Acts 9
Saul's Conversion
1Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest 2and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"
5"Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked.
"I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied. 6"Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."
7The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
10In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, "Ananias!"
"Yes, Lord," he answered.
11The Lord told him, "Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight."
13"Lord," Ananias answered, "I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. 14And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name."
15But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. 16I will show him how much he must suffer for my name."
17Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit." 18Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
Saul in Damascus and Jerusalem
Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. 21All those who heard him were astonished and asked, "Isn't he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn't he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?" 22Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.[a]
23After many days had gone by, the Jews conspired to kill him, 24but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. 25But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.
26When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. 27But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. 28So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29He talked and debated with the Grecian Jews, but they tried to kill him. 30When the brothers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
31Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.
Aeneas and Dorcas
32As Peter traveled about the country, he went to visit the saints in Lydda. 33There he found a man named Aeneas, a paralytic who had been bedridden for eight years. 34"Aeneas," Peter said to him, "Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and take care of your mat." Immediately Aeneas got up. 35All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.
36In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which, when translated, is Dorcas[b]), who was always doing good and helping the poor. 37About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. 38Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, "Please come at once!"
39Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.
40Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, "Tabitha, get up." She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. 41He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called the believers and the widows and presented her to them alive. 42This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord. 43Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Hebrews 3:7-15
Warning Against Unbelief
7So, as the Holy Spirit says:
"Today, if you hear his voice,
8do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion,
during the time of testing in the desert,
9where your fathers tested and tried me
and for forty years saw what I did.
10That is why I was angry with that generation,
and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray,
and they have not known my ways.'
11So I declared on oath in my anger,
'They shall never enter my rest.' "[a]
12See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. 14We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. 15As has just been said:
"Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion."[b]
May 17, 2008
Seize The Day
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Hebrews 3:7-15
My times are in Your hand. —Psalm 31:15
Before entering the broadcasting field, Jim Valvano led the North Carolina State University basketball team to a national championship. Then cancer developed in his lower back. Invited to address the Duke University squad, Jim had this to say: “Life changes when you least expect it to. The future is uncertain. So, seize this day, seize this moment, and make the most of it.”
God gives us an urgent directive in Hebrews 3:13, “Exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” Why is there such a strong insistence on today?
It may be that today, this very day, could be the last one in our time here on earth. Today may be your last opportunity to accept God’s gift of salvation, or if you know the Lord already, to share His love with a friend or loved one.
James has this warning about presuming upon our tomorrows: “You do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (4:14).
Seize the opportunities that God gives you today. That’s sound advice—not just for basketball players, but for all of us.
— Vernon C. Grounds
Redeem the time—God only knows
How soon our little life may close;
As every passing moment flows,
Redeem the time! —Anon.
Plan as though you’ll be living for a century; live as though you’ll be leaving today.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers:
May 17, 2008
His Ascension and Our Access
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READ:
It came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven —Luke 24:51
We have no experiences in our lives that correspond to the events in our Lord’s life after the transfiguration. From that moment forward His life was altogether substitutionary. Up to the time of the transfiguration, He had exhibited the normal, perfect life of a man. But from the transfiguration forward— Gethsemane, the Cross, the resurrection— everything is unfamiliar to us. His Cross is the door by which every member of the human race can enter into the life of God; by His resurrection He has the right to give eternal life to anyone, and by His ascension our Lord entered heaven, keeping the door open for humanity.
The transfiguration was completed on the Mount of Ascension. If Jesus had gone to heaven directly from the Mount of Transfiguration, He would have gone alone. He would have been nothing more to us than a glorious Figure. But He turned His back on the glory, and came down from the mountain to identify Himself with fallen humanity.
The ascension is the complete fulfillment of the transfiguration. Our Lord returned to His original glory, but not simply as the Son of God— He returned to His father as the Son of Man as well. There is now freedom of access for anyone straight to the very throne of God because of the ascension of the Son of Man. As the Son of Man, Jesus Christ deliberately limited His omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience. But now they are His in absolute, full power. As the Son of Man, Jesus Christ now has all the power at the throne of God. From His ascension forward He is the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Charles Stanley Devotional:
Revelation 20
Satan Bound
1Then I saw (A)an angel coming down from heaven, holding the (B)key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.
2And he laid hold of the (C)dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and (D)bound him for a thousand years;
3and he threw him into the (E)abyss, and shut it and (F)sealed it over him, so that he would (G)not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.
4Then I saw (H)thrones, and (I)they sat on them, and (J)judgment was given to them And I saw (K)the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their (L)testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not (M)worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the (N)mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they (O)came to life and (P)reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
5The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. (Q)This is the first resurrection.
6(R)Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the (S)second death has no power, but they will be (T)priests of God and of Christ and will (U)reign with Him for a thousand years.
Satan Freed, Doomed
7When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be (V)released from his prison,
8and will come out to (W)deceive the nations which are in the (X)four corners of the earth, (Y)Gog and Magog, to (Z)gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the (AA)sand of the seashore.
9And they (AB)came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the (AC)camp of the saints and the (AD)beloved city, and (AE)fire came down from heaven and devoured them.
10And (AF)the devil who (AG)deceived them was thrown into the (AH)lake of fire and brimstone, where the (AI)beast and the (AJ)false prophet are also; and they will be (AK)tormented day and night forever and ever.
Judgment at the Throne of God
11Then I saw a great white (AL)throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence (AM)earth and heaven fled away, and (AN)no place was found for them.
12And I saw the dead, the (AO)great and the small, standing before the throne, and (AP)books were opened; and another book was opened, which is (AQ)the book of life; and the dead (AR)were judged from the things which were written in the books, (AS)according to their deeds.
13And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and (AT)death and Hades (AU)gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them (AV)according to their deeds.
14Then (AW)death and Hades were thrown into (AX)the lake of fire This is the (AY)second death, the lake of fire.
15And if anyone's name was not found written in (AZ)the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
The Justice of Divine Judgment
READ | Revelation 20-11:15
Every person will face God on judgment day. Whenever that topic comes up, I am usually asked something like, “What about remote African tribes that will never hear about Jesus?” The concerned questioner is really wondering, How could a loving Lord send an ignorant person to hell? In other words, How can it be fair to condemn those who have never heard the gospel?
To understand how God judges, we should recognize two truths about Him. First, He’s not limited. While whole groups still have no Scripture in their language, God always reaches individuals whose hearts are open to knowing Him. Men like Abraham and Moses had no spiritual training or Scriptures, and the Lord spoke to them.
Second, God reveals Himself to all people, whether or not they have access to the Bible. He demonstrates His power and attributes through creation. He also programs our conscience to understand the basic distinctions between right and wrong.
For those blessed to hear the gospel at some point, Jesus Christ is the greatest revelation of God in their life. When people stand before the Father, He’ll judge them on three criteria from the amount of truth that each has been exposed, to how many opportunities there were to accept the truth and share it with others; and what was done with those opportunities. The believer’s responsibility is to reach as many as possible with the gospel so that no one need ask, “What about those who’ve never heard of Jesus?”
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Friday, May 16, 2008
Acts 8 and Daily devotions
Acts 8
1And Saul was there, giving approval to his death.
The Church Persecuted and Scattered
On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.
Philip in Samaria
4Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. 5Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ[a]there. 6When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. 7With shrieks, evil[b] spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. 8So there was great joy in that city.
Simon the Sorcerer
9Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, 10and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, "This man is the divine power known as the Great Power." 11They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic. 12But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.
14When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into[c] the name of the Lord Jesus. 17Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
18When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money 19and said, "Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit."
20Peter answered: "May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! 21You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. 22Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. 23For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin."
24Then Simon answered, "Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me."
25When they had testified and proclaimed the word of the Lord, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.
Philip and the Ethiopian
26Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." 27So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian[d]eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. 29The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it."
30Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked.
31"How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
32The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture:
"He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before the shearer is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
33In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
Who can speak of his descendants?
For his life was taken from the earth."[e]
34The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?" 35Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
36As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?"[f] 38And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. 40Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Living as Children of Light
17So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
20You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. 21Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
May 16, 2008
Dragon Skin
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Ephesians 4:17-24
Put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. —Ephesians 4:24
In the fifth Chronicle of Narnia, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Edmund, Lucy, and their spoiled cousin Eustace are summoned to help on a quest in the Eastern Sea. Along the way, Eustace is tempted by enchanted treasure and turned into a dragon. The desperate dragon accepts the help of the great lion Aslan, king of Narnia. But Eustace can only be freed by allowing Aslan’s claws to painfully tear off the dragon’s flesh. Grateful for his deliverance, Eustace chooses to become a better boy.
Receiving God’s gift of salvation through Christ is a one-time event, but to become like Him often requires suffering and struggle. It involves putting off old sinful habits and replacing them with new godly ones. Paul wrote, “Put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt . . . [and] put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:22-24).
What is troubling you today? God may be using the kind rebuke of a friend or a painful trial to prompt you to get rid of a sinful habit and to replace it with godly character (Rom. 8:29; 1 Peter 4:1-2).
The process of becoming like Christ is sometimes painful, but it’s always worth it.
— Dennis Fisher
To be like Jesus is our goal,
Though it doesn’t happen fast;
We trust the Spirit as our Guide
Till we’re glorified at last. —Branon
The conversion of a soul is the miracle of a moment; the growth of a saint is the work of a lifetime.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers:
May 16, 2008
The Habit of Recognizing God’s Provision
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READ:
. . . you may be partakers of the divine nature . . . —2 Peter 1:4
We are made "partakers of the divine nature," receiving and sharing God’s own nature through His promises. Then we have to work that divine nature into our human nature by developing godly habits. The first habit to develop is the habit of recognizing God’s provision for us. We say, however, "Oh, I can’t afford it." One of the worst lies is wrapped up in that statement. We talk as if our heavenly Father has cut us off without a penny! We think it is a sign of true humility to say at the end of the day, "Well, I just barely got by today, but it was a severe struggle." And yet all of Almighty God is ours in the Lord Jesus! And He will reach to the last grain of sand and the remotest star to bless us if we will only obey Him. Does it really matter that our circumstances are difficult? Why shouldn’t they be! If we give way to self-pity and indulge in the luxury of misery, we remove God’s riches from our lives and hinder others from entering into His provision. No sin is worse than the sin of self-pity, because it removes God from the throne of our lives, replacing Him with our own self-interests. It causes us to open our mouths only to complain, and we simply become spiritual sponges— always absorbing, never giving, and never being satisfied. And there is nothing lovely or generous about our lives.
Before God becomes satisfied with us, He will take everything of our so-called wealth, until we learn that He is our Source; as the psalmist said, "All my springs are in You" (Psalm 87:7 ). If the majesty, grace, and power of God are not being exhibited in us, God holds us responsible. "God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you . . . may have an abundance . . ." ( 2 Corinthians 9:8 )— then learn to lavish the grace of God on others, generously giving of yourself. Be marked and identified with God’s nature, and His blessing will flow through you all the time.
AWWY - "The New Engine Difference" (#5570), by Ron Hutchcraft
The New Engine Difference - #5570
Friday, May 16, 2008
I'm in our van sitting at a red light - and suddenly this cloud of dark, acrid smoke starts belching out of my exhaust pipe. It was disgusting! Apparently, the motorists behind me felt the same way - they started honking at me. That helped tremendously. I just wished honking would have solved the problem. Believe it or not, it didn't. One mechanic told me, "I wouldn't leave town with that van if I were you." He was right - of course, the smoke wasn't the problem - the problem was the engine. No, it didn't need to be fixed. It was far too gone for that. It had to be replaced!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The New Engine Difference."
The van I drove away from that garage looked like the same van I drove into that garage. Wrong. It was new on the inside - and as a result, it was no longer leaving an ugly trail behind it.
Actually, a lot of us have some emissions coming out of our lives that aren't too pleasant either. Maybe you know some of those feelings - too often there is anger spewing out - or self-pity because we feel like a victim - or negative, critical attitudes. We say what we later regret we said - we do what we later regret we did - we're hooked on what we wish we could stop - we leave a trial behind us of people who have choked on the smoke we put out. And it's not that we haven't tried to fix it. From New Year's resolutions to religion to self-improvement, we've tried to stop polluting our own lives and the lives of those around us but we've got a problem inside.
God diagnoses that problem in His book. In Jeremiah 17:9 it says, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" In other words, the engine is shot, and it can't be fixed. It has to be replaced, which leads us to God's tremendous offer. And it's our word for today from the Word of God, Ezekiel 36:26, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you a heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit in you."
God says our heart is too darkened and hardened by sin to ever quit putting out pollution. We can certainly never get into His totally unpolluted heaven with this polluted heart we all have. Our only hope for this life - and for eternal life - is a new heart. We can't perform heart surgery on ourselves! Only the divine surgeon can do that! He stands ready to take that heart of yours that's been hardened by all the hurt and the anger and the sin and replace it with a heart that's clean and sensitive and new! He'll put His Holy Spirit in you to make you the person you've wanted to be but you never could be.
But the operation had to be paid for just as the engine replacement on my van had to be paid for - and I didn't have anything to pay it with. But to my amazement, some of God's people quietly got together and they paid the bill. That's what Jesus was doing for you when He was agonizing on that cross. He was paying the bill for your sin; a bill you could never pay - so you could be forgiven.
You ready for a new heart? Then it's time to open your heart to Jesus Christ. I would love to help you be sure that you have begun your personal relationship with Jesus Christ - that you belong to Him.
I think one way we might be able to help and encourage you at this crossroads time in your life, is if you will go to our website. It's really been set up to explain in simple, non-religious terms how to be sure you belong to Jesus Christ. The website is yoursforlife.net. And I'd encourage you to go and visit us there before you forget about it. Maybe you'd rather just write for my booklet Yours For Life, where you'll get much of the same information about how to begin a relationship with Jesus and get a new heart. You can call for that booklet toll free at 877-741-1200.
All of our lives we try to stop the ugly stuff that comes out of us, but it still keeps coming until we get a new engine - a new heart. Jesus is waiting for you to tell Him right now that you want it.
To find out how you can begin a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, please visit: yoursforlife.net or call 1-888-966-7325.
1And Saul was there, giving approval to his death.
The Church Persecuted and Scattered
On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.
Philip in Samaria
4Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. 5Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ[a]there. 6When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. 7With shrieks, evil[b] spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. 8So there was great joy in that city.
Simon the Sorcerer
9Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, 10and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, "This man is the divine power known as the Great Power." 11They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic. 12But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.
14When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into[c] the name of the Lord Jesus. 17Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
18When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money 19and said, "Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit."
20Peter answered: "May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! 21You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. 22Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. 23For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin."
24Then Simon answered, "Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me."
25When they had testified and proclaimed the word of the Lord, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.
Philip and the Ethiopian
26Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." 27So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian[d]eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. 29The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it."
30Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked.
31"How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
32The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture:
"He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before the shearer is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
33In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
Who can speak of his descendants?
For his life was taken from the earth."[e]
34The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?" 35Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
36As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?"[f] 38And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. 40Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Living as Children of Light
17So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
20You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. 21Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
May 16, 2008
Dragon Skin
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READ: Ephesians 4:17-24
Put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. —Ephesians 4:24
In the fifth Chronicle of Narnia, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Edmund, Lucy, and their spoiled cousin Eustace are summoned to help on a quest in the Eastern Sea. Along the way, Eustace is tempted by enchanted treasure and turned into a dragon. The desperate dragon accepts the help of the great lion Aslan, king of Narnia. But Eustace can only be freed by allowing Aslan’s claws to painfully tear off the dragon’s flesh. Grateful for his deliverance, Eustace chooses to become a better boy.
Receiving God’s gift of salvation through Christ is a one-time event, but to become like Him often requires suffering and struggle. It involves putting off old sinful habits and replacing them with new godly ones. Paul wrote, “Put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt . . . [and] put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:22-24).
What is troubling you today? God may be using the kind rebuke of a friend or a painful trial to prompt you to get rid of a sinful habit and to replace it with godly character (Rom. 8:29; 1 Peter 4:1-2).
The process of becoming like Christ is sometimes painful, but it’s always worth it.
— Dennis Fisher
To be like Jesus is our goal,
Though it doesn’t happen fast;
We trust the Spirit as our Guide
Till we’re glorified at last. —Branon
The conversion of a soul is the miracle of a moment; the growth of a saint is the work of a lifetime.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers:
May 16, 2008
The Habit of Recognizing God’s Provision
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READ:
. . . you may be partakers of the divine nature . . . —2 Peter 1:4
We are made "partakers of the divine nature," receiving and sharing God’s own nature through His promises. Then we have to work that divine nature into our human nature by developing godly habits. The first habit to develop is the habit of recognizing God’s provision for us. We say, however, "Oh, I can’t afford it." One of the worst lies is wrapped up in that statement. We talk as if our heavenly Father has cut us off without a penny! We think it is a sign of true humility to say at the end of the day, "Well, I just barely got by today, but it was a severe struggle." And yet all of Almighty God is ours in the Lord Jesus! And He will reach to the last grain of sand and the remotest star to bless us if we will only obey Him. Does it really matter that our circumstances are difficult? Why shouldn’t they be! If we give way to self-pity and indulge in the luxury of misery, we remove God’s riches from our lives and hinder others from entering into His provision. No sin is worse than the sin of self-pity, because it removes God from the throne of our lives, replacing Him with our own self-interests. It causes us to open our mouths only to complain, and we simply become spiritual sponges— always absorbing, never giving, and never being satisfied. And there is nothing lovely or generous about our lives.
Before God becomes satisfied with us, He will take everything of our so-called wealth, until we learn that He is our Source; as the psalmist said, "All my springs are in You" (Psalm 87:7 ). If the majesty, grace, and power of God are not being exhibited in us, God holds us responsible. "God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you . . . may have an abundance . . ." ( 2 Corinthians 9:8 )— then learn to lavish the grace of God on others, generously giving of yourself. Be marked and identified with God’s nature, and His blessing will flow through you all the time.
AWWY - "The New Engine Difference" (#5570), by Ron Hutchcraft
The New Engine Difference - #5570
Friday, May 16, 2008
I'm in our van sitting at a red light - and suddenly this cloud of dark, acrid smoke starts belching out of my exhaust pipe. It was disgusting! Apparently, the motorists behind me felt the same way - they started honking at me. That helped tremendously. I just wished honking would have solved the problem. Believe it or not, it didn't. One mechanic told me, "I wouldn't leave town with that van if I were you." He was right - of course, the smoke wasn't the problem - the problem was the engine. No, it didn't need to be fixed. It was far too gone for that. It had to be replaced!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The New Engine Difference."
The van I drove away from that garage looked like the same van I drove into that garage. Wrong. It was new on the inside - and as a result, it was no longer leaving an ugly trail behind it.
Actually, a lot of us have some emissions coming out of our lives that aren't too pleasant either. Maybe you know some of those feelings - too often there is anger spewing out - or self-pity because we feel like a victim - or negative, critical attitudes. We say what we later regret we said - we do what we later regret we did - we're hooked on what we wish we could stop - we leave a trial behind us of people who have choked on the smoke we put out. And it's not that we haven't tried to fix it. From New Year's resolutions to religion to self-improvement, we've tried to stop polluting our own lives and the lives of those around us but we've got a problem inside.
God diagnoses that problem in His book. In Jeremiah 17:9 it says, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" In other words, the engine is shot, and it can't be fixed. It has to be replaced, which leads us to God's tremendous offer. And it's our word for today from the Word of God, Ezekiel 36:26, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you a heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit in you."
God says our heart is too darkened and hardened by sin to ever quit putting out pollution. We can certainly never get into His totally unpolluted heaven with this polluted heart we all have. Our only hope for this life - and for eternal life - is a new heart. We can't perform heart surgery on ourselves! Only the divine surgeon can do that! He stands ready to take that heart of yours that's been hardened by all the hurt and the anger and the sin and replace it with a heart that's clean and sensitive and new! He'll put His Holy Spirit in you to make you the person you've wanted to be but you never could be.
But the operation had to be paid for just as the engine replacement on my van had to be paid for - and I didn't have anything to pay it with. But to my amazement, some of God's people quietly got together and they paid the bill. That's what Jesus was doing for you when He was agonizing on that cross. He was paying the bill for your sin; a bill you could never pay - so you could be forgiven.
You ready for a new heart? Then it's time to open your heart to Jesus Christ. I would love to help you be sure that you have begun your personal relationship with Jesus Christ - that you belong to Him.
I think one way we might be able to help and encourage you at this crossroads time in your life, is if you will go to our website. It's really been set up to explain in simple, non-religious terms how to be sure you belong to Jesus Christ. The website is yoursforlife.net. And I'd encourage you to go and visit us there before you forget about it. Maybe you'd rather just write for my booklet Yours For Life, where you'll get much of the same information about how to begin a relationship with Jesus and get a new heart. You can call for that booklet toll free at 877-741-1200.
All of our lives we try to stop the ugly stuff that comes out of us, but it still keeps coming until we get a new engine - a new heart. Jesus is waiting for you to tell Him right now that you want it.
To find out how you can begin a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, please visit: yoursforlife.net or call 1-888-966-7325.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Acts 7 and devotions
Acts 7
Stephen's Speech to the Sanhedrin
1Then the high priest asked him, "Are these charges true?"
2To this he replied: "Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran. 3'Leave your country and your people,' God said, 'and go to the land I will show you.'[a]
4"So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. 5He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. 6God spoke to him in this way: 'Your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. 7But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,' God said, 'and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.'[b] 8Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.
9"Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him 10and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt; so he made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.
11"Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our fathers could not find food. 12When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers on their first visit. 13On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph's family. 14After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all. 15Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our fathers died. 16Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money.
17"As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt greatly increased. 18Then another king, who knew nothing about Joseph, became ruler of Egypt. 19He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our forefathers by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die.
20"At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child.[c]For three months he was cared for in his father's house. 21When he was placed outside, Pharaoh's daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. 22Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.
23"When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites. 24He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. 25Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. 26The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, 'Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?'
27"But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, 'Who made you ruler and judge over us? 28Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?'[d] 29When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.
30"After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. 31When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to look more closely, he heard the Lord's voice: 32'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.'[e] Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look.
33"Then the Lord said to him, 'Take off your sandals; the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.'[f]
35"This is the same Moses whom they had rejected with the words, 'Who made you ruler and judge?' He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36He led them out of Egypt and did wonders and miraculous signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea[g] and for forty years in the desert.
37"This is that Moses who told the Israelites, 'God will send you a prophet like me from your own people.'[h] 38He was in the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to us.
39"But our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. 40They told Aaron, 'Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt—we don't know what has happened to him!'[i] 41That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and held a celebration in honor of what their hands had made. 42But God turned away and gave them over to the worship of the heavenly bodies. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets:
" 'Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?
43You have lifted up the shrine of Molech
and the star of your god Rephan,
the idols you made to worship.
Therefore I will send you into exile'[j] beyond Babylon.
44"Our forefathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the desert. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. 45Having received the tabernacle, our fathers under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, 46who enjoyed God's favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.[k] 47But it was Solomon who built the house for him.
48"However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men. As the prophet says:
49" 'Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord.
Or where will my resting place be?
50Has not my hand made all these things?'[l]
51"You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— 53you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it."
The Stoning of Stephen
54When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56"Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."
57At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion:
Ephesians 3:14-21
A Prayer for the Ephesians
14For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
May 15, 2008
Surprise Me!
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Ephesians 3:14-21
“My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. —Isaiah 55:8
When our family went out for an ice cream cone, my dad would ask my mother what flavor she’d like. Often she would reply, “Surprise me!” She told me she was rarely disappointed in his choice.
Do you like surprises? Would you ever dare say, “Surprise me!” to God? A lot of us are a little scared to do that. Yes, we have faith that God is good and that He loves us. Yet we’re afraid we won’t like what He chooses for us.
Throughout the Bible we read that God delights in doing the unexpected. Sometimes it’s folding back the waters for His people to cross a sea on dry ground (Ex. 14:21-22). Or forgiving and embracing those who repent of their sin (Ps. 130:1-4). Jesus’ time on earth was filled with amazing events that pointed people to His Father—He turned water into wine, calmed storms, healed the sick, and raised the dead.
What kind of God do we serve? One who is not confined by our finite imagination (Eph. 3:20). God’s thoughts and ways are not like ours (Isa. 55:8), and He wants to bless us with far more than a special flavor of ice cream. He delights in His children who trust Him and are willing to say, “Surprise me, Lord!”
— Cindy Hess Kasper
O Lord, give me the grace to be
Content with what You give to me.
No! More than that, let me rejoice
In all You send me—it’s Your choice! —Anon.
Those who let God provide will always be satisfied.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers:
May 15, 2008
The Habit of Rising to the Occasion
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READ:
. . . that you may know what is the hope of His calling . . . —Ephesians 1:18
Remember that you have been saved so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in your body (see 2 Corinthians 4:10 ). Direct the total energy of your powers so that you may achieve everything your election as a child of God provides; rise every time to whatever occasion may come your way.
You did not do anything to achieve your salvation, but you must do something to exhibit it. You must "work out your own salvation" which God has worked in you already ( Philippians 2:12 ). Are your speech, your thinking, and your emotions evidence that you are working it "out"? If you are still the same miserable, grouchy person, set on having your own way, then it is a lie to say that God has saved and sanctified you.
God is the Master Designer, and He allows adversities into your life to see if you can jump over them properly—"By my God I can leap over a wall" ( Psalm 18:29 ). God will never shield you from the requirements of being His son or daughter. First Peter 4:12 says, "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you . . . ." Rise to the occasion—do what the trial demands of you. It does not matter how much it hurts as long as it gives God the opportunity to manifest the life of Jesus in your body.
May God not find complaints in us anymore, but spiritual vitality—a readiness to face anything He brings our way. The only proper goal of life is that we manifest the Son of God; and when this occurs, all of our dictating of our demands to God disappears. Our Lord never dictated demands to His Father, and neither are we to make demands on God. We are here to submit to His will so that He may work through us what He wants. Once we realize this, He will make us broken bread and poured-out wine with which to feed and nourish others.
"A Word With You" by Ron Hutchcraft
The Seagull Syndrome
Thursday, May 15, 2008
If you ever spend any time near the ocean, I'll bet you've got some photos of seagulls. They just soar around above the surf, you know, almost as if they're posing for some of us amateur photographers! Now, seagulls are impressive until they get together. I remember sitting on the rocks along the Maine coast trying to feed some corn chips to this seagull - see, they're into junk food too - and as soon as one gull started to go for the food, another one would land and start yelling at him. Then they were joined by a third gull - they got pretty nasty contesting who's going to get this little corn chip! Now, that's standard operating procedure for seagulls. Like the time we were enjoying this picturesque New England harbor. The highest point was this weathervane and one gull would land on it - sometimes he'd even trumpet the fact that he was number one. That lasted about ten seconds until another gull came plowing into him, knocked him off, pretty soon he's followed by another gull who knocked number two off, so he could have his ten minutes on top! Scientists have even put a red band on a seagull to see how the other gulls would react. They literally pecked him to death because he had something they didn't have. Nice birds, huh?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Seagull Syndrome."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 27, and it comes from the period of the arrest and the trial just before the crucifixion of our Lord. A very revealing statement says this - it gives the startling reason behind the execution of the Son of God. Matthew 27:18, "Pilate knew that it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him." Did you hear that little four letter word, envy? They were jealous of Jesus. More people were listening to Him than to them, so they conspired to have Jesus Christ put to death.
Envy. Not a sin you probably think of immediately as being that bad, huh? But in a sense it was envy that killed our Savior. It was essentially envy that caused Cain to kill his brother Abel, because Abel got a better response from God than he did. It was envy that made King Saul try to impale young David with a javelin. Envy is no harmless little sin, it's ugly, it's destructive, it leads to hurt, it leads to hate, but it's almost never identified, never condemned. And because it's the silent sin, it may have entered your heart. It may be poisoning your relationship with people and even with God. Today God wanted to hold up a mirror so you could maybe see the jealousy in your soul. Envy is the seagull sin, that darkness that creeps in when we see someone who has something we don't have. You see it always starts with comparing. If we didn't compare ourselves with other people we wouldn't envy.
Maybe you're struggling right now with bad feelings toward someone because you've been comparing. To be brutally honest, you're jealous of someone else's success, or someone else's appearance, or their position, their marriage, or someone else's things. You might even be jealous of someone else's ministry - they're on a high spot and you want to be there. Well, that jealousy is big time sin. It insults God who is giving you what He wants you to have, when He wants you to have it. His plan for you is not like His plan for anyone else, and as the seagulls have shown me, envy can make you attack or diminish the one you're jealous of. Your heart's getting darker toward that person, your mouth is getting more negative, your feelings are getting more venomous. Isn't it time to call your feelings what they are? It's the sin of envy. Repent of those feelings to your Savior who was sent to be crucified because of envy.
Jealousy makes otherwise beautiful seagulls ugly. It does the same to you and me. Hey, you'll fly a lot higher without envy dragging you down!
Stephen's Speech to the Sanhedrin
1Then the high priest asked him, "Are these charges true?"
2To this he replied: "Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran. 3'Leave your country and your people,' God said, 'and go to the land I will show you.'[a]
4"So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. 5He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. 6God spoke to him in this way: 'Your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. 7But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,' God said, 'and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.'[b] 8Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.
9"Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him 10and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt; so he made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.
11"Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our fathers could not find food. 12When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers on their first visit. 13On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph's family. 14After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all. 15Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our fathers died. 16Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money.
17"As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt greatly increased. 18Then another king, who knew nothing about Joseph, became ruler of Egypt. 19He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our forefathers by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die.
20"At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child.[c]For three months he was cared for in his father's house. 21When he was placed outside, Pharaoh's daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. 22Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.
23"When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites. 24He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. 25Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. 26The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, 'Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?'
27"But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, 'Who made you ruler and judge over us? 28Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?'[d] 29When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.
30"After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. 31When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to look more closely, he heard the Lord's voice: 32'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.'[e] Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look.
33"Then the Lord said to him, 'Take off your sandals; the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.'[f]
35"This is the same Moses whom they had rejected with the words, 'Who made you ruler and judge?' He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36He led them out of Egypt and did wonders and miraculous signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea[g] and for forty years in the desert.
37"This is that Moses who told the Israelites, 'God will send you a prophet like me from your own people.'[h] 38He was in the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to us.
39"But our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. 40They told Aaron, 'Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt—we don't know what has happened to him!'[i] 41That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and held a celebration in honor of what their hands had made. 42But God turned away and gave them over to the worship of the heavenly bodies. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets:
" 'Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?
43You have lifted up the shrine of Molech
and the star of your god Rephan,
the idols you made to worship.
Therefore I will send you into exile'[j] beyond Babylon.
44"Our forefathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the desert. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. 45Having received the tabernacle, our fathers under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, 46who enjoyed God's favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.[k] 47But it was Solomon who built the house for him.
48"However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men. As the prophet says:
49" 'Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord.
Or where will my resting place be?
50Has not my hand made all these things?'[l]
51"You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— 53you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it."
The Stoning of Stephen
54When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56"Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."
57At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion:
Ephesians 3:14-21
A Prayer for the Ephesians
14For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
May 15, 2008
Surprise Me!
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Ephesians 3:14-21
“My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. —Isaiah 55:8
When our family went out for an ice cream cone, my dad would ask my mother what flavor she’d like. Often she would reply, “Surprise me!” She told me she was rarely disappointed in his choice.
Do you like surprises? Would you ever dare say, “Surprise me!” to God? A lot of us are a little scared to do that. Yes, we have faith that God is good and that He loves us. Yet we’re afraid we won’t like what He chooses for us.
Throughout the Bible we read that God delights in doing the unexpected. Sometimes it’s folding back the waters for His people to cross a sea on dry ground (Ex. 14:21-22). Or forgiving and embracing those who repent of their sin (Ps. 130:1-4). Jesus’ time on earth was filled with amazing events that pointed people to His Father—He turned water into wine, calmed storms, healed the sick, and raised the dead.
What kind of God do we serve? One who is not confined by our finite imagination (Eph. 3:20). God’s thoughts and ways are not like ours (Isa. 55:8), and He wants to bless us with far more than a special flavor of ice cream. He delights in His children who trust Him and are willing to say, “Surprise me, Lord!”
— Cindy Hess Kasper
O Lord, give me the grace to be
Content with what You give to me.
No! More than that, let me rejoice
In all You send me—it’s Your choice! —Anon.
Those who let God provide will always be satisfied.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers:
May 15, 2008
The Habit of Rising to the Occasion
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
. . . that you may know what is the hope of His calling . . . —Ephesians 1:18
Remember that you have been saved so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in your body (see 2 Corinthians 4:10 ). Direct the total energy of your powers so that you may achieve everything your election as a child of God provides; rise every time to whatever occasion may come your way.
You did not do anything to achieve your salvation, but you must do something to exhibit it. You must "work out your own salvation" which God has worked in you already ( Philippians 2:12 ). Are your speech, your thinking, and your emotions evidence that you are working it "out"? If you are still the same miserable, grouchy person, set on having your own way, then it is a lie to say that God has saved and sanctified you.
God is the Master Designer, and He allows adversities into your life to see if you can jump over them properly—"By my God I can leap over a wall" ( Psalm 18:29 ). God will never shield you from the requirements of being His son or daughter. First Peter 4:12 says, "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you . . . ." Rise to the occasion—do what the trial demands of you. It does not matter how much it hurts as long as it gives God the opportunity to manifest the life of Jesus in your body.
May God not find complaints in us anymore, but spiritual vitality—a readiness to face anything He brings our way. The only proper goal of life is that we manifest the Son of God; and when this occurs, all of our dictating of our demands to God disappears. Our Lord never dictated demands to His Father, and neither are we to make demands on God. We are here to submit to His will so that He may work through us what He wants. Once we realize this, He will make us broken bread and poured-out wine with which to feed and nourish others.
"A Word With You" by Ron Hutchcraft
The Seagull Syndrome
Thursday, May 15, 2008
If you ever spend any time near the ocean, I'll bet you've got some photos of seagulls. They just soar around above the surf, you know, almost as if they're posing for some of us amateur photographers! Now, seagulls are impressive until they get together. I remember sitting on the rocks along the Maine coast trying to feed some corn chips to this seagull - see, they're into junk food too - and as soon as one gull started to go for the food, another one would land and start yelling at him. Then they were joined by a third gull - they got pretty nasty contesting who's going to get this little corn chip! Now, that's standard operating procedure for seagulls. Like the time we were enjoying this picturesque New England harbor. The highest point was this weathervane and one gull would land on it - sometimes he'd even trumpet the fact that he was number one. That lasted about ten seconds until another gull came plowing into him, knocked him off, pretty soon he's followed by another gull who knocked number two off, so he could have his ten minutes on top! Scientists have even put a red band on a seagull to see how the other gulls would react. They literally pecked him to death because he had something they didn't have. Nice birds, huh?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Seagull Syndrome."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 27, and it comes from the period of the arrest and the trial just before the crucifixion of our Lord. A very revealing statement says this - it gives the startling reason behind the execution of the Son of God. Matthew 27:18, "Pilate knew that it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him." Did you hear that little four letter word, envy? They were jealous of Jesus. More people were listening to Him than to them, so they conspired to have Jesus Christ put to death.
Envy. Not a sin you probably think of immediately as being that bad, huh? But in a sense it was envy that killed our Savior. It was essentially envy that caused Cain to kill his brother Abel, because Abel got a better response from God than he did. It was envy that made King Saul try to impale young David with a javelin. Envy is no harmless little sin, it's ugly, it's destructive, it leads to hurt, it leads to hate, but it's almost never identified, never condemned. And because it's the silent sin, it may have entered your heart. It may be poisoning your relationship with people and even with God. Today God wanted to hold up a mirror so you could maybe see the jealousy in your soul. Envy is the seagull sin, that darkness that creeps in when we see someone who has something we don't have. You see it always starts with comparing. If we didn't compare ourselves with other people we wouldn't envy.
Maybe you're struggling right now with bad feelings toward someone because you've been comparing. To be brutally honest, you're jealous of someone else's success, or someone else's appearance, or their position, their marriage, or someone else's things. You might even be jealous of someone else's ministry - they're on a high spot and you want to be there. Well, that jealousy is big time sin. It insults God who is giving you what He wants you to have, when He wants you to have it. His plan for you is not like His plan for anyone else, and as the seagulls have shown me, envy can make you attack or diminish the one you're jealous of. Your heart's getting darker toward that person, your mouth is getting more negative, your feelings are getting more venomous. Isn't it time to call your feelings what they are? It's the sin of envy. Repent of those feelings to your Savior who was sent to be crucified because of envy.
Jealousy makes otherwise beautiful seagulls ugly. It does the same to you and me. Hey, you'll fly a lot higher without envy dragging you down!
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Acts 6 and Daily devotions
Acts 6
The Choosing of the Seven
1In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word."
5This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
7So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
Stephen Seized
8Now Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people. 9Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia. These men began to argue with Stephen, 10but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke.
11Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, "We have heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God."
12So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. 13They produced false witnesses, who testified, "This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. 14For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us."
15All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion:
John 9
Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind
1As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
3"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. 4As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
6Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. 7"Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
8His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, "Isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg?" 9Some claimed that he was.
Others said, "No, he only looks like him."
But he himself insisted, "I am the man."
10"How then were your eyes opened?" they demanded.
11He replied, "The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see."
May 14, 2008
True Trust
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: John 9:1-11
Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. —John 9:3
If you didn’t know him, you might think Nick Vujicic has everything going for him. Nick has never had a sore arm. He’s never had knee problems. He’s never smashed his finger in a door, stubbed his toe, or banged his shin against a table leg.
But that’s because Nick doesn’t have a shin. Or a toe. Or a finger. Or a knee. Or an arm. Nick was born with no arms and no legs. Before you begin to feel sorry for Nick, read his words. “God won’t let anything happen to us in our life unless He has a good purpose for it all. I completely gave my life to Christ at the age of 15 after reading John 9. Jesus said that the reason the man was born blind was ‘so that the works of God may be revealed through him.’ . . . I now see that glory revealed as He is using me just the way I am and in ways others can’t be used.” Nick travels the world to spread the gospel and love of Jesus.
Nick says, “If I can trust in God with my circumstances, then you can trust in God with your circumstances. . . . The greatest joy of all is having Jesus Christ in my life and living the godly purpose He has for me.”
Can we say that? Can we look beyond our limitations and have the same trust in God that transformed a man with no arms or legs into a missionary for Jesus?
— Dave Branon
Lord, shape my life as only You can,
Guiding each day by Your loving plan;
Take what You need and give what You will;
My life is Yours to use and to fill. —Branon
Trusting God turns problems into opportunities.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers:
May 14, 2008
The Habit of Enjoying Adversity
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
. . . that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body —2 Corinthians 4:10
We have to develop godly habits to express what God’s grace has done in us. It is not just a question of being saved from hell, but of being saved so that "the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body." And it is adversity that makes us exhibit His life in our mortal flesh. Is my life exhibiting the essence of the sweetness of the Son of God, or just the basic irritation of "myself" that I would have apart from Him? The only thing that will enable me to enjoy adversity is the acute sense of eagerness of allowing the life of the Son of God to evidence itself in me. No matter how difficult something may be, I must say, "Lord, I am delighted to obey You in this." Instantly, the Son of God will move to the forefront of my life, and will manifest in my body that which glorifies Him.
You must not debate. The moment you obey the light of God, His Son shines through you in that very adversity; but if you debate with God, you grieve His Spirit (see Ephesians 4:30 ). You must keep yourself in the proper condition to allow the life of the Son of God to be manifested in you, and you cannot keep yourself fit if you give way to self-pity. Our circumstances are the means God uses to exhibit just how wonderfully perfect and extraordinarily pure His Son is. Discovering a new way of manifesting the Son of God should make our heart beat with renewed excitement. It is one thing to choose adversity, and quite another to enter into adversity through the orchestrating of our circumstances by God’s sovereignty. And if God puts you into adversity, He is adequately sufficient to "supply all your need" ( Philippians 4:19 ).
Keep your soul properly conditioned to manifest the life of the Son of God. Never live on your memories of past experiences, but let the Word of God always be living and active in you.
"A Word With You" by Ron Hutchcraft
Pulling the Plug On the Scoreboard
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
It was a great day for me when I went bowling and found out that they now had automatic score keeping. I never could figure it out, especially on the more complicated stuff, when you just had to add it up on these cards. Now, we never went bowling often, but, when we did we used to fumble around trying to figure out how to score the game. There are some folks who say, "Let's just have fun and in this sport (whatever it is), forget about the score!" Well, we're not among those folks. In fact, no matter what the sport, most athletes wouldn't be too interested if no points were kept for goals, or runs, or touchdowns, or whatever. But I have to wonder if the people who just enjoy the game without keeping score have a little less stress in their lives.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Pulling the Plug On the Scoreboard."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from I Peter 4:9, "Above all, love each other deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins." Okay, now God starts off by saying, "above all," and the man through whom He's writing, Peter, gives an interesting description of what Christian love is in very practical terms. It's something that covers a multitude of sins. Now think of the opposite - un-love doesn't overlook any sin, any mistake. You see the problem is this score keeping thing. We tend to keep score in our relationships, we rack up a negative point when someone fails us, or hurts us, or slights us, or in any way blows it. It was Peter who asked Jesus how many times he was expected to not score things someone did against them, to forgive them. Jesus said, "Seventy times seven." Let it go 490 times! By that time, who's counting anymore?
Maybe a relationship of yours is suffering because you've been keeping score with your mate, your son, your daughter, or your parent? Maybe you've been racking up points against your friend, or your co-worker, or that person at church? And when they do something that bothers you or hurts you, you kind of figuratively roll your eyes and say, "There they go again." And you put another mark against them on your negative scoreboard. In fact, those marks ultimately become a negative filter through which you view everything that person does. They can't do anything right now - even their good is explained away or it's unrecorded because it doesn't fit your negative grid. Now, could it be that you keep bringing up those negatives, especially to make your point? Someone you're supposed to be loving may be drowning in your critical comments, your judgmental attitude, your negative assumptions.
The man who wrote these words, Simon Peter, experienced this kind of forgiving love himself. Remember he totally let his Lord down, denied Him three times in Jesus' greatest hour of need, but he found that Jesus did not hold that against him. In fact, when he finally got together with Peter individually after His resurrection, Jesus said, "Do you love Me?" That's all He wanted to know.
Well, that's how Jesus is treating you, and now He's asking you to treat other people with that same kind of grace and mercy. Not to treat them in the way that they have treated you, but to treat them in the way that Jesus has treated you - and Jesus has had a lot more to forgive than you ever will. Colossians 3:13 says, "Forgive, as the Lord forgave you."
It's time to put the scoreboard away isn't it? Like your Lord has done with you. Remember, un-love notices and records ever slight, every problem, every mistake. But we're servants of a Savior who makes us into people who love as He does - without a scoreboard.
The Choosing of the Seven
1In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word."
5This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
7So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
Stephen Seized
8Now Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people. 9Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia. These men began to argue with Stephen, 10but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke.
11Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, "We have heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God."
12So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. 13They produced false witnesses, who testified, "This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. 14For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us."
15All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion:
John 9
Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind
1As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
3"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. 4As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
6Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. 7"Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
8His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, "Isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg?" 9Some claimed that he was.
Others said, "No, he only looks like him."
But he himself insisted, "I am the man."
10"How then were your eyes opened?" they demanded.
11He replied, "The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see."
May 14, 2008
True Trust
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: John 9:1-11
Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. —John 9:3
If you didn’t know him, you might think Nick Vujicic has everything going for him. Nick has never had a sore arm. He’s never had knee problems. He’s never smashed his finger in a door, stubbed his toe, or banged his shin against a table leg.
But that’s because Nick doesn’t have a shin. Or a toe. Or a finger. Or a knee. Or an arm. Nick was born with no arms and no legs. Before you begin to feel sorry for Nick, read his words. “God won’t let anything happen to us in our life unless He has a good purpose for it all. I completely gave my life to Christ at the age of 15 after reading John 9. Jesus said that the reason the man was born blind was ‘so that the works of God may be revealed through him.’ . . . I now see that glory revealed as He is using me just the way I am and in ways others can’t be used.” Nick travels the world to spread the gospel and love of Jesus.
Nick says, “If I can trust in God with my circumstances, then you can trust in God with your circumstances. . . . The greatest joy of all is having Jesus Christ in my life and living the godly purpose He has for me.”
Can we say that? Can we look beyond our limitations and have the same trust in God that transformed a man with no arms or legs into a missionary for Jesus?
— Dave Branon
Lord, shape my life as only You can,
Guiding each day by Your loving plan;
Take what You need and give what You will;
My life is Yours to use and to fill. —Branon
Trusting God turns problems into opportunities.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers:
May 14, 2008
The Habit of Enjoying Adversity
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
. . . that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body —2 Corinthians 4:10
We have to develop godly habits to express what God’s grace has done in us. It is not just a question of being saved from hell, but of being saved so that "the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body." And it is adversity that makes us exhibit His life in our mortal flesh. Is my life exhibiting the essence of the sweetness of the Son of God, or just the basic irritation of "myself" that I would have apart from Him? The only thing that will enable me to enjoy adversity is the acute sense of eagerness of allowing the life of the Son of God to evidence itself in me. No matter how difficult something may be, I must say, "Lord, I am delighted to obey You in this." Instantly, the Son of God will move to the forefront of my life, and will manifest in my body that which glorifies Him.
You must not debate. The moment you obey the light of God, His Son shines through you in that very adversity; but if you debate with God, you grieve His Spirit (see Ephesians 4:30 ). You must keep yourself in the proper condition to allow the life of the Son of God to be manifested in you, and you cannot keep yourself fit if you give way to self-pity. Our circumstances are the means God uses to exhibit just how wonderfully perfect and extraordinarily pure His Son is. Discovering a new way of manifesting the Son of God should make our heart beat with renewed excitement. It is one thing to choose adversity, and quite another to enter into adversity through the orchestrating of our circumstances by God’s sovereignty. And if God puts you into adversity, He is adequately sufficient to "supply all your need" ( Philippians 4:19 ).
Keep your soul properly conditioned to manifest the life of the Son of God. Never live on your memories of past experiences, but let the Word of God always be living and active in you.
"A Word With You" by Ron Hutchcraft
Pulling the Plug On the Scoreboard
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
It was a great day for me when I went bowling and found out that they now had automatic score keeping. I never could figure it out, especially on the more complicated stuff, when you just had to add it up on these cards. Now, we never went bowling often, but, when we did we used to fumble around trying to figure out how to score the game. There are some folks who say, "Let's just have fun and in this sport (whatever it is), forget about the score!" Well, we're not among those folks. In fact, no matter what the sport, most athletes wouldn't be too interested if no points were kept for goals, or runs, or touchdowns, or whatever. But I have to wonder if the people who just enjoy the game without keeping score have a little less stress in their lives.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Pulling the Plug On the Scoreboard."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from I Peter 4:9, "Above all, love each other deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins." Okay, now God starts off by saying, "above all," and the man through whom He's writing, Peter, gives an interesting description of what Christian love is in very practical terms. It's something that covers a multitude of sins. Now think of the opposite - un-love doesn't overlook any sin, any mistake. You see the problem is this score keeping thing. We tend to keep score in our relationships, we rack up a negative point when someone fails us, or hurts us, or slights us, or in any way blows it. It was Peter who asked Jesus how many times he was expected to not score things someone did against them, to forgive them. Jesus said, "Seventy times seven." Let it go 490 times! By that time, who's counting anymore?
Maybe a relationship of yours is suffering because you've been keeping score with your mate, your son, your daughter, or your parent? Maybe you've been racking up points against your friend, or your co-worker, or that person at church? And when they do something that bothers you or hurts you, you kind of figuratively roll your eyes and say, "There they go again." And you put another mark against them on your negative scoreboard. In fact, those marks ultimately become a negative filter through which you view everything that person does. They can't do anything right now - even their good is explained away or it's unrecorded because it doesn't fit your negative grid. Now, could it be that you keep bringing up those negatives, especially to make your point? Someone you're supposed to be loving may be drowning in your critical comments, your judgmental attitude, your negative assumptions.
The man who wrote these words, Simon Peter, experienced this kind of forgiving love himself. Remember he totally let his Lord down, denied Him three times in Jesus' greatest hour of need, but he found that Jesus did not hold that against him. In fact, when he finally got together with Peter individually after His resurrection, Jesus said, "Do you love Me?" That's all He wanted to know.
Well, that's how Jesus is treating you, and now He's asking you to treat other people with that same kind of grace and mercy. Not to treat them in the way that they have treated you, but to treat them in the way that Jesus has treated you - and Jesus has had a lot more to forgive than you ever will. Colossians 3:13 says, "Forgive, as the Lord forgave you."
It's time to put the scoreboard away isn't it? Like your Lord has done with you. Remember, un-love notices and records ever slight, every problem, every mistake. But we're servants of a Savior who makes us into people who love as He does - without a scoreboard.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Acts 5 and devotions
Acts 5
Ananias and Sapphira
1Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2With his wife's full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet.
3Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God."
5When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. 6Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.
7About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8Peter asked her, "Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?"
"Yes," she said, "that is the price."
9Peter said to her, "How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also."
10At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.
The Apostles Heal Many
12The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon's Colonnade. 13No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. 14Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. 15As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. 16Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil[a] spirits, and all of them were healed.
The Apostles Persecuted
17Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. 18They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. 19But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. 20"Go, stand in the temple courts," he said, "and tell the people the full message of this new life."
21At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people.
When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin—the full assembly of the elders of Israel—and sent to the jail for the apostles. 22But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported, 23"We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside." 24On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were puzzled, wondering what would come of this.
25Then someone came and said, "Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people." 26At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people would stone them.
27Having brought the apostles, they made them appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. 28"We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name," he said. "Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood."
29Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men! 30The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead—whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. 31God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. 32We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him."
33When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. 34But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. 35Then he addressed them: "Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. 36Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. 37After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. 38Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. 39But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God."
40His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
41The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. 42Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.[b]
Our Daily Bread reading and devotional:
Deuteronomy 32:7-12
7 Remember the days of old;
consider the generations long past.
Ask your father and he will tell you,
your elders, and they will explain to you.
8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,
when he divided all mankind,
he set up boundaries for the peoples
according to the number of the sons of Israel. [a]
9 For the LORD's portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted inheritance.
10 In a desert land he found him,
in a barren and howling waste.
He shielded him and cared for him;
he guarded him as the apple of his eye,
11 like an eagle that stirs up its nest
and hovers over its young,
that spreads its wings to catch them
and carries them on its pinions.
12 The LORD alone led him;
no foreign god was with him.
May 13, 2008
Reframing The Picture
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Deuteronomy 32:7-12
As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, . . . so the Lord alone led [Jacob]. —Deuteronomy 32:11-12
For 3 months I had a ringside seat— or should I say a bird’s-eye view— of God’s amazing handiwork. Ninety feet above the floor of Norfolk Botanical Garden, workers installed a webcam focused on the nest of a family of bald eagles, and online viewers were allowed to watch.
When the eggs hatched, Mama and Papa Eagle were attentive to their offspring, taking turns hunting for food and guarding the nest. But one day when the eaglets still looked like fuzzballs with beaks, both parents disappeared. I worried that harm had come to them.
My concern was unfounded. The webcam operator enlarged the camera angle, and there was Mama Eagle perched on a nearby branch.
As I pondered this “reframed” picture, I thought of times when I have feared that God had abandoned me. The view in the forest heights of Virginia reminded me that my vision is limited. I see only a small part of the entire scene.
Moses used eagle imagery to describe God. As eagles carry their young, God carries His people (Deut. 32:11-12). Despite how it may seem, the Lord “is not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:27). This is true even when we feel abandoned.
— Julie Ackerman Link
Under His wings I am safely abiding;
Though the night deepens and tempests are wild,
Still I can trust Him—I know He will keep me;
He has redeemed me and I am His child. —Cushing
Because the Lord is watching over us, we don’t have to fear the dangers around us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 13, 2008
The Habit of Keeping a Clear Conscience
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
. . . strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men —Acts 24:16
God’s commands to us are actually given to the life of His Son in us. Consequently, to our human nature in which God’s Son has been formed (see Galatians 4:19 ), His commands are difficult. But they become divinely easy once we obey.
Conscience is that ability within me that attaches itself to the highest standard I know, and then continually reminds me of what that standard demands that I do. It is the eye of the soul which looks out either toward God or toward what we regard as the highest standard. This explains why conscience is different in different people. If I am in the habit of continually holding God’s standard in front of me, my conscience will always direct me to God’s perfect law and indicate what I should do. The question is, will I obey? I have to make an effort to keep my conscience so sensitive that I can live without any offense toward anyone. I should be living in such perfect harmony with God’s Son that the spirit of my mind is being renewed through every circumstance of life, and that I may be able to quickly "prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God" ( Romans 12:2 ; also see Ephesians 4:23 ).
God always instructs us down to the last detail. Is my ear sensitive enough to hear even the softest whisper of the Spirit, so that I know what I should do? "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God . . ." ( Ephesians 4:30 ). He does not speak with a voice like thunder— His voice is so gentle that it is easy for us to ignore. And the only thing that keeps our conscience sensitive to Him is the habit of being open to God on the inside. When you begin to debate, stop immediately. Don’t ask, "Why can’t I do this?" You are on the wrong track. There is no debating possible once your conscience speaks. Whatever it is— drop it, and see that you keep your inner vision clear.
"A Word With You" by Ron Hutchcraft
The Secret of Not Getting Lost
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
We were driving with some of our young Native American friends in Arizona and we were returning from a little sightseeing outing. And even though men never get lost, right? The man driving did. As we were debating which way to go to get back, one of our Indian passengers described exactly how we had traveled to this area and exactly how we could get back. We listened, we tried it, and we weren't lost anymore! Now maybe it's just been my experience, and sometimes I even joke about it with my Native friends - Native Americans just don't seem to get lost! I've tried to figure this out. Maybe it's just instinct, but over and over I've noticed something. My Indian friends pay very close attention to where they're going. Seldom do they have to travel there twice to know where they're going. Now, they have taught me a very valuable lesson - the way to know your way is to pay close attention to where you've been!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You about "The Secret of Not Getting Lost."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Psalm 78; it's a record of the sad history of God's ancient people, oh, and some of His current people too. Verse 10, "They did not keep God's covenant and refused to live by His law." Now why? Verse 11, "They forgot what He had done, the wonders that He had shown them." You see, they forgot the road God had brought them on in the past. And then there is a tragic description throughout the chapter of a lifetime of bad choices. It says, "They spoke against God," (verse 19), "they kept on sinning," (verse 32). In spite of His wonders they did not believe. Another verse says they rebelled against Him. And the result? Well, it says that, "They ended their days in futility and their years in terror." The bottom line mistake is summed up in verse 42, "They did not remember His power."
All the wonderful times God had provided, and intervened, and blessed, and protected. They simply forgot when they were facing a new challenge or a new choice. So what's changed? Not much! As God's children today we get lost because we fail to remember where we've been with Him before. We live in unbelief, failing to trust God to work in this situation because we ignore how God has worked before. It's sort of spiritual amnesia. The result is that we start to invent our own solutions; we come up with our own plans. We run ahead of God, we run behind God, or in some way we take a detour from His perfect will.
Now maybe you're facing a choice right now, a challenge, a crossroads that could take you deeper into God's great plans for you, or down a road that's wrong for you. It's time to retrace the road that He's already been leading you on. Ask yourself questions like these: What have been the milestone scripture verses that God has used to guide my life in the past? Go over them, quote them, depend on them for this crossroads too. Another question: What has God been saying to me in recent months as I've prayed and spent time with Him in His Word, the Bible? Look for the reoccurring themes that He's been bringing into your heart. By the way, that's why it's so helpful to keep a spiritual journal of each day's time with Him. And here's another question: What patterns can I see in how God has led me in the past? Remember the past has been preparation for this moment. What does it look like He's been preparing you for? Another question: What are some times that I've seen my God majorly intervene and support me, use me, and supply for me? Expect Him to be that same God for you again. It may be a different method, but the same awesome Heavenly Father.
The hymn writer looked back over the path of his lifetime and he said what we've all sung with all our hearts, "Great is thy faithfulness, oh God my Father, there is no shadow of turning with thee. Thou changest not, thy compassions they fail not; great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me." There's a way to keep from getting lost, pay close attention to where you've already been. The Good Shepherd who brought you this far isn't about to leave you now.
Ananias and Sapphira
1Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2With his wife's full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet.
3Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God."
5When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. 6Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.
7About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8Peter asked her, "Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?"
"Yes," she said, "that is the price."
9Peter said to her, "How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also."
10At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.
The Apostles Heal Many
12The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon's Colonnade. 13No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. 14Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. 15As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. 16Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil[a] spirits, and all of them were healed.
The Apostles Persecuted
17Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. 18They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. 19But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. 20"Go, stand in the temple courts," he said, "and tell the people the full message of this new life."
21At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people.
When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin—the full assembly of the elders of Israel—and sent to the jail for the apostles. 22But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported, 23"We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside." 24On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were puzzled, wondering what would come of this.
25Then someone came and said, "Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people." 26At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people would stone them.
27Having brought the apostles, they made them appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. 28"We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name," he said. "Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood."
29Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men! 30The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead—whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. 31God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. 32We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him."
33When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. 34But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. 35Then he addressed them: "Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. 36Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. 37After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. 38Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. 39But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God."
40His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
41The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. 42Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.[b]
Our Daily Bread reading and devotional:
Deuteronomy 32:7-12
7 Remember the days of old;
consider the generations long past.
Ask your father and he will tell you,
your elders, and they will explain to you.
8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,
when he divided all mankind,
he set up boundaries for the peoples
according to the number of the sons of Israel. [a]
9 For the LORD's portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted inheritance.
10 In a desert land he found him,
in a barren and howling waste.
He shielded him and cared for him;
he guarded him as the apple of his eye,
11 like an eagle that stirs up its nest
and hovers over its young,
that spreads its wings to catch them
and carries them on its pinions.
12 The LORD alone led him;
no foreign god was with him.
May 13, 2008
Reframing The Picture
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Deuteronomy 32:7-12
As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, . . . so the Lord alone led [Jacob]. —Deuteronomy 32:11-12
For 3 months I had a ringside seat— or should I say a bird’s-eye view— of God’s amazing handiwork. Ninety feet above the floor of Norfolk Botanical Garden, workers installed a webcam focused on the nest of a family of bald eagles, and online viewers were allowed to watch.
When the eggs hatched, Mama and Papa Eagle were attentive to their offspring, taking turns hunting for food and guarding the nest. But one day when the eaglets still looked like fuzzballs with beaks, both parents disappeared. I worried that harm had come to them.
My concern was unfounded. The webcam operator enlarged the camera angle, and there was Mama Eagle perched on a nearby branch.
As I pondered this “reframed” picture, I thought of times when I have feared that God had abandoned me. The view in the forest heights of Virginia reminded me that my vision is limited. I see only a small part of the entire scene.
Moses used eagle imagery to describe God. As eagles carry their young, God carries His people (Deut. 32:11-12). Despite how it may seem, the Lord “is not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:27). This is true even when we feel abandoned.
— Julie Ackerman Link
Under His wings I am safely abiding;
Though the night deepens and tempests are wild,
Still I can trust Him—I know He will keep me;
He has redeemed me and I am His child. —Cushing
Because the Lord is watching over us, we don’t have to fear the dangers around us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 13, 2008
The Habit of Keeping a Clear Conscience
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
. . . strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men —Acts 24:16
God’s commands to us are actually given to the life of His Son in us. Consequently, to our human nature in which God’s Son has been formed (see Galatians 4:19 ), His commands are difficult. But they become divinely easy once we obey.
Conscience is that ability within me that attaches itself to the highest standard I know, and then continually reminds me of what that standard demands that I do. It is the eye of the soul which looks out either toward God or toward what we regard as the highest standard. This explains why conscience is different in different people. If I am in the habit of continually holding God’s standard in front of me, my conscience will always direct me to God’s perfect law and indicate what I should do. The question is, will I obey? I have to make an effort to keep my conscience so sensitive that I can live without any offense toward anyone. I should be living in such perfect harmony with God’s Son that the spirit of my mind is being renewed through every circumstance of life, and that I may be able to quickly "prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God" ( Romans 12:2 ; also see Ephesians 4:23 ).
God always instructs us down to the last detail. Is my ear sensitive enough to hear even the softest whisper of the Spirit, so that I know what I should do? "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God . . ." ( Ephesians 4:30 ). He does not speak with a voice like thunder— His voice is so gentle that it is easy for us to ignore. And the only thing that keeps our conscience sensitive to Him is the habit of being open to God on the inside. When you begin to debate, stop immediately. Don’t ask, "Why can’t I do this?" You are on the wrong track. There is no debating possible once your conscience speaks. Whatever it is— drop it, and see that you keep your inner vision clear.
"A Word With You" by Ron Hutchcraft
The Secret of Not Getting Lost
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
We were driving with some of our young Native American friends in Arizona and we were returning from a little sightseeing outing. And even though men never get lost, right? The man driving did. As we were debating which way to go to get back, one of our Indian passengers described exactly how we had traveled to this area and exactly how we could get back. We listened, we tried it, and we weren't lost anymore! Now maybe it's just been my experience, and sometimes I even joke about it with my Native friends - Native Americans just don't seem to get lost! I've tried to figure this out. Maybe it's just instinct, but over and over I've noticed something. My Indian friends pay very close attention to where they're going. Seldom do they have to travel there twice to know where they're going. Now, they have taught me a very valuable lesson - the way to know your way is to pay close attention to where you've been!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You about "The Secret of Not Getting Lost."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Psalm 78; it's a record of the sad history of God's ancient people, oh, and some of His current people too. Verse 10, "They did not keep God's covenant and refused to live by His law." Now why? Verse 11, "They forgot what He had done, the wonders that He had shown them." You see, they forgot the road God had brought them on in the past. And then there is a tragic description throughout the chapter of a lifetime of bad choices. It says, "They spoke against God," (verse 19), "they kept on sinning," (verse 32). In spite of His wonders they did not believe. Another verse says they rebelled against Him. And the result? Well, it says that, "They ended their days in futility and their years in terror." The bottom line mistake is summed up in verse 42, "They did not remember His power."
All the wonderful times God had provided, and intervened, and blessed, and protected. They simply forgot when they were facing a new challenge or a new choice. So what's changed? Not much! As God's children today we get lost because we fail to remember where we've been with Him before. We live in unbelief, failing to trust God to work in this situation because we ignore how God has worked before. It's sort of spiritual amnesia. The result is that we start to invent our own solutions; we come up with our own plans. We run ahead of God, we run behind God, or in some way we take a detour from His perfect will.
Now maybe you're facing a choice right now, a challenge, a crossroads that could take you deeper into God's great plans for you, or down a road that's wrong for you. It's time to retrace the road that He's already been leading you on. Ask yourself questions like these: What have been the milestone scripture verses that God has used to guide my life in the past? Go over them, quote them, depend on them for this crossroads too. Another question: What has God been saying to me in recent months as I've prayed and spent time with Him in His Word, the Bible? Look for the reoccurring themes that He's been bringing into your heart. By the way, that's why it's so helpful to keep a spiritual journal of each day's time with Him. And here's another question: What patterns can I see in how God has led me in the past? Remember the past has been preparation for this moment. What does it look like He's been preparing you for? Another question: What are some times that I've seen my God majorly intervene and support me, use me, and supply for me? Expect Him to be that same God for you again. It may be a different method, but the same awesome Heavenly Father.
The hymn writer looked back over the path of his lifetime and he said what we've all sung with all our hearts, "Great is thy faithfulness, oh God my Father, there is no shadow of turning with thee. Thou changest not, thy compassions they fail not; great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me." There's a way to keep from getting lost, pay close attention to where you've already been. The Good Shepherd who brought you this far isn't about to leave you now.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Acts 4 and devotions:
Acts 4
Peter and John Before the Sanhedrin
1The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. 4But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.
5The next day the rulers, elders and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. 6Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other men of the high priest's family. 7They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: "By what power or what name did you do this?"
8Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! 9If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, 10then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11He is
" 'the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the capstone.[a]'[b] 12Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
13When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. 14But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. 15So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. 16"What are we going to do with these men?" they asked. "Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it. 17But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name."
18Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. 20For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."
21After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. 22For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.
The Believers' Prayer
23On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. 24When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. 25You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:
" 'Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
26The kings of the earth take their stand
and the rulers gather together
against the Lord
and against his Anointed One.[c]'[d] 27Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people[e] of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. 28They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. 29Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus."
31After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
The Believers Share Their Possessions
32All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. 33With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. 34There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.
36Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), 37sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Psalm 78
A maskil of Asaph. [a]
1 O my people, hear my teaching;
listen to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter hidden things, things from of old-
3 what we have heard and known,
what our fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children;
we will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD,
his power, and the wonders he has done.
5 He decreed statutes for Jacob
and established the law in Israel,
which he commanded our forefathers
to teach their children,
6 so the next generation would know them,
even the children yet to be born,
and they in turn would tell their children.
7 Then they would put their trust in God
and would not forget his deeds
but would keep his commands.
8 They would not be like their forefathers—
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
whose hearts were not loyal to God,
whose spirits were not faithful to him.
May 12, 2008
A Child’s Wonder
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Psalm 78:1-8
That they may arise and declare [God’s law] to their children, that they may set their hope in God. —Psalm 78:6-7
In 19th-century Scotland, a young mother observed her 3-year-old son’s inquisitive nature. It seemed he was curious about everything that moved or made a noise. James Clerk Maxwell would carry his boyhood wonder with him into a remarkable career in science. He went on to do groundbreaking work in electricity and magnetism. Years later, Albert Einstein would say of Maxwell’s work that it was “the most fruitful that physics has experienced since the time of Newton.”
From early childhood, religion touched all aspects of Maxwell’s life. As a committed Christian, he prayed: “Teach us to study the works of Thy hands . . . and strengthen our reason for Thy service.” The boyhood cultivation of Maxwell’s spiritual life and curiosity resulted in a lifetime of using science in service to the Creator.
The community of faith has always had the responsibility to nurture the talent of the younger generation and to orient their lives to the Lord, “that they may arise and declare [God’s law] to their children, that they may set their hope in God” (Ps. 78:6-7).
Finding ways to encourage children’s love for learning while establishing them in the faith is an important investment in the future.
— Dennis Fisher
Our children are a gift from God
On loan from heaven above,
To train and nourish in the Lord,
And show to them His love. —Sper
We shape tomorrow’s world by what we teach our children today.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers:
May 12, 2008
The Habit of Having No Habits
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
If these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful . . . —2 Peter 1:8
When we first begin to form a habit, we are fully aware of it. There are times when we are aware of becoming virtuous and godly, but this awareness should only be a stage we quickly pass through as we grow spiritually. If we stop at this stage, we will develop a sense of spiritual pride. The right thing to do with godly habits is to immerse them in the life of the Lord until they become such a spontaneous expression of our lives that we are no longer aware of them. Our spiritual life continually causes us to focus our attention inwardly for the determined purpose of self-examination, because each of us has some qualities we have not yet added to our lives.
Your god may be your little Christian habit— the habit of prayer or Bible reading at certain times of your day. Watch how your Father will upset your schedule if you begin to worship your habit instead of what the habit symbolizes. We say, "I can’t do that right now; this is my time alone with God." No, this is your time alone with your habit. There is a quality that is still lacking in you. Identify your shortcoming and then look for opportunities to work into your life that missing quality.
Love means that there are no visible habits— that your habits are so immersed in the Lord that you practice them without realizing it. If you are consciously aware of your own holiness, you place limitations on yourself from doing certain things— things God is not restricting you from at all. This means there is a missing quality that needs to be added to your life. The only supernatural life is the life the Lord Jesus lived, and He was at home with God anywhere. Is there someplace where you are not at home with God? Then allow God to work through whatever that particular circumstance may be until you increase in Him, adding His qualities. Your life will then become the simple life of a child.
"A Word With You" by Ron Hutchcraft
Getting Passengers Off the Fatal Flight
Monday, May 12, 2008
Over the years when people ask me where I live, I sometimes have answered with the name of an airline that I have flown a lot. Actually, a significant part of my life has been spent on airplanes, or in airports. And when there's a disaster in the air, you know, or an airplane problem, for those of us who fly a lot, it makes us think a little bit. And for all of us, whether we are flyers or not, there are some images of certain airline tragedies that I guess will be forever imprinted on our memories. One of those was that jet airline crash in the Everglades where the entire plane and all its passengers just vanished in that swamp. But for one man, there's another image related to that crash. According to one news report, he had used his identification to help his friend purchase a ticket for that flight. The friend didn't have sufficient ID with him at the time. So, the man who bought the ticket watched his friend and all those passengers boarding, and he said, "I cannot forget their faces." And then he was quoted as saying, "If only there had been some sign given of what was going to happen. If only I had known to warn them."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Getting Passengers Off the Fatal Flight."
Now, obviously if anyone had advance warning of the outcome of a fatal flight they would do everything possible to keep the passengers from going. Seldom do we have such a warning. But when it comes to where people around us will go for eternity, we have all the signs and all the warnings we need. God tells us, for example, in 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9, that those who have not obeyed the Gospel of the Lord Jesus will, "Be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord."
You see, without the Savior, no one we know can get to heaven, and the only alternative is hell. Our word for today from the Word of God, Proverbs 24:11, "Rescue those being led away to death, hold back those staggering towards slaughter. If you say, 'But we knew nothing about this,' does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who guards your life know it? Will He not repay each person according to what He has done?" If you know people who are on a flight that leads to death, your responsibility is so obvious. You rescue them! If you look around at most of Jesus' followers today, we're not in rescue mode! There's very little sense of a life-or-death urgency about introducing those around us to Jesus. Which leads us to ask, do we really think that people we know will be lost forever if they don't know Christ? Do we really believe that they're spiritually dying?
Someone suggested to me recently that most Christians are practical universalists. In theological circles a universalist is someone who believes that everyone will eventually make it with God somehow. Practical universalists probably don't believe that; they believe that people must have the Savior to go to heaven, they just don't act like it. They act like the people they know will somehow make it without Him. So what about the people you live with, you live close to, the people you work with, the people you go to school with? The Bible clearly teaches that sin has a death penalty, that Jesus died to pay that penalty, and that we will pay the death penalty for our sins if we don't accept the payment Jesus made in His love for us.
The people around you are on a flight that ends in eternal death and we have the information that could save them! Isn't our responsibility very clear? Rescue those being led away to death; begin to pray daily by name with life or death passion for the people around you. Ask God for the words; ask Him for the opportunity to tell them about your Jesus. You know where their Christless flight is headed. You can see their faces. Be the one who gets them off that fatal flight and on the one that will take them to eternal life.
It could be as we've talked about this today you've realized in your own heart that you may very well have never gotten on the flight that goes to God's heaven. Maybe this could be your day to do what the Bible says, "Cross over from death to life." You just say, "Jesus, I have no hope but you. I've never really acted on this, but I am yours beginning right now. I've believed in you before, but I don't belong to you. I want to beginning today." We'd love to help you cross from death to life and into His waiting arms, if you'll just go to our website. It's yoursforlife.net. I hope you'll go there today, because Jesus gave His life to save yours.
Peter and John Before the Sanhedrin
1The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. 4But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.
5The next day the rulers, elders and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. 6Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other men of the high priest's family. 7They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: "By what power or what name did you do this?"
8Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! 9If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, 10then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11He is
" 'the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the capstone.[a]'[b] 12Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
13When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. 14But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. 15So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. 16"What are we going to do with these men?" they asked. "Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it. 17But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name."
18Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. 20For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."
21After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. 22For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.
The Believers' Prayer
23On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. 24When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. 25You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:
" 'Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
26The kings of the earth take their stand
and the rulers gather together
against the Lord
and against his Anointed One.[c]'[d] 27Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people[e] of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. 28They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. 29Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus."
31After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
The Believers Share Their Possessions
32All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. 33With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. 34There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.
36Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), 37sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Psalm 78
A maskil of Asaph. [a]
1 O my people, hear my teaching;
listen to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter hidden things, things from of old-
3 what we have heard and known,
what our fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children;
we will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD,
his power, and the wonders he has done.
5 He decreed statutes for Jacob
and established the law in Israel,
which he commanded our forefathers
to teach their children,
6 so the next generation would know them,
even the children yet to be born,
and they in turn would tell their children.
7 Then they would put their trust in God
and would not forget his deeds
but would keep his commands.
8 They would not be like their forefathers—
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
whose hearts were not loyal to God,
whose spirits were not faithful to him.
May 12, 2008
A Child’s Wonder
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Psalm 78:1-8
That they may arise and declare [God’s law] to their children, that they may set their hope in God. —Psalm 78:6-7
In 19th-century Scotland, a young mother observed her 3-year-old son’s inquisitive nature. It seemed he was curious about everything that moved or made a noise. James Clerk Maxwell would carry his boyhood wonder with him into a remarkable career in science. He went on to do groundbreaking work in electricity and magnetism. Years later, Albert Einstein would say of Maxwell’s work that it was “the most fruitful that physics has experienced since the time of Newton.”
From early childhood, religion touched all aspects of Maxwell’s life. As a committed Christian, he prayed: “Teach us to study the works of Thy hands . . . and strengthen our reason for Thy service.” The boyhood cultivation of Maxwell’s spiritual life and curiosity resulted in a lifetime of using science in service to the Creator.
The community of faith has always had the responsibility to nurture the talent of the younger generation and to orient their lives to the Lord, “that they may arise and declare [God’s law] to their children, that they may set their hope in God” (Ps. 78:6-7).
Finding ways to encourage children’s love for learning while establishing them in the faith is an important investment in the future.
— Dennis Fisher
Our children are a gift from God
On loan from heaven above,
To train and nourish in the Lord,
And show to them His love. —Sper
We shape tomorrow’s world by what we teach our children today.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers:
May 12, 2008
The Habit of Having No Habits
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
If these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful . . . —2 Peter 1:8
When we first begin to form a habit, we are fully aware of it. There are times when we are aware of becoming virtuous and godly, but this awareness should only be a stage we quickly pass through as we grow spiritually. If we stop at this stage, we will develop a sense of spiritual pride. The right thing to do with godly habits is to immerse them in the life of the Lord until they become such a spontaneous expression of our lives that we are no longer aware of them. Our spiritual life continually causes us to focus our attention inwardly for the determined purpose of self-examination, because each of us has some qualities we have not yet added to our lives.
Your god may be your little Christian habit— the habit of prayer or Bible reading at certain times of your day. Watch how your Father will upset your schedule if you begin to worship your habit instead of what the habit symbolizes. We say, "I can’t do that right now; this is my time alone with God." No, this is your time alone with your habit. There is a quality that is still lacking in you. Identify your shortcoming and then look for opportunities to work into your life that missing quality.
Love means that there are no visible habits— that your habits are so immersed in the Lord that you practice them without realizing it. If you are consciously aware of your own holiness, you place limitations on yourself from doing certain things— things God is not restricting you from at all. This means there is a missing quality that needs to be added to your life. The only supernatural life is the life the Lord Jesus lived, and He was at home with God anywhere. Is there someplace where you are not at home with God? Then allow God to work through whatever that particular circumstance may be until you increase in Him, adding His qualities. Your life will then become the simple life of a child.
"A Word With You" by Ron Hutchcraft
Getting Passengers Off the Fatal Flight
Monday, May 12, 2008
Over the years when people ask me where I live, I sometimes have answered with the name of an airline that I have flown a lot. Actually, a significant part of my life has been spent on airplanes, or in airports. And when there's a disaster in the air, you know, or an airplane problem, for those of us who fly a lot, it makes us think a little bit. And for all of us, whether we are flyers or not, there are some images of certain airline tragedies that I guess will be forever imprinted on our memories. One of those was that jet airline crash in the Everglades where the entire plane and all its passengers just vanished in that swamp. But for one man, there's another image related to that crash. According to one news report, he had used his identification to help his friend purchase a ticket for that flight. The friend didn't have sufficient ID with him at the time. So, the man who bought the ticket watched his friend and all those passengers boarding, and he said, "I cannot forget their faces." And then he was quoted as saying, "If only there had been some sign given of what was going to happen. If only I had known to warn them."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Getting Passengers Off the Fatal Flight."
Now, obviously if anyone had advance warning of the outcome of a fatal flight they would do everything possible to keep the passengers from going. Seldom do we have such a warning. But when it comes to where people around us will go for eternity, we have all the signs and all the warnings we need. God tells us, for example, in 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9, that those who have not obeyed the Gospel of the Lord Jesus will, "Be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord."
You see, without the Savior, no one we know can get to heaven, and the only alternative is hell. Our word for today from the Word of God, Proverbs 24:11, "Rescue those being led away to death, hold back those staggering towards slaughter. If you say, 'But we knew nothing about this,' does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who guards your life know it? Will He not repay each person according to what He has done?" If you know people who are on a flight that leads to death, your responsibility is so obvious. You rescue them! If you look around at most of Jesus' followers today, we're not in rescue mode! There's very little sense of a life-or-death urgency about introducing those around us to Jesus. Which leads us to ask, do we really think that people we know will be lost forever if they don't know Christ? Do we really believe that they're spiritually dying?
Someone suggested to me recently that most Christians are practical universalists. In theological circles a universalist is someone who believes that everyone will eventually make it with God somehow. Practical universalists probably don't believe that; they believe that people must have the Savior to go to heaven, they just don't act like it. They act like the people they know will somehow make it without Him. So what about the people you live with, you live close to, the people you work with, the people you go to school with? The Bible clearly teaches that sin has a death penalty, that Jesus died to pay that penalty, and that we will pay the death penalty for our sins if we don't accept the payment Jesus made in His love for us.
The people around you are on a flight that ends in eternal death and we have the information that could save them! Isn't our responsibility very clear? Rescue those being led away to death; begin to pray daily by name with life or death passion for the people around you. Ask God for the words; ask Him for the opportunity to tell them about your Jesus. You know where their Christless flight is headed. You can see their faces. Be the one who gets them off that fatal flight and on the one that will take them to eternal life.
It could be as we've talked about this today you've realized in your own heart that you may very well have never gotten on the flight that goes to God's heaven. Maybe this could be your day to do what the Bible says, "Cross over from death to life." You just say, "Jesus, I have no hope but you. I've never really acted on this, but I am yours beginning right now. I've believed in you before, but I don't belong to you. I want to beginning today." We'd love to help you cross from death to life and into His waiting arms, if you'll just go to our website. It's yoursforlife.net. I hope you'll go there today, because Jesus gave His life to save yours.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Happy Mothers Day, we love you. Acts 3 and devotions:
Acts 3
Peter Heals the Crippled Beggar
1One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. 2Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 3When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. 4Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, "Look at us!" 5So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.
6Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." 7Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. 8He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. 9When all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
Peter Speaks to the Onlookers
11While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade. 12When Peter saw this, he said to them: "Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 16By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.
17"Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ[a] would suffer. 19Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. 21He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. 22For Moses said, 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. 23Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people.'[b]
24"Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days. 25And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, 'Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.'[c] 26When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion:
Proverbs 31:10-12
Listen to this passage
10 [a] A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
11 Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.
12 She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.
Footnotes:
Proverbs 31:10 Verses 10-31 are an acrostic, each verse beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet
Proverbs 31:28-31
Listen to this passage
28 Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
29 "Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."
30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
31 Give her the reward she has earned,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.
May 11, 2008
Best Mum
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Prov. 31:10-12,28-31
Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her. —Proverbs 31:28
On Mother’s Day, 2007, British national television ran an intriguing story. Peggy Bush’s daughter had died, so Peggy absorbed the responsibility of caring for her daughter’s three children while her son-in-law worked. Then, tragically, her son-in-law also died. With both parents gone, Peggy took her three grandchildren in and raised them as if they were her own.
In a world where wrong is glamorized and the lurid is presented as appealing, we seldom hear of the good things that happen. Yet this woman’s love and sacrifice were recognized, acknowledged, and honored as the nation took note of her as Britain’s “Best Mum” for 2007.
Today is Mother’s Day in the US. Most of the efforts, sacrifices, and expressions of love our mothers have given us will not be the lead story on the news. Their recognition will be more personal. But what matters is not the scope of the appreciation but its genuineness.
On this special day, may we thank God for the mothers who have molded our hearts. As we honor them, we fulfill the truth of Proverbs 31:28, “Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her.”
— Bill Crowder
A Christian mother’s love contains
A gospel all its own,
Because the King of love has found
Her heart an ample throne. —Crawford
Nothing touches a child like a mother’s love.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers:
May 11, 2008
'Love One Another'
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
. . . add to your . . . brotherly kindness love —2 Peter 1:5, 7
Love is an indefinite thing to most of us; we don’t know what we mean when we talk about love. Love is the loftiest preference of one person for another, and spiritually Jesus demands that this sovereign preference be for Himself (see Luke 14:26 ). Initially, when "the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit" ( Romans 5:5 ), it is easy to put Jesus first. But then we must practice the things mentioned in 2 Peter 1 to see them worked out in our lives.
The first thing God does is forcibly remove any insincerity, pride, and vanity from my life. And the Holy Spirit reveals to me that God loved me not because I was lovable, but because it was His nature to do so. Now He commands me to show the same love to others by saying, ". . . love one another as I have loved you" ( John 15:12 ). He is saying, "I will bring a number of people around you whom you cannot respect, but you must exhibit My love to them, just as I have exhibited it to you." This kind of love is not a patronizing love for the unlovable— it is His love, and it will not be evidenced in us overnight. Some of us may have tried to force it, but we were soon tired and frustrated.
"The Lord . . . is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish . . ." ( 2 Peter 3:9 ). I should look within and remember how wonderfully He has dealt with me. The knowledge that God has loved me beyond all limits will compel me to go into the world to love others in the same way. I may get irritated because I have to live with an unusually difficult person. But just think how disagreeable I have been with God! Am I prepared to be identified so closely with the Lord Jesus that His life and His sweetness will be continually poured out through Me? Neither natural love nor God’s divine love will remain and grow in me unless it is nurtured. Love is spontaneous, but it has to be maintained through discipline.
Daily Devotion, by Max Lucado:
The Spirit's Work
Sunday, May 11, 2008
If Christ is in you, then the Spirit gives you life.
Romans 8:10
Receiving the unseen is not easy. Most Christians find the cross of Christ easier to accept than the Spirit of Christ. Good Friday makes more sense than Pentecost. Christ, our substitute. Jesus taking our place. The Savior paying for our sins. These are astounding, yet embraceable, concepts. They fall in the arena of transaction and substitution, familiar terriroty for us. But Holy Spirit discussions lead us into the realm of the supernatural and unseen. We grow quickly quiet and cautious, fearing what we can't see or explain.
It helps to consider the Spirit's work from this angle. What Jesus did in Galilee is what the Holy Spirit does in us. Jesus dwelt among the people, teaching, comforting, and convicting. The Holy Spirit dwells within us, teaching, comforting, and convincting.
Peter Heals the Crippled Beggar
1One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. 2Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 3When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. 4Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, "Look at us!" 5So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.
6Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." 7Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. 8He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. 9When all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
Peter Speaks to the Onlookers
11While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade. 12When Peter saw this, he said to them: "Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 16By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.
17"Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ[a] would suffer. 19Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. 21He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. 22For Moses said, 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. 23Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people.'[b]
24"Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days. 25And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, 'Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.'[c] 26When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion:
Proverbs 31:10-12
Listen to this passage
10 [a] A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
11 Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.
12 She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.
Footnotes:
Proverbs 31:10 Verses 10-31 are an acrostic, each verse beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet
Proverbs 31:28-31
Listen to this passage
28 Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
29 "Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."
30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
31 Give her the reward she has earned,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.
May 11, 2008
Best Mum
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Prov. 31:10-12,28-31
Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her. —Proverbs 31:28
On Mother’s Day, 2007, British national television ran an intriguing story. Peggy Bush’s daughter had died, so Peggy absorbed the responsibility of caring for her daughter’s three children while her son-in-law worked. Then, tragically, her son-in-law also died. With both parents gone, Peggy took her three grandchildren in and raised them as if they were her own.
In a world where wrong is glamorized and the lurid is presented as appealing, we seldom hear of the good things that happen. Yet this woman’s love and sacrifice were recognized, acknowledged, and honored as the nation took note of her as Britain’s “Best Mum” for 2007.
Today is Mother’s Day in the US. Most of the efforts, sacrifices, and expressions of love our mothers have given us will not be the lead story on the news. Their recognition will be more personal. But what matters is not the scope of the appreciation but its genuineness.
On this special day, may we thank God for the mothers who have molded our hearts. As we honor them, we fulfill the truth of Proverbs 31:28, “Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her.”
— Bill Crowder
A Christian mother’s love contains
A gospel all its own,
Because the King of love has found
Her heart an ample throne. —Crawford
Nothing touches a child like a mother’s love.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers:
May 11, 2008
'Love One Another'
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
. . . add to your . . . brotherly kindness love —2 Peter 1:5, 7
Love is an indefinite thing to most of us; we don’t know what we mean when we talk about love. Love is the loftiest preference of one person for another, and spiritually Jesus demands that this sovereign preference be for Himself (see Luke 14:26 ). Initially, when "the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit" ( Romans 5:5 ), it is easy to put Jesus first. But then we must practice the things mentioned in 2 Peter 1 to see them worked out in our lives.
The first thing God does is forcibly remove any insincerity, pride, and vanity from my life. And the Holy Spirit reveals to me that God loved me not because I was lovable, but because it was His nature to do so. Now He commands me to show the same love to others by saying, ". . . love one another as I have loved you" ( John 15:12 ). He is saying, "I will bring a number of people around you whom you cannot respect, but you must exhibit My love to them, just as I have exhibited it to you." This kind of love is not a patronizing love for the unlovable— it is His love, and it will not be evidenced in us overnight. Some of us may have tried to force it, but we were soon tired and frustrated.
"The Lord . . . is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish . . ." ( 2 Peter 3:9 ). I should look within and remember how wonderfully He has dealt with me. The knowledge that God has loved me beyond all limits will compel me to go into the world to love others in the same way. I may get irritated because I have to live with an unusually difficult person. But just think how disagreeable I have been with God! Am I prepared to be identified so closely with the Lord Jesus that His life and His sweetness will be continually poured out through Me? Neither natural love nor God’s divine love will remain and grow in me unless it is nurtured. Love is spontaneous, but it has to be maintained through discipline.
Daily Devotion, by Max Lucado:
The Spirit's Work
Sunday, May 11, 2008
If Christ is in you, then the Spirit gives you life.
Romans 8:10
Receiving the unseen is not easy. Most Christians find the cross of Christ easier to accept than the Spirit of Christ. Good Friday makes more sense than Pentecost. Christ, our substitute. Jesus taking our place. The Savior paying for our sins. These are astounding, yet embraceable, concepts. They fall in the arena of transaction and substitution, familiar terriroty for us. But Holy Spirit discussions lead us into the realm of the supernatural and unseen. We grow quickly quiet and cautious, fearing what we can't see or explain.
It helps to consider the Spirit's work from this angle. What Jesus did in Galilee is what the Holy Spirit does in us. Jesus dwelt among the people, teaching, comforting, and convicting. The Holy Spirit dwells within us, teaching, comforting, and convincting.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Acts 2 and devotions
Acts 2
The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost
1When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them.
5Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs-we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" 12Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"
13Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine.[b]"
Peter Addresses the Crowd
14Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! 16No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17" 'In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
18Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
19I will show wonders in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
21And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.'[c]
22"Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men,[d] put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. 25David said about him:
" 'I saw the Lord always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
26Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will live in hope,
27because you will not abandon me to the grave,
nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
28You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence.'[e]
29"Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. 30But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. 31Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ,[f] that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. 32God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. 33Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. 34For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,
" 'The Lord said to my Lord:
"Sit at my right hand
35until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet." '[g]
36"Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."
37When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"
38Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call."
40With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." 41Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
The Fellowship of the Believers
42They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion:
Acts 2
The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost
1When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them.
5Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs-we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" 12Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"
13Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine.[b]"
Peter Addresses the Crowd
14Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! 16No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17" 'In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
May 10, 2008
The Power Of Pentecost
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Acts 2:1-17
You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me. —Acts 1:8
A pastor I know and love is discouraged. Although he is diligent in prayer and works hard, his church remains small while a new congregation nearby is rapidly developing into a megachurch. Yet when I think of the alcoholics, drug addicts, and sexually immoral people he has led to the Savior and a new way of life, I see him as one who witnesses in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Because of what happened on the Day of Pentecost (described in Acts 2), we tend to associate the Holy Spirit’s presence and power with amazing phenomena and large numbers. We forget that a little later the same people filled with the same Holy Spirit were rejected, flogged, imprisoned, even executed. But through it all they were powerful witnesses!
The Holy Spirit’s presence and power can be evidenced in a dynamic preacher who attracts great audiences. But it is seen as well in the volunteer who carries on a one-on-one prison ministry, in the person who witnesses to a co-worker or a neighbor, and in the Sunday school teacher who faithfully teaches week after week.
The power of Pentecost is not especially reserved for the highly gifted. Rather, it is available to all believers in Christ who want to serve Him.
— Herbert Vander Lugt
God’s guidance and help that we need day to day
Are given to all who believe;
The Spirit has come and He is the source
Of power that we can receive. —Branon
The power of God’s Spirit gives power to our witness.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers:
May 10, 2008
Take the Initiative
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
. . . add to your faith virtue . . . —2 Peter 1:5
Add means that we have to do something. We are in danger of forgetting that we cannot do what God does, and that God will not do what we can do. We cannot save nor sanctify ourselves— God does that. But God will not give us good habits or character, and He will not force us to walk correctly before Him. We have to do all that ourselves. We must "work out" our "own salvation" which God has worked in us ( Philippians 2:12 ). Add means that we must get into the habit of doing things, and in the initial stages that is difficult. To take the initiative is to make a beginning— to instruct yourself in the way you must go.
Beware of the tendency to ask the way when you know it perfectly well. Take the initiative— stop hesitating— take the first step. Be determined to act immediately in faith on what God says to you when He speaks, and never reconsider or change your initial decisions. If you hesitate when God tells you to do something, you are being careless, spurning the grace in which you stand. Take the initiative yourself, make a decision of your will right now, and make it impossible to go back. Burn your bridges behind you, saying, "I will write that letter," or "I will pay that debt"; and then do it! Make it irrevocable.
We have to get into the habit of carefully listening to God about everything, forming the habit of finding out what He says and heeding it. If, when a crisis comes, we instinctively turn to God, we will know that the habit has been formed in us. We have to take the initiative where we are, not where we have not yet been.
Max Lucado devotional:
Forgiveness Follows Failure
Saturday, May 10, 2008
In the past God spoke... many times and in many different ways. But now... God has spoken to us through his Son.
Hebrews 1:1-2
God, motivated by love and directed by divinity, surprised everyone. He became a man. In an untouchable mystery, he disguised himself as a carpenter and lived in a dusty Judaean village. Determined to prove his love for his creation, he walked incognito through his own world. His callused hands touched wounds and his compassionate words touched hearts....
But as beautiful as this act of incarnation was, it was not the zenith. Like a master painter, God reserved his masterpiece until the end. All the earlier acts of love had been leading to this one. The angels hushed and the heavens paused to witness the finale. God unveils the canvas and the ultimate act of creative compassion is revealed.
God on a cross. The Creator being sacrificed for the creation. God convincing man once and for all that forgiveness still follows failure.
The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost
1When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them.
5Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs-we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" 12Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"
13Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine.[b]"
Peter Addresses the Crowd
14Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! 16No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17" 'In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
18Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
19I will show wonders in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
21And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.'[c]
22"Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men,[d] put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. 25David said about him:
" 'I saw the Lord always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
26Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will live in hope,
27because you will not abandon me to the grave,
nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
28You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence.'[e]
29"Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. 30But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. 31Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ,[f] that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. 32God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. 33Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. 34For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,
" 'The Lord said to my Lord:
"Sit at my right hand
35until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet." '[g]
36"Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."
37When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"
38Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call."
40With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." 41Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
The Fellowship of the Believers
42They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion:
Acts 2
The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost
1When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them.
5Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs-we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" 12Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"
13Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine.[b]"
Peter Addresses the Crowd
14Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! 16No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17" 'In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
May 10, 2008
The Power Of Pentecost
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Acts 2:1-17
You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me. —Acts 1:8
A pastor I know and love is discouraged. Although he is diligent in prayer and works hard, his church remains small while a new congregation nearby is rapidly developing into a megachurch. Yet when I think of the alcoholics, drug addicts, and sexually immoral people he has led to the Savior and a new way of life, I see him as one who witnesses in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Because of what happened on the Day of Pentecost (described in Acts 2), we tend to associate the Holy Spirit’s presence and power with amazing phenomena and large numbers. We forget that a little later the same people filled with the same Holy Spirit were rejected, flogged, imprisoned, even executed. But through it all they were powerful witnesses!
The Holy Spirit’s presence and power can be evidenced in a dynamic preacher who attracts great audiences. But it is seen as well in the volunteer who carries on a one-on-one prison ministry, in the person who witnesses to a co-worker or a neighbor, and in the Sunday school teacher who faithfully teaches week after week.
The power of Pentecost is not especially reserved for the highly gifted. Rather, it is available to all believers in Christ who want to serve Him.
— Herbert Vander Lugt
God’s guidance and help that we need day to day
Are given to all who believe;
The Spirit has come and He is the source
Of power that we can receive. —Branon
The power of God’s Spirit gives power to our witness.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers:
May 10, 2008
Take the Initiative
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
. . . add to your faith virtue . . . —2 Peter 1:5
Add means that we have to do something. We are in danger of forgetting that we cannot do what God does, and that God will not do what we can do. We cannot save nor sanctify ourselves— God does that. But God will not give us good habits or character, and He will not force us to walk correctly before Him. We have to do all that ourselves. We must "work out" our "own salvation" which God has worked in us ( Philippians 2:12 ). Add means that we must get into the habit of doing things, and in the initial stages that is difficult. To take the initiative is to make a beginning— to instruct yourself in the way you must go.
Beware of the tendency to ask the way when you know it perfectly well. Take the initiative— stop hesitating— take the first step. Be determined to act immediately in faith on what God says to you when He speaks, and never reconsider or change your initial decisions. If you hesitate when God tells you to do something, you are being careless, spurning the grace in which you stand. Take the initiative yourself, make a decision of your will right now, and make it impossible to go back. Burn your bridges behind you, saying, "I will write that letter," or "I will pay that debt"; and then do it! Make it irrevocable.
We have to get into the habit of carefully listening to God about everything, forming the habit of finding out what He says and heeding it. If, when a crisis comes, we instinctively turn to God, we will know that the habit has been formed in us. We have to take the initiative where we are, not where we have not yet been.
Max Lucado devotional:
Forgiveness Follows Failure
Saturday, May 10, 2008
In the past God spoke... many times and in many different ways. But now... God has spoken to us through his Son.
Hebrews 1:1-2
God, motivated by love and directed by divinity, surprised everyone. He became a man. In an untouchable mystery, he disguised himself as a carpenter and lived in a dusty Judaean village. Determined to prove his love for his creation, he walked incognito through his own world. His callused hands touched wounds and his compassionate words touched hearts....
But as beautiful as this act of incarnation was, it was not the zenith. Like a master painter, God reserved his masterpiece until the end. All the earlier acts of love had been leading to this one. The angels hushed and the heavens paused to witness the finale. God unveils the canvas and the ultimate act of creative compassion is revealed.
God on a cross. The Creator being sacrificed for the creation. God convincing man once and for all that forgiveness still follows failure.
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