Exodus 35, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: DESCENDING LIKE A DOVE - July 28, 2025

“When He had been baptized, Jesus…saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him” (Matthew 3:16 NKJV).

The Holy Spirit is depicted in many different forms in Scripture, but here at the coronation of Christ, the Spirit chose to descend gently as a dove. Why? Part of the answer might lie in the maternal tenderness of the Holy Spirit. In biblical times the dove was a feminine symbol, and the Hebrew word for spirit was feminine.

There are occasions when we need a father’s strength, and God, our Father, provides it. There are occasions when we need the friendship of a brother, and Jesus, our spiritual sibling, offers it. Yet there are many times in which our spirits are troubled and anxious. We long for the tranquil assurance of a loving mother. For this we turn to the Holy Spirit.

Help Is Here

Exodus 35

Building the Place of Worship

1  35 Moses spoke to the entire congregation of Israel, saying, “These are the things that God has commanded you to do:

2–3  “Work six days, but the seventh day will be a holy rest day, God’s holy rest day. Anyone who works on this day must be put to death. Don’t light any fires in your homes on the Sabbath day.”

The Offerings

4  Moses spoke to the entire congregation of Israel, saying, “This is what God has commanded:

5–9  “Gather from among you an offering for God. Receive on God’s behalf what everyone is willing to give as an offering: gold, silver, bronze; blue, purple, and scarlet material; fine linen; goats’ hair; tanned rams’ skins; dolphin skins; acacia wood; lamp oil; spices for anointing oils and for fragrant incense; onyx stones and other stones for setting in the Ephod and the Breastpiece.

10–19  “Come—all of you who have skills—come and make everything that God has commanded: The Dwelling with its tent and cover, its hooks, frames, crossbars, posts, and bases; the Chest with its poles, the Atonement-Cover and veiling curtain; the Table with its poles and implements and the Bread of the Presence; the Lampstand for giving light with its furnishings and lamps and the oil for lighting; the Altar of Incense with its poles, the anointing oil, the fragrant incense; the screen for the door at the entrance to The Dwelling; the Altar of Whole-Burnt-Offering with its bronze grate and poles and all its implements; the Washbasin with its base; the tapestry hangings for the Courtyard with the posts and bases, the screen for the Courtyard gate; the pegs for The Dwelling, the pegs for the Courtyard with their cords; the official vestments for ministering in the Holy Place, the sacred vestments for Aaron the priest and for his sons serving as priests.”

20–26  So everyone in the community of Israel left the presence of Moses. Then they came back, every one whose heart was roused, whose spirit was freely responsive, bringing offerings to God for building the Tent of Meeting, furnishing it for worship and making the holy vestments. They came, both men and women, all the willing spirits among them, offering brooches, earrings, rings, necklaces—anything made of gold—offering up their gold jewelry to God. And anyone who had blue, purple, and scarlet fabrics; fine linen; goats’ hair; tanned leather; and dolphin skins brought them. Everyone who wanted to offer up silver or bronze as a gift to God brought it. Everyone who had acacia wood that could be used in the work, brought it. All the women skilled at weaving brought their weavings of blue and purple and scarlet fabrics and their fine linens. And all the women who were gifted in spinning, spun the goats’ hair.

27–29  The leaders brought onyx and other precious stones for setting in the Ephod and the Breastpiece. They also brought spices and olive oil for lamp oil, anointing oil, and incense. Every man and woman in Israel whose heart moved them freely to bring something for the work that God through Moses had commanded them to make, brought it, a voluntary offering for God.

Bezalel and Oholiab

30–35  Moses told the Israelites, “See, God has selected Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. He’s filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability, and know-how for making all sorts of things, to design and work in gold, silver, and bronze; to carve stones and set them; to carve wood, working in every kind of skilled craft. And he’s also made him a teacher, he and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. He’s gifted them with the know-how needed for carving, designing, weaving, and embroidering in blue, purple, and scarlet fabrics, and in fine linen. They can make anything and design anything.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, July 28, 2025

by Tim Gustafson

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Lamentations 3:31-42, 58-59

Why? Because the Master won’t ever

walk out and fail to return.

If he works severely, he also works tenderly.

His stockpiles of loyal love are immense.

He takes no pleasure in making life hard,

in throwing roadblocks in the way:

34–36  Stomping down hard

on luckless prisoners,

Refusing justice to victims

in the court of High God,

Tampering with evidence—

the Master does not approve of such things.

God Speaks Both Good Things and Hard Things into Being

37–39  Who do you think “spoke and it happened”?

It’s the Master who gives such orders.

Doesn’t the High God speak everything,

good things and hard things alike, into being?

And why would anyone gifted with life

complain when punished for sin?

40–42  Let’s take a good look at the way we’re living

and reorder our lives under God.

Let’s lift our hearts and hands at one and the same time,

praying to God in heaven:

“We’ve been contrary and willful,

and you haven’t forgiven.

58–60  “You took my side, Master;

you brought me back alive!

God, you saw the wrongs heaped on me.

Give me my day in court!

Today's Insights

In Lamentations 3:36, the word see is the much-used Hebrew word ra'ah (“see,” “perceive,” “have vision”). It also appears three times in Genesis 16:13, where God sees and cares for Hagar when she fled from Sarah: “She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: ‘You are the God who sees me,’ for she said, ‘I have now seen the One who sees me.” In verse 14 we read, “the well was called Beer Lahai Roi.” Beer Lahai Roi literally means, “the well that belongs to the living One seeing me.” We can ask the God who “sees” to help us see people in need.

To See and to Serve

You, Lord, took up my case; you redeemed my life. Lamentations 3:58

“Sometimes in life we see things that we can’t unsee,” Alexander McLean told a 60 Minutes interviewer. The South Londoner was eighteen when he went to Uganda to assist in prison and hospice work. That’s where he saw something he couldn’t unsee—an old man lying helpless next to a toilet. For five days McLean cared for him. Then the man died.

The experience ignited a passion in McLean. He earned his law degree and returned to Africa to help the marginalized. Eventually he founded Justice Defenders, an organization that advocates for prisoners.

Many people live in conditions we couldn’t “unsee” if we were to see them. But we don’t see them. In his lament for his devastated homeland, the prophet Jeremiah poured out his heart over his sense of being unseen. “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?” he cried. “Look around and see. Is any suffering like my suffering?” (Lamentations 1:12).

Jeremiah’s heart ached not only for himself but for all the oppressed as well. “To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land, to deny people their rights . . . would not the Lord see such things?” he asked rhetorically (3:34-36). Yet he saw hope. “No one is cast off by the Lord forever,” he said. “You, Lord, took up my case; you redeemed my life” (vv. 31, 58).

The “unseen” are all around us. God, who has redeemed us, calls us to see and serve them as He enables us.

Reflect & Pray

Who are the “unseen” near you? How will you see them? What will you do?

Father, please give me eyes to see people in need and help me show them Your love.

Learn to have a selfless heart by checking out this video.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, July 28, 2025

After Obedience, What?

Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake. —Mark 6:48

We tend to imagine that if we obey Jesus Christ, he will lead us to great success. We must never confuse our dreams of success with God’s purpose for us. God’s purpose may be exactly the opposite of our dreams. We have an idea that he is leading us to a specific end, a desired goal. He isn’t. To God, the question of achieving a goal is incidental. What we consider training and preparation, God considers the end. It is the process, not the goal, which is glorifying to him.

What is my dream of God’s purpose? His purpose is that I depend on him and his power, and that I depend on them now. If I can stay calm and unperplexed in the middle of turmoil, I’ve already reached the end of God’s purpose. Amid life’s storms, Jesus wants me to see him walking on the water, with no shore in sight, no finish line, no promise of success, and to have the absolute certainty that all is well, simply because I see him walking.

God is training us to obey him in the present moment, and to leave all other considerations alone. We have no control over what happens after we obey; we go wrong when we start dwelling on the “afterward.” God wants us to see that he can walk on the chaos of our lives right now. If we have a further goal in view, we are not paying enough attention to the present. But if we make obedience the goal, we will find that each moment as it comes is precious.

Psalms 46-48; Acts 28

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

The fiery furnaces are there by God’s direct permission. It is misleading to imagine that we are developed in spite of our circumstances; we are developed because of them. It is mastery in circumstances that is needed, not mastery over them.

The Love of God—The Message of Invincible Consolation, 674 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Monday, July 28, 2025

A Shattered Heart, A Certain Hope - #10056

I'd done my whole adult life with my Karen, the only woman I ever needed. Suddenly, I had to figure out how to do the rest of my life without her. That Sunday night, we sat in the bleachers at our local football stadium and we watched our grandson graduate from high school as valedictorian and he gave a faith-filled valedictory message. Monday afternoon, she was gone. Wrapped in this huddle of sobs with our three adult children, I just choked out the words, "It hurts so bad." It really does.

After some time, I'd walk into our living room, I'd still instinctively look for that beautiful hair. I called it her "crown of glory" as she sat in her favorite blue chair. I would go to make that oatmeal that she loved for breakfast. I turn to tell her about a conversation or situation and to hear her trademark laugh over my dumb jokes.

Our four-year-old grandson said it all the first time he ran into our living room and saw her chair empty. He just ran back to his mommy and said, "Mommy, you were right. She's not here." No, she's not, and she won't be again. I probably shed more tears in those weeks than I've shed the rest of my life. But I have a story to tell. Actually, it's the Story that I've tried to tell folks my whole adult life. And suddenly I was living its ultimate validation.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Shattered Heart, A Certain Hope."

Everything I've ever believed, everything I've ever taught about my Jesus is true! Everything that my death-crushing Savior promised, I can tell you, He delivers in the darkest, most devastating days of my life!

He said of those who have put their total trust in His death on the cross for their sins, and this is in our word for today from the Word of God in John 14:19. He said, "Because I live, you will live also." Because Karen's Savior is alive, so is this woman I love.

In God's own words, we have "a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3). I'm not talking about some "cross your fingers" hope. This is living hope. Hope is a Person - Jesus. He trampled death as He blasted out of His grave on Easter morning.

The hope that is holding my heart together is as sure as our hope that spring will follow a seemingly endless winter. Spring is a sure thing. So is heaven for those who've pinned all their hopes on the One who died so we could go there. As much as I love Karen, she is now with the One who loves her the most.

This amazing Jesus has got my Karen. And He's got me. I can tell you that by the peace that has lasted across the years now. That peace, along with that certain hope of a forever spring after this cold winter, is a powerful counterbalance on that scale that is so weighed down by grief. Through all my darkest hours, through my loneliest moments, the peace has never been shaken.

Oh, this Jesus I've talked about, that I've written about, I've believed in all these years has come closer and become more real to me than ever before. He promised He would be, as the Bible says, "close to the brokenhearted" (Psalm 34:18). He really, really is. When you walk through the valley of the shadow, you've got to have Jesus to go there. And when you walk across that final frontier beyond our death, you've got to know you belong to Jesus.

If you're not sure of that, would you please make this the day you get that settled? Tell Him, "Jesus, what you died for was me. I am yours. You're alive! I want you to live in me." Check out our website - you can find there how to be sure you belong to Him. That website is ANewStory.com.

Look, I'm in the biggest storm of my life - the Cat 5 hurricane, the EF-5 tornado. Jesus is my safe room. Is He yours? He's stronger than the storm. The Bible says, "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure" (Hebrews 6:19).

And my friend, The Anchor holds.

Exodus 34, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

MaxLucado.com: Vanderlei de Lima (2004 Olympics Athens)

He should’ve won the gold.  He was leading when a deranged protester hurled himself into the runner–forcing him off course.  De Lima resumed the race.  But in the process he lost his rhythm, precious seconds, and his position.  But he entered the stadium punching the air with his fists, both arms extended, weaving for joy!

I’m taking notes on this guy!  He reminds me of another runner.  Paul, the imprisoned apostle.  His chains never come off.  The guards never leave.  He may appear to be bumped off track, but he’s actually right on target. Christ is preached.  The mission is being accomplished.

Run the race!

Paul said, “I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. I Corinthians 9:23-24”

From Great Day Every Day

Exodus 34

God spoke to Moses: “Cut out two tablets of stone just like the originals and engrave on them the words that were on the original tablets you smashed. Be ready in the morning to climb Mount Sinai and get set to meet me on top of the mountain. Not a soul is to go with you; the whole mountain must be clear of people, even animals—not even sheep or oxen can be grazing in front of the mountain.”

4–7  So Moses cut two tablets of stone just like the originals. He got up early in the morning and climbed Mount Sinai as God had commanded him, carrying the two tablets of stone. God descended in the cloud and took up his position there beside him and called out the name, God. God passed in front of him and called out, “God, God, a God of mercy and grace, endlessly patient—so much love, so deeply true—loyal in love for a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. Still, he doesn’t ignore sin. He holds sons and grandsons responsible for a father’s sins to the third and even fourth generation.”

8–9  At once, Moses fell to the ground and worshiped, saying, “Please, O Master, if you see anything good in me, please Master, travel with us, hard-headed as these people are. Forgive our iniquity and sin. Own us, possess us.”

10–12  And God said, “As of right now, I’m making a covenant with you: In full sight of your people I will work wonders that have never been created in all the Earth, in any nation. Then all the people with whom you’re living will see how tremendous God’s work is, the work I’ll do for you. Take careful note of all I command you today. I’m clearing your way by driving out Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. Stay vigilant. Don’t let down your guard lest you make covenant with the people who live in the land that you are entering and they trip you up.

13–16  “Tear down their altars, smash their phallic pillars, chop down their fertility poles. Don’t worship any other god. God—his name is The-Jealous-One—is a jealous God. Be careful that you don’t make a covenant with the people who live in the land and take up with their sex-and-religion life, join them in meals at their altars, marry your sons to their women, women who take up with any convenient god or goddess and will get your sons to do the same thing.

17  “Don’t make molten gods for yourselves.

18  “Keep the Feast of Unraised Bread. Eat only unraised bread for seven days in the month of Abib—it was in the month of Abib that you came out of Egypt.

19  “Every firstborn from the womb is mine, all the males of your herds, your firstborn oxen and sheep.

20  “Redeem your firstborn donkey with a lamb. If you don’t redeem it you must break its neck.

“Redeem each of your firstborn sons.

“No one is to show up in my presence empty-handed.

21  “Work six days and rest the seventh. Stop working even during plowing and harvesting.

22  “Keep the Feast of Weeks with the first cutting of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year.

23–24  “All your men are to appear before the Master, the God of Israel, three times a year. You won’t have to worry about your land when you appear before your God three times each year, for I will drive out the nations before you and give you plenty of land. Nobody’s going to be hanging around plotting ways to get it from you.

25  “Don’t mix the blood of my sacrifices with anything fermented.

“Don’t leave leftovers from the Passover Feast until morning.

26  “Bring the finest of the firstfruits of your produce to the house of your God.

“Don’t boil a kid in its mother’s milk.”

27  God said to Moses: “Now write down these words, for by these words I’ve made a covenant with you and Israel.”

28  Moses was there with God forty days and forty nights. He didn’t eat any food; he didn’t drink any water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Words.

29–30  When Moses came down from Mount Sinai carrying the two Tablets of The Testimony, he didn’t know that the skin of his face glowed because he had been speaking with God. Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, saw his radiant face, and held back, afraid to get close to him.

31–32  Moses called out to them. Aaron and the leaders in the community came back and Moses talked with them. Later all the Israelites came up to him and he passed on the commands, everything that God had told him on Mount Sinai.

33–35  When Moses finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face, but when he went into the presence of God to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. When he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, they would see Moses’ face, its skin glowing, and then he would again put the veil on his face until he went back in to speak with God.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, July 27, 2025

by Matt Lucas

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

1 Corinthians 4:9-13

 It seems to me that God has put us who bear his Message on stage in a theater in which no one wants to buy a ticket. We’re something everyone stands around and stares at, like an accident in the street. We’re the Messiah’s misfits. You might be sure of yourselves, but we live in the midst of frailties and uncertainties. You might be well-thought-of by others, but we’re mostly kicked around. Much of the time we don’t have enough to eat, we wear patched and threadbare clothes, we get doors slammed in our faces, and we pick up odd jobs anywhere we can to eke out a living. When they call us names, we say, “God bless you.” When they spread rumors about us, we put in a good word for them. We’re treated like garbage, potato peelings from the culture’s kitchen. And it’s not getting any better.

Today's Insights

Paul wrote 1 Corinthians to address specific problems that had arisen in the Corinthian church: criticism of his ministry (chs. 1-4); sexual immorality (ch. 5); lawsuits (ch. 6); marriage, divorce, and singleness (ch. 7); food offered to idols (chs. 8-10); women in ministry and the Lord’s Supper (ch. 11); use of spiritual gifts (chs. 12-14); resurrection (ch. 15); and offerings (ch. 16).

In chapter 4, he deals with the root cause of these problems. The Corinthians’ arrogance, self-importance, and self-sufficiency (vv. 6-13) had caused division in the church. Paul deliberately and confidently uses himself as an example to show how they could live a Christlike life of simplicity, transparency, integrity, and humility. And our ultimate example is the humility that Jesus showed even in suffering (see 1 Peter 2:23). He’s also our true defense when we suffer for Him.

Test of Our Faith

We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings. 1 Corinthians 4:9

In ad 304, the Roman emperor Maximian victoriously entered the city of Nicomedia. Parades were ordered as the city gathered to thank pagan gods for the victory—everyone except for a church full of people who worshiped only the one true God. Maximian entered the church with an ultimatum: Escape punishment by renouncing faith in Christ. They refused. All were killed when Maximian ordered the church set on fire with the believers inside.

The apostle Paul understood the cost of following Christ. In 1 Corinthians 4, he confronted the believers living in the Greek city of Corinth with his testimony. Paul stated that the apostles had suffered for Jesus and for their sake. They had been “made a spectacle to the whole universe” (v. 9) as they served Christ.

Similarly, the apostle Peter reminded us how Jesus suffered on our behalf. “When they hurled their insults at [Jesus], he did not retaliate,” wrote Peter. “When he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23).

Still today, believers in Jesus suffer for their faith. Like the Nicomedian believers who willingly chose to suffer for the gospel, may any opposition we face serve to reveal the strength of our faith in Christ. We can entrust our lives to the one “who judges justly.”

Reflect & Pray

When have you felt like retaliating because of unfair treatment for your faith? How will you trust God to be your defense?

Dear Father, whatever I may face today—please help me entrust my life to You, as Jesus did.

Learn from the Bible on how to defend your faith.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, July 27, 2025

The Way to Knowledge

Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out . . . —John 7:17

The key to spiritual understanding isn’t intellect; it’s obedience. If I want scientific knowledge, intellectual curiosity is my guide. But if I want insight into the teachings of Jesus Christ, I can only get it by obedience. If what Jesus taught is dark to me, I can be sure that there is something I will not do. Intellectual darkness comes through ignorance. Spiritual darkness comes because there is something I don’t intend to obey.

No one ever receives a message from God without instantly being put to the test. We fail the test by disobeying, and then we wonder why we haven’t progressed spiritually. “If you are offering your gift at the altar,” Jesus said, “and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, . . . first go and be reconciled to them” (Matthew 5:23–24). Our Lord’s teaching hits us where we live. We can’t stand before Jesus for a single second without our hypocrisy being revealed. His Spirit lays bare the spirit of self-justification that resides within us. He educates us down to the scruple, making us sensitive to things we never thought of before.

When Jesus brings something home to you through his teaching, don’t shrug it off. If you do, you’ll become a religious hypocrite. Examine the things you’re shrugging off now, and you’ll know why you aren’t progressing spiritually. Obey what God tells you to do, even if others might call you fanatical, and you will gain the understanding you seek. When God says go, go.

Psalms 43-45; Acts 27:27-44

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

When you are joyful, be joyful; when you are sad, be sad. If God has given you a sweet cup, don’t make it bitter; and if He has given you a bitter cup, don’t try and make it sweet; take things as they come. 

Shade of His Hand, 1226 L

Mark 3:1-19, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily:Trust Him

In Mark 5:23, Jairus pleads with Jesus, “My daughter is dying.  Please come, heal her so she will live.”

He doesn’t barter with Jesus.  He doesn’t negotiate. He just pleads.  He asks Jesus for His help.  And Jesus, who loves the honest heart, goes to give it.  But before they get very far, they’re interrupted by emissaries who tell them, “Your daughter is dead.  There’s no need to bother the Teacher anymore.”

Get ready.  Hang on to your hat. Here’s where Jesus takes control.  The Bible says: “But Jesus paid no attention to what they said.” I love that line!  He ignored what the people said. Why don’t you do that?  When falsehood, accusations, or negativism come, just ignore it.  Close your ears. Walk away. Ignore the ones who say it’s too late to start over. Disregard those who say you’ll never amount to anything.

Jesus said to Jairus what He says to you: “Don’t be afraid—just believe!” “Trust Me,” Jesus is pleading. “Just trust Me.”

from He Still Moves Stones

Mark 3:1-19

Doing Good on the Sabbath

1–3  3 Then he went back in the meeting place where he found a man with a crippled hand. The Pharisees had their eyes on Jesus to see if he would heal him, hoping to catch him in a Sabbath infraction. He said to the man with the crippled hand, “Stand here where we can see you.”

4  Then he spoke to the people: “What kind of action suits the Sabbath best? Doing good or doing evil? Helping people or leaving them helpless?” No one said a word.

5–6  He looked them in the eye, one after another, angry now, furious at their hard-nosed religion. He said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” He held it out—it was as good as new! The Pharisees got out as fast as they could, sputtering about how they would join forces with Herod’s followers and ruin him.

The Twelve Apostles

7–10  Jesus went off with his disciples to the sea to get away. But a huge crowd from Galilee trailed after them—also from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, across the Jordan, and around Tyre and Sidon—swarms of people who had heard the reports and had come to see for themselves. He told his disciples to get a boat ready so he wouldn’t be trampled by the crowd. He had healed many people, and now everyone who had something wrong was pushing and shoving to get near and touch him.

11–12  Evil spirits, when they recognized him, fell down and cried out, “You are the Son of God!” But Jesus would have none of it. He shut them up, forbidding them to identify him in public.

13–19  He climbed a mountain and invited those he wanted with him. They climbed together. He settled on twelve, and designated them apostles. The plan was that they would be with him, and he would send them out to proclaim the Word and give them authority to banish demons. These are the Twelve:

Simon (Jesus later named him Peter, meaning “Rock”),

James, son of Zebedee,

John, brother of James (Jesus nicknamed the Zebedee brothers Boanerges, meaning “Sons of Thunder”),

Andrew,

Philip,

Bartholomew,

Matthew,

Thomas,

James, son of Alphaeus,

Thaddaeus,

Simon the Canaanite,

Judas Iscariot (who betrayed him).

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Saturday, July 26, 2025

by Jennifer Benson Schuldt

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Proverbs 18:10-11

10  God’s name is a place of protection—

good people can run there and be safe.

11  The rich think their wealth protects them;

they imagine themselves safe behind it.

Today's Insights

The book of Proverbs is included in the portion of the Old Testament known as wisdom literature. It’s properly placed there because it’s a collection of wise sayings from sages in Israel’s past. Much of the counsel is from King Solomon, to whom God granted extraordinary wisdom (1 Kings 3:5-9). God told him there would be none before him and none after him who would be greater in wisdom (v. 12). With so much of the divinely inspired wisdom of the book of Proverbs rooted in the unique gift of wisdom entrusted to Solomon, it’s important to give careful attention to its life-changing words. The wisdom God offers us in the Scriptures is just one of His provisions to us. He’s also given us the indwelling Holy Spirit to help us to know and experience the safety and help we so desperately need.

God, Our Safe Place

The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. Proverbs 18:10

We’d been driving for fifteen hours, and it was late at night when a tornado alert jolted us to attention. The warning said we should take cover immediately. As if on cue, lightning exploded in the sky, and wind pressed against our car windows. We sped off the highway and parked near a concrete hotel building. Sprinting inside, we were thankful to find shelter.

Trouble reminds us we need a safe place to stay. Proverbs 18:10 says, “The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.” Theologians tell us the phrase “the name of the Lord” means the entirety of who God is. All His attributes provide security as we hide ourselves in Him. Because God is kind, He welcomes us. Because He’s good, He listens to us. Because He’s love, He empathizes with us.

But God isn’t just another way to cope with problems. He’s more than a quick fix or a distraction. Taking refuge in Him means choosing His help over everything else. We can run to Him in prayer, meditate on Scripture, or surrender to the Holy Spirit in times of stress and anxiety. Over the years, these habits lead to a lifetime of reliance on the one who's our true shelter.

Reflect & Pray

Why might you choose self-reliance over God’s help? Which attribute of God comforts you the most as you face storms in life?

Thank You God, for being my safe place. Please help me to turn to You in every struggle.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, July 26, 2025

The Reckoning with Purity

Out of the heart come evil thoughts. —Matthew 15:19

We begin by trusting our ignorance and calling it innocence, by trusting our innocence and calling it purity. When we hear Jesus declare that “out of the heart come evil thoughts,” we shrink and say, “But I never felt any of those awful things in my heart.” We resent what Jesus Christ reveals.

Either Jesus Christ is the supreme authority on the human heart, or he isn’t worth paying any attention to. Am I prepared to trust his diagnosis? If instead I choose to trust my innocence, eventually I will come to a place where, with a shuddering awakening, I discover that what Jesus Christ says is true. Then I’ll be appalled at the potential for evil and wrong inside me. As long as I remain under the refuge of innocence, I’m living in a fool’s paradise. If I’ve never been a cheat or a menace, the reason is a mixture of cowardice and the pressures of human society. When I am undressed before God, I find that Jesus Christ is right in his diagnosis.

The only thing that safeguards the human heart is the redemption of Jesus Christ. If I will hand myself over to him, I never need to experience the terrible possibilities that lie within my heart. Purity is too deep down for me to get to on my own, but when God comes in, he brings into the center of my personal life the very same Spirit who was manifested in the life of my Lord: the Holy Spirit. From then on, the spotless purity of Jesus Christ is mine.

Psalms 40-42; Acts 27:1-26

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Is He going to help Himself to your life, or are you taken up with your conception of what you are going to do? God is responsible for our lives, and the one great keynote is reckless reliance upon Him.

Approved Unto God, 10 R

Exodus 33, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: CALMING PRESENCE - July 25, 2025

Anxiety. The emotion is not a sign of weakness, immaturity, or demon possession. It is simply the result of living in a fast-changing, challenging world. Anxiety is not a sign of weakness, but anxiety does weaken us. Yet help is here.  The Holy Spirit is the calming presence of God in the world today.

His first act in earthly history was to turn chaos into calm. “The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2 NKJV). The inaugural activity of the Holy Spirit was to hover over a frenzied world. Before God created the world, the Spirit of God calmed the world.

Help Is Here

Exodus 33

God said to Moses: “Now go. Get on your way from here, you and the people you brought up from the land of Egypt. Head for the land which I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I will send an angel ahead of you and I’ll drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. It’s a land flowing with milk and honey. But I won’t be with you in person—you’re such a stubborn, hard-headed people!—lest I destroy you on the journey.”

4  When the people heard this harsh verdict, they were plunged into gloom and wore long faces. No one put on jewelry.

5–6  God said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You’re one hard-headed people. I couldn’t stand being with you for even a moment—I’d destroy you. So take off all your jewelry until I figure out what to do with you.’ ” So the Israelites stripped themselves of their jewelry from Mount Horeb on.

7–10  Moses used to take the Tent and set it up outside the camp, some distance away. He called it the Tent of Meeting. Anyone who sought God would go to the Tent of Meeting outside the camp. It went like this: When Moses would go to the Tent, all the people would stand at attention; each man would take his position at the entrance to his tent with his eyes on Moses until he entered the Tent; whenever Moses entered the Tent, the Pillar of Cloud descended to the entrance to the Tent and God spoke with Moses. All the people would see the Pillar of Cloud at the entrance to the Tent, stand at attention, and then bow down in worship, each man at the entrance to his tent.

11  And God spoke with Moses face-to-face, as neighbors speak to one another. When he would return to the camp, his attendant, the young man Joshua, stayed—he didn’t leave the Tent.

12–13  Moses said to God, “Look, you tell me, ‘Lead this people,’ but you don’t let me know whom you’re going to send with me. You tell me, ‘I know you well and you are special to me.’ If I am so special to you, let me in on your plans. That way, I will continue being special to you. Don’t forget, this is your people, your responsibility.”

14  God said, “My presence will go with you. I’ll see the journey to the end.”

15–16  Moses said, “If your presence doesn’t take the lead here, call this trip off right now. How else will it be known that you’re with me in this, with me and your people? Are you traveling with us or not? How else will we know that we’re special, I and your people, among all other people on this planet Earth?”

17  God said to Moses: “All right. Just as you say; this also I will do, for I know you well and you are special to me. I know you by name.”

18  Moses said, “Please. Let me see your Glory.”

19  God said, “I will make my Goodness pass right in front of you; I’ll call out the name, God, right before you. I’ll treat well whomever I want to treat well and I’ll be kind to whomever I want to be kind.”

20  God continued, “But you may not see my face. No one can see me and live.”

21–23  God said, “Look, here is a place right beside me. Put yourself on this rock. When my Glory passes by, I’ll put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with my hand until I’ve passed by. Then I’ll take my hand away and you’ll see my back. But you won’t see my face.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, July 25, 2025

by Alyson Kieda

1 Peter 4:7-11

Everything in the world is about to be wrapped up, so take nothing for granted. Stay wide-awake in prayer. Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything. Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless—cheerfully. Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: if words, let it be God’s words; if help, let it be God’s hearty help. That way, God’s bright presence will be evident in everything through Jesus, and he’ll get all the credit as the One mighty in everything—encores to the end of time. Oh, yes!

Today's Insights

God gives believers in Jesus spiritual gifts (special abilities) to be used to serve others and build up the church (1 Corinthians 12:7, 11; 14:12; 1 Peter 4:10-11). The apostle Paul notes there are a variety of gifts, “but the same Spirit distributes them” (1 Corinthians 12:4; see v. 11). These gifts aren’t natural abilities, necessarily (though these too can be used to glorify God); they’re supernatural gifts given by the Holy Spirit to be used for “the common good” (v. 7)—to bless and instruct others and honor God. Peter divides these gifts into speaking and serving gifts (1 Peter 4:11). In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul lists nine gifts: wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, tongues, and tongues interpretation (vv. 8-10). He lists additional gifts elsewhere (Romans 12:3-8; Ephesians 4:11). As believers in Jesus, we’re called to effectively use our spiritual gifts to serve and love others well.

God-Given Gifts

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others. 1 Peter 4:10

In a poignant performance of Pilgrim: The Musical, Leisa stood before a special section for the Deaf and, using American Sign Language, expressively interpreted the performance. The musical, based on John Bunyan’s book The Pilgrim’s Progress about one man’s faith journey, was deeply moving, but so was Leisa’s delivery.

When asked about her interpreting, Leisa said, “The reason I do Pilgrim and the reason I interpret is because the gospel should be accessible to everyone. And the Deaf are a group that is [largely] ignored.” She went on to say, “It’s heartbreaking because less than two percent of the Deaf worldwide have heard about Jesus.” Leisa uses her gift so the Deaf can know Jesus.

Like Leisa, we’re called to use our gifts and abilities to be witnesses of God’s love and draw others to Jesus—to impact the world with the good news. The apostle Peter wrote, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10). These gifts include loving and praying for others (vv. 7-8). Whether you’re an encourager, a helper serving behind the scenes, a teacher, a speaker, a prayer warrior, or have another gift or ability, God can use you to serve others. Just ask. He’ll show you a way.

Reflect & Pray

When did you first encounter the gospel? What gift could you use to serve Him?

Dear God, please help me to find a way to serve You through serving others.

For further study, read Why Should We Help? Loving Our Neighbors at DiscoverODB.org

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, July 25, 2025

Am I Blessed Like This?

Blessed are… —Matthew 5:3

When we first encounter the statements of Jesus, they seem wonderfully simple and unstartling. They sink, unnoticed, into our unconscious minds. Take the Beatitudes, the teachings which open the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the poor in spirit. . . . Blessed are the meek . . .” (Matthew 5:3, 5). At first these seem like nothing more than nice principles: mild and beautiful. We like them, but we aren’t roused by them, because we find them completely impractical. Unworldly, daydreamy people might be able to apply them, we think, but for those who live in the workaday world, they have no value.

We soon find, however, that the Beatitudes contain the dynamite of the Holy Spirit; they explode when the circumstances of our lives align. We’ll be going steadily along, when suddenly the Spirit will cause us to remember one of the Beatitudes. We see how startling a statement it truly is, and what obeying it would mean. Then we have to decide if we’re willing to accept the tremendous upheaval of our circumstances that will occur if we do what the Spirit is telling us to do.

We don’t need to be born again to apply the Beatitudes literally; a literal interpretation is child’s play. Obeying the Spirit of God as he applies the Beatitudes to our specific circumstances is the hard work of the disciple. Jesus’s statements are entirely at odds with our natural way of looking at things. When we first begin to obey his words, it produces astonishing discomfort.

The Sermon on the Mount isn’t a set of rules and regulations. It’s a statement of the life we will live when the Holy Spirit is getting his way with us. We can’t rush our understanding; we have to follow the Spirit as he applies Jesus’s teachings to our circumstances, allowing him to slowly form our walk with him.

Psalms 37-39; Acts 26

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

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

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1465 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Friday, July 25, 2025

GOING DIRECT - #10055

All right, what famous TV personality said these words: "I love trash." All right, Sesame Street fans, yep, Oscar the Grouch, who even lived in a trash can.

Now listen, I've got a few idiosyncrasies - not nearly as many as everybody else I know, but one of those is that it's very important to me that my trash gets picked up once a week. I try to be faithful in getting it out to the street like I'm supposed to on the day it's supposed to be there. What if the trash man doesn't come for one week? What if he didn't come for two weeks? What should I do about that?

What if my approach to that problem were to go and tell all my neighbors, "My trash wasn't picked up!" Oh, and then the guy that delivers the mail; he comes up and I say, "Do you know what? That trashman didn't come and pick up my trash!" And I call my pastor and say, "Pastor, I'm not getting my trash picked up!" And the checkout girl while I'm at the grocery store; you know, she should know about this too. Oh, and when I get gas, you know what? I'm going to tell the guy at the gas station. "That guy didn't pick up my trash!"

You'd say, "Ron, aren't you missing a pretty obvious step here?" Well, yeah. I forgot to talk to the only person who can explain why it's not there; I didn't talk to the only person who can change it - the trash man. You say, "Ron, that's stupid." Yeah, but I've just described our standard procedure for handling problems between Christians.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Going Direct."

Okay, our word for today from the Word of God about going direct is found in Matthew 5:21-24. You may recognize this as coming from The Sermon on The Mount and Jesus is speaking. "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder,' and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell. Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift."

Now, what Jesus is saying here basically is, "Don't come to Me until you've talked to your brother." That's interesting isn't it? He says, "Even though you're bringing a sacrifice in your hands, which is the holiest thing that a Jew could do at that time, even though you're coming to worship Me, you and I don't have much to talk about until you've gotten that conflict - that tension - squared away with your brother."

You remember what I said about telling everyone about the trash man and my problem with him? That's really how we handle problems with each other. We go talk to everybody else about it except the person there's the problem with. We take all sorts of evasive action to avoid confronting someone. Oh, we're subtle about it, we ask for prayer, "Lord, you know...", "Please pray for me will you?", "Ask the Lord about this." And of course we get into sanctified gossip with our prayer requests sometimes, or we just unload it on our friends. We complain, we keep score, we sputter that he should know better. Have you talked to the person who has hurt you? Have you talked to the person that you have hurt?

You say, "Well, if they'll make the first move." Jesus doesn't say that. He says, "You make the first move." You'll be surprised - if you'll just talk to them - by the reasons for their actions. Maybe you have totally misinterpreted their actions. It may clear up all kinds of misunderstanding; it could get rid of the growing cancer of bitterness inside of you. Even if they don't respond, you have dealt with the bitterness and anger that the Bible says causes you to forfeit the grace of God. And most of all, even if it doesn't resolve the relationship, you'll have the satisfaction of knowing that you've done it Jesus' way. You have obeyed.

One of the most disobeyed commandments of Jesus is to settle things with your brother. I think we ought to be asking each other, when someone comes to us with a problem about another person, "Have you talked to them? Have you talked to the real person involved?" Because when it comes to healing broken relationships, don't go to any more outsiders. Do it the Jesus way, go direct!

Exodus 32, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: HE WILL GET US HOME - July 24, 2025

Why do you need to know that you are adopted by the Father and sealed by the Spirit? Simple—there is power in assurance.

A young college graduate requested that I pray for her to be accepted into law school. Each time we talked, she seemed increasingly anxious. The unknown future unsettled her. But then came the acceptance letter. She called me with the great news. Her thoughts were positive; her future was secure.

The Holy Spirit provides a far more significant assurance. From him we receive an acceptance letter to heaven. 1 John 4:17 (NLT) says, “So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.” The Holy Spirit will keep his promise. We’ve been sealed. He will get us home.

Help Is Here

Exodus 32

“Make Gods for Us”

1  32 When the people realized that Moses was taking forever in coming down off the mountain, they rallied around Aaron and said, “Do something. Make gods for us who will lead us. That Moses, the man who got us out of Egypt—who knows what’s happened to him?”

2–4  So Aaron told them, “Take off the gold rings from the ears of your wives and sons and daughters and bring them to me.” They all did it; they removed the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. He took the gold from their hands and cast it in the form of a calf, shaping it with an engraving tool.

The people responded with enthusiasm: “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from Egypt!”

5  Aaron, taking in the situation, built an altar before the calf.

Aaron then announced, “Tomorrow is a feast day to God!”

6  Early the next morning, the people got up and offered Whole-Burnt-Offerings and brought Peace-Offerings. The people sat down to eat and drink and then began to party. It turned into a wild party!

7–8  God spoke to Moses, “Go! Get down there! Your people whom you brought up from the land of Egypt have fallen to pieces. In no time at all they’ve turned away from the way I commanded them: They made a molten calf and worshiped it. They’ve sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are the gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt!’ ”

9–10  God said to Moses, “I look at this people—oh! what a stubborn, hard-headed people! Let me alone now, give my anger free reign to burst into flames and incinerate them. But I’ll make a great nation out of you.”

11–13  Moses tried to calm his God down. He said, “Why, God, would you lose your temper with your people? Why, you brought them out of Egypt in a tremendous demonstration of power and strength. Why let the Egyptians say, ‘He had it in for them—he brought them out so he could kill them in the mountains, wipe them right off the face of the Earth.’ Stop your anger. Think twice about bringing evil against your people! Think of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants to whom you gave your word, telling them ‘I will give you many children, as many as the stars in the sky, and I’ll give this land to your children as their land forever.’ ”

14  And God did think twice. He decided not to do the evil he had threatened against his people.

15–16  Moses turned around and came down from the mountain, carrying the two tablets of The Testimony. The tablets were written on both sides, front and back. God made the tablets and God wrote the tablets—engraved them.

17  When Joshua heard the sound of the people shouting noisily, he said to Moses, “That’s the sound of war in the camp!”

18  But Moses said,

Those aren’t songs of victory,

And those aren’t songs of defeat,

I hear songs of people throwing a party.

19–20  And that’s what it was. When Moses came near to the camp and saw the calf and the people dancing, his anger flared. He threw down the tablets and smashed them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. He took the calf that they had made, melted it down with fire, pulverized it to powder, then scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.

21  Moses said to Aaron, “What on Earth did these people ever do to you that you involved them in this huge sin?”

22–23  Aaron said, “Master, don’t be angry. You know this people and how set on evil they are. They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will lead us. This Moses, the man who brought us out of Egypt, we don’t know what’s happened to him.’

24  “So I said, ‘Who has gold?’ And they took off their jewelry and gave it to me. I threw it in the fire and out came this calf.”

25–26  Moses saw that the people were simply running wild—Aaron had let them run wild, disgracing themselves before their enemies. He took up a position at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is on God’s side, join me!” All the Levites stepped up.

27  He then told them, “God’s orders, the God of Israel: ‘Strap on your swords and go to work. Crisscross the camp from one end to the other: Kill brother, friend, neighbor.’ ”

28  The Levites carried out Moses’ orders. Three thousand of the people were killed that day.

29  Moses said, “You confirmed your ordination today—and at great cost, even killing your sons and brothers! And God has blessed you.”

30  The next day Moses addressed the people: “You have sinned an enormous sin! But I am going to go up to God; maybe I’ll be able to clear you of your sin.”

31–32  Moses went back to God and said, “This is terrible. This people has sinned—it’s an enormous sin! They made gods of gold for themselves. And now, if you will only forgive their sin.… But if not, erase me out of the book you’ve written.”

33–34  God said to Moses, “I’ll only erase from my book those who sin against me. For right now, you go and lead the people to where I told you. Look, my Angel is going ahead of you. On the day, though, when I settle accounts, their sins will certainly be part of the settlement.”

35  God sent a plague on the people because of the calf they and Aaron had made.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, July 24, 2025

by Brent Hackett

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Esther 4:10-16

Esther talked it over with Hathach and then sent him back to Mordecai with this message: “Everyone who works for the king here, and even the people out in the provinces, knows that there is a single fate for every man or woman who approaches the king without being invited: death. The one exception is if the king extends his gold scepter; then he or she may live. And it’s been thirty days now since I’ve been invited to come to the king.”

12–14  When Hathach told Mordecai what Esther had said, Mordecai sent her this message: “Don’t think that just because you live in the king’s house you’re the one Jew who will get out of this alive. If you persist in staying silent at a time like this, help and deliverance will arrive for the Jews from someplace else; but you and your family will be wiped out. Who knows? Maybe you were made queen for just such a time as this.”

15–16  Esther sent back her answer to Mordecai: “Go and get all the Jews living in Susa together. Fast for me. Don’t eat or drink for three days, either day or night. I and my maids will fast with you. If you will do this, I’ll go to the king, even though it’s forbidden. If I die, I die.”

Today's Insights

The book of Esther tells of a near-holocaust of the ancient Jewish people, which God supernaturally prevented through Esther’s willingness to serve. As is often the case in Judaism, great moments lead to abiding celebrations. As liberation from slavery is celebrated in the Feast of the Passover, and the Maccabean victory over the Greek/Syrian oppressors (160 BC) resulted in Hanukkah (sometimes known today as the “Festival of Lights”), the Esther story led to the annual celebration of Purim. Each spring (usually in March), Purim is a time when gifts are exchanged, and people give to the poor. Children dress up as characters in the Esther story and remember God’s rescue of His people from the wicked Haman and his genocidal intentions. The story of Esther can remind us that God can use our current situation for His specific purpose.

Right Place, Right Time

Who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this? Esther 4:14

A nursing convention was being held at a hotel when a guest experienced a heart attack in the lobby. Immediately, more than two dozen caregivers came to his side and worked to keep him alive. The guest was incredibly grateful for all the nurses who were at the right place at the right time.

Esther was also at the right place at the right time. She’d been chosen to be queen after winning the king’s favor and approval (Esther 2:17). Yet a decree threatened her people, the Jews, so her cousin Mordecai encouraged her to use her position to appeal to the king to save them from certain death. “Who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” he challenged her (4:14). Her decision to risk her life and “go to the king” (v. 16) to expose this evil plot saved the Jews from certain death (ch. 8). It’s apparent that Queen Esther understood that God had placed her in that position at just the right time.

Sometimes, we may wonder why situations happen or circumstances change. Perhaps we get frustrated and try to get things “back to normal.” God may have placed us in our current situation for a specific purpose. Today, as we encounter disruptions or changes, let’s ask God to show us if there’s something special He wants us to do as part of His perfect plan.

Reflect & Pray

What disruptions have you had lately? What opportunities might God be presenting to you in them?

Dear Father, when I get frustrated with change, please help me see the bigger picture and understand that You may be doing something in and through me.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, July 24, 2025

Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. —Matthew 5:20

The defining characteristic of Christian disciples is not that they do good things; it’s that they are good in their motives. Their motives have been made good by the supernatural grace of God.

The only thing that surpasses right doing is right being. Jesus Christ came to put a new heredity into anyone who would let him, a heredity that would surpass the righteousness of the Pharisees. Jesus says, in essence, “If you are my disciple, you must be right not only in how you live but also in your motives and your dreams, in the deepest recesses of your mind. You must be so pure in your motives that God Almighty can see nothing to censure.”

Who can stand in the eternal light of God and have nothing for God to censure? Only the Son of God. Jesus Christ claims that, by the power of his redemption, he can put his own disposition into anyone, making them as pure and simple as a child. The purity God demands is impossible for me unless I can be remade from within—and this is exactly what Jesus Christ has undertaken with his redemption.

None of us can make ourselves pure by obeying laws. Jesus Christ doesn’t give us rules and regulations. His teachings are truths which only he can interpret. If we wish to understand them, we must do so through the disposition he puts in us—his own disposition. This is what it means that Jesus Christ alters our heredity: he doesn’t alter

human nature; he alters the disposition of sin that lies beneath it. This is the great marvel of his salvation.

Psalms 35-36; Acts 25

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

God does not further our spiritual life in spite of our circumstances, but in and by our circumstances. 

Not Knowing Whither, 900 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, July 24, 2025

ETERNITY INSURANCE - #10054

It's always hard to lose someone you love. It's especially hard when it's a child. I had friends who lost their precious granddaughter, Amy. Two years old - went to sleep with a little cold and a little fever. By the end of the night, Amy was gone from a cause, well it was still a medical mystery. As I talked with the family at the visitation, of course there was deep grief, but there was also a little comfort from something beautiful that happened right before Amy went to sleep that night. Her mother began singing "Jesus Loves Me" to her and little Amy sang along with her. Her last words, "Jesus loves me, this I know." And then she was with Him.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Eternity Insurance."

The way little Amy went into eternity is a wonderful way for any of us to go into eternity - knowing Jesus loves us and that we will be with Him forever. We all have our appointment to keep with God, and what happens there has everything to do with our response to that love. A love that little children sometimes seem to understand best.

Maybe that's why, according to our word for today from the Word of God in Matthew 18, beginning at verse 2, "Jesus called a little child and had him stand among them. And He said: 'I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.'"

When you put that in the context of a little two-year-old's simple trust in the love of Jesus, you see some of what Jesus is trying to say here. We've got all our sophistication, our questions, our doubts, our analysis, our hardness, and our pride. You and I don't want to believe that we can't earn heaven with our goodness, that all we can do is put all our trust in the Savior who died to remove the death penalty for our sin. No, no. We're strong, we're self-reliant, we're smart, we can figure things out, we can handle things, we can fix things. We struggle with simply reaching out to Jesus in uncomplicated, uninhibited faith. But there is no other way to, in Jesus' words, "enter the kingdom of heaven."

But when our heart beats for the last time, it won't matter what degrees or positions we held, or how many people we know, or what religion we were, or what nice things they said about us at our funeral. All that will matter is whether or not you have grabbed the nail-scarred hand of Jesus Christ to forgive your sin and take you to His heaven.

Grabbing a hand in total trust is something a child totally understands and something we grown-up children need to understand again. Because if you haven't trusted Jesus to be your personal Savior from your personal sin, you don't stand a chance in eternity. He's the only One who could forgive and erase what will keep you out of heaven - your sin and its death penalty. He's the only One who died that death penalty for you on the cross so you don't have to.

You need to face eternity knowing that Jesus loves you and that you have responded to that love. You don't want to enter eternity, you don't want to face Jesus, knowing you've neglected or rejected His love for you poured out on His cross.

Have you ever grabbed Jesus' hand in total trust to say, "Jesus, you're my only hope of being rescued from my sin"? If not, why would you risk another day without Him? Why would you live another day outside His love? Tell Him, "Jesus, I'm yours" right where you are today.

I invite you to our website, because it's there simply to help you be sure you actually have begun this relationship with the only One who can rescue you from your sin. It's ANewStory.com. Please check it out today.

So, this little girl enters eternity, knowing that Jesus loves her and showing you and me the love we so desperately need. "Jesus loves me, this I know."

Exodus 31, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: ADOPTED INTO THE FAMILY - July 23, 2025

“You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, ‘Papa! Father!’” (Galatians 4:6-7 MSG). The natural attitude of people toward God is not like this. We do not really trust him, love him, or pursue him. But upon conversion a supernatural change occurs.  Our affection toward God begins to warm, and we turn to him.

The Spirit convinces your spirit of this truth: your destiny is in the hands of a loving Father.  He is a good father, who has recorded your name in the Book of Life with the blood of the Lamb. And the Spirit of God is urging you to listen as he affirms in your spirit that you are a child of God. You have been adopted into the family.

Help Is Here

Exodus 31

Bezalel and Oholiab

1–5  31 God spoke to Moses: “See what I’ve done; I’ve personally chosen Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur of the tribe of Judah. I’ve filled him with the Spirit of God, giving him skill and know-how and expertise in every kind of craft to create designs and work in gold, silver, and bronze; to cut and set gemstones; to carve wood—he’s an all-around craftsman.

6–11  “Not only that, but I’ve given him Oholiab, son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan, to work with him. And to all who have an aptitude for crafts I’ve given the skills to make all the things I’ve commanded you: the Tent of Meeting, the Chest of The Testimony and its Atonement-Cover, all the implements for the Tent, the Table and its implements, the pure Lampstand and all its implements, the Altar of Incense, the Altar of Whole-Burnt-Offering and all its implements, the Washbasin and its base, the official vestments, the holy vestments for Aaron the priest and his sons in their priestly duties, the anointing oil, and the aromatic incense for the Holy Place—they’ll make everything just the way I’ve commanded you.”

Sabbath

12–17  God spoke to Moses: “Tell the Israelites, ‘Above all, keep my Sabbaths, the sign between me and you, generation after generation, to keep the knowledge alive that I am the God who makes you holy. Keep the Sabbath; it’s holy to you. Whoever profanes it will most certainly be put to death. Whoever works on it will be excommunicated from the people. There are six days for work but the seventh day is Sabbath, pure rest, holy to God. Anyone who works on the Sabbath will most certainly be put to death. The Israelites will keep the Sabbath, observe Sabbath-keeping down through the generations, as a standing covenant. It’s a fixed sign between me and the Israelites. Yes, because in six days God made the Heavens and the Earth and on the seventh day he stopped and took a long, deep breath.’ ”

18  When he finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, he gave Moses two tablets of Testimony, slabs of stone, written with the finger of God.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Wednesday, July 23, 2025

by Nancy Gavilanes

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

John 14:15-26

The Spirit of Truth

15–17  “If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you. I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him, doesn’t know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you!

18–20  “I will not leave you orphaned. I’m coming back. In just a little while the world will no longer see me, but you’re going to see me because I am alive and you’re about to come alive. At that moment you will know absolutely that I’m in my Father, and you’re in me, and I’m in you.

21  “The person who knows my commandments and keeps them, that’s who loves me. And the person who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and make myself plain to him.”

22  Judas (not Iscariot) said, “Master, why is it that you are about to make yourself plain to us but not to the world?”

23–24  “Because a loveless world,” said Jesus, “is a sightless world. If anyone loves me, he will carefully keep my word and my Father will love him—we’ll move right into the neighborhood! Not loving me means not keeping my words. The message you are hearing isn’t mine. It’s the message of the Father who sent me.

25–27  “I’m telling you these things while I’m still living with you. The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you.

Today's Insights

Jesus insisted that in His departure from earth (John 14:1-14) He wouldn’t abandon His disciples. He promised, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (v. 18). Christ could leave without abandoning His people because He’d return to be with them through His Spirit. The Spirit would unite believers to Jesus and draw them into the life of the triune God: “On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you” (v. 20). The Holy Spirit continues to lead and unite believers in Jesus today.

Led by the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit . . . will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. John 14:26

When the navigation app suggested a route that would cut almost an hour off their drive from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, Shelby Easler and her brother followed the alternate directions. However, the “shortcut” led them along a dirt path for hours that left them stranded in California’s Mojave Desert during a dust storm. They were able to reverse course, but they eventually had to be towed because of all the damage to their car from the rough terrain. The app developer apologized to the numerous travelers who followed those wrong directions.

It’s important who we rely on for guidance. As believers in Jesus, we’ve been given the Holy Spirit to lead and direct us in matters of truth.

When Jesus knew that He’d soon die and be taken from His disciples, He assured them He wouldn’t leave them stranded. He urged His disciples to obey His commands and spoke of the promised Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of truth, who would be with them forever and live inside of them (John 14:15-17). “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (v. 26).

Let’s continue to follow the Holy Spirit’s prompting as we go throughout our day. We know He’ll never lead us astray.

Reflect & Pray

What helps you to follow the Holy Spirit’s prompting? How can you get better at following Him?

Dear God, thank You for Your Holy Spirit.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, July 23, 2025

The Life Side of Sanctification

. . . Christ Jesus, who has become for us . . . our righteousness, holiness and redemption. —1 Corinthians 1:30

The mystery of sanctification is that the perfections of Jesus Christ are imparted to me instantly—not gradually, but at the very instant when, by faith, Jesus Christ realizes sanctification in me. Sanctification is nothing less than the holiness of Jesus made manifestly mine.

Sanctification is an impartation, not an imitation. The one secret of a holy life lies not in imitating Jesus but in letting his perfections manifest themselves in my physical body. Sanctification is “Christ in me.” It is Christ’s own wonderful life that is imparted to me by faith as a sovereign gift of God’s grace. Am I willing for God to make sanctification as real in me as it is in his word?

Sanctification means that Jesus gives me his patience, his love, his holiness, his faith, his purity, and his godliness. All these are manifested in and through every sanctified soul. Sanctification isn’t drawing the power to be holy from Jesus; it’s drawing his own holiness from him. It’s having the very same holiness that was manifested in him manifested in me.

The perfection of everything is in Jesus Christ. The mystery of sanctification is that all the perfections of Jesus are made available to me and, slowly but surely, I begin to live a life of indescribable order and sanity and holiness, a life “shielded by God’s power” (1 Peter 1:5).

Psalms 33-34; Acts 24

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

No one could have had a more sensitive love in human relationship than Jesus; and yet He says there are times when love to father and mother must be hatred in comparison to our love for Him.  

So Send I You, 1301 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Wednesday, July 23, 2025

Walking Hope - #10053

In the fall I really got exercise in our yard. We had lots of trees in that yard, and lots of leaves. Our sons were gone, and I got to do just about all the raking. There was this one corner of the yard that was kind of nice to rake because it smelled nice. I'd be raking away and suddenly I'd smell the strong aroma of spearmint. Now, I don't chew gum and I don't wear spearmint scented deodorant usually. So, it had to be coming from what I was raking - and it was! That was my wife's herb garden, and when some of the spearmint plants got bruised by my rake that spearmint scent started to fill the air. My wife told me that's the way it is with lots of herbs, like with lemon balm, for example. If you take a little piece of that plant and you crush it between your fingers, the air will suddenly be sweetened by this scent of lemon. So I learned, crushing a plant releases its scent.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Walking Hope."

In 2 Corinthians 2, where we get our word for today from the Word of God, the Apostle Paul has just told about hardships he has suffered, great pressure he was under, even the despair he'd been feeling. In the context of a lot of pain and pressure, he says in 2 Corinthians 2:14, "But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him." You see, God wants to spread to the people around you the experience of the beautiful aroma of what it's like to have God in your life. How does He release that scent? Oh, hardships and pressure.

The scent of Jesus in Paul's life was probably never more beautiful than when it came to what he called his thorn in the flesh - some physical limitation that he begged God over and over to remove. He called it a messenger from Satan to torment him. That's in 2 Corinthians 12. Then he comes to terms in that passage with the fact that this pain is not going away. Then he discovers the unexpected, glorious result that can be released through his crushing. 2 Corinthians 12:9 - "But God said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness.'" When you can't, there's an opportunity for everyone around you to see that God can. Paul goes on, "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me."

When people came in contact with the Apostle Paul they smelled power, they smelled grace. But it wasn't Paul's power or grace. People got to experience God's beauty because he had been bruised, and the bruising released the aroma of the love of God. That's what the Lord wants to do through you.

Maybe you've been going through something that has bruised you or crushed you. If you've allowed yourself to become bitter, angry, or self-focused because of it there'll be a smell coming from you - probably like the smell that comes from what my wife used to call stink weed on the farm, and no one is going to want to be around you. They'll conclude that Christ doesn't make much of a difference in the times when we really need the difference made. But you've probably met, as I have, some precious men and women who have been deeply wounded, totally crushed, and they've surrendered all that pain to the Savior and they are a joy to be around. They're like walking hope. The aroma of God is all over them.

Never do we have a greater opportunity to show the people around us the reality of our Savior than when we are in a time of great hurt. Maybe like you're in right now. If it's one of those times for you, would you open yourself up to a divine take-over of your feelings, your pain and your personality? You'll find that something very supernatural, something very beautiful will happen. The crushing you've experienced will release the incomparable aroma of the grace, and the love, and the peace of Almighty God.

The Creator who releases beauty through a bruised, crushed plant, can surely do it through one of us - his blood-bought children.

Mark 2, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: A RELATIONSHIP OF ASSURANCE - July 22, 2025

“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God” (Romans 8:14 NLT). The father-child relationship is one of assurance. In the Old Testament, God is described as a father only fifteen times. In the New Testament he is referred to as our father more than two hundred times. So what happened between the Old and New?

Christ happened. His death on the cross was the final payment for our sins. As far as the east is from the west so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12 NIV). If you travel north or south, you’ll eventually reach the North or South Pole and change directions. But east and west have no turning points. Neither does God. His forgiveness is irreversible. Headline this truth: when God sees you, he does not see your sin.

Help Is Here

Mark 2

A Paraplegic

1–5  2 After a few days, Jesus returned to Capernaum, and word got around that he was back home. A crowd gathered, jamming the entrance so no one could get in or out. He was teaching the Word. They brought a paraplegic to him, carried by four men. When they weren’t able to get in because of the crowd, they removed part of the roof and lowered the paraplegic on his stretcher. Impressed by their bold belief, Jesus said to the paraplegic, “Son, I forgive your sins.”

6–7  Some religion scholars sitting there started whispering among themselves, “He can’t talk that way! That’s blasphemy! God and only God can forgive sins.”

8–12  Jesus knew right away what they were thinking, and said, “Why are you so skeptical? Which is simpler: to say to the paraplegic, ‘I forgive your sins,’ or say, ‘Get up, take your stretcher, and start walking’? Well, just so it’s clear that I’m the Son of Man and authorized to do either, or both …” (he looked now at the paraplegic), “Get up. Pick up your stretcher and go home.” And the man did it—got up, grabbed his stretcher, and walked out, with everyone there watching him. They rubbed their eyes, incredulous—and then praised God, saying, “We’ve never seen anything like this!”

The Tax Collector

13–14  Then Jesus went again to walk alongside the lake. Again a crowd came to him, and he taught them. Strolling along, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus, at his work collecting taxes. Jesus said, “Come along with me.” He came.

15–16  Later Jesus and his disciples were at home having supper with a collection of disreputable guests. Unlikely as it seems, more than a few of them had become followers. The religion scholars and Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company and lit into his disciples: “What kind of example is this, acting cozy with the riffraff?”

17  Jesus, overhearing, shot back, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? I’m here inviting the sin-sick, not the spiritually-fit.”

Feasting or Fasting?

18  The disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees made a practice of fasting. Some people confronted Jesus: “Why do the followers of John and the Pharisees take on the discipline of fasting, but your followers don’t?”

19–20  Jesus said, “When you’re celebrating a wedding, you don’t skimp on the cake and wine. You feast. Later you may need to pull in your belt, but not now. As long as the bride and groom are with you, you have a good time. No one throws cold water on a friendly bonfire. This is Kingdom Come!”

21–22  He went on, “No one cuts up a fine silk scarf to patch old work clothes; you want fabrics that match. And you don’t put your wine in cracked bottles.”

23–24  One Sabbath day he was walking through a field of ripe grain. As his disciples made a path, they pulled off heads of grain. The Pharisees told on them to Jesus: “Look, your disciples are breaking Sabbath rules!”

25–28  Jesus said, “Really? Haven’t you ever read what David did when he was hungry, along with those who were with him? How he entered the sanctuary and ate fresh bread off the altar, with the Chief Priest Abiathar right there watching—holy bread that no one but priests were allowed to eat—and handed it out to his companions?” Then Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made to serve us; we weren’t made to serve the Sabbath. The Son of Man is no lackey to the Sabbath. He’s in charge!”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Tuesday, July 22, 2025

by Amy Boucher Pye

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Luke 18:1-8

The Story of the Persistent Widow

1–3  18 Jesus told them a story showing that it was necessary for them to pray consistently and never quit. He said, “There was once a judge in some city who never gave God a thought and cared nothing for people. A widow in that city kept after him: ‘My rights are being violated. Protect me!’

4–5  “He never gave her the time of day. But after this went on and on he said to himself, ‘I care nothing what God thinks, even less what people think. But because this widow won’t quit badgering me, I’d better do something and see that she gets justice—otherwise I’m going to end up beaten black-and-blue by her pounding.’ ”

6–8  Then the Master said, “Do you hear what that judge, corrupt as he is, is saying? So what makes you think God won’t step in and work justice for his chosen people, who continue to cry out for help? Won’t he stick up for them? I assure you, he will. He will not drag his feet. But how much of that kind of persistent faith will the Son of Man find on the earth when he returns?”

Today's Insights

As in Luke 18, Jesus stressed persistence and boldness in prayer in a story He told His disciples after teaching them the Lord’s Prayer (11:1-4). He said to imagine a man knocking on his friend’s door at midnight to borrow bread because an unexpected visitor had arrived. Even though the man is reluctant to get out of bed, he gets up because of the other man’s persistence. In the same way, we’re to ask God for what we need: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (v. 9). We’re to pray confidently and continually, knowing God hears: Paul said, “In every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).

Visit ODBU.org/learning-library/praying-with-persistence/ to hear from James Banks about persisting in prayer.

Persisting in Prayer

Will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Luke 18:7

When Royston’s daughter Hannah suffered a brain bleed that resulted in a coma, he and his family repeatedly turned to God in prayer. Over months of waiting, they clung to each other—and to God. The family’s faith awakened, as Royston reflected: “Never has God felt closer.” Throughout the ordeal, they were given “a renewal of faith to persist in prayer” like the “widow of Luke 18.”

Royston referred to Jesus’ story about a widow who continually sought justice from the town’s official, which He gave to illustrate “that they should always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1). This woman appealed repeatedly to the judge, who in weariness finally relented. Jesus contrasted that uncaring judge with God, saying, “Will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night?” (v. 7).

Although Christ’s story addresses an unjust judge, the family members felt spurred on by it to pray for Hannah, asking the truly just and loving God for relief and help. They found themselves being drawn ever closer to Him: “As we seek God . . . it’s almost as if we’re the ones really waking up from our slumber.” After many months, Hannah woke from the coma and is slowly recovering.

When we draw close to God, He hears our requests and answers according to His grace. He invites us to cry out to Him day or night.

Reflect & Pray

How can you turn your struggles into prayer? How have you seen God answer your pleas and requests?

Loving God, I thank You that You’re not like the unjust and uncaring judge but that You love and care for me.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Tuesday, July 22, 2025

The Death Side of Sanctification

It is God’s will that you should be sanctified. —1 Thessalonians 4:3

In sanctification, God has to deal with us on the death side as well as on the life side. On the death side of sanctification, I identify myself with the death of Jesus Christ, allowing him to crucify my old life for the sake of the new. There is always a battle royal before sanctification, always something that tugs at us with resentment against the demands of Jesus Christ. The battle begins the instant the Spirit of God shows us what sanctification entails: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26).

In the process of sanctification, the Spirit of God strips me until I have nothing left but myself—no father, no sister, no friends, no self-interest. Am I willing to be simply ready for death? Sanctification requires it. No wonder Jesus said that he “did not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). This is where the battle comes, and where so many of us faint. We refuse to be identified with the death of Jesus. “It’s too severe,” we say. “He can’t want me to do that.” Our Lord is severe, and he does want us to do that.

Am I willing to reduce myself simply to me? To strip away everything my friends think of me, everything I think of myself? To hand that naked self over to God? The moment I do, he will sanctify me wholly, and my life will be free from all attachment that is not in him.

If I pray, “Lord, show me what sanctification means,” he will show me. It means being made one with Jesus. Sanctification isn’t some quality or ability that Jesus Christ puts into me. It is him in me.

Psalms 31-32; Acts 23:16-35

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

The great word of Jesus to His disciples is Abandon. When God has brought us into the relationship of disciples, we have to venture on His word; trust entirely to Him and watch that when He brings us to the venture, we take it. 

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1459 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Tuesday, July 22, 2025

WHY GOD WILL LET YOU IN - #10052

If you're a frequent flyer, as I have been in the past, they give you frequent flyer miles that eventually add up to a free ticket. Well, they give their really frequent flyers a few fringe benefits. The benefits aren't quite what they used to be, but like sometimes you can do early boarding. When one of our leaders and I were flying a lot together, it helped if we could board early. Because we could kind of get set up for a lot of work to get done on the flight. Now, he didn't have all the miles I did, but the boarding agents were pretty nice to him, because he boarded with me. My ticket, well, it has this special stamp that would indicate my high-mileage status. And on one occasion, they actually offered early boarding to us guys that they see all the time. They took my ticket and then he was following right behind me. He said, "I'm with him. Is that OK?" Yep. We went together.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why God Will Let You In."

Sometimes the one way you can get in is on the strength of who you know. "I'm with him." Well, for sure, it's the only way any of us will ever get into heaven the day we die.

That important fact is dramatically demonstrated in our word for today from the Word of God from Luke 23 beginning at verse 42. The scene is that skull-shaped hill where Jesus is dying on the cross, with a criminal on a cross on either side of him.

Now the Bible says of one of those men, "Then he said, 'Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.' Jesus answered him, 'I tell you the truth, today you will be with Me in paradise.'" When this man died and kept his appointment with God, I could just see him grabbing Jesus and saying to God, "I'm with Him."

Now we know from Jesus Himself that that man is in heaven. Not because he was baptized. He wasn't. Not because he was confirmed. There was no time for that. Not because he was religious or righteous. He wasn't. He would go to heaven when he died for one reason. He had put his total trust in Jesus to forgive his sins and take him to heaven. It's the only way that thief could go to heaven. It's the only way I can; it's the only way you can.

God puts it this way. "There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all men" (1 Timothy 2:5). A ransom is the price you pay to get someone back, right? When Jesus died on that cross, He was absorbing all the guilt and all the punishment, all the hell of every sin you have ever committed. He was paying the price to get you back - the ransom. And no one else did that; no one else could. That's why your eternity depends on whether or not you grab Jesus to rescue you like a drowning person would grab a lifeguard.

You might wonder if God can forgive some of the things you've done. Well that dying thief, with his life of crime, might well have wondered the same thing until he heard Jesus say of the men who had executed Him, "Father, forgive them." If Jesus would forgive the men who nailed Him to that cross, is there anything He won't forgive? He will forgive you!

Don't wait another day to make sure you're going to heaven when you die. You just don't know when your date with God is. Say to Jesus, "Lord, remember me. Forgive me. Be the Savior for my sin." Your sins will be forgiven, and your name will be entered in His book of those who have eternal life in heaven that the Bible describes.

This is the day to say, "Jesus, I'm yours. I want to be ready for eternity whenever it comes." I've laid out simply the path to begin your relationship with Him at our website. I urge you to go check it out today. It's ANewStory.com.

Let today be the day you settle your eternity. So that when you meet God, you can say, "I'm with Him." And you'll hear Jesus say, "Today you will be with Me in paradise - and forever."