
8 He was going down the street near her corner,
walking along in the direction of her house
9 at twilight, as the day was fading,
as the dark of night set in.
10 Then out came a woman to meet him,
dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent.
11 (She is unruly and defiant,
her feet never stay at home;
12 now in the street, now in the squares,
at every corner she lurks.)
13 She took hold of him and kissed him
and with a brazen face she said:
14 “Today I fulfilled my vows,
and I have food from my fellowship offering at home.
15 So I came out to meet you;
I looked for you and have found you!
16 I have covered my bed
with colored linens from Egypt.
17 I have perfumed my bed
with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.
18 Come, let’s drink deeply of love till morning;
let’s enjoy ourselves with love!
19 My husband is not at home;
he has gone on a long journey.
20 He took his purse filled with money
and will not be home till full moon.”
21 With persuasive words she led him astray;
she seduced him with her smooth talk.
22 All at once he followed her
like an ox going to the slaughter,
like a deer[c] stepping into a noose[d]
23 till an arrow pierces his liver,
like a bird darting into a snare,
little knowing it will cost him his life.
24 Now then, my sons, listen to me;
pay attention to what I say.
25 Do not let your heart turn to her ways
or stray into her paths.
26 Many are the victims she has brought down;
her slain are a mighty throng.
27 Her house is a highway to the grave,
leading down to the chambers of death.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 Samuel 15:10-23
10 Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel: 11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the LORD all that night.
12 Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.”
13 When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The LORD bless you! I have carried out the LORD’s instructions.”
14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?”
15 Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.”
16 “Enough!” Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night.”
“Tell me,” Saul replied.
17 Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel. 18 And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’ 19 Why did you not obey the LORD? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the LORD?”
20 “But I did obey the LORD,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the LORD assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. 21 The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal.”
22 But Samuel replied:
“Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the LORD?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD,
he has rejected you as king.”
The Slippery Slope Of Success
March 18, 2012 — by David C. McCasland
When you were little in your own eyes, . . . did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel? —1 Samuel 15:17
Among the more than 19,000 original epigrams penned by chemist and writer Dr. O. A. Battista is this wise observation: “You have reached the pinnacle of success as soon as you become uninterested in money, compliments, or publicity.” Unfortunately, just the opposite often happens when something we have done is praised and rewarded. A humble heart can quickly become a swelled head.
Just before Saul was anointed king, he saw himself as a member of an insignificant family in the smallest tribe of Israel (1 Sam. 9:21). Within a few years, however, he had erected a monument in his own honor and had become the supreme authority for his conduct (15:11-12). The prophet Samuel confronted Saul for his disobedience to God by reminding him, “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel?” (v.17).
Self-importance is the first step down the slippery slope of what we call success. It begins when we claim credit for God-given victories and modify His commands to suit our desires.
True success is staying on God’s path by following His Word and giving Him praise instead of craving it for ourselves.
Help me, O Lord, lest my heart become proud,
For all of my talents by You are endowed;
Nothing I have can I claim as my own—
What mercy and grace in my life You have shown! —D. De Haan
True humility credits God for every success.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Will I Bring Myself Up to This Level?
. . . perfecting holiness in the fear of God —2 Corinthians 7:1
Therefore, having these promises. . . .” I claim God’s promises for my life and look to their fulfillment, and rightly so, but that shows only the human perspective on them. God’s perspective is that through His promises I will come to recognize His claim of ownership on me. For example, do I realize that my “body is the temple of the Holy Spirit,” or am I condoning some habit in my body which clearly could not withstand the light of God on it? (1 Corinthians 6:19). God formed His Son in me through sanctification, setting me apart from sin and making me holy in His sight (see Galatians 4:19). But I must begin to transform my natural life into spiritual life by obedience to Him. God instructs us even in the smallest details of life. And when He brings you conviction of sin, do not “confer with flesh and blood,” but cleanse yourself from it at once (Galatians 1:16). Keep yourself cleansed in your daily walk.
I must cleanse myself from all filthiness in my flesh and my spirit until both are in harmony with the nature of God. Is the mind of my spirit in perfect agreement with the life of the Son of God in me, or am I mentally rebellious and defiant? Am I allowing the mind of Christ to be formed in me? (see Philippians 2:5). Christ never spoke of His right to Himself, but always maintained an inner vigilance to submit His spirit continually to His Father. I also have the responsibility to keep my spirit in agreement with His Spirit. And when I do, Jesus gradually lifts me up to the level where He lived-a level of perfect submission to His Father’s will— where I pay no attention to anything else. Am I perfecting this kind of holiness in the fear of God? Is God having His way with me, and are people beginning to see God in my life more and more?
Be serious in your commitment to God and gladly leave everything else alone. Literally put God first in your life.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Proverbs 6, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals (Click to listen to God’s teaching)
Max Lucado Daily: Such Passion
“I pray that you and all God’s holy people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ’s love.” Ephesians 3:18
From the cradle in Bethlehem to the cross in Jerusalem we’ve pondered the love of our Father. What can you say to that kind of emotion? Upon learning that God would rather die than live without you, how do you react? How can you begin to explain such passion?
Proverbs 6
Warnings Against Folly
1 My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor,
if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger,
2 you have been trapped by what you said,
ensnared by the words of your mouth.
3 So do this, my son, to free yourself,
since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands:
Go—to the point of exhaustion—[b]
and give your neighbor no rest!
4 Allow no sleep to your eyes,
no slumber to your eyelids.
5 Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
like a bird from the snare of the fowler.
6 Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!
7 It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
8 yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.
9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
When will you get up from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest—
11 and poverty will come on you like a thief
and scarcity like an armed man.
12 A troublemaker and a villain,
who goes about with a corrupt mouth,
13 who winks maliciously with his eye,
signals with his feet
and motions with his fingers,
14 who plots evil with deceit in his heart—
he always stirs up conflict.
15 Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant;
he will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy.
16 There are six things the LORD hates,
seven that are detestable to him:
17 haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19 a false witness who pours out lies
and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.
Warning Against Adultery
20 My son, keep your father’s command
and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
21 Bind them always on your heart;
fasten them around your neck.
22 When you walk, they will guide you;
when you sleep, they will watch over you;
when you awake, they will speak to you.
23 For this command is a lamp,
this teaching is a light,
and correction and instruction
are the way to life,
24 keeping you from your neighbor’s wife,
from the smooth talk of a wayward woman.
25 Do not lust in your heart after her beauty
or let her captivate you with her eyes.
26 For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread,
but another man’s wife preys on your very life.
27 Can a man scoop fire into his lap
without his clothes being burned?
28 Can a man walk on hot coals
without his feet being scorched?
29 So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife;
no one who touches her will go unpunished.
30 People do not despise a thief if he steals
to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.
31 Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold,
though it costs him all the wealth of his house.
32 But a man who commits adultery has no sense;
whoever does so destroys himself.
33 Blows and disgrace are his lot,
and his shame will never be wiped away.
34 For jealousy arouses a husband’s fury,
and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.
35 He will not accept any compensation;
he will refuse a bribe, however great it is.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Isaiah 50:4-10
4 The Sovereign LORD has given me a well-instructed tongue,
to know the word that sustains the weary.
He wakens me morning by morning,
wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.
5 The Sovereign LORD has opened my ears;
I have not been rebellious,
I have not turned away.
6 I offered my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;
I did not hide my face
from mocking and spitting.
7 Because the Sovereign LORD helps me,
I will not be disgraced.
Therefore have I set my face like flint,
and I know I will not be put to shame.
8 He who vindicates me is near.
Who then will bring charges against me?
Let us face each other!
Who is my accuser?
Let him confront me!
9 It is the Sovereign LORD who helps me.
Who will condemn me?
They will all wear out like a garment;
the moths will eat them up.
10 Who among you fears the LORD
and obeys the word of his servant?
Let the one who walks in the dark,
who has no light,
trust in the name of the LORD
and rely on their God.
A Word To The Weary
March 17, 2012 — by Dennis Fisher
God has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. —Isaiah 50:4
The people of Israel were struggling. They had been taken captive by the Babylonians and forced to live in a country far from home. What could the prophet Isaiah give these weary people to help them?
He gave them a prophecy of hope. It was a message from God relating to the promised Messiah. In Isaiah 50:4, the Savior Himself described the comfort and consolation He would one day bring: “The Lord God has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary.”
These were words of dual comfort—both to the people in exile and to future generations whose lives would be touched by Jesus’ compassion. In the Gospels we see how Christ fulfilled the prophecy with “a word in season to him who is weary.” To the crowds who followed Him, Christ proclaimed: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). Words of compassion indeed!
Jesus left us an example of how to minister to people who have grown weary. Do you know someone who needs a timely word of encouragement or the listening ear of a concerned friend? A word of comfort to the weary can go a long way.
Neither life nor death can ever
From the Lord His children sever,
For His love and deep compassion
Comforts them in tribulation. —Berg
Compassion is needed to heal the hurts of others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, March 17, 2012
The Servant’s Primary Goal
We make it our aim . . . to be well pleasing to Him —2 Corinthians 5:9
We make it our aim. . . .” It requires a conscious decision and effort to keep our primary goal constantly in front of us. It means holding ourselves to the highest priority year in and year out; not making our first priority to win souls, or to establish churches, or to have revivals, but seeking only “to be well pleasing to Him.” It is not a lack of spiritual experience that leads to failure, but a lack of working to keep our eyes focused and on the right goal. At least once a week examine yourself before God to see if your life is measuring up to the standard He has for you. Paul was like a musician who gives no thought to audience approval, if he can only catch a look of approval from his Conductor.
Any goal we have that diverts us even to the slightest degree from the central goal of being “approved to God” (2 Timothy 2:15) may result in our rejection from further service for Him. When you discern where the goal leads, you will understand why it is so necessary to keep “looking unto Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2). Paul spoke of the importance of controlling his own body so that it would not take him in the wrong direction. He said, “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest . . . I myself should become disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:27).
I must learn to relate everything to the primary goal, maintaining it without interruption. My worth to God publicly is measured by what I really am in my private life. Is my primary goal in life to please Him and to be acceptable to Him, or is it something less, no matter how lofty it may sound?
“I pray that you and all God’s holy people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ’s love.” Ephesians 3:18
From the cradle in Bethlehem to the cross in Jerusalem we’ve pondered the love of our Father. What can you say to that kind of emotion? Upon learning that God would rather die than live without you, how do you react? How can you begin to explain such passion?
Proverbs 6
Warnings Against Folly
1 My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor,
if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger,
2 you have been trapped by what you said,
ensnared by the words of your mouth.
3 So do this, my son, to free yourself,
since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands:
Go—to the point of exhaustion—[b]
and give your neighbor no rest!
4 Allow no sleep to your eyes,
no slumber to your eyelids.
5 Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
like a bird from the snare of the fowler.
6 Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!
7 It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
8 yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.
9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
When will you get up from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest—
11 and poverty will come on you like a thief
and scarcity like an armed man.
12 A troublemaker and a villain,
who goes about with a corrupt mouth,
13 who winks maliciously with his eye,
signals with his feet
and motions with his fingers,
14 who plots evil with deceit in his heart—
he always stirs up conflict.
15 Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant;
he will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy.
16 There are six things the LORD hates,
seven that are detestable to him:
17 haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19 a false witness who pours out lies
and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.
Warning Against Adultery
20 My son, keep your father’s command
and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
21 Bind them always on your heart;
fasten them around your neck.
22 When you walk, they will guide you;
when you sleep, they will watch over you;
when you awake, they will speak to you.
23 For this command is a lamp,
this teaching is a light,
and correction and instruction
are the way to life,
24 keeping you from your neighbor’s wife,
from the smooth talk of a wayward woman.
25 Do not lust in your heart after her beauty
or let her captivate you with her eyes.
26 For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread,
but another man’s wife preys on your very life.
27 Can a man scoop fire into his lap
without his clothes being burned?
28 Can a man walk on hot coals
without his feet being scorched?
29 So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife;
no one who touches her will go unpunished.
30 People do not despise a thief if he steals
to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.
31 Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold,
though it costs him all the wealth of his house.
32 But a man who commits adultery has no sense;
whoever does so destroys himself.
33 Blows and disgrace are his lot,
and his shame will never be wiped away.
34 For jealousy arouses a husband’s fury,
and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.
35 He will not accept any compensation;
he will refuse a bribe, however great it is.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Isaiah 50:4-10
4 The Sovereign LORD has given me a well-instructed tongue,
to know the word that sustains the weary.
He wakens me morning by morning,
wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.
5 The Sovereign LORD has opened my ears;
I have not been rebellious,
I have not turned away.
6 I offered my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;
I did not hide my face
from mocking and spitting.
7 Because the Sovereign LORD helps me,
I will not be disgraced.
Therefore have I set my face like flint,
and I know I will not be put to shame.
8 He who vindicates me is near.
Who then will bring charges against me?
Let us face each other!
Who is my accuser?
Let him confront me!
9 It is the Sovereign LORD who helps me.
Who will condemn me?
They will all wear out like a garment;
the moths will eat them up.
10 Who among you fears the LORD
and obeys the word of his servant?
Let the one who walks in the dark,
who has no light,
trust in the name of the LORD
and rely on their God.
A Word To The Weary
March 17, 2012 — by Dennis Fisher
God has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. —Isaiah 50:4
The people of Israel were struggling. They had been taken captive by the Babylonians and forced to live in a country far from home. What could the prophet Isaiah give these weary people to help them?
He gave them a prophecy of hope. It was a message from God relating to the promised Messiah. In Isaiah 50:4, the Savior Himself described the comfort and consolation He would one day bring: “The Lord God has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary.”
These were words of dual comfort—both to the people in exile and to future generations whose lives would be touched by Jesus’ compassion. In the Gospels we see how Christ fulfilled the prophecy with “a word in season to him who is weary.” To the crowds who followed Him, Christ proclaimed: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). Words of compassion indeed!
Jesus left us an example of how to minister to people who have grown weary. Do you know someone who needs a timely word of encouragement or the listening ear of a concerned friend? A word of comfort to the weary can go a long way.
Neither life nor death can ever
From the Lord His children sever,
For His love and deep compassion
Comforts them in tribulation. —Berg
Compassion is needed to heal the hurts of others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, March 17, 2012
The Servant’s Primary Goal
We make it our aim . . . to be well pleasing to Him —2 Corinthians 5:9
We make it our aim. . . .” It requires a conscious decision and effort to keep our primary goal constantly in front of us. It means holding ourselves to the highest priority year in and year out; not making our first priority to win souls, or to establish churches, or to have revivals, but seeking only “to be well pleasing to Him.” It is not a lack of spiritual experience that leads to failure, but a lack of working to keep our eyes focused and on the right goal. At least once a week examine yourself before God to see if your life is measuring up to the standard He has for you. Paul was like a musician who gives no thought to audience approval, if he can only catch a look of approval from his Conductor.
Any goal we have that diverts us even to the slightest degree from the central goal of being “approved to God” (2 Timothy 2:15) may result in our rejection from further service for Him. When you discern where the goal leads, you will understand why it is so necessary to keep “looking unto Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2). Paul spoke of the importance of controlling his own body so that it would not take him in the wrong direction. He said, “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest . . . I myself should become disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:27).
I must learn to relate everything to the primary goal, maintaining it without interruption. My worth to God publicly is measured by what I really am in my private life. Is my primary goal in life to please Him and to be acceptable to Him, or is it something less, no matter how lofty it may sound?
Friday, March 16, 2012
Proverbs 5, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals (Click to listen to God’s teaching)
Max Lucado Daily: Courage
“And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. And do not be afraid of their threats nor be troubled. I Peter 3:13-14”
On April 18, 2007, three Christians in Turkey were killed for their beliefs. Necati Aydin, a 35 year-old pastor was one of them.
He nearly didn’t go the office that morning. He’d been traveling and his wife, Semse, wanted him to stay home and rest. He admitted his weariness, but went on to work. There was much to be done. Semse recalls, “As my dear husband walked out the door, he smiled at me one last time. I didn’t know that was the last smile.”
Later that morning, attackers came to Necati Aydin’s office insisting he pray: “There is no God except Allah!” When Necati refused, the torture began. The last word from the office was the cry of an unswerving Christian: Messiah! Messiah!
I ponder the martyrs of Malatya and wonder, Would I make the sacrifice? Would I cry out, “Messiah! Messiah! Would I give my life?
How do we prepare? Linger long and often in the presence of Christ. Meditate on his grace. Ponder his love. Memorize his words.
Courage comes as we live with Jesus!
Proverbs 5
Warning Against Adultery
1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom,
turn your ear to my words of insight,
2 that you may maintain discretion
and your lips may preserve knowledge.
3 For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey,
and her speech is smoother than oil;
4 but in the end she is bitter as gall,
sharp as a double-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death;
her steps lead straight to the grave.
6 She gives no thought to the way of life;
her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it.
7 Now then, my sons, listen to me;
do not turn aside from what I say.
8 Keep to a path far from her,
do not go near the door of her house,
9 lest you lose your honor to others
and your dignity[a] to one who is cruel,
10 lest strangers feast on your wealth
and your toil enrich the house of another.
11 At the end of your life you will groan,
when your flesh and body are spent.
12 You will say, “How I hated discipline!
How my heart spurned correction!
13 I would not obey my teachers
or turn my ear to my instructors.
14 And I was soon in serious trouble
in the assembly of God’s people.”
15 Drink water from your own cistern,
running water from your own well.
16 Should your springs overflow in the streets,
your streams of water in the public squares?
17 Let them be yours alone,
never to be shared with strangers.
18 May your fountain be blessed,
and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.
19 A loving doe, a graceful deer—
may her breasts satisfy you always,
may you ever be intoxicated with her love.
20 Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife?
Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman?
21 For your ways are in full view of the LORD,
and he examines all your paths.
22 The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them;
the cords of their sins hold them fast.
23 For lack of discipline they will die,
led astray by their own great folly.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Luke 12:16-21
16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
You Fool!
March 16, 2012 — by C. P. Hia
The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” —Psalm 14:1
It seems to me rather contradictory that Jesus, who was so gentle at times (Matt. 19:13-15), would call some people fools. Yet, as recorded in the Gospels a number of times, our Lord used this derogatory term to describe those He spoke about—especially the Pharisees (see Matt. 23:17-19; Luke 11:39-40).
Jesus also used the word fool in a parable after warning a man about coveting (Luke 12:13-21). What made him foolish is not the fact that he built bigger barns to store his abundant harvest (vv.16-18). It would have been more foolish of him to leave it out in the fields where inclement weather would spoil it. Nor was he foolish because of his thought that this unexpected windfall was enough to last him a long time (v.19). After all, we are urged to follow the example of the ant in “storing up” the harvest (Prov. 6:6-8).
What made the man foolish? He left God out of the picture. He was called a fool because he failed to realize that his life was in God’s hands. While he was planning carefully for his comfortable life on earth, he failed to plan for eternity and store up treasures in heaven (Matt. 6:20).
Does your plan for the future have God in it? You won’t want to be called foolish by Him in the end.
Oh, why not turn while yet you may;
Too late, it soon will be—
A glorious life you may possess
Throughout eternity. —Anon.
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. —Jim Elliot
Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, March 16, 2012
The Master Will Judge
We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ . . . —2 Corinthians 5:10
Paul says that we must all, preachers and other people alike, “appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” But if you will learn here and now to live under the scrutiny of Christ’s pure light, your final judgment will bring you only delight in seeing the work God has done in you. Live constantly reminding yourself of the judgment seat of Christ, and walk in the knowledge of the holiness He has given you. Tolerating a wrong attitude toward another person causes you to follow the spirit of the devil, no matter how saintly you are. One carnal judgment of another person only serves the purposes of hell in you. Bring it immediately into the light and confess, “Oh, Lord, I have been guilty there.” If you don’t, your heart will become hardened through and through. One of the penalties of sin is our acceptance of it. It is not only God who punishes for sin, but sin establishes itself in the sinner and takes its toll. No struggling or praying will enable you to stop doing certain things, and the penalty of sin is that you gradually get used to it, until you finally come to the place where you no longer even realize that it is sin. No power, except the power that comes from being filled with the Holy Spirit, can change or prevent the inherent consequences of sin.
“If we walk in the light as He is in the light. . .” (1 John 1:7). For many of us, walking in the light means walking according to the standard we have set up for another person. The deadliest attitude of the Pharisees that we exhibit today is not hypocrisy but that which comes from unconsciously living a lie.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
How to Lose Something Spiritually and Keep it Off - #6570
Friday, March 16, 2012
Man, people do the craziest things to lose weight. I know. I mean, we will take away all the normal food out of our lives, and then it's tremendous. You can have water, grapefruit, all the lettuce can eat, lots of celery, and watery soup. You can lose weight that way, but you know what? Take it from an old diet expert here, you can't keep it lost. You just can't live that way. You just can't always eat just grapefruit and unlimited lettuce. You have to find some new foods that you can eat and enjoy for the rest of your life. Otherwise you violate the key principle: If you're going to take away something you enjoy, you had better put something good in its' place if you want the change to last. Actually that applies to spiritual change.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Lose Something Spiritually and Keep it Off."
In our word for today from the Word of God in 2 Timothy 2:22, Paul is writing to young men and he's talking about a subject that would have to do with young men. He talks about the "evil desires of youth." He says, "Look, I know especially when you're young that one of the challenges spiritually is controlling your glands, and your sexuality, and your feelings toward the opposite sex." And he talks about something you should lose. You could almost call it losing spiritual weight. Except here it's losing a bad habit.
He says, "Flee the evil desires of youth." Okay, that's the diet plan; that's the fattening things you've got to lose. But I'm glad he doesn't leave it there, because he gives you something new to put in its place. He says, "Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue..." Okay, it's not just running from things. There's something you need to chase. "...and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace." I'm afraid that a lot of Christians would just stop with the negative - with the prohibition. "Flee youthful lusts, my son."
And he's right when he says that, and we're right to have those negatives. Don't cheapen sex, don't fill yourself up with destructive music, or websites, or worldly amusements. Don't go out with unbelievers, don't read magazines that have garbage values, and don't watch junk TV.
But notice that Paul doesn't stop with a "don't." He says, "Go chasing..." And then he says, "...pursue some good stuff to do. Go after faith." Well, that means adventures that can stretch you and your faith in God. He says, "Go after love." In other words, be pursuing bridges to other people; more ways to put them first. He says, "Be a peacemaker between other people." He gives one don't and four do's. That's a spiritual diet that can have lasting affects. Lasting results because you've got many more things you are doing than things you stopped doing.
Jesus talked about a man who swept the house and got rid of an evil spirit, but he didn't have anything in the house after the spirit was gone. And seven spirits worse came back because there was a vacuum. See, I don't think we can just be against things; we've got to be for a lot more things. We've got to invest in alternatives to the wrong thing.
We should major on healthy friendships, invest in those, encourage those, spend money for our kids to have good input and fun family times without regrets, and healthy recreation to develop their abilities. Go on spiritual missions together in your neighborhood or somewhere else in the world.
I think as Christians we should be known for being too busy doing good things to miss the things we're not doing. Let's be known not for what we're against, but for the great things we're for.
“And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. And do not be afraid of their threats nor be troubled. I Peter 3:13-14”
On April 18, 2007, three Christians in Turkey were killed for their beliefs. Necati Aydin, a 35 year-old pastor was one of them.
He nearly didn’t go the office that morning. He’d been traveling and his wife, Semse, wanted him to stay home and rest. He admitted his weariness, but went on to work. There was much to be done. Semse recalls, “As my dear husband walked out the door, he smiled at me one last time. I didn’t know that was the last smile.”
Later that morning, attackers came to Necati Aydin’s office insisting he pray: “There is no God except Allah!” When Necati refused, the torture began. The last word from the office was the cry of an unswerving Christian: Messiah! Messiah!
I ponder the martyrs of Malatya and wonder, Would I make the sacrifice? Would I cry out, “Messiah! Messiah! Would I give my life?
How do we prepare? Linger long and often in the presence of Christ. Meditate on his grace. Ponder his love. Memorize his words.
Courage comes as we live with Jesus!
Proverbs 5
Warning Against Adultery
1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom,
turn your ear to my words of insight,
2 that you may maintain discretion
and your lips may preserve knowledge.
3 For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey,
and her speech is smoother than oil;
4 but in the end she is bitter as gall,
sharp as a double-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death;
her steps lead straight to the grave.
6 She gives no thought to the way of life;
her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it.
7 Now then, my sons, listen to me;
do not turn aside from what I say.
8 Keep to a path far from her,
do not go near the door of her house,
9 lest you lose your honor to others
and your dignity[a] to one who is cruel,
10 lest strangers feast on your wealth
and your toil enrich the house of another.
11 At the end of your life you will groan,
when your flesh and body are spent.
12 You will say, “How I hated discipline!
How my heart spurned correction!
13 I would not obey my teachers
or turn my ear to my instructors.
14 And I was soon in serious trouble
in the assembly of God’s people.”
15 Drink water from your own cistern,
running water from your own well.
16 Should your springs overflow in the streets,
your streams of water in the public squares?
17 Let them be yours alone,
never to be shared with strangers.
18 May your fountain be blessed,
and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.
19 A loving doe, a graceful deer—
may her breasts satisfy you always,
may you ever be intoxicated with her love.
20 Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife?
Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman?
21 For your ways are in full view of the LORD,
and he examines all your paths.
22 The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them;
the cords of their sins hold them fast.
23 For lack of discipline they will die,
led astray by their own great folly.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Luke 12:16-21
16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
You Fool!
March 16, 2012 — by C. P. Hia
The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” —Psalm 14:1
It seems to me rather contradictory that Jesus, who was so gentle at times (Matt. 19:13-15), would call some people fools. Yet, as recorded in the Gospels a number of times, our Lord used this derogatory term to describe those He spoke about—especially the Pharisees (see Matt. 23:17-19; Luke 11:39-40).
Jesus also used the word fool in a parable after warning a man about coveting (Luke 12:13-21). What made him foolish is not the fact that he built bigger barns to store his abundant harvest (vv.16-18). It would have been more foolish of him to leave it out in the fields where inclement weather would spoil it. Nor was he foolish because of his thought that this unexpected windfall was enough to last him a long time (v.19). After all, we are urged to follow the example of the ant in “storing up” the harvest (Prov. 6:6-8).
What made the man foolish? He left God out of the picture. He was called a fool because he failed to realize that his life was in God’s hands. While he was planning carefully for his comfortable life on earth, he failed to plan for eternity and store up treasures in heaven (Matt. 6:20).
Does your plan for the future have God in it? You won’t want to be called foolish by Him in the end.
Oh, why not turn while yet you may;
Too late, it soon will be—
A glorious life you may possess
Throughout eternity. —Anon.
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. —Jim Elliot
Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, March 16, 2012
The Master Will Judge
We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ . . . —2 Corinthians 5:10
Paul says that we must all, preachers and other people alike, “appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” But if you will learn here and now to live under the scrutiny of Christ’s pure light, your final judgment will bring you only delight in seeing the work God has done in you. Live constantly reminding yourself of the judgment seat of Christ, and walk in the knowledge of the holiness He has given you. Tolerating a wrong attitude toward another person causes you to follow the spirit of the devil, no matter how saintly you are. One carnal judgment of another person only serves the purposes of hell in you. Bring it immediately into the light and confess, “Oh, Lord, I have been guilty there.” If you don’t, your heart will become hardened through and through. One of the penalties of sin is our acceptance of it. It is not only God who punishes for sin, but sin establishes itself in the sinner and takes its toll. No struggling or praying will enable you to stop doing certain things, and the penalty of sin is that you gradually get used to it, until you finally come to the place where you no longer even realize that it is sin. No power, except the power that comes from being filled with the Holy Spirit, can change or prevent the inherent consequences of sin.
“If we walk in the light as He is in the light. . .” (1 John 1:7). For many of us, walking in the light means walking according to the standard we have set up for another person. The deadliest attitude of the Pharisees that we exhibit today is not hypocrisy but that which comes from unconsciously living a lie.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
How to Lose Something Spiritually and Keep it Off - #6570
Friday, March 16, 2012
Man, people do the craziest things to lose weight. I know. I mean, we will take away all the normal food out of our lives, and then it's tremendous. You can have water, grapefruit, all the lettuce can eat, lots of celery, and watery soup. You can lose weight that way, but you know what? Take it from an old diet expert here, you can't keep it lost. You just can't live that way. You just can't always eat just grapefruit and unlimited lettuce. You have to find some new foods that you can eat and enjoy for the rest of your life. Otherwise you violate the key principle: If you're going to take away something you enjoy, you had better put something good in its' place if you want the change to last. Actually that applies to spiritual change.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Lose Something Spiritually and Keep it Off."
In our word for today from the Word of God in 2 Timothy 2:22, Paul is writing to young men and he's talking about a subject that would have to do with young men. He talks about the "evil desires of youth." He says, "Look, I know especially when you're young that one of the challenges spiritually is controlling your glands, and your sexuality, and your feelings toward the opposite sex." And he talks about something you should lose. You could almost call it losing spiritual weight. Except here it's losing a bad habit.
He says, "Flee the evil desires of youth." Okay, that's the diet plan; that's the fattening things you've got to lose. But I'm glad he doesn't leave it there, because he gives you something new to put in its place. He says, "Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue..." Okay, it's not just running from things. There's something you need to chase. "...and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace." I'm afraid that a lot of Christians would just stop with the negative - with the prohibition. "Flee youthful lusts, my son."
And he's right when he says that, and we're right to have those negatives. Don't cheapen sex, don't fill yourself up with destructive music, or websites, or worldly amusements. Don't go out with unbelievers, don't read magazines that have garbage values, and don't watch junk TV.
But notice that Paul doesn't stop with a "don't." He says, "Go chasing..." And then he says, "...pursue some good stuff to do. Go after faith." Well, that means adventures that can stretch you and your faith in God. He says, "Go after love." In other words, be pursuing bridges to other people; more ways to put them first. He says, "Be a peacemaker between other people." He gives one don't and four do's. That's a spiritual diet that can have lasting affects. Lasting results because you've got many more things you are doing than things you stopped doing.
Jesus talked about a man who swept the house and got rid of an evil spirit, but he didn't have anything in the house after the spirit was gone. And seven spirits worse came back because there was a vacuum. See, I don't think we can just be against things; we've got to be for a lot more things. We've got to invest in alternatives to the wrong thing.
We should major on healthy friendships, invest in those, encourage those, spend money for our kids to have good input and fun family times without regrets, and healthy recreation to develop their abilities. Go on spiritual missions together in your neighborhood or somewhere else in the world.
I think as Christians we should be known for being too busy doing good things to miss the things we're not doing. Let's be known not for what we're against, but for the great things we're for.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
John 19, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals (Click to listen to God’s teaching)
Encourage the Struggling
“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Romans 15:4”
Encourage those who’re 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.”
To the jobless: “In all things God works for the good of those who love him.”
Are you a cancer survivor? Someone in the cancer ward needs to hear from you.
Have you buried a spouse and lived to smile again? Then find the recently widowed and walk with them.
Your experiences have deputized you! Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 that God is the source of every mercy, and the one who so wonderfully comforts and strengthens us in our hardships and trials. And why does He do this? So that when others are troubled, needing our sympathy and encouragement, we can pass on to them this same help and comfort God has given us!
John 19:23-42
New International Version (NIV)
23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.
24 “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”
This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said,
“They divided my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.”[a]
So this is what the soldiers did.
25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman,[b] here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
The Death of Jesus
28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,”[c] 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”[d]
The Burial of Jesus
38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.[e] 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 119:97-104
? Mem
97 Oh, how I love your law!
I meditate on it all day long.
98 Your commands are always with me
and make me wiser than my enemies.
99 I have more insight than all my teachers,
for I meditate on your statutes.
100 I have more understanding than the elders,
for I obey your precepts.
101 I have kept my feet from every evil path
so that I might obey your word.
102 I have not departed from your laws,
for you yourself have taught me.
103 How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104 I gain understanding from your precepts;
therefore I hate every wrong path.
A Search For The Top Ten
March 15, 2012 — by Anne Cetas
Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. —Psalm 119:97
BibleGateway, an online Bible resource, looked at the viewing habits of some of their 8 million monthly visitors. They found that John 3:16 was the most-searched-for verse in 2010.
I don’t think it’s surprising that it would be number one on the list. It tells us that God loved us so much that He sent His Son to rescue us from our sin and give us everlasting life. Number 10 on the list is Jesus’ commission to His followers to spread that good news: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations” (Matt. 28:19). Also in the top 10 are Jeremiah 29:11 and Romans 8:28 about God’s good plans and purposes for His people.
The Scriptures are filled with truths to search out and share. In Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible, the psalmist shared his thoughts about the Word and his desire to search it and be taught by God. He said, “Oh, how I love Your law!” (v.97). Our Bible reading for today shows some of the psalmist’s reasons for loving it: It gives him wisdom and understanding, it restrains his feet from evil, and it is sweet. Therefore, it’s his meditation “all the day.”
Let’s keep taking the time to read the Bible. The more we search the Word, the more we’ll grow in our love for it and its Author (v.97).
Search the Scriptures’ precious store—
As a miner digs for ore;
Search, and you will surely find
Treasures to enrich the mind. —Anon.
The more you read the Bible, the more you’ll love its Author.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, March 15, 2012
The Discipline of Dismay
As they followed they were afraid —Mark 10:32
At the beginning of our life with Jesus Christ, we were sure we knew all there was to know about following Him. It was a delight to forsake everything else and to throw ourselves before Him in a fearless statement of love. But now we are not quite so sure. Jesus is far ahead of us and is beginning to seem different and unfamiliar— “Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed” (Mark 10:32).
There is an aspect of Jesus that chills even a disciple’s heart to its depth and makes his entire spiritual life gasp for air. This unusual Person with His face set “like a flint” (Isaiah 50:7) is walking with great determination ahead of me, and He strikes terror right through me. He no longer seems to be my Counselor and Friend and has a point of view about which I know nothing. All I can do is stand and stare at Him in amazement. At first I was confident that I understood Him, but now I am not so sure. I begin to realize that there is a distance between Jesus and me and I can no longer be intimate with Him. I have no idea where He is going, and the goal has become strangely distant.
Jesus Christ had to understand fully every sin and sorrow that human beings could experience, and that is what makes Him seem unfamiliar. When we see this aspect of Him, we realize we really don’t know Him. We don’t recognize even one characteristic of His life, and we don’t know how to begin to follow Him. He is far ahead of us, a Leader who seems totally unfamiliar, and we have no friendship with Him.
The discipline of dismay is an essential lesson which a disciple must learn. The danger is that we tend to look back on our times of obedience and on our past sacrifices to God in an effort to keep our enthusiasm for Him strong (see Isaiah 1:10-11). But when the darkness of dismay comes, endure until it is over, because out of it will come the ability to follow Jesus truly, which brings inexpressibly wonderful joy.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Effects of Erosion - #6569
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Frogs aren't as dumb as they look, apparently. Well, the reason I know that is because I understand that if you take a frog and you put him in a pot of boiling water (why would you do that?) he'll be smart enough to jump out. He knows he's going to die there.
On the other hand, if you put that frog in some lukewarm water, he's going to start swimming around in there. He's going to go, "Oh, it's cool in the pool!" And if you turn it up ever so gradually, the water is going to start to bubble, and steam, and he'll just keep swimming, and diving, and looking up at you with those big old eyes. Until finally the water is boiling and he'll never know what hit him. He'll slowly become comfortable in something that will ultimately kill him. Maybe just like us.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Effects of Erosion."
It's amazing what erosion can do. It can create whole geological masterpieces, and it can destroy a life a little bit at a time. Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Genesis 13:12-13 . It's about Abram, his nephew Lot, and they're choosing up where they're going to live in Canaan. And, of course, at that time the city that more than any other symbolized man's rebellion against God was the city of Sodom.
Here's what it says, "Abram lived in the land of Canaan while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord." It's interesting how Lot's disintegration began. It only began by pitching his tent in the direction of Sodom. If you would have said to him, "You know, one day you're going to live there, Lot. One day you're going to be a part of those people." He would have said, "No! All I'm doing is camping in the neighborhood."
But you see, while Lot started to be in Sodom, pretty soon Sodom was in Lot. And by the time God brought fire and brimstone, he had so lost all of his credibility no one in that city would listen to him when he tried to get them to follow God and follow him out of that city, even some of his own family members.
See, the Devil destroys Christians. But not usually by explosion, but by erosion. You say, "Well, look, I'm only pitching my tent in the direction of Sodom. I'm only with friends who do wrong. I don't do what they do. I'm a little friendly with someone outside of my marriage; but we're just friends." But those flirtations are eroding you. Maybe you're walking along the sexual cliff saying, "Well, I don't plan to go all the way." Oh yeah, but you're being eroded. There are more lies in your life maybe than there used to be; recurring thoughts of sinful activity. Do you see what's happened? Slowly but surely you're going down.
Listen! Run! Don't walk from Sodom; run from it. Run the other direction today. Don't wait for the fire and brimstone. Don't wait until the water's boiling. Don't be eroded. There is nothing in Sodom but death.
“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Romans 15:4”
Encourage those who’re 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.”
To the jobless: “In all things God works for the good of those who love him.”
Are you a cancer survivor? Someone in the cancer ward needs to hear from you.
Have you buried a spouse and lived to smile again? Then find the recently widowed and walk with them.
Your experiences have deputized you! Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 that God is the source of every mercy, and the one who so wonderfully comforts and strengthens us in our hardships and trials. And why does He do this? So that when others are troubled, needing our sympathy and encouragement, we can pass on to them this same help and comfort God has given us!
John 19:23-42
New International Version (NIV)
23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.
24 “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”
This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said,
“They divided my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.”[a]
So this is what the soldiers did.
25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman,[b] here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
The Death of Jesus
28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,”[c] 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”[d]
The Burial of Jesus
38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.[e] 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 119:97-104
? Mem
97 Oh, how I love your law!
I meditate on it all day long.
98 Your commands are always with me
and make me wiser than my enemies.
99 I have more insight than all my teachers,
for I meditate on your statutes.
100 I have more understanding than the elders,
for I obey your precepts.
101 I have kept my feet from every evil path
so that I might obey your word.
102 I have not departed from your laws,
for you yourself have taught me.
103 How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104 I gain understanding from your precepts;
therefore I hate every wrong path.
A Search For The Top Ten
March 15, 2012 — by Anne Cetas
Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. —Psalm 119:97
BibleGateway, an online Bible resource, looked at the viewing habits of some of their 8 million monthly visitors. They found that John 3:16 was the most-searched-for verse in 2010.
I don’t think it’s surprising that it would be number one on the list. It tells us that God loved us so much that He sent His Son to rescue us from our sin and give us everlasting life. Number 10 on the list is Jesus’ commission to His followers to spread that good news: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations” (Matt. 28:19). Also in the top 10 are Jeremiah 29:11 and Romans 8:28 about God’s good plans and purposes for His people.
The Scriptures are filled with truths to search out and share. In Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible, the psalmist shared his thoughts about the Word and his desire to search it and be taught by God. He said, “Oh, how I love Your law!” (v.97). Our Bible reading for today shows some of the psalmist’s reasons for loving it: It gives him wisdom and understanding, it restrains his feet from evil, and it is sweet. Therefore, it’s his meditation “all the day.”
Let’s keep taking the time to read the Bible. The more we search the Word, the more we’ll grow in our love for it and its Author (v.97).
Search the Scriptures’ precious store—
As a miner digs for ore;
Search, and you will surely find
Treasures to enrich the mind. —Anon.
The more you read the Bible, the more you’ll love its Author.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, March 15, 2012
The Discipline of Dismay
As they followed they were afraid —Mark 10:32
At the beginning of our life with Jesus Christ, we were sure we knew all there was to know about following Him. It was a delight to forsake everything else and to throw ourselves before Him in a fearless statement of love. But now we are not quite so sure. Jesus is far ahead of us and is beginning to seem different and unfamiliar— “Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed” (Mark 10:32).
There is an aspect of Jesus that chills even a disciple’s heart to its depth and makes his entire spiritual life gasp for air. This unusual Person with His face set “like a flint” (Isaiah 50:7) is walking with great determination ahead of me, and He strikes terror right through me. He no longer seems to be my Counselor and Friend and has a point of view about which I know nothing. All I can do is stand and stare at Him in amazement. At first I was confident that I understood Him, but now I am not so sure. I begin to realize that there is a distance between Jesus and me and I can no longer be intimate with Him. I have no idea where He is going, and the goal has become strangely distant.
Jesus Christ had to understand fully every sin and sorrow that human beings could experience, and that is what makes Him seem unfamiliar. When we see this aspect of Him, we realize we really don’t know Him. We don’t recognize even one characteristic of His life, and we don’t know how to begin to follow Him. He is far ahead of us, a Leader who seems totally unfamiliar, and we have no friendship with Him.
The discipline of dismay is an essential lesson which a disciple must learn. The danger is that we tend to look back on our times of obedience and on our past sacrifices to God in an effort to keep our enthusiasm for Him strong (see Isaiah 1:10-11). But when the darkness of dismay comes, endure until it is over, because out of it will come the ability to follow Jesus truly, which brings inexpressibly wonderful joy.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Effects of Erosion - #6569
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Frogs aren't as dumb as they look, apparently. Well, the reason I know that is because I understand that if you take a frog and you put him in a pot of boiling water (why would you do that?) he'll be smart enough to jump out. He knows he's going to die there.
On the other hand, if you put that frog in some lukewarm water, he's going to start swimming around in there. He's going to go, "Oh, it's cool in the pool!" And if you turn it up ever so gradually, the water is going to start to bubble, and steam, and he'll just keep swimming, and diving, and looking up at you with those big old eyes. Until finally the water is boiling and he'll never know what hit him. He'll slowly become comfortable in something that will ultimately kill him. Maybe just like us.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Effects of Erosion."
It's amazing what erosion can do. It can create whole geological masterpieces, and it can destroy a life a little bit at a time. Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Genesis 13:12-13 . It's about Abram, his nephew Lot, and they're choosing up where they're going to live in Canaan. And, of course, at that time the city that more than any other symbolized man's rebellion against God was the city of Sodom.
Here's what it says, "Abram lived in the land of Canaan while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord." It's interesting how Lot's disintegration began. It only began by pitching his tent in the direction of Sodom. If you would have said to him, "You know, one day you're going to live there, Lot. One day you're going to be a part of those people." He would have said, "No! All I'm doing is camping in the neighborhood."
But you see, while Lot started to be in Sodom, pretty soon Sodom was in Lot. And by the time God brought fire and brimstone, he had so lost all of his credibility no one in that city would listen to him when he tried to get them to follow God and follow him out of that city, even some of his own family members.
See, the Devil destroys Christians. But not usually by explosion, but by erosion. You say, "Well, look, I'm only pitching my tent in the direction of Sodom. I'm only with friends who do wrong. I don't do what they do. I'm a little friendly with someone outside of my marriage; but we're just friends." But those flirtations are eroding you. Maybe you're walking along the sexual cliff saying, "Well, I don't plan to go all the way." Oh yeah, but you're being eroded. There are more lies in your life maybe than there used to be; recurring thoughts of sinful activity. Do you see what's happened? Slowly but surely you're going down.
Listen! Run! Don't walk from Sodom; run from it. Run the other direction today. Don't wait for the fire and brimstone. Don't wait until the water's boiling. Don't be eroded. There is nothing in Sodom but death.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Proverbs 4, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals (Click to listen to God’s teaching)
Max Lucado Daily: A Loveburst
“Jesus said to the paralyzed man, ‘I tell you, stand up, take your mat, and go home.’ ...The people were amazed and praised God, saying ‘We have never seen anything like this!’ Mark 2:12”
Lovebursts. Spontaneous affection. Tender moments of radiant love. Ignited devotion. Explosions of tenderness.
Here’s what I mean. The women you’re standing with at the party start complaining about their spouse, but you look across the room at your husband and smile. Still as handsome as when you met—a bit paunchier, but you don’t see that. All you see is the man who stole your heart.
That’s a loveburst!
When friends of a paralyzed man heard Jesus was in town, they hurried to get their friend to Him. It was his only hope! But Jesus was surrounded—packed into a crowded house. No way they could get inside. Unless, of course, they lowered him through the roof! It was risky. But it was their only chance to see Jesus! The gospel says, “When Jesus saw the faith of these people, he said to the paralyzed man, ‘Young man, your sins are forgiven.’”
Jesus applauds—not with his hands—but with his heart!
And we witness a divine loveburst!
Proverbs 4
Get Wisdom at Any Cost
1 Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction;
pay attention and gain understanding.
2 I give you sound learning,
so do not forsake my teaching.
3 For I too was a son to my father,
still tender, and cherished by my mother.
4 Then he taught me, and he said to me,
“Take hold of my words with all your heart;
keep my commands, and you will live.
5 Get wisdom, get understanding;
do not forget my words or turn away from them.
6 Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you;
love her, and she will watch over you.
7 The beginning of wisdom is this: Get[d] wisdom.
Though it cost all you have,[e] get understanding.
8 Cherish her, and she will exalt you;
embrace her, and she will honor you.
9 She will give you a garland to grace your head
and present you with a glorious crown.”
10 Listen, my son, accept what I say,
and the years of your life will be many.
11 I instruct you in the way of wisdom
and lead you along straight paths.
12 When you walk, your steps will not be hampered;
when you run, you will not stumble.
13 Hold on to instruction, do not let it go;
guard it well, for it is your life.
14 Do not set foot on the path of the wicked
or walk in the way of evildoers.
15 Avoid it, do not travel on it;
turn from it and go on your way.
16 For they cannot rest until they do evil;
they are robbed of sleep till they make someone stumble.
17 They eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence.
18 The path of the righteous is like the morning sun,
shining ever brighter till the full light of day.
19 But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
they do not know what makes them stumble.
20 My son, pay attention to what I say;
turn your ear to my words.
21 Do not let them out of your sight,
keep them within your heart;
22 for they are life to those who find them
and health to one’s whole body.
23 Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it.
24 Keep your mouth free of perversity;
keep corrupt talk far from your lips.
25 Let your eyes look straight ahead;
fix your gaze directly before you.
26 Give careful thought to the[f] paths for your feet
and be steadfast in all your ways.
27 Do not turn to the right or the left;
keep your foot from evil.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: John 14:1-6
Jesus Comforts His Disciples
1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God[a]; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Jesus the Way to the Father
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
The Catcher
March 14, 2012 — by Joe Stowell
If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. —John 14:3
Life is a risky enterprise. Sometimes we fly high, enjoying great success. But then suddenly we fall into deep disappointments and the haunting reality of failure, leaving our hearts wondering if there is anything worth looking forward to.
At a funeral recently, the pastor told the story about a trapeze artist. The performer admitted that although he is seen as the star of the show, the real star is the catcher—the teammate who hangs from another trapeze bar to grab him and guarantee a safe landing. The key, he explained, is trust. With outstretched arms, the flyer must trust that the catcher is ready and able to grab him. Dying is like trusting in God as the catcher. After we have flown through life, we can look forward to God reaching out to catch His followers and to pull us safely to Himself forever. I like that thought.
This reminds me of Jesus’ comforting words to His disciples: “Let not your heart be troubled . . . . I go to prepare a place for you. And . . . I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:1-3).
Life is indeed a risky business, but be encouraged! If you have put your faith in Jesus Christ, the Catcher is waiting at the end to take you safely home.
Home from the earthly journey,
Safe for eternity;
All that the Savior promised—
That is what heaven will be. —Anon.
Our heavenly Father’s arms will one day catch His children.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Yielding
. . . you are that one’s slaves whom you obey . . . —Romans 6:16
The first thing I must be willing to admit when I begin to examine what controls and dominates me is that I am the one responsible for having yielded myself to whatever it may be. If I am a slave to myself, I am to blame because somewhere in the past I yielded to myself. Likewise, if I obey God I do so because at some point in my life I yielded myself to Him.
If a child gives in to selfishness, he will find it to be the most enslaving tyranny on earth. There is no power within the human soul itself that is capable of breaking the bondage of the nature created by yielding. For example, yield for one second to anything in the nature of lust, and although you may hate yourself for having yielded, you become enslaved to that thing. (Remember what lust is— “I must have it now,” whether it is the lust of the flesh or the lust of the mind.) No release or escape from it will ever come from any human power, but only through the power of redemption. You must yield yourself in utter humiliation to the only One who can break the dominating power in your life, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ. “. . . He has anointed Me . . . to proclaim liberty to the captives . . .” (Luke 4:18 and Isaiah 61:1).
When you yield to something, you will soon realize the tremendous control it has over you. Even though you say, “Oh, I can give up that habit whenever I like,” you will know you can’t. You will find that the habit absolutely dominates you because you willingly yielded to it. It is easy to sing, “He will break every fetter,” while at the same time living a life of obvious slavery to yourself. But yielding to Jesus will break every kind of slavery in any person’s life
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
When the Party Turns to Pig Slop - #6568
Wednesday, March 13, 2012
We entered a new era when our daughter entered college, and we discovered there was one word sweeter than any other to a student away at college - (yeah, not money, no, no) - home. Now, there are a lot of jokes about kids getting in contact with home from college. You know the one about the young woman who wrote to her parents and said, "I haven't heard from you for a while. Please send money so I'll know you're okay."
Okay, there are jokes about it, but actually our daughter loved to call home even when there was no money involved. Okay, yeah, we had to talk about paying the bill occasionally, but there was one number she knew that she could call no matter how she was feeling. And she loved even more to come home. There was one time when she was flying back to school; she waited a half day allowing herself to get bumped from a flight just so she would get a free ticket. She said, "Man, I'll wait all day if I have to, to get a free ticket to get back (yeah)...home. You know, when you get away, home sure looks good.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When the Party Turns to Pig Slop."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 15, and I'm going to begin reading at verse 13. You know about the son who went to his father and asked for his inheritance, and then the Bible says, "...not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country, and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he'd spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country who sent him to his fields to feed pigs."
Now, that story might be more than a story for you. Maybe there's a modern prodigal somewhere in your life; a friend or a family member who in some way is wandering from the Lord...or maybe it's you. Listen to the home coming. In verse 18 the prodigal says, "I will set out and go back to my father." See, he knows where home is. And in verse 20 it says, "While he was still a long way off, his father saw him, was filled with compassion for him, ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." What a tremendous ending to this story!
Now, you notice his Dad did not chase him in his rebellion, but he did continue loving him. There's a life principle here that maybe you might need to be reminded of today. It's something you need to remember as someone you love is drifting. When the party turns to pig slop, you look for the person who never stopped loving you. I'll tell you, any party that takes you away from God is always ultimately going to turn to a pig sty.
Some people have to drive to the end of their dead-end street - all the way to the end - before they start to turn around. The question is, "Can you love them while they're driving down that dead-end street?" Unconditional love usually wins in the end. In the meantime, that loved one may test your love to the limit. In fact, they may drive you to Jesus for the love you don't even have any more. But no matter how far they get, keep loving them. In fact, when a person is least lovable, that's when they need your love the most.
Now, you don't approve of the sin. In fact, you can gently express how it's hurting you, and them, and God. But then you keep your arms open. You tell that person, more than ever, "I love you." Touch him, write to him, remember their special days, find ways to help. This street they're on? It will come to an end, maybe with a crash. But crawling out of the wreckage many wanderers have said, "Who is there that never stopped loving me?" And they run to that person.
Maybe today you know that there's a great distance between you and the Heavenly Father, and today He stands ready to meet you and greet you and welcome you home. Home to the relationship you were made for; a relationship with Him. One that it took Jesus' death on the cross to make possible. And if you would grab Jesus as your hope of getting to God and getting to heaven, today you could come home. This could be your homecoming day.
Our whole website is there to help you understand how to begin life's most important relationship. Would you visit us there today? YoursForLife.net.
The homing instinct in the human heart knows where to go when everything else has failed. You go to the person who never stopped loving you.
“Jesus said to the paralyzed man, ‘I tell you, stand up, take your mat, and go home.’ ...The people were amazed and praised God, saying ‘We have never seen anything like this!’ Mark 2:12”
Lovebursts. Spontaneous affection. Tender moments of radiant love. Ignited devotion. Explosions of tenderness.
Here’s what I mean. The women you’re standing with at the party start complaining about their spouse, but you look across the room at your husband and smile. Still as handsome as when you met—a bit paunchier, but you don’t see that. All you see is the man who stole your heart.
That’s a loveburst!
When friends of a paralyzed man heard Jesus was in town, they hurried to get their friend to Him. It was his only hope! But Jesus was surrounded—packed into a crowded house. No way they could get inside. Unless, of course, they lowered him through the roof! It was risky. But it was their only chance to see Jesus! The gospel says, “When Jesus saw the faith of these people, he said to the paralyzed man, ‘Young man, your sins are forgiven.’”
Jesus applauds—not with his hands—but with his heart!
And we witness a divine loveburst!
Proverbs 4
Get Wisdom at Any Cost
1 Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction;
pay attention and gain understanding.
2 I give you sound learning,
so do not forsake my teaching.
3 For I too was a son to my father,
still tender, and cherished by my mother.
4 Then he taught me, and he said to me,
“Take hold of my words with all your heart;
keep my commands, and you will live.
5 Get wisdom, get understanding;
do not forget my words or turn away from them.
6 Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you;
love her, and she will watch over you.
7 The beginning of wisdom is this: Get[d] wisdom.
Though it cost all you have,[e] get understanding.
8 Cherish her, and she will exalt you;
embrace her, and she will honor you.
9 She will give you a garland to grace your head
and present you with a glorious crown.”
10 Listen, my son, accept what I say,
and the years of your life will be many.
11 I instruct you in the way of wisdom
and lead you along straight paths.
12 When you walk, your steps will not be hampered;
when you run, you will not stumble.
13 Hold on to instruction, do not let it go;
guard it well, for it is your life.
14 Do not set foot on the path of the wicked
or walk in the way of evildoers.
15 Avoid it, do not travel on it;
turn from it and go on your way.
16 For they cannot rest until they do evil;
they are robbed of sleep till they make someone stumble.
17 They eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence.
18 The path of the righteous is like the morning sun,
shining ever brighter till the full light of day.
19 But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
they do not know what makes them stumble.
20 My son, pay attention to what I say;
turn your ear to my words.
21 Do not let them out of your sight,
keep them within your heart;
22 for they are life to those who find them
and health to one’s whole body.
23 Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it.
24 Keep your mouth free of perversity;
keep corrupt talk far from your lips.
25 Let your eyes look straight ahead;
fix your gaze directly before you.
26 Give careful thought to the[f] paths for your feet
and be steadfast in all your ways.
27 Do not turn to the right or the left;
keep your foot from evil.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: John 14:1-6
Jesus Comforts His Disciples
1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God[a]; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Jesus the Way to the Father
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
The Catcher
March 14, 2012 — by Joe Stowell
If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. —John 14:3
Life is a risky enterprise. Sometimes we fly high, enjoying great success. But then suddenly we fall into deep disappointments and the haunting reality of failure, leaving our hearts wondering if there is anything worth looking forward to.
At a funeral recently, the pastor told the story about a trapeze artist. The performer admitted that although he is seen as the star of the show, the real star is the catcher—the teammate who hangs from another trapeze bar to grab him and guarantee a safe landing. The key, he explained, is trust. With outstretched arms, the flyer must trust that the catcher is ready and able to grab him. Dying is like trusting in God as the catcher. After we have flown through life, we can look forward to God reaching out to catch His followers and to pull us safely to Himself forever. I like that thought.
This reminds me of Jesus’ comforting words to His disciples: “Let not your heart be troubled . . . . I go to prepare a place for you. And . . . I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:1-3).
Life is indeed a risky business, but be encouraged! If you have put your faith in Jesus Christ, the Catcher is waiting at the end to take you safely home.
Home from the earthly journey,
Safe for eternity;
All that the Savior promised—
That is what heaven will be. —Anon.
Our heavenly Father’s arms will one day catch His children.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Yielding
. . . you are that one’s slaves whom you obey . . . —Romans 6:16
The first thing I must be willing to admit when I begin to examine what controls and dominates me is that I am the one responsible for having yielded myself to whatever it may be. If I am a slave to myself, I am to blame because somewhere in the past I yielded to myself. Likewise, if I obey God I do so because at some point in my life I yielded myself to Him.
If a child gives in to selfishness, he will find it to be the most enslaving tyranny on earth. There is no power within the human soul itself that is capable of breaking the bondage of the nature created by yielding. For example, yield for one second to anything in the nature of lust, and although you may hate yourself for having yielded, you become enslaved to that thing. (Remember what lust is— “I must have it now,” whether it is the lust of the flesh or the lust of the mind.) No release or escape from it will ever come from any human power, but only through the power of redemption. You must yield yourself in utter humiliation to the only One who can break the dominating power in your life, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ. “. . . He has anointed Me . . . to proclaim liberty to the captives . . .” (Luke 4:18 and Isaiah 61:1).
When you yield to something, you will soon realize the tremendous control it has over you. Even though you say, “Oh, I can give up that habit whenever I like,” you will know you can’t. You will find that the habit absolutely dominates you because you willingly yielded to it. It is easy to sing, “He will break every fetter,” while at the same time living a life of obvious slavery to yourself. But yielding to Jesus will break every kind of slavery in any person’s life
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
When the Party Turns to Pig Slop - #6568
Wednesday, March 13, 2012
We entered a new era when our daughter entered college, and we discovered there was one word sweeter than any other to a student away at college - (yeah, not money, no, no) - home. Now, there are a lot of jokes about kids getting in contact with home from college. You know the one about the young woman who wrote to her parents and said, "I haven't heard from you for a while. Please send money so I'll know you're okay."
Okay, there are jokes about it, but actually our daughter loved to call home even when there was no money involved. Okay, yeah, we had to talk about paying the bill occasionally, but there was one number she knew that she could call no matter how she was feeling. And she loved even more to come home. There was one time when she was flying back to school; she waited a half day allowing herself to get bumped from a flight just so she would get a free ticket. She said, "Man, I'll wait all day if I have to, to get a free ticket to get back (yeah)...home. You know, when you get away, home sure looks good.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When the Party Turns to Pig Slop."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 15, and I'm going to begin reading at verse 13. You know about the son who went to his father and asked for his inheritance, and then the Bible says, "...not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country, and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he'd spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country who sent him to his fields to feed pigs."
Now, that story might be more than a story for you. Maybe there's a modern prodigal somewhere in your life; a friend or a family member who in some way is wandering from the Lord...or maybe it's you. Listen to the home coming. In verse 18 the prodigal says, "I will set out and go back to my father." See, he knows where home is. And in verse 20 it says, "While he was still a long way off, his father saw him, was filled with compassion for him, ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." What a tremendous ending to this story!
Now, you notice his Dad did not chase him in his rebellion, but he did continue loving him. There's a life principle here that maybe you might need to be reminded of today. It's something you need to remember as someone you love is drifting. When the party turns to pig slop, you look for the person who never stopped loving you. I'll tell you, any party that takes you away from God is always ultimately going to turn to a pig sty.
Some people have to drive to the end of their dead-end street - all the way to the end - before they start to turn around. The question is, "Can you love them while they're driving down that dead-end street?" Unconditional love usually wins in the end. In the meantime, that loved one may test your love to the limit. In fact, they may drive you to Jesus for the love you don't even have any more. But no matter how far they get, keep loving them. In fact, when a person is least lovable, that's when they need your love the most.
Now, you don't approve of the sin. In fact, you can gently express how it's hurting you, and them, and God. But then you keep your arms open. You tell that person, more than ever, "I love you." Touch him, write to him, remember their special days, find ways to help. This street they're on? It will come to an end, maybe with a crash. But crawling out of the wreckage many wanderers have said, "Who is there that never stopped loving me?" And they run to that person.
Maybe today you know that there's a great distance between you and the Heavenly Father, and today He stands ready to meet you and greet you and welcome you home. Home to the relationship you were made for; a relationship with Him. One that it took Jesus' death on the cross to make possible. And if you would grab Jesus as your hope of getting to God and getting to heaven, today you could come home. This could be your homecoming day.
Our whole website is there to help you understand how to begin life's most important relationship. Would you visit us there today? YoursForLife.net.
The homing instinct in the human heart knows where to go when everything else has failed. You go to the person who never stopped loving you.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Proverbs 3, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals (Click to listen to God’s teaching)
Max Lucado Daily: Another Wall A-Tumblin’ Down
“For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation…Ephesians 2:14”
Christ’s death on the cross has torn down the wall we use to keep each other at a distance.
My pastor friend, Bucker Fanning, experienced this firsthand in World War II three weeks after the dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Imagine a young American Marine in that city of radiation-burned victims. He was a soldier feeling not victory but grief for the suffering around him.
But instead of anger and revenge, Buckner found an oasis of grace! The sign said: Methodist Church. What he found was a partially collapsed structure. Shattered windows; walls, buckled. But several men were setting up chairs. They turned as he entered. He knew one Japanese word. He heard it. Brother!
During Communion, worshippers brought him the elements. In that quiet moment, the enmity and the hurt of the war was set aside as one Christian served another the body and the blood of Christ!
Another wall came a-tumblin’ down.
Proverbs 3
Wisdom Bestows Well-Being
1 My son, do not forget my teaching,
but keep my commands in your heart,
2 for they will prolong your life many years
and bring you peace and prosperity.
3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Then you will win favor and a good name
in the sight of God and man.
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.[b]
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the LORD and shun evil.
8 This will bring health to your body
and nourishment to your bones.
9 Honor the LORD with your wealth,
with the firstfruits of all your crops;
10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing,
and your vats will brim over with new wine.
11 My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline,
and do not resent his rebuke,
12 because the LORD disciplines those he loves,
as a father the son he delights in.[c]
13 Blessed are those who find wisdom,
those who gain understanding,
14 for she is more profitable than silver
and yields better returns than gold.
15 She is more precious than rubies;
nothing you desire can compare with her.
16 Long life is in her right hand;
in her left hand are riches and honor.
17 Her ways are pleasant ways,
and all her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her;
those who hold her fast will be blessed.
19 By wisdom the LORD laid the earth’s foundations,
by understanding he set the heavens in place;
20 by his knowledge the watery depths were divided,
and the clouds let drop the dew.
21 My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight,
preserve sound judgment and discretion;
22 they will be life for you,
an ornament to grace your neck.
23 Then you will go on your way in safety,
and your foot will not stumble.
24 When you lie down, you will not be afraid;
when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
25 Have no fear of sudden disaster
or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked,
26 for the LORD will be at your side
and will keep your foot from being snared.
27 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
when it is in your power to act.
28 Do not say to your neighbor,
“Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you”—
when you already have it with you.
29 Do not plot harm against your neighbor,
who lives trustfully near you.
30 Do not accuse anyone for no reason—
when they have done you no harm.
31 Do not envy the violent
or choose any of their ways.
32 For the LORD detests the perverse
but takes the upright into his confidence.
33 The LORD’s curse is on the house of the wicked,
but he blesses the home of the righteous.
34 He mocks proud mockers
but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.
35 The wise inherit honor,
but fools get only shame.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Colossians 1:3-14
Thanksgiving and Prayer
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel 6 that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant,[a] who is a faithful minister of Christ on our[b] behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,[c] 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you[d] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Celebrate The Fruit
March 13, 2012 — by Marvin Williams
We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you. —Colossians 1:3
It’s easy to develop a critical spirit toward people who are not growing spiritually according to our expectations. We can easily spot areas of concern that need correction, but we also need to take note of what’s right. In his letters, Paul often needed to correct churches, but he also celebrated what was good.
In Paul’s letter to the Colossians, for example, he mentioned that the gospel had taken root and was producing fruit in the lives of the believers there (1:6). He celebrated them by directing his thanksgiving toward God for their spiritual growth. They had come to know Jesus and now were struggling against the false teachers (2:6-8). He thanked the Lord for their deep and abiding love for all the saints and for expressing tangible and sacrificial concern for them (1:4). Paul also thanked God because the Colossians’ faith and love grew out of their hope—the reality and assurance that this world is not the end (1:5).
Today may present us with opportunities to observe fellow believers. We can be critical or celebrate their spiritual progress. Let’s take the time to thank the Lord for the way the gospel of Jesus Christ has taken root and is producing fruit in their lives.
Help me, Lord, to reassure and strengthen
Others by the words I speak today;
I would always try to be affirming,
As our pathways cross along life’s way. —Hess
Correction does much, but encouragement does more.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
God’s Total Surrender to Us
For God so loved the world that He gave . . . —John 3:16
Salvation does not mean merely deliverance from sin or the experience of personal holiness. The salvation which comes from God means being completely delivered from myself, and being placed into perfect union with Him. When I think of my salvation experience, I think of being delivered from sin and gaining personal holiness. But salvation is so much more! It means that the Spirit of God has brought me into intimate contact with the true Person of God Himself. And as I am caught up into total surrender to God, I become thrilled with something infinitely greater than myself.
To say that we are called to preach holiness or sanctification is to miss the main point. We are called to proclaim Jesus Christ (see 1 Corinthians 2:2). The fact that He saves from sin and makes us holy is actually part of the effect of His wonderful and total surrender to us.
If we are truly surrendered, we will never be aware of our own efforts to remain surrendered. Our entire life will be consumed with the One to whom we surrender. Beware of talking about surrender if you know nothing about it. In fact, you will never know anything about it until you understand that John 3:16 means that God completely and absolutely gave Himself to us. In our surrender, we must give ourselves to God in the same way He gave Himself for us— totally, unconditionally, and without reservation. The consequences and circumstances resulting from our surrender will never even enter our mind, because our life will be totally consumed with Him.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Whose Smile You're Working For - #6567
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
I remember not long ago, this hot summer day when my oldest son and I were out working in the yard. I was doing the mowing; he was doing some clipping around the rocks; working just a little bit behind me where I had just mown. And I noticed that he was working pretty hard, and I glanced at him. I was pretty pleased with how he was doing, and I just kind of gave him a quick smile and went back to work.
About ten minutes later he walked up to me and I noticed his lips moving, but I could not understand what he was saying because of the lawn mower was so loud. So, I turned the mower down and I said, "What did you say, son?" And he said, "Dad, would you do that again?" And I said, "Do what again?" He said, "Would you give me another smile like you did a few minutes ago?" And then this is what I never forgot. He said, "Dad, you know, it's your smile that keeps me going." Talk about melted Dad! "It's your smile that keeps me going." He had decided that a father's approval was worth working for.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Whose Smile You're Working For."
In our word for today from the Word of God the Apostle Paul tells us whose smile he was working for. Galatians 1:10 - Paul says, "Am I now trying to win the approval of men or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ." Wow! Paul said in essence, "I've decided who my audience is. I've decided whose applause I'm interested in. I've decided whose smile I want." And frankly he's saying, "It just doesn't matter to me what men think of what I've done, but I want to know that my Lord Jesus is smiling when the day is over and saying, 'Good day. Good job, faithful servant.'"
Now, when you work, and sweat, and minister, and sacrifice; when you do all those things that you do for your family, who are you doing it for? Even the simple things of household chores, homework, tasks you have to accomplish at work. Who are you doing it for? The answer to that question makes all the difference in the fulfillment factor and the meaning of what you're doing.
Years ago, author Keith Miller told in one of his books about getting close to the Oklahoma college football team at a time when they had the longest winning streak in college history. For years they had not been defeated. And he went to a practice at the invitation of the now immortal Coach Bud Wilkinson, and he said after a couple of days there that he found out what their secret was. They lived for Monday. Yeah, that's when they watched the movies of the game with Coach Wilkinson, because as it turned out it really didn't matter to them what the sports writers said. And even though there were say 50,000 people in the stadium, it really didn't matter ultimately whether they cheered or jeered. And it didn't really matter even what the rest of the team said. They waited for one thing. They waited for the coach's verdict on how they had played that day. And Keith Miller said, "The secret of that football team's winning was that they played only for the coach." How about you and me?
Are you playing for the stands, you playing for the other people on the team, playing for the writers, the publicity? I'll tell you this; ultimately every other audience will prove disappointing and unappreciative. You do it for your family, sometime they'll disappoint you. For your church, for some Christian leader, for your employer, for your teachers? Count on it, sometime they're going to let you down.
But the Bible says, "We serve the Lord Christ." And the thrill is taking today's activity and saying, "Lord, I'm doing it all for You."
“For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation…Ephesians 2:14”
Christ’s death on the cross has torn down the wall we use to keep each other at a distance.
My pastor friend, Bucker Fanning, experienced this firsthand in World War II three weeks after the dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Imagine a young American Marine in that city of radiation-burned victims. He was a soldier feeling not victory but grief for the suffering around him.
But instead of anger and revenge, Buckner found an oasis of grace! The sign said: Methodist Church. What he found was a partially collapsed structure. Shattered windows; walls, buckled. But several men were setting up chairs. They turned as he entered. He knew one Japanese word. He heard it. Brother!
During Communion, worshippers brought him the elements. In that quiet moment, the enmity and the hurt of the war was set aside as one Christian served another the body and the blood of Christ!
Another wall came a-tumblin’ down.
Proverbs 3
Wisdom Bestows Well-Being
1 My son, do not forget my teaching,
but keep my commands in your heart,
2 for they will prolong your life many years
and bring you peace and prosperity.
3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Then you will win favor and a good name
in the sight of God and man.
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.[b]
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the LORD and shun evil.
8 This will bring health to your body
and nourishment to your bones.
9 Honor the LORD with your wealth,
with the firstfruits of all your crops;
10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing,
and your vats will brim over with new wine.
11 My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline,
and do not resent his rebuke,
12 because the LORD disciplines those he loves,
as a father the son he delights in.[c]
13 Blessed are those who find wisdom,
those who gain understanding,
14 for she is more profitable than silver
and yields better returns than gold.
15 She is more precious than rubies;
nothing you desire can compare with her.
16 Long life is in her right hand;
in her left hand are riches and honor.
17 Her ways are pleasant ways,
and all her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her;
those who hold her fast will be blessed.
19 By wisdom the LORD laid the earth’s foundations,
by understanding he set the heavens in place;
20 by his knowledge the watery depths were divided,
and the clouds let drop the dew.
21 My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight,
preserve sound judgment and discretion;
22 they will be life for you,
an ornament to grace your neck.
23 Then you will go on your way in safety,
and your foot will not stumble.
24 When you lie down, you will not be afraid;
when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
25 Have no fear of sudden disaster
or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked,
26 for the LORD will be at your side
and will keep your foot from being snared.
27 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
when it is in your power to act.
28 Do not say to your neighbor,
“Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you”—
when you already have it with you.
29 Do not plot harm against your neighbor,
who lives trustfully near you.
30 Do not accuse anyone for no reason—
when they have done you no harm.
31 Do not envy the violent
or choose any of their ways.
32 For the LORD detests the perverse
but takes the upright into his confidence.
33 The LORD’s curse is on the house of the wicked,
but he blesses the home of the righteous.
34 He mocks proud mockers
but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.
35 The wise inherit honor,
but fools get only shame.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Colossians 1:3-14
Thanksgiving and Prayer
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel 6 that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant,[a] who is a faithful minister of Christ on our[b] behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,[c] 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you[d] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Celebrate The Fruit
March 13, 2012 — by Marvin Williams
We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you. —Colossians 1:3
It’s easy to develop a critical spirit toward people who are not growing spiritually according to our expectations. We can easily spot areas of concern that need correction, but we also need to take note of what’s right. In his letters, Paul often needed to correct churches, but he also celebrated what was good.
In Paul’s letter to the Colossians, for example, he mentioned that the gospel had taken root and was producing fruit in the lives of the believers there (1:6). He celebrated them by directing his thanksgiving toward God for their spiritual growth. They had come to know Jesus and now were struggling against the false teachers (2:6-8). He thanked the Lord for their deep and abiding love for all the saints and for expressing tangible and sacrificial concern for them (1:4). Paul also thanked God because the Colossians’ faith and love grew out of their hope—the reality and assurance that this world is not the end (1:5).
Today may present us with opportunities to observe fellow believers. We can be critical or celebrate their spiritual progress. Let’s take the time to thank the Lord for the way the gospel of Jesus Christ has taken root and is producing fruit in their lives.
Help me, Lord, to reassure and strengthen
Others by the words I speak today;
I would always try to be affirming,
As our pathways cross along life’s way. —Hess
Correction does much, but encouragement does more.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
God’s Total Surrender to Us
For God so loved the world that He gave . . . —John 3:16
Salvation does not mean merely deliverance from sin or the experience of personal holiness. The salvation which comes from God means being completely delivered from myself, and being placed into perfect union with Him. When I think of my salvation experience, I think of being delivered from sin and gaining personal holiness. But salvation is so much more! It means that the Spirit of God has brought me into intimate contact with the true Person of God Himself. And as I am caught up into total surrender to God, I become thrilled with something infinitely greater than myself.
To say that we are called to preach holiness or sanctification is to miss the main point. We are called to proclaim Jesus Christ (see 1 Corinthians 2:2). The fact that He saves from sin and makes us holy is actually part of the effect of His wonderful and total surrender to us.
If we are truly surrendered, we will never be aware of our own efforts to remain surrendered. Our entire life will be consumed with the One to whom we surrender. Beware of talking about surrender if you know nothing about it. In fact, you will never know anything about it until you understand that John 3:16 means that God completely and absolutely gave Himself to us. In our surrender, we must give ourselves to God in the same way He gave Himself for us— totally, unconditionally, and without reservation. The consequences and circumstances resulting from our surrender will never even enter our mind, because our life will be totally consumed with Him.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Whose Smile You're Working For - #6567
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
I remember not long ago, this hot summer day when my oldest son and I were out working in the yard. I was doing the mowing; he was doing some clipping around the rocks; working just a little bit behind me where I had just mown. And I noticed that he was working pretty hard, and I glanced at him. I was pretty pleased with how he was doing, and I just kind of gave him a quick smile and went back to work.
About ten minutes later he walked up to me and I noticed his lips moving, but I could not understand what he was saying because of the lawn mower was so loud. So, I turned the mower down and I said, "What did you say, son?" And he said, "Dad, would you do that again?" And I said, "Do what again?" He said, "Would you give me another smile like you did a few minutes ago?" And then this is what I never forgot. He said, "Dad, you know, it's your smile that keeps me going." Talk about melted Dad! "It's your smile that keeps me going." He had decided that a father's approval was worth working for.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Whose Smile You're Working For."
In our word for today from the Word of God the Apostle Paul tells us whose smile he was working for. Galatians 1:10 - Paul says, "Am I now trying to win the approval of men or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ." Wow! Paul said in essence, "I've decided who my audience is. I've decided whose applause I'm interested in. I've decided whose smile I want." And frankly he's saying, "It just doesn't matter to me what men think of what I've done, but I want to know that my Lord Jesus is smiling when the day is over and saying, 'Good day. Good job, faithful servant.'"
Now, when you work, and sweat, and minister, and sacrifice; when you do all those things that you do for your family, who are you doing it for? Even the simple things of household chores, homework, tasks you have to accomplish at work. Who are you doing it for? The answer to that question makes all the difference in the fulfillment factor and the meaning of what you're doing.
Years ago, author Keith Miller told in one of his books about getting close to the Oklahoma college football team at a time when they had the longest winning streak in college history. For years they had not been defeated. And he went to a practice at the invitation of the now immortal Coach Bud Wilkinson, and he said after a couple of days there that he found out what their secret was. They lived for Monday. Yeah, that's when they watched the movies of the game with Coach Wilkinson, because as it turned out it really didn't matter to them what the sports writers said. And even though there were say 50,000 people in the stadium, it really didn't matter ultimately whether they cheered or jeered. And it didn't really matter even what the rest of the team said. They waited for one thing. They waited for the coach's verdict on how they had played that day. And Keith Miller said, "The secret of that football team's winning was that they played only for the coach." How about you and me?
Are you playing for the stands, you playing for the other people on the team, playing for the writers, the publicity? I'll tell you this; ultimately every other audience will prove disappointing and unappreciative. You do it for your family, sometime they'll disappoint you. For your church, for some Christian leader, for your employer, for your teachers? Count on it, sometime they're going to let you down.
But the Bible says, "We serve the Lord Christ." And the thrill is taking today's activity and saying, "Lord, I'm doing it all for You."
Monday, March 12, 2012
Proverbs 2, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals (Click to listen to God’s teaching)
Max Lucado Daily: A Common Savior
“Christ brought us together through his death on the cross. The Cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of hostility. Eph 2:14-16 MSG”
Fans rooting for the competition? Cheerleaders switching loyalties? What is this?
Kris Hogan skippers a successful Christian high school football program. He has 70 players, 11 coaches, and parents who wouldn’t miss a game! Their upcoming opponent, Gainesville State School was just the opposite. Parents don’t watch them play, but 12 uniformed officers do! Gainesville is a maximum security correctional facility. With no hope of winning, they’d only scored two touchdowns all year.
The whole situation didn’t seem fair. So Coach Hogan asked the fans to step across the field for one night, to cheer for the other side. More than 200 volunteered, including parents and cheerleaders! They formed a spirit line; painted a banner for the team to burst through; and learned the players’ names. A Gainesville team member said, “People are usually a little afraid of us. Most of the time they’re looking at us like we’re criminals. But these people, they were yellin’ for us—- by our names!” After the game, another Gainesville player led a prayer & thanked the Lord for showing them there were people in the world who cared about them.
Christ brings us together through his death on the cross. He creates a new people, not based on a common skin color or family, but based on a common Savior!
Proverbs 2
Moral Benefits of Wisdom
1 My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
2 turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding—
3 indeed, if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the LORD gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7 He holds success in store for the upright,
he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,
8 for he guards the course of the just
and protects the way of his faithful ones.
9 Then you will understand what is right and just
and fair—every good path.
10 For wisdom will enter your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
11 Discretion will protect you,
and understanding will guard you.
12 Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men,
from men whose words are perverse,
13 who have left the straight paths
to walk in dark ways,
14 who delight in doing wrong
and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,
15 whose paths are crooked
and who are devious in their ways.
16 Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman,
from the wayward woman with her seductive words,
17 who has left the partner of her youth
and ignored the covenant she made before God.[a]
18 Surely her house leads down to death
and her paths to the spirits of the dead.
19 None who go to her return
or attain the paths of life.
20 Thus you will walk in the ways of the good
and keep to the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright will live in the land,
and the blameless will remain in it;
22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the unfaithful will be torn from it.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Matthew 22:34-40
The Greatest Commandment
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
The Greatest
March 12, 2012 — by Bill Crowder
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the first and great commandment. —Matthew 22:37-38
What is the greatest thing in sports? Is it championships? Records? Honors? In the Palestra, the University of Pennsylvania basketball arena, a plaque offers a different perspective on the greatest thing in sports. It reads: “To win the game is great. To play the game is greater. But to love the game is the greatest of all.” This is a refreshing reminder that sports are, after all, just the games we played with joy as kids.
A religious leader once asked Jesus about greatness: “Which is the great commandment?” (Matt. 22:36). Jesus responded by challenging that leader to love—love God and love others. Jesus said, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matt. 22:37-39).
Whatever else our faith in Christ compels us to do, there is nothing greater we can do than to show our love—for love reveals the heart of our holy heavenly Father. After all, “God is love” (1 John 4:8). It’s easy to be sidetracked by lesser things, but our focus must remain on the greatest thing—loving our God. That in turn enables us to love one another. There’s nothing greater.
When amazed by His love for me,
To love Him back became my prayer.
I sought an answer sincerely—
It was: Love the neighbor who’s there. —Verway
The proof of our love for God is our obedience to the commands of God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, March 12, 2012
Total Surrender
Peter began to say to Him, ’See, we have left all and followed You’ —Mark 10:28
Our Lord replies to this statement of Peter by saying that this surrender is “for My sake and the gospel’s” (10:29). It was not for the purpose of what the disciples themselves would get out of it. Beware of surrender that is motivated by personal benefits that may result. For example, “I’m going to give myself to God because I want to be delivered from sin, because I want to be made holy.” Being delivered from sin and being made holy are the result of being right with God, but surrender resulting from this kind of thinking is certainly not the true nature of Christianity. Our motive for surrender should not be for any personal gain at all. We have become so self-centered that we go to God only for something from Him, and not for God Himself. It is like saying, “No, Lord, I don’t want you; I want myself. But I do want You to clean me and fill me with Your Holy Spirit. I want to be on display in Your showcase so I can say, ’This is what God has done for me.’ ” Gaining heaven, being delivered from sin, and being made useful to God are things that should never even be a consideration in real surrender. Genuine total surrender is a personal sovereign preference for Jesus Christ Himself.
Where does Jesus Christ figure in when we have a concern about our natural relationships? Most of us will desert Him with this excuse—”Yes, Lord, I heard you call me, but my family needs me and I have my own interests. I just can’t go any further” (see Luke 9:57-62). “Then,” Jesus says, “you ’cannot be My disciple’ ” (see Luke 14:26-33).
True surrender will always go beyond natural devotion. If we will only give up, God will surrender Himself to embrace all those around us and will meet their needs, which were created by our surrender. Beware of stopping anywhere short of total surrender to God. Most of us have only a vision of what this really means, but have never truly experienced it.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Deliberate Forgetting - #6566
Monday, March 12, 2012
Forgetting can get you into a lot of trouble. Like forgetting someone's name, or maybe forgetting an appointment, or maybe you forgot your homework. Or, "The dog ate it." Yeah, uh-huh, or you wouldn't want to forget your wedding anniversary. Oh, no... No, that can cause trouble. But forgetting is a basic skill for people who want to be emotionally free and spiritually alive. Oh, some kinds of forgetting really help. No, not the accidental kind. We're talking about the deliberate kind.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Deliberate Forgetting."
Now, our word for today from the Word of God is about deliberate forgetting and it's in Philippians 3:13. Paul is actually using an Olympic runners' example when he says, "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Did you notice that word forget? He says, "Like a good runner, I'm not looking back. I know when you look back you lose the race. So you keep your eyes on the track; you keep your eyes on the tape; you keep your eyes on the goal. Don't waste any energy looking at the ground you've already covered. "Forget what is behind..."
See, that is actually a fundamental characteristic of a Christian who's going to make daily progress in his relationship with Christ - the ability to forget. Forget what? Well, three things about the past that we tend to keep remembering. First of all, if you're going to grow spiritually you have to forget your past achievements. Earlier in Philippians 3, Paul listed all of his great spiritual achievements, which are greater than anything I think you or I could list. And he said, "None of them really matter. They're like garbage."
There was an airline that said, "We've got to earn our wings every day." Well, that's kind of how it is spiritually. You can't run on spiritual memories. You know, "I'm okay today because of some great yesterdays I had spiritually." You've got to be restless for more progress, so you forget the past achievements.
Secondly, you've got to forget the past failures. You might have said, "Well, I really, really was going real well out there. I was humming for the Lord, and all of a sudden things caved in and I goofed. And I don't know if I can ever get back on track. I think I can't." It's like Peter when he'd fished all night and caught nothing, Jesus said, "Go out there and fish again. You'll catch more than you ever have or ever dreamed." Forget the past failures. Get up! None of those failures have to matter today.
And the other thing then that you're going to have to forget if you're going to make spiritual progress is past damages. You've been hurt, you've been wounded. You know what? Bitterness is a terrible bondage. It's like emotional cancer, and maybe right now it's hard for you to get out from under that person; those incidents that have hurt you. But if you're going to get on with your life spiritually and go for His gold, you've got to forget the past damages. You know, the Bible says, "Forgive as the Lord forgave you." So get God's divine eraser and say, "God, help me to erase this and move on and set both of us free."
See, the enemy loves to have you dwell on the past. I'll tell you why. Because it can't be changed. He wants you to think about those past failures because you can't do anything about them. He wants you to think about those past damages because you can't change those, instead of what you can affect, which is this 24-hour period of time and a future that has yet to be written.
Turn the page on the previous chapters. Forget! Press for the gold and don't look back.
“Christ brought us together through his death on the cross. The Cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of hostility. Eph 2:14-16 MSG”
Fans rooting for the competition? Cheerleaders switching loyalties? What is this?
Kris Hogan skippers a successful Christian high school football program. He has 70 players, 11 coaches, and parents who wouldn’t miss a game! Their upcoming opponent, Gainesville State School was just the opposite. Parents don’t watch them play, but 12 uniformed officers do! Gainesville is a maximum security correctional facility. With no hope of winning, they’d only scored two touchdowns all year.
The whole situation didn’t seem fair. So Coach Hogan asked the fans to step across the field for one night, to cheer for the other side. More than 200 volunteered, including parents and cheerleaders! They formed a spirit line; painted a banner for the team to burst through; and learned the players’ names. A Gainesville team member said, “People are usually a little afraid of us. Most of the time they’re looking at us like we’re criminals. But these people, they were yellin’ for us—- by our names!” After the game, another Gainesville player led a prayer & thanked the Lord for showing them there were people in the world who cared about them.
Christ brings us together through his death on the cross. He creates a new people, not based on a common skin color or family, but based on a common Savior!
Proverbs 2
Moral Benefits of Wisdom
1 My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
2 turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding—
3 indeed, if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the LORD gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7 He holds success in store for the upright,
he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,
8 for he guards the course of the just
and protects the way of his faithful ones.
9 Then you will understand what is right and just
and fair—every good path.
10 For wisdom will enter your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
11 Discretion will protect you,
and understanding will guard you.
12 Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men,
from men whose words are perverse,
13 who have left the straight paths
to walk in dark ways,
14 who delight in doing wrong
and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,
15 whose paths are crooked
and who are devious in their ways.
16 Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman,
from the wayward woman with her seductive words,
17 who has left the partner of her youth
and ignored the covenant she made before God.[a]
18 Surely her house leads down to death
and her paths to the spirits of the dead.
19 None who go to her return
or attain the paths of life.
20 Thus you will walk in the ways of the good
and keep to the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright will live in the land,
and the blameless will remain in it;
22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the unfaithful will be torn from it.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Matthew 22:34-40
The Greatest Commandment
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
The Greatest
March 12, 2012 — by Bill Crowder
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the first and great commandment. —Matthew 22:37-38
What is the greatest thing in sports? Is it championships? Records? Honors? In the Palestra, the University of Pennsylvania basketball arena, a plaque offers a different perspective on the greatest thing in sports. It reads: “To win the game is great. To play the game is greater. But to love the game is the greatest of all.” This is a refreshing reminder that sports are, after all, just the games we played with joy as kids.
A religious leader once asked Jesus about greatness: “Which is the great commandment?” (Matt. 22:36). Jesus responded by challenging that leader to love—love God and love others. Jesus said, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matt. 22:37-39).
Whatever else our faith in Christ compels us to do, there is nothing greater we can do than to show our love—for love reveals the heart of our holy heavenly Father. After all, “God is love” (1 John 4:8). It’s easy to be sidetracked by lesser things, but our focus must remain on the greatest thing—loving our God. That in turn enables us to love one another. There’s nothing greater.
When amazed by His love for me,
To love Him back became my prayer.
I sought an answer sincerely—
It was: Love the neighbor who’s there. —Verway
The proof of our love for God is our obedience to the commands of God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, March 12, 2012
Total Surrender
Peter began to say to Him, ’See, we have left all and followed You’ —Mark 10:28
Our Lord replies to this statement of Peter by saying that this surrender is “for My sake and the gospel’s” (10:29). It was not for the purpose of what the disciples themselves would get out of it. Beware of surrender that is motivated by personal benefits that may result. For example, “I’m going to give myself to God because I want to be delivered from sin, because I want to be made holy.” Being delivered from sin and being made holy are the result of being right with God, but surrender resulting from this kind of thinking is certainly not the true nature of Christianity. Our motive for surrender should not be for any personal gain at all. We have become so self-centered that we go to God only for something from Him, and not for God Himself. It is like saying, “No, Lord, I don’t want you; I want myself. But I do want You to clean me and fill me with Your Holy Spirit. I want to be on display in Your showcase so I can say, ’This is what God has done for me.’ ” Gaining heaven, being delivered from sin, and being made useful to God are things that should never even be a consideration in real surrender. Genuine total surrender is a personal sovereign preference for Jesus Christ Himself.
Where does Jesus Christ figure in when we have a concern about our natural relationships? Most of us will desert Him with this excuse—”Yes, Lord, I heard you call me, but my family needs me and I have my own interests. I just can’t go any further” (see Luke 9:57-62). “Then,” Jesus says, “you ’cannot be My disciple’ ” (see Luke 14:26-33).
True surrender will always go beyond natural devotion. If we will only give up, God will surrender Himself to embrace all those around us and will meet their needs, which were created by our surrender. Beware of stopping anywhere short of total surrender to God. Most of us have only a vision of what this really means, but have never truly experienced it.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Deliberate Forgetting - #6566
Monday, March 12, 2012
Forgetting can get you into a lot of trouble. Like forgetting someone's name, or maybe forgetting an appointment, or maybe you forgot your homework. Or, "The dog ate it." Yeah, uh-huh, or you wouldn't want to forget your wedding anniversary. Oh, no... No, that can cause trouble. But forgetting is a basic skill for people who want to be emotionally free and spiritually alive. Oh, some kinds of forgetting really help. No, not the accidental kind. We're talking about the deliberate kind.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Deliberate Forgetting."
Now, our word for today from the Word of God is about deliberate forgetting and it's in Philippians 3:13. Paul is actually using an Olympic runners' example when he says, "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Did you notice that word forget? He says, "Like a good runner, I'm not looking back. I know when you look back you lose the race. So you keep your eyes on the track; you keep your eyes on the tape; you keep your eyes on the goal. Don't waste any energy looking at the ground you've already covered. "Forget what is behind..."
See, that is actually a fundamental characteristic of a Christian who's going to make daily progress in his relationship with Christ - the ability to forget. Forget what? Well, three things about the past that we tend to keep remembering. First of all, if you're going to grow spiritually you have to forget your past achievements. Earlier in Philippians 3, Paul listed all of his great spiritual achievements, which are greater than anything I think you or I could list. And he said, "None of them really matter. They're like garbage."
There was an airline that said, "We've got to earn our wings every day." Well, that's kind of how it is spiritually. You can't run on spiritual memories. You know, "I'm okay today because of some great yesterdays I had spiritually." You've got to be restless for more progress, so you forget the past achievements.
Secondly, you've got to forget the past failures. You might have said, "Well, I really, really was going real well out there. I was humming for the Lord, and all of a sudden things caved in and I goofed. And I don't know if I can ever get back on track. I think I can't." It's like Peter when he'd fished all night and caught nothing, Jesus said, "Go out there and fish again. You'll catch more than you ever have or ever dreamed." Forget the past failures. Get up! None of those failures have to matter today.
And the other thing then that you're going to have to forget if you're going to make spiritual progress is past damages. You've been hurt, you've been wounded. You know what? Bitterness is a terrible bondage. It's like emotional cancer, and maybe right now it's hard for you to get out from under that person; those incidents that have hurt you. But if you're going to get on with your life spiritually and go for His gold, you've got to forget the past damages. You know, the Bible says, "Forgive as the Lord forgave you." So get God's divine eraser and say, "God, help me to erase this and move on and set both of us free."
See, the enemy loves to have you dwell on the past. I'll tell you why. Because it can't be changed. He wants you to think about those past failures because you can't do anything about them. He wants you to think about those past damages because you can't change those, instead of what you can affect, which is this 24-hour period of time and a future that has yet to be written.
Turn the page on the previous chapters. Forget! Press for the gold and don't look back.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
John 19, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals (Click to listen to God’s teaching)
Max Lucado Daily: It’s Not Fair
“Guide me in your truth, and teach me, my God, my Savior.” Psalm 25:5
“It’s not fair,” we say. It’s not fair that I was born in poverty or that I sing so poorly or that I run so slowly. But the scales of life were forever tipped on the side of fairness when God planted a tree in the Garden of Eden. All complaints were silenced when Adam and his descendants were given free will, the freedom to make whatever eternal choice we desire. Any injustice in this life is offset by the honor of choosing our destiny in the next.
John 19
Jesus Sentenced to Be Crucified
1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face.
4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” 5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”
6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”
But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”
7 The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”
8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 9 and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”
11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”
12 From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”
13 When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). 14 It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon.
“Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.
15 But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”
“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.
“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.
16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.
The Crucifixion of Jesus
So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.
19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 20 Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”
22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Exodus 36:1-7
1 So Bezalel, Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the LORD has given skill and ability to know how to carry out all the work of constructing the sanctuary are to do the work just as the LORD has commanded.”
2 Then Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the LORD had given ability and who was willing to come and do the work. 3 They received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. 4 So all the skilled workers who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left what they were doing 5 and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the LORD commanded to be done.”
6 Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” And so the people were restrained from bringing more, 7 because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.
Beauty In The Church
March 11, 2012 — by Julie Ackerman Link
When my husband, Jay, and I decided to build a new house, we didn’t recruit friends and family who enjoy working with power tools; instead we hired a skilled builder to create something both functional and beautiful.
Beauty in the church building, however, is not always a high priority. Some associate it with impracticality, so anything ornate or decorative is considered wasteful. But that wasn’t God’s attitude when He established a place of worship for the ancient Israelites. He didn’t recruit just anybody to set up an ordinary tent. He appointed skilled craftsmen, Bezalel and Oholiab (Ex. 36:1), to decorate the tabernacle with finely-woven tapestries and intricately designed ornaments (37:17-20).
I think the beauty was important then because it reminded the people of the worth of God in their worship. During the dry and dusty days of desert wanderings, they needed a reminder of God’s majesty.
The beauty created by God’s people in worship settings today can serve the same purpose. We offer God our best talents because He is worthy. Beauty also gives us a glimpse of heaven and whets our appetites for what God is preparing for our future.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Obedience to the "Heavenly Vision"
I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision —Acts 26:19
If we lose “the heavenly vision” God has given us, we alone are responsible— not God. We lose the vision because of our own lack of spiritual growth. If we do not apply our beliefs about God to the issues of everyday life, the vision God has given us will never be fulfilled. The only way to be obedient to “the heavenly vision” is to give our utmost for His highest— our best for His glory. This can be accomplished only when we make a determination to continually remember God’s vision. But the acid test is obedience to the vision in the details of our everyday life— sixty seconds out of every minute, and sixty minutes out of every hour, not just during times of personal prayer or public meetings.
“Though it tarries, wait for it . . .” (Habakkuk 2:3). We cannot bring the vision to fulfillment through our own efforts, but must live under its inspiration until it fulfills itself. We try to be so practical that we forget the vision. At the very beginning we saw the vision but did not wait for it. We rushed off to do our practical work, and once the vision was fulfilled we could no longer even see it. Waiting for a vision that “tarries” is the true test of our faithfulness to God. It is at the risk of our own soul’s welfare that we get caught up in practical busy-work, only to miss the fulfillment of the vision.
Watch for the storms of God. The only way God plants His saints is through the whirlwind of His storms. Will you be proven to be an empty pod with no seed inside? That will depend on whether or not you are actually living in the light of the vision you have seen. Let God send you out through His storm, and don’t go until He does. If you select your own spot to be planted, you will prove yourself to be an unproductive, empty pod. However, if you allow God to plant you, you will “bear much fruit” (John 15:8).
It is essential that we live and “walk in the light” of God’s vision for us (1 John 1:7).
“Guide me in your truth, and teach me, my God, my Savior.” Psalm 25:5
“It’s not fair,” we say. It’s not fair that I was born in poverty or that I sing so poorly or that I run so slowly. But the scales of life were forever tipped on the side of fairness when God planted a tree in the Garden of Eden. All complaints were silenced when Adam and his descendants were given free will, the freedom to make whatever eternal choice we desire. Any injustice in this life is offset by the honor of choosing our destiny in the next.
John 19
Jesus Sentenced to Be Crucified
1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face.
4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” 5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”
6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”
But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”
7 The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”
8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 9 and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”
11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”
12 From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”
13 When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). 14 It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon.
“Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.
15 But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”
“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.
“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.
16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.
The Crucifixion of Jesus
So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.
19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 20 Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”
22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Exodus 36:1-7
1 So Bezalel, Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the LORD has given skill and ability to know how to carry out all the work of constructing the sanctuary are to do the work just as the LORD has commanded.”
2 Then Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the LORD had given ability and who was willing to come and do the work. 3 They received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. 4 So all the skilled workers who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left what they were doing 5 and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the LORD commanded to be done.”
6 Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” And so the people were restrained from bringing more, 7 because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.
Beauty In The Church
March 11, 2012 — by Julie Ackerman Link
When my husband, Jay, and I decided to build a new house, we didn’t recruit friends and family who enjoy working with power tools; instead we hired a skilled builder to create something both functional and beautiful.
Beauty in the church building, however, is not always a high priority. Some associate it with impracticality, so anything ornate or decorative is considered wasteful. But that wasn’t God’s attitude when He established a place of worship for the ancient Israelites. He didn’t recruit just anybody to set up an ordinary tent. He appointed skilled craftsmen, Bezalel and Oholiab (Ex. 36:1), to decorate the tabernacle with finely-woven tapestries and intricately designed ornaments (37:17-20).
I think the beauty was important then because it reminded the people of the worth of God in their worship. During the dry and dusty days of desert wanderings, they needed a reminder of God’s majesty.
The beauty created by God’s people in worship settings today can serve the same purpose. We offer God our best talents because He is worthy. Beauty also gives us a glimpse of heaven and whets our appetites for what God is preparing for our future.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Obedience to the "Heavenly Vision"
I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision —Acts 26:19
If we lose “the heavenly vision” God has given us, we alone are responsible— not God. We lose the vision because of our own lack of spiritual growth. If we do not apply our beliefs about God to the issues of everyday life, the vision God has given us will never be fulfilled. The only way to be obedient to “the heavenly vision” is to give our utmost for His highest— our best for His glory. This can be accomplished only when we make a determination to continually remember God’s vision. But the acid test is obedience to the vision in the details of our everyday life— sixty seconds out of every minute, and sixty minutes out of every hour, not just during times of personal prayer or public meetings.
“Though it tarries, wait for it . . .” (Habakkuk 2:3). We cannot bring the vision to fulfillment through our own efforts, but must live under its inspiration until it fulfills itself. We try to be so practical that we forget the vision. At the very beginning we saw the vision but did not wait for it. We rushed off to do our practical work, and once the vision was fulfilled we could no longer even see it. Waiting for a vision that “tarries” is the true test of our faithfulness to God. It is at the risk of our own soul’s welfare that we get caught up in practical busy-work, only to miss the fulfillment of the vision.
Watch for the storms of God. The only way God plants His saints is through the whirlwind of His storms. Will you be proven to be an empty pod with no seed inside? That will depend on whether or not you are actually living in the light of the vision you have seen. Let God send you out through His storm, and don’t go until He does. If you select your own spot to be planted, you will prove yourself to be an unproductive, empty pod. However, if you allow God to plant you, you will “bear much fruit” (John 15:8).
It is essential that we live and “walk in the light” of God’s vision for us (1 John 1:7).
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