Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
July 19
Blessed Are the Focused
Each of you has received a gift to use to serve others.
1 Peter 4:10 (NCV)
There is only so much sand in the hourglass. Who gets it?
You know what I'm talking about, don't you?...
"The PTA needs a new treasurer. With your background and experience and talent and wisdom and love for kids and degree in accounting, YOU are the perfect one for the job!". . .
It's tug-of-war, and you are the rope. . . .
"Blessed are the meek," Jesus said. The word meek does not mean weak. It means focused. It is a word used to describe a domesticated stallion. Power under control. . . .
Blessed are those who recognize their God-given responsibilities. Blessed are those who acknowledge that there is only one God and have quit applying for his position. Blessed are those who know what on earth they are on earth to do and set themselves about the business of doing it.
2 Corinthians 11
Paul and the False Apostles
1I hope you will put up with a little of my foolishness; but you are already doing that. 2I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. 3But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. 5But I do not think I am in the least inferior to those "super-apostles." 6I may not be a trained speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way.
7Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge? 8I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you. 9And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so. 10As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, nobody in the regions of Achaia will stop this boasting of mine. 11Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do! 12And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. 13For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
Paul Boasts About His Sufferings
16I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then receive me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a little boasting. 17In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool. 18Since many are boasting in the way the world does, I too will boast. 19You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise! 20In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or pushes himself forward or slaps you in the face. 21To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that!
What anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast about. 22Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham's descendants? So am I. 23Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. 27I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. 29Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?
30If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. 31The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying. 32In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. 33But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Jonah 4
Jonah's Anger at the Lord 's Compassion
1 But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. 2 He prayed to the LORD, "O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live."
4 But the LORD replied, "Have you any right to be angry?"
5 Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then the LORD God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, "It would be better for me to die than to live."
9 But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?"
"I do," he said. "I am angry enough to die."
10 But the LORD said, "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?"
July 19, 2008
Elephants Down
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READ: Jonah 4
On the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may rest. —Exodus 23:12
When rainy-season storms caused flooding in a nature preserve in Thailand, seven elephant calves became unlikely victims. As they tried to ford a river at their usual crossing point, dangerous currents swept them over a 250-foot waterfall. Wildlife advocates said the loss could have been prevented. A spokesperson for the Thailand Wildlife Fund complained that the protective barriers, which had been built at the crossing where four other young elephants had died earlier, were useless.
Long before animal rights became a global issue, the story of Jonah shows the attention our Creator gives to all His creatures. As the story ends, the Lord expresses concern not only for the citizens of Nineveh but also for their livestock (Jonah 4:11). And earlier, God gave Moses laws that extended certain protections even to animals (Ex. 23:4-5,12).
Though humans alone are made in the image of God, the story of Jonah and other Bible texts show a link between caring for people and animals. The Creator gives us reason to provide appropriate, though different, attention to both.
The conclusion seems clear. If God cares even for livestock, how can we ignore the needs of any person for whom His Son died? — Mart De Haan
In trees and flowers of the field,
In creatures large and small,
We trace the watchful care of Him
Who planned and made them all. —King
God cares for us and calls us to care for His creation.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
July 19, 2008
The Submission of the Believer
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READ:
You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am —John 13:13
Our Lord never insists on having authority over us. He never says, "You will submit to me." No, He leaves us perfectly free to choose— so free, in fact, that we can spit in His face or we can put Him to death, as others have done; and yet He will never say a word. But once His life has been created in me through His redemption, I instantly recognize His right to absolute authority over me. It is a complete and effective domination, in which I acknowledge that "You are worthy, O Lord . . ." ( Revelation 4:11 ). It is simply the unworthiness within me that refuses to bow down or to submit to one who is worthy. When I meet someone who is more holy than myself, and I don’t recognize his worthiness, nor obey his instructions for me, it is a sign of my own unworthiness being revealed. God teaches us by using these people who are a little better than we are; not better intellectually, but more holy. And He continues to do so until we willingly submit. Then the whole attitude of our life is one of obedience to Him.
If our Lord insisted on our obedience, He would simply become a taskmaster and cease to have any real authority. He never insists on obedience, but when we truly see Him we will instantly obey Him. Then He is easily Lord of our life, and we live in adoration of Him from morning till night. The level of my growth in grace is revealed by the way I look at obedience. We should have a much higher view of the word obedience, rescuing it from the mire of the world. Obedience is only possible between people who are equals in their relationship to each other; like the relationship between father and son, not that between master and servant. Jesus showed this relationship by saying, "I and My Father are one" ( John 10:30 ). ". . . though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered" ( Hebrews 5:8 ). The Son was obedient as our Redeemer, because He was the Son, not in order to become God’s Son.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
2 Corinthians 10, daily reading and devotions
Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
July 18
Spiritual Bankruptcy
God will show his mercy forever and ever to those who worship and serve him.
Luke 1:50 (NCV)
God does not save us because of what we've done. Only a puny god could be bought with tithes. Only an egotistical god would be impressed with our pain. Only a temperamental god could be satisfied by sacrifices. Only a heartless god would sell salvation to the highest bidders.
And only a great God does for his children what they can't do for themselves.
God's delight is received upon surrender, not awarded upon conquest. The first step to joy is a plea for help, an acknowledgment of moral destitution, an admission of inward paucity. Those who taste God's presence have declared spiritual bankruptcy and are aware of their spiritual crisis.... Their pockets are empty. Their options are gone. They have long since stopped demanding justice; they are pleading for mercy.
2 Corinthians 10
Paul's Defense of His Ministry
1By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am "timid" when face to face with you, but "bold" when away! 2I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world. 3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 6And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.
7You are looking only on the surface of things.[a] If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as he. 8For even if I boast somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than pulling you down, I will not be ashamed of it. 9I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you with my letters. 10For some say, "His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing." 11Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present.
12We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise. 13We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the field God has assigned to us, a field that reaches even to you. 14We are not going too far in our boasting, as would be the case if we had not come to you, for we did get as far as you with the gospel of Christ. 15Neither do we go beyond our limits by boasting of work done by others.[b] Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our area of activity among you will greatly expand, 16so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. For we do not want to boast about work already done in another man's territory. 17But, "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."[c] 18For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
James 3
Taming the Tongue
1Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.
3When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
7All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, 8but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. 10Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. 11Can both fresh water and salt[a] water flow from the same spring? 12My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
July 18, 2008
Little Things
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READ: James 3:1-12
The tongue is a little member and boasts great things. —James 3:5
A mosquito is a tiny insect—but its potential for devastation is huge. When I was in the 5th grade, I was bitten by mosquitoes on both of my knees. The bites became infected and deteriorated into a threatening case of blood poisoning. For over a month, I was pricked repeatedly with penicillin shots, and my knees had to be lanced and drained twice daily to remove the infection. It was excruciatingly painful and quite terrifying for a 10-year-old kid. To this day, I carry scars on my knees from the numerous lancings. All because of something as tiny as a mosquito.
James, the half-brother of Jesus, warns us of another little thing that can also be very destructive. He says that even though the tongue is little, it boasts great things. It’s like a small spark that sets a great forest on fire (3:5). Although the tongue is small, there is nothing small about the damage it can do. Words carry with them the power of healing or a destructive capacity far greater than the poison of any mosquito bite.
It is essential that we use our words with great wisdom and care. Consider carefully the words you choose. Will they be seasoned with the balm of grace or with the poison of anger? — Bill Crowder
A careless word may kindle strife,
A cruel word may wreck a life,
A timely word may lessen stress,
A loving word may heal and bless. —Anon.
It is better to bite your tongue than to let it bite someone else.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
July 18, 2008
The Mystery of Believing
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READ:
He said, "Who are You, Lord? —Acts 9:5
Through the miracle of redemption, Saul of Tarsus was instantly changed from a strong-willed and forceful Pharisee into a humble and devoted bondservant of the Lord Jesus.
There is nothing miraculous or mysterious about the things we can explain. We control what we are able to explain, consequently it is only natural to seek an explanation for everything. It is not natural to obey, yet it is not necessarily sinful to disobey. There can be no real disobedience, nor any moral virtue in obedience, unless a person recognizes the higher authority of the one giving the orders. If this recognition does not exist, even the one giving the orders may view the other person’s disobedience as freedom. If one rules another by saying, "You must do this," and, "You will do that," he breaks the human spirit, making it unfit for God. A person is simply a slave for obeying, unless behind his obedience is the recognition of a holy God.
Many people begin coming to God once they stop being religious, because there is only one master of the human heart— Jesus Christ, not religion. But "Woe is me" if after seeing Him I still will not obey ( Isaiah 6:5 , also see Isaiah 6:1 ). Jesus will never insist that I obey, but if I don’t,I have already begun to sign the death certificate of the Son of God in my soul. When I stand face to face with Jesus Christ and say, "I will not obey," He will never insist. But when I do this, I am backing away from the recreating power of His redemption. It makes no difference to God’s grace what an abomination I am, if I will only come to the light. But "Woe is me" if I refuse the light (seeJohn 3:19-21 ).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
When The Passion Becomes Personal - #4836
Monday, July 25, 2005
Twenty-three marks on the wall of his four-by-four prison cell told the story. It has been just over three weeks when the soldiers had captured him - the number one name on the Most Wanted List - at a local bar and hauled him into this cell. The charges: robbery, treason, and murder. Day 23 was going to be just another day there - or so he thought until he heard the growing sounds of that angry mob outside the window above him. He managed to grab the bars on the window and pull himself up high enough to hear what the crowd was screaming. It was a combination of shock and fear that swept through him when he heard they were shouting his name! "Give us Ba-rabbas! Give us Ba-rabbas!"
Then the chant gradually began to change. Now they were shouting with this bloodthirsty anger, "Cru-ci-fy him! Cru-ci-fy him!" Barabbas slumped to the floor. He couldn't believe it. He'd been their hero, but now they were calling for his execution by the most brutal means of execution ever devised - death on a cross. Within minutes, five soldiers were dragging him, kicking and screaming down the corridor, up the stone steps, and to another door. They flung the door open, pushed him through it, and slammed the door behind him.
It took a little while for him to realize where he was. He was out on the cobblestone street of Jerusalem. He was free! Before the reality could fully dawn on Barabbas, the door behind him opened again. He literally had to roll out of the way to keep from being trampled by the angry crowd pushing their way through with a bare-backed, bleeding man in the middle of them. As Barabbas plastered himself against the wall of that narrow street, he could see that the man's back had been so brutally beaten that it was just one gaping wound, exposing tissue and bone. Barabbas' first instinct was to run while he could, but he didn't. He followed that crowd all the way up the skull-shaped hill just outside the city, where, from a distance, he heard the hammer and the spikes that the heartless executioners of Rome were driving into the man's hands and feet.
It turned dark as night in the middle of the day and the skies opened up with a deluge of rain. Curious spectators just began to drift away. Finally, Barabbas felt safe enough to walk slowly to the top of Skull Hill, with his head covered. It was as if there was a magnet pulling him toward the man hanging on the middle cross between two other dying criminals. Barabbas had heard the man say from that cross, "Father, forgive them." Barabbas had heard many things at crucifixions; cursing, screaming, threatening - but never "forgive."
He now could recognize the face there that was beaten almost beyond recognition. It was Jesus - the Man who had done no wrong, whose only crime was to love those that no one else cared about. And in that moment Barabbas found himself looking up into the eyes of that man on the middle cross and saying aloud, "You don't deserve to be there, Jesus. I do. But because You're dying there, I don't have to die." I could walk up to the cross where Jesus died and say that, and so could you.
No Paper Plates - #5615
Friday, July 18, 2008
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A couple of times this week I ordered out for lunch and it came on a paper plate. Guess what I did with the paper plate when I finished my lunch? No, I didn't wash it; I didn't save it for later. In fact, I've never done that with a paper plate. Now, look we've never had a lot of money, but I've never in my whole life saved a paper plate. I throw it away, of course, like you probably do. And I don't feel any great sense of loss or regret, "Oh, I can't believe I lost my paper plate." No, it doesn't bother me. But we have these other plates at our house, we keep them in a cabinet in our dining room and we save them for special occasions. We wash those when we use them, because it says "fine china" on those. At least that's what my wife wrote with a magic marker on the back. It's the best we've got. And when we're done, we put those plates away very carefully. In fact, if you drop them you're out of the family. What's the difference? Paper plates are cheap, practically worthless, right? You throw them away. Now, fine china on the other hand is expensive; it's too valuable to throw away. Do you know which one most people feel like today?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "No Paper Plates."
I think most people feel like paper plates. They've been put down, they've been hurt, they've been neglected, they've been compared, they've been ignored, backstabbed, abused, and they feel pretty worthless. And they are throwing themselves away. Maybe you've been doing that. It's a lot of waste to throw yourself away. You could throw yourself away socially by the friends you choose, or academically by not trying or just giving up, you could throw yourself away alcoholically, chemically, romantically with the people you date, sexually, musically - by the music you listen to, or even suicidally. And here's what's so tragic about that. God didn't make any paper plates! If you think you're not worth much, you're wrong about who you are. Anyone whose treated you like you're not worth much doesn't know who you are either. The one who knows what you are is the One who gave you your life in the first place - your Creator. And here's how He feels about you.
Our word for today from the Word of God, Exodus 19:5, "You will be," God says, "my treasured possession." God says you are a treasure; you are fine china! You're not trash! You're too valuable to throw away, but there's more in God's appraisal of what you're worth. Ephesians 2:10 says, "We are God's workmanship." Now, workmanship isn't thrown together, it's no accident, it's not random. You're a masterpiece; you're a handmade creation of a God who only does beautiful work. And then it goes on to say in that verse that you are designed, "...for good works He prepared in advance for us to do." You are uniquely designed to make a unique difference in certain people's lives. But there's more. 1 Corinthians 6:20 says, "You were bought at a price, therefore honor God with your body."
God says you're His treasure, His workmanship, and the one He paid a lot for. You can tell how much a person values something by how much they're willing to pay for it. Well, God paid for you with the blood of His one and only Son, Jesus, and even though you had left His Creator plan for you and sinned, He wanted you back so much He sent His Son to pay the death penalty in your place. You are very expensive!
So don't believe the lies in your brain that keep telling you you're a paper plate, that you're worthless, that keep tempting you to throw yourself away. You are fine china! You're to be reserved for special purposes. If you feel like you're not worth much, then it's time to pay a visit to the cross where Jesus Christ died for you. That's how much God thinks you're worth - the life of His Son.
You know, the reason we feel so worthless is we are away from the One who gave us our worth in the first place. The wall between you and your Creator could come down this very day, if you would in your heart get to Jesus and say, "Jesus, You died to bring me back to God, and I am Yours." We'd love to help you get started with Him. Our website is set up really to do that. It's yoursforlife.net. I hope you'll visit us there right away today.
And please, live like the treasure that your Creator says you are.
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
July 18
Spiritual Bankruptcy
God will show his mercy forever and ever to those who worship and serve him.
Luke 1:50 (NCV)
God does not save us because of what we've done. Only a puny god could be bought with tithes. Only an egotistical god would be impressed with our pain. Only a temperamental god could be satisfied by sacrifices. Only a heartless god would sell salvation to the highest bidders.
And only a great God does for his children what they can't do for themselves.
God's delight is received upon surrender, not awarded upon conquest. The first step to joy is a plea for help, an acknowledgment of moral destitution, an admission of inward paucity. Those who taste God's presence have declared spiritual bankruptcy and are aware of their spiritual crisis.... Their pockets are empty. Their options are gone. They have long since stopped demanding justice; they are pleading for mercy.
2 Corinthians 10
Paul's Defense of His Ministry
1By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am "timid" when face to face with you, but "bold" when away! 2I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world. 3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 6And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.
7You are looking only on the surface of things.[a] If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as he. 8For even if I boast somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than pulling you down, I will not be ashamed of it. 9I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you with my letters. 10For some say, "His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing." 11Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present.
12We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise. 13We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the field God has assigned to us, a field that reaches even to you. 14We are not going too far in our boasting, as would be the case if we had not come to you, for we did get as far as you with the gospel of Christ. 15Neither do we go beyond our limits by boasting of work done by others.[b] Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our area of activity among you will greatly expand, 16so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. For we do not want to boast about work already done in another man's territory. 17But, "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."[c] 18For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
James 3
Taming the Tongue
1Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.
3When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
7All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, 8but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. 10Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. 11Can both fresh water and salt[a] water flow from the same spring? 12My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
July 18, 2008
Little Things
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: James 3:1-12
The tongue is a little member and boasts great things. —James 3:5
A mosquito is a tiny insect—but its potential for devastation is huge. When I was in the 5th grade, I was bitten by mosquitoes on both of my knees. The bites became infected and deteriorated into a threatening case of blood poisoning. For over a month, I was pricked repeatedly with penicillin shots, and my knees had to be lanced and drained twice daily to remove the infection. It was excruciatingly painful and quite terrifying for a 10-year-old kid. To this day, I carry scars on my knees from the numerous lancings. All because of something as tiny as a mosquito.
James, the half-brother of Jesus, warns us of another little thing that can also be very destructive. He says that even though the tongue is little, it boasts great things. It’s like a small spark that sets a great forest on fire (3:5). Although the tongue is small, there is nothing small about the damage it can do. Words carry with them the power of healing or a destructive capacity far greater than the poison of any mosquito bite.
It is essential that we use our words with great wisdom and care. Consider carefully the words you choose. Will they be seasoned with the balm of grace or with the poison of anger? — Bill Crowder
A careless word may kindle strife,
A cruel word may wreck a life,
A timely word may lessen stress,
A loving word may heal and bless. —Anon.
It is better to bite your tongue than to let it bite someone else.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
July 18, 2008
The Mystery of Believing
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
He said, "Who are You, Lord? —Acts 9:5
Through the miracle of redemption, Saul of Tarsus was instantly changed from a strong-willed and forceful Pharisee into a humble and devoted bondservant of the Lord Jesus.
There is nothing miraculous or mysterious about the things we can explain. We control what we are able to explain, consequently it is only natural to seek an explanation for everything. It is not natural to obey, yet it is not necessarily sinful to disobey. There can be no real disobedience, nor any moral virtue in obedience, unless a person recognizes the higher authority of the one giving the orders. If this recognition does not exist, even the one giving the orders may view the other person’s disobedience as freedom. If one rules another by saying, "You must do this," and, "You will do that," he breaks the human spirit, making it unfit for God. A person is simply a slave for obeying, unless behind his obedience is the recognition of a holy God.
Many people begin coming to God once they stop being religious, because there is only one master of the human heart— Jesus Christ, not religion. But "Woe is me" if after seeing Him I still will not obey ( Isaiah 6:5 , also see Isaiah 6:1 ). Jesus will never insist that I obey, but if I don’t,I have already begun to sign the death certificate of the Son of God in my soul. When I stand face to face with Jesus Christ and say, "I will not obey," He will never insist. But when I do this, I am backing away from the recreating power of His redemption. It makes no difference to God’s grace what an abomination I am, if I will only come to the light. But "Woe is me" if I refuse the light (seeJohn 3:19-21 ).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
When The Passion Becomes Personal - #4836
Monday, July 25, 2005
Twenty-three marks on the wall of his four-by-four prison cell told the story. It has been just over three weeks when the soldiers had captured him - the number one name on the Most Wanted List - at a local bar and hauled him into this cell. The charges: robbery, treason, and murder. Day 23 was going to be just another day there - or so he thought until he heard the growing sounds of that angry mob outside the window above him. He managed to grab the bars on the window and pull himself up high enough to hear what the crowd was screaming. It was a combination of shock and fear that swept through him when he heard they were shouting his name! "Give us Ba-rabbas! Give us Ba-rabbas!"
Then the chant gradually began to change. Now they were shouting with this bloodthirsty anger, "Cru-ci-fy him! Cru-ci-fy him!" Barabbas slumped to the floor. He couldn't believe it. He'd been their hero, but now they were calling for his execution by the most brutal means of execution ever devised - death on a cross. Within minutes, five soldiers were dragging him, kicking and screaming down the corridor, up the stone steps, and to another door. They flung the door open, pushed him through it, and slammed the door behind him.
It took a little while for him to realize where he was. He was out on the cobblestone street of Jerusalem. He was free! Before the reality could fully dawn on Barabbas, the door behind him opened again. He literally had to roll out of the way to keep from being trampled by the angry crowd pushing their way through with a bare-backed, bleeding man in the middle of them. As Barabbas plastered himself against the wall of that narrow street, he could see that the man's back had been so brutally beaten that it was just one gaping wound, exposing tissue and bone. Barabbas' first instinct was to run while he could, but he didn't. He followed that crowd all the way up the skull-shaped hill just outside the city, where, from a distance, he heard the hammer and the spikes that the heartless executioners of Rome were driving into the man's hands and feet.
It turned dark as night in the middle of the day and the skies opened up with a deluge of rain. Curious spectators just began to drift away. Finally, Barabbas felt safe enough to walk slowly to the top of Skull Hill, with his head covered. It was as if there was a magnet pulling him toward the man hanging on the middle cross between two other dying criminals. Barabbas had heard the man say from that cross, "Father, forgive them." Barabbas had heard many things at crucifixions; cursing, screaming, threatening - but never "forgive."
He now could recognize the face there that was beaten almost beyond recognition. It was Jesus - the Man who had done no wrong, whose only crime was to love those that no one else cared about. And in that moment Barabbas found himself looking up into the eyes of that man on the middle cross and saying aloud, "You don't deserve to be there, Jesus. I do. But because You're dying there, I don't have to die." I could walk up to the cross where Jesus died and say that, and so could you.
No Paper Plates - #5615
Friday, July 18, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
A couple of times this week I ordered out for lunch and it came on a paper plate. Guess what I did with the paper plate when I finished my lunch? No, I didn't wash it; I didn't save it for later. In fact, I've never done that with a paper plate. Now, look we've never had a lot of money, but I've never in my whole life saved a paper plate. I throw it away, of course, like you probably do. And I don't feel any great sense of loss or regret, "Oh, I can't believe I lost my paper plate." No, it doesn't bother me. But we have these other plates at our house, we keep them in a cabinet in our dining room and we save them for special occasions. We wash those when we use them, because it says "fine china" on those. At least that's what my wife wrote with a magic marker on the back. It's the best we've got. And when we're done, we put those plates away very carefully. In fact, if you drop them you're out of the family. What's the difference? Paper plates are cheap, practically worthless, right? You throw them away. Now, fine china on the other hand is expensive; it's too valuable to throw away. Do you know which one most people feel like today?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "No Paper Plates."
I think most people feel like paper plates. They've been put down, they've been hurt, they've been neglected, they've been compared, they've been ignored, backstabbed, abused, and they feel pretty worthless. And they are throwing themselves away. Maybe you've been doing that. It's a lot of waste to throw yourself away. You could throw yourself away socially by the friends you choose, or academically by not trying or just giving up, you could throw yourself away alcoholically, chemically, romantically with the people you date, sexually, musically - by the music you listen to, or even suicidally. And here's what's so tragic about that. God didn't make any paper plates! If you think you're not worth much, you're wrong about who you are. Anyone whose treated you like you're not worth much doesn't know who you are either. The one who knows what you are is the One who gave you your life in the first place - your Creator. And here's how He feels about you.
Our word for today from the Word of God, Exodus 19:5, "You will be," God says, "my treasured possession." God says you are a treasure; you are fine china! You're not trash! You're too valuable to throw away, but there's more in God's appraisal of what you're worth. Ephesians 2:10 says, "We are God's workmanship." Now, workmanship isn't thrown together, it's no accident, it's not random. You're a masterpiece; you're a handmade creation of a God who only does beautiful work. And then it goes on to say in that verse that you are designed, "...for good works He prepared in advance for us to do." You are uniquely designed to make a unique difference in certain people's lives. But there's more. 1 Corinthians 6:20 says, "You were bought at a price, therefore honor God with your body."
God says you're His treasure, His workmanship, and the one He paid a lot for. You can tell how much a person values something by how much they're willing to pay for it. Well, God paid for you with the blood of His one and only Son, Jesus, and even though you had left His Creator plan for you and sinned, He wanted you back so much He sent His Son to pay the death penalty in your place. You are very expensive!
So don't believe the lies in your brain that keep telling you you're a paper plate, that you're worthless, that keep tempting you to throw yourself away. You are fine china! You're to be reserved for special purposes. If you feel like you're not worth much, then it's time to pay a visit to the cross where Jesus Christ died for you. That's how much God thinks you're worth - the life of His Son.
You know, the reason we feel so worthless is we are away from the One who gave us our worth in the first place. The wall between you and your Creator could come down this very day, if you would in your heart get to Jesus and say, "Jesus, You died to bring me back to God, and I am Yours." We'd love to help you get started with Him. Our website is set up really to do that. It's yoursforlife.net. I hope you'll visit us there right away today.
And please, live like the treasure that your Creator says you are.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
2 Corinthians 9, daily reading and devotions
Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
July 17
Living in God’s Presence
Pray in the Spirit at all times with all kinds of prayers, asking for everything you need.
Ephesians 6:18 (NCV)
How do I live in God's presence? How do I detect his unseen hand on my shoulder and his inaudible voice in my ear?...How can you and I grow familiar with the voice of God? Here are a few ideas:
Give God your waking thoughts. Before you face the day, face the Father. Before you step out of bed, step into his presence.
Give God your waiting thoughts. Spend time with him in silence.
Give God your whispering thoughts....Imagine considering every moment as a potential time of communion with God.
Give God your waning thoughts. At the end of the day, let your mind settle on him. Conclude the day as you began it: talking to God.
2 Corinthians 9
1There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the saints. 2For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action. 3But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you in this matter should not prove hollow, but that you may be ready, as I said you would be. 4For if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we—not to say anything about you—would be ashamed of having been so confident. 5So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given.
Sowing Generously
6Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9As it is written:
"He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever."[a] 10Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
12This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 14And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. 15Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Luke 11
Jesus' Teaching on Prayer
1One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."
2He said to them, "When you pray, say:
" 'Father,[a]
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.[b]
3Give us each day our daily bread.
4Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.[c]
And lead us not into temptation.[d]' "
5Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.'
7"Then the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.' 8I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's boldness[e] he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
9"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
11"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for[f] a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
July 17, 2008
Why Pray?
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Luke 11:1-13
When [Jesus] had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. —Matthew 14:23
As a journalist, I have spent time with famous people who make me feel very small. I rarely sleep well the night before and have to fight a case of nerves. I wonder what I would do if seated at a banquet next to, say, Albert Einstein or Mozart. Would I chitchat? Would I make a fool of myself?
In prayer I am approaching the Creator of all that is—Someone who makes me feel immeasurably small. How can I do anything but fall silent in such presence? How can I believe that whatever I say matters to God?
The Bible sometimes emphasizes the distance between humans and God and sometimes the closeness. Without question, though, Jesus Himself taught us to count on the closeness. In His own prayers He used the word Abba (Daddy), an informal address that Jews had not previously used in prayer. A new way of praying was born.
Jesus understood better than anyone the vast difference between God and human beings. Yet He did not question the personal concern of God, who watches over sparrows and counts the hairs on our heads. He valued prayer enough to spend many hours at the task.
If I had to answer the question “Why pray?” in one sentence, it would be, “Because Jesus did.” — Philip Yancey
For Further Study
Many of us don’t pray to God on His terms. Learn from our Lord’s model for prayer by reading Jesus’ Blueprint For Prayer on the Web at www.discoveryseries.org/hj891
If Jesus needed to pray, how can we do less?
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
July 17, 2008
The Miracle of Belief
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom . . . —1 Corinthians 2:4
Paul was a scholar and an orator of the highest degree; he was not speaking here out of a deep sense of humility, but was saying that when he preached the gospel, he would veil the power of God if he impressed people with the excellency of his speech. Belief in Jesus is a miracle produced only by the effectiveness of redemption, not by impressive speech, nor by wooing and persuading, but only by the sheer unaided power of God. The creative power of redemption comes through the preaching of the gospel, but never because of the personality of the preacher.
Real and effective fasting by a preacher is not fasting from food, but fasting from eloquence, from impressive diction, and from everything else that might hinder the gospel of God being presented. The preacher is there as the representative of God— ". . . as though God were pleading through us . . ." (2 Corinthians 5:20). He is there to present the gospel of God. If it is only because of my preaching that people desire to be better, they will never get close to Jesus Christ. Anything that flatters me in my preaching of the gospel will result in making me a traitor to Jesus, and I prevent the creative power of His redemption from doing its work.
"And I, if I am lifted up. . . , will draw all peoples to Myself" (John 12:32).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Trusted With the Torch - #5614 - July 17, 2008
Category: Your Mission
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Not all the drama of the Olympics takes place during the Olympics. Some of it unfolds in the weeks and months leading up to the games. Like the Olympic torch, for example. In the spirit of the ancient Olympics in Greece, the Olympic torch is carried by runners over thousands of miles until it's finally carried into the opening ceremonies to light the official torch of the Olympic Games. Each year it's a journey of many, many miles. It can be as much as 15,000-20,000 miles. And that's quite a torch run. One person doesn't do that all. I mean, not even I can do that - even though I'm in such great shape! Every Olympic year there are a lot of runners who each carry the torch for a fraction of the journey and then they hand it off to the next runner. We've seen that. In the case of some Olympic Games a few years ago, Coca Cola selected 2,500 of the 10,000 torch bearers that were needed. They accepted nominations from anyone that you might know who you thought was "worthy to carry the torch."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "Trusted With the Torch."
Now, Paul must have enjoyed the ancient Olympic Games. He made several references to them. As he writes his letter to his spiritual apprentice, Timothy, you can almost picture Paul as a torch bearer of the message of Jesus Christ. Writing from a prison cell, he's on his last lap before he is going to collapse into the arms of Jesus. But right now he's concerned about who will carry the torch from here.
Our word for today from the Word of God begins in 2 Timothy 1:12. He says, "I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day." Able to guard - and he's saying commit the things that matter to you to Jesus, leave it with Him! Then he turns to Timothy in verse 14, "Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you." Paul can't carry the message of Jesus much further. He turns to this dedicated young man and he says, "It's in your hands now. Take good care of it." Then Paul realizes that many torch bearers are going to be needed to keep the torch moving, so chapter 2:2, he says, "The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others." Get some more people ready to carry the torch of Jesus into more darkened lives. It's considered a great privilege to be one of the people who is considered worthy to carry the Olympic torch. It's a much greater honor to be considered worthy to carry the torch of Jesus, and you have been.
God says in 2 Corinthians 5:20, "We are Christ's ambassadors." This great message of what Jesus did on the cross for us has been carried this far by other people, some of whom paid in blood to make sure that torch never flickered. Now it's gotten to us. In your circle of influence, in the area where you live and work, the carrying of the torch is up to you. Those who have passed the torch through almost 20 centuries would say to us, as Paul was saying to Timothy, "Guard the deposit, don't drop this torch, don't mess up morally or spiritually, don't give up, even when it hurts to keep running. This lap is up to you. Jesus and all those who have run before you are chanting, 'Hold it high! Don't be ashamed of the Name and the love of Jesus! Tell the people on your leg of the journey about Jesus and His cross.'" This is no time to let the light flicker. Don't just let the other believers around you be fans, politely clapping for those who are running. Encourage them; equip them to take the torch themselves.
One day you will, as the Apostle Paul did, cross that finish line and collapse into the waiting arms of the One you've been running for. That is your Jesus. He put you on the field to carry His torch proudly and faithfully, on your lap of the journey, for your stretch of the road. Will He say "Well done"? Right now His torch is in your hands.
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
July 17
Living in God’s Presence
Pray in the Spirit at all times with all kinds of prayers, asking for everything you need.
Ephesians 6:18 (NCV)
How do I live in God's presence? How do I detect his unseen hand on my shoulder and his inaudible voice in my ear?...How can you and I grow familiar with the voice of God? Here are a few ideas:
Give God your waking thoughts. Before you face the day, face the Father. Before you step out of bed, step into his presence.
Give God your waiting thoughts. Spend time with him in silence.
Give God your whispering thoughts....Imagine considering every moment as a potential time of communion with God.
Give God your waning thoughts. At the end of the day, let your mind settle on him. Conclude the day as you began it: talking to God.
2 Corinthians 9
1There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the saints. 2For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action. 3But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you in this matter should not prove hollow, but that you may be ready, as I said you would be. 4For if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we—not to say anything about you—would be ashamed of having been so confident. 5So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given.
Sowing Generously
6Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9As it is written:
"He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever."[a] 10Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
12This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 14And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. 15Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Luke 11
Jesus' Teaching on Prayer
1One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."
2He said to them, "When you pray, say:
" 'Father,[a]
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.[b]
3Give us each day our daily bread.
4Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.[c]
And lead us not into temptation.[d]' "
5Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.'
7"Then the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.' 8I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's boldness[e] he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
9"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
11"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for[f] a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
July 17, 2008
Why Pray?
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Luke 11:1-13
When [Jesus] had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. —Matthew 14:23
As a journalist, I have spent time with famous people who make me feel very small. I rarely sleep well the night before and have to fight a case of nerves. I wonder what I would do if seated at a banquet next to, say, Albert Einstein or Mozart. Would I chitchat? Would I make a fool of myself?
In prayer I am approaching the Creator of all that is—Someone who makes me feel immeasurably small. How can I do anything but fall silent in such presence? How can I believe that whatever I say matters to God?
The Bible sometimes emphasizes the distance between humans and God and sometimes the closeness. Without question, though, Jesus Himself taught us to count on the closeness. In His own prayers He used the word Abba (Daddy), an informal address that Jews had not previously used in prayer. A new way of praying was born.
Jesus understood better than anyone the vast difference between God and human beings. Yet He did not question the personal concern of God, who watches over sparrows and counts the hairs on our heads. He valued prayer enough to spend many hours at the task.
If I had to answer the question “Why pray?” in one sentence, it would be, “Because Jesus did.” — Philip Yancey
For Further Study
Many of us don’t pray to God on His terms. Learn from our Lord’s model for prayer by reading Jesus’ Blueprint For Prayer on the Web at www.discoveryseries.org/hj891
If Jesus needed to pray, how can we do less?
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
July 17, 2008
The Miracle of Belief
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom . . . —1 Corinthians 2:4
Paul was a scholar and an orator of the highest degree; he was not speaking here out of a deep sense of humility, but was saying that when he preached the gospel, he would veil the power of God if he impressed people with the excellency of his speech. Belief in Jesus is a miracle produced only by the effectiveness of redemption, not by impressive speech, nor by wooing and persuading, but only by the sheer unaided power of God. The creative power of redemption comes through the preaching of the gospel, but never because of the personality of the preacher.
Real and effective fasting by a preacher is not fasting from food, but fasting from eloquence, from impressive diction, and from everything else that might hinder the gospel of God being presented. The preacher is there as the representative of God— ". . . as though God were pleading through us . . ." (2 Corinthians 5:20). He is there to present the gospel of God. If it is only because of my preaching that people desire to be better, they will never get close to Jesus Christ. Anything that flatters me in my preaching of the gospel will result in making me a traitor to Jesus, and I prevent the creative power of His redemption from doing its work.
"And I, if I am lifted up. . . , will draw all peoples to Myself" (John 12:32).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Trusted With the Torch - #5614 - July 17, 2008
Category: Your Mission
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Not all the drama of the Olympics takes place during the Olympics. Some of it unfolds in the weeks and months leading up to the games. Like the Olympic torch, for example. In the spirit of the ancient Olympics in Greece, the Olympic torch is carried by runners over thousands of miles until it's finally carried into the opening ceremonies to light the official torch of the Olympic Games. Each year it's a journey of many, many miles. It can be as much as 15,000-20,000 miles. And that's quite a torch run. One person doesn't do that all. I mean, not even I can do that - even though I'm in such great shape! Every Olympic year there are a lot of runners who each carry the torch for a fraction of the journey and then they hand it off to the next runner. We've seen that. In the case of some Olympic Games a few years ago, Coca Cola selected 2,500 of the 10,000 torch bearers that were needed. They accepted nominations from anyone that you might know who you thought was "worthy to carry the torch."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "Trusted With the Torch."
Now, Paul must have enjoyed the ancient Olympic Games. He made several references to them. As he writes his letter to his spiritual apprentice, Timothy, you can almost picture Paul as a torch bearer of the message of Jesus Christ. Writing from a prison cell, he's on his last lap before he is going to collapse into the arms of Jesus. But right now he's concerned about who will carry the torch from here.
Our word for today from the Word of God begins in 2 Timothy 1:12. He says, "I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day." Able to guard - and he's saying commit the things that matter to you to Jesus, leave it with Him! Then he turns to Timothy in verse 14, "Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you." Paul can't carry the message of Jesus much further. He turns to this dedicated young man and he says, "It's in your hands now. Take good care of it." Then Paul realizes that many torch bearers are going to be needed to keep the torch moving, so chapter 2:2, he says, "The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others." Get some more people ready to carry the torch of Jesus into more darkened lives. It's considered a great privilege to be one of the people who is considered worthy to carry the Olympic torch. It's a much greater honor to be considered worthy to carry the torch of Jesus, and you have been.
God says in 2 Corinthians 5:20, "We are Christ's ambassadors." This great message of what Jesus did on the cross for us has been carried this far by other people, some of whom paid in blood to make sure that torch never flickered. Now it's gotten to us. In your circle of influence, in the area where you live and work, the carrying of the torch is up to you. Those who have passed the torch through almost 20 centuries would say to us, as Paul was saying to Timothy, "Guard the deposit, don't drop this torch, don't mess up morally or spiritually, don't give up, even when it hurts to keep running. This lap is up to you. Jesus and all those who have run before you are chanting, 'Hold it high! Don't be ashamed of the Name and the love of Jesus! Tell the people on your leg of the journey about Jesus and His cross.'" This is no time to let the light flicker. Don't just let the other believers around you be fans, politely clapping for those who are running. Encourage them; equip them to take the torch themselves.
One day you will, as the Apostle Paul did, cross that finish line and collapse into the waiting arms of the One you've been running for. That is your Jesus. He put you on the field to carry His torch proudly and faithfully, on your lap of the journey, for your stretch of the road. Will He say "Well done"? Right now His torch is in your hands.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
2 Corinthians 8, daily reading and devotions
Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
July 16
Our Sure God
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
Psalm 23:6 (NKJV)
Look at the first word: surely. David didn't say, “Maybe goodness and mercy shall
follow me.” Or “Possibly goodness and mercy shall follow me.” Or “I have a hunch that goodness and mercy shall follow me.” David could have used one of those phrases. But he didn't. He believed in a sure God, who makes sure promises and provides a sure foundation. David would have loved the words of one of his great-great-grandsons, the apostle James. He described God as the one "with whom there is never the slightest variation or shadow of inconsistency" (James 1:17 PHILLIPS).
Our moods may shift, but God's doesn't. Our minds may change, but God's doesn't. Our, but God's never does. Even if is faithful, for he cannot betray himself (2 Tim. 2:13). He is a sure God.
2 Corinthians 8
Generosity Encouraged
1And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. 5And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will. 6So we urged Titus, since he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. 7But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us[a]—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.
8I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. 9For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
10And here is my advice about what is best for you in this matter: Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. 11Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. 12For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.
13Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. 14At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, 15as it is written: "He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little."[b]
Titus Sent to Corinth
16I thank God, who put into the heart of Titus the same concern I have for you. 17For Titus not only welcomed our appeal, but he is coming to you with much enthusiasm and on his own initiative. 18And we are sending along with him the brother who is praised by all the churches for his service to the gospel. 19What is more, he was chosen by the churches to accompany us as we carry the offering, which we administer in order to honor the Lord himself and to show our eagerness to help. 20We want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this liberal gift. 21For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of men.
22In addition, we are sending with them our brother who has often proved to us in many ways that he is zealous, and now even more so because of his great confidence in you. 23As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker among you; as for our brothers, they are representatives of the churches and an honor to Christ. 24Therefore show these men the proof of your love and the reason for our pride in you, so that the churches can see it.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
1 Corinthians 12:4-11
4There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.
7Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,[a] and to still another the interpretation of tongues.[b] 11All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.
July 16, 2008
The Bible Guy
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: 1 Corinthians 12:4-11
Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them. —Romans 12:6
When the youth group in Rich’s church needed Bibles for study, he went on a search for more than 70 copies. He got what they needed, but he never stopped collecting and distributing Bibles.
People and businesses donate money; others give him new and used Bibles to share. The motto on the side of the van he uses for this ministry explains his simple desire: “Need a Bible? Ask me for one.” Rich is an ordinary guy, a heating and plumbing technician, who carries on this ministry in his spare time. His nickname around his church is “the Bible guy.”
Do you ever wish you could have a special ministry like Rich’s? The Lord has given each of us at least one spiritual gift to use for His kingdom purposes. The apostle Paul lists several in 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12, and some are mentioned in 1 Peter 4:9-11.
If you don’t know what gifts you have, volunteer for a ministry in your church that interests you, or meet a need you learn about. Then ask yourself if you saw God work through you and if you had joy as you served. Ask fellow believers if they think you’re gifted in that area. And ask the Lord to help you determine where you fit in His plans.
The Lord wants to use you too. — Anne Cetas
Help us, Lord, to work together
With the gifts that You bestow;
Give us unity of purpose
As we serve You here below. —Sper
Christians who bury their gifts make a grave mistake.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
July 16, 2008
The Concept of Divine Control
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
. . . how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! —Matthew 7:11
Jesus is laying down the rules of conduct in this passage for those people who have His Spirit. He urges us to keep our minds filled with the concept of God’s control over everything, which means that a disciple must maintain an attitude of perfect trust and an eagerness to ask and to seek.
Fill your mind with the thought that God is there. And once your mind is truly filled with that thought, when you experience difficulties it will be as easy as breathing for you to remember, "My heavenly Father knows all about this!" This will be no effort at all, but will be a natural thing for you when difficulties and uncertainties arise. Before you formed this concept of divine control so powerfully in your mind, you used to go from person to person seeking help, but now you go to God about it. Jesus is laying down the rules of conduct for those people who have His Spirit, and it works on the following principle: God is my Father, He loves me, and I will never think of anything that He will forget, so why should I worry?
Jesus said there are times when God cannot lift the darkness from you, but you should trust Him. At times God will appear like an unkind friend, but He is not; He will appear like an unnatural father, but He is not; He will appear like an unjust judge, but He is not. Keep the thought that the mind of God is behind all things strong and growing. Not even the smallest detail of life happens unless God’s will is behind it. Therefore, you can rest in perfect confidence in Him. Prayer is not only asking, but is an attitude of the mind which produces the atmosphere in which asking is perfectly natural. "Ask, and it will be given to you . . ." (Matthew 7:7 ).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Smacked With Your Back Pack - #5613 - July 16, 2008
Category: Your Most Important Relationship
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
OK, backpacks are basically a good thing. They make it possible for you to carry some essentials while you keep your hands free, right? But backpacks are not always a good thing, especially when you forget you're wearing one! I've seen a lot of the dangerous side of backpacks, especially in airports and airplanes. You see, you get used to your body ending at a certain point, and you navigate through a crowd knowing where the "oops, I bumped you" point is. Now you add a backpack and suddenly you have enlarged what is commonly known as your space, but you continue to navigate crowds and narrow places as if you had the same old parameters. So you got to turn around and "aahh," you clobber someone behind you or next to you! I mean, its one thing to carry your load, it's another thing to hit someone else with it!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about, "Smacked With Your Backpack."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Peter 3:9-11. We've all got some baggage - the emotional kind that is. The question is, is the baggage you're carrying hurting other people? 1 Peter 3:9 says this: "Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing ... 'Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it.'" And then verse 15 tells us why it's important to not do or say things that will hurt other people or cause conflict; why we should have positive talk, and wholesome talk, why we should pursue peaceful relationships, doing good for people. Here's the reason. 1 Peter 3:15, "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect..."
Now, what is going to attract people to your Jesus? Your hope it says. They're going to want to ask about your hope! They'll be curious about what makes you such a positive person, a joyful person. But they're not going to see hope if you keep hitting them with the negative stuff you're carrying. Maybe you're carrying a backpack full of stress and pressure and you're stressing out everybody; you're dumping your stress on them!
It could be that your backpack is full of victim feelings and the people around you just keep getting hit with your self-pity, your complaining, your anger. That's what they get when they get near you. Or are people getting smacked with your critical mouth, your negative attitude, your all too frequent bad moods? It's one thing for you to be carrying that load around, but you're going too far when it's hitting other people!
God uses words like "keep from, turn from," to describe what we ought to do with our negative sinful baggage. Actually, someone else wants to carry your backpack. Later in this book, 1 Peter 5:7 says, "Cast all your care upon Him because He cares for you." The Lord Himself is asking, "What are you carrying all that for? Why don't you bring it all to me? Lay it down at My feet. Let Me carry it." If you'll let go of that stuff, you can become the hope person you're called to be that lost people around you desperately need to see. They need to see hope, not heaviness, in you.
You probably didn't mean for your attitudes to hit anyone else, you may not even be aware of the hurt sometimes, but this is a wakeup call. Too many people have been smacked with your back pack - usually the people closest to you. Once you've given your load to your awesome Savior, not only can you stop hitting other people with your load, you can actually reach out and offer to carry theirs!
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
July 16
Our Sure God
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
Psalm 23:6 (NKJV)
Look at the first word: surely. David didn't say, “Maybe goodness and mercy shall
follow me.” Or “Possibly goodness and mercy shall follow me.” Or “I have a hunch that goodness and mercy shall follow me.” David could have used one of those phrases. But he didn't. He believed in a sure God, who makes sure promises and provides a sure foundation. David would have loved the words of one of his great-great-grandsons, the apostle James. He described God as the one "with whom there is never the slightest variation or shadow of inconsistency" (James 1:17 PHILLIPS).
Our moods may shift, but God's doesn't. Our minds may change, but God's doesn't. Our, but God's never does. Even if is faithful, for he cannot betray himself (2 Tim. 2:13). He is a sure God.
2 Corinthians 8
Generosity Encouraged
1And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. 5And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will. 6So we urged Titus, since he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. 7But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us[a]—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.
8I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. 9For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
10And here is my advice about what is best for you in this matter: Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. 11Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. 12For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.
13Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. 14At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, 15as it is written: "He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little."[b]
Titus Sent to Corinth
16I thank God, who put into the heart of Titus the same concern I have for you. 17For Titus not only welcomed our appeal, but he is coming to you with much enthusiasm and on his own initiative. 18And we are sending along with him the brother who is praised by all the churches for his service to the gospel. 19What is more, he was chosen by the churches to accompany us as we carry the offering, which we administer in order to honor the Lord himself and to show our eagerness to help. 20We want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this liberal gift. 21For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of men.
22In addition, we are sending with them our brother who has often proved to us in many ways that he is zealous, and now even more so because of his great confidence in you. 23As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker among you; as for our brothers, they are representatives of the churches and an honor to Christ. 24Therefore show these men the proof of your love and the reason for our pride in you, so that the churches can see it.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
1 Corinthians 12:4-11
4There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.
7Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,[a] and to still another the interpretation of tongues.[b] 11All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.
July 16, 2008
The Bible Guy
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: 1 Corinthians 12:4-11
Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them. —Romans 12:6
When the youth group in Rich’s church needed Bibles for study, he went on a search for more than 70 copies. He got what they needed, but he never stopped collecting and distributing Bibles.
People and businesses donate money; others give him new and used Bibles to share. The motto on the side of the van he uses for this ministry explains his simple desire: “Need a Bible? Ask me for one.” Rich is an ordinary guy, a heating and plumbing technician, who carries on this ministry in his spare time. His nickname around his church is “the Bible guy.”
Do you ever wish you could have a special ministry like Rich’s? The Lord has given each of us at least one spiritual gift to use for His kingdom purposes. The apostle Paul lists several in 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12, and some are mentioned in 1 Peter 4:9-11.
If you don’t know what gifts you have, volunteer for a ministry in your church that interests you, or meet a need you learn about. Then ask yourself if you saw God work through you and if you had joy as you served. Ask fellow believers if they think you’re gifted in that area. And ask the Lord to help you determine where you fit in His plans.
The Lord wants to use you too. — Anne Cetas
Help us, Lord, to work together
With the gifts that You bestow;
Give us unity of purpose
As we serve You here below. —Sper
Christians who bury their gifts make a grave mistake.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
July 16, 2008
The Concept of Divine Control
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
. . . how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! —Matthew 7:11
Jesus is laying down the rules of conduct in this passage for those people who have His Spirit. He urges us to keep our minds filled with the concept of God’s control over everything, which means that a disciple must maintain an attitude of perfect trust and an eagerness to ask and to seek.
Fill your mind with the thought that God is there. And once your mind is truly filled with that thought, when you experience difficulties it will be as easy as breathing for you to remember, "My heavenly Father knows all about this!" This will be no effort at all, but will be a natural thing for you when difficulties and uncertainties arise. Before you formed this concept of divine control so powerfully in your mind, you used to go from person to person seeking help, but now you go to God about it. Jesus is laying down the rules of conduct for those people who have His Spirit, and it works on the following principle: God is my Father, He loves me, and I will never think of anything that He will forget, so why should I worry?
Jesus said there are times when God cannot lift the darkness from you, but you should trust Him. At times God will appear like an unkind friend, but He is not; He will appear like an unnatural father, but He is not; He will appear like an unjust judge, but He is not. Keep the thought that the mind of God is behind all things strong and growing. Not even the smallest detail of life happens unless God’s will is behind it. Therefore, you can rest in perfect confidence in Him. Prayer is not only asking, but is an attitude of the mind which produces the atmosphere in which asking is perfectly natural. "Ask, and it will be given to you . . ." (Matthew 7:7 ).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Smacked With Your Back Pack - #5613 - July 16, 2008
Category: Your Most Important Relationship
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
OK, backpacks are basically a good thing. They make it possible for you to carry some essentials while you keep your hands free, right? But backpacks are not always a good thing, especially when you forget you're wearing one! I've seen a lot of the dangerous side of backpacks, especially in airports and airplanes. You see, you get used to your body ending at a certain point, and you navigate through a crowd knowing where the "oops, I bumped you" point is. Now you add a backpack and suddenly you have enlarged what is commonly known as your space, but you continue to navigate crowds and narrow places as if you had the same old parameters. So you got to turn around and "aahh," you clobber someone behind you or next to you! I mean, its one thing to carry your load, it's another thing to hit someone else with it!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about, "Smacked With Your Backpack."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Peter 3:9-11. We've all got some baggage - the emotional kind that is. The question is, is the baggage you're carrying hurting other people? 1 Peter 3:9 says this: "Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing ... 'Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it.'" And then verse 15 tells us why it's important to not do or say things that will hurt other people or cause conflict; why we should have positive talk, and wholesome talk, why we should pursue peaceful relationships, doing good for people. Here's the reason. 1 Peter 3:15, "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect..."
Now, what is going to attract people to your Jesus? Your hope it says. They're going to want to ask about your hope! They'll be curious about what makes you such a positive person, a joyful person. But they're not going to see hope if you keep hitting them with the negative stuff you're carrying. Maybe you're carrying a backpack full of stress and pressure and you're stressing out everybody; you're dumping your stress on them!
It could be that your backpack is full of victim feelings and the people around you just keep getting hit with your self-pity, your complaining, your anger. That's what they get when they get near you. Or are people getting smacked with your critical mouth, your negative attitude, your all too frequent bad moods? It's one thing for you to be carrying that load around, but you're going too far when it's hitting other people!
God uses words like "keep from, turn from," to describe what we ought to do with our negative sinful baggage. Actually, someone else wants to carry your backpack. Later in this book, 1 Peter 5:7 says, "Cast all your care upon Him because He cares for you." The Lord Himself is asking, "What are you carrying all that for? Why don't you bring it all to me? Lay it down at My feet. Let Me carry it." If you'll let go of that stuff, you can become the hope person you're called to be that lost people around you desperately need to see. They need to see hope, not heaviness, in you.
You probably didn't mean for your attitudes to hit anyone else, you may not even be aware of the hurt sometimes, but this is a wakeup call. Too many people have been smacked with your back pack - usually the people closest to you. Once you've given your load to your awesome Savior, not only can you stop hitting other people with your load, you can actually reach out and offer to carry theirs!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
2 Corinthians 7, daily reading and devotions
Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
July 15
A Father’s Pride
God is being patient with you. He does not want anyone to be lost, but he wants all people to change their hearts and lives.
2 Peter 3:9 (NCV)
[To those who embrace Christ as Savior,] he has promised a new birth.
Does that mean the old nature will never rear its ugly head? Does that mean you will instantly be able to resist any temptation?
To answer that question, compare your new birth in Christ to a newborn baby. Can a newborn walk? Can he feed himself? Can he sing or read or speak? No, not yet. But someday he will.
It takes time to grow. But is the parent in the delivery room ashamed of the baby? Is the mom embarrassed that the infant can't spell...that the baby can't walk...that the newborn can't give a speech?
Of course not. The parents aren't ashamed; they are proud. They know that growth will come with time. So does God.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Isaiah 25
Praise to the LORD
1 O LORD, you are my God;
I will exalt you and praise your name,
for in perfect faithfulness
you have done marvelous things,
things planned long ago.
2 You have made the city a heap of rubble,
the fortified town a ruin,
the foreigners' stronghold a city no more;
it will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore strong peoples will honor you;
cities of ruthless nations will revere you.
4 You have been a refuge for the poor,
a refuge for the needy in his distress,
a shelter from the storm
and a shade from the heat.
For the breath of the ruthless
is like a storm driving against a wall
5 and like the heat of the desert.
You silence the uproar of foreigners;
as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud,
so the song of the ruthless is stilled.
6 On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare
a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
the best of meats and the finest of wines.
7 On this mountain he will destroy
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
8 he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears
from all faces;
he will remove the disgrace of his people
from all the earth.
The LORD has spoken.
9 In that day they will say,
"Surely this is our God;
we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the LORD, we trusted in him;
let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation."
July 15, 2008
Silent Helper
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Isaiah 25:1-9
I will praise Your name, for You have done wonderful things. —Isaiah 25:1
The discovery of penicillin revolutionized health care. Prior to the 1940s, bacterial infections were often fatal. Since then, penicillin has saved countless lives by killing harmful bacteria. The men who recognized its potential and developed it for widespread use won a Nobel Prize in 1945.
Long before the discovery of penicillin, other silent killers were at work saving lives by destroying bacteria. These silent killers are white blood cells. These hard workers are God’s way of protecting us from disease. No one knows how many invasions they have stopped or how many lives they have saved. They receive little recognition for all the good they do.
The Lord gets similar treatment. He often gets blamed when something goes wrong, but He seldom gets credit for all the things that go right. Every day people get up, get dressed, drive to work or school or the grocery store, and return safely to their families. No one knows how many times God has protected us from harm. But when there is a tragedy, we ask, “Where was God?”
When I consider all the wonderful things that God does silently on my behalf each day (Isa. 25:1), I realize that my list of praises should be much longer than my list of petitions. — Julie Ackerman Link
God’s goodness undergirds our lives
In many silent ways;
His blessings are beyond compare—
For them we give Him praise. —D. De Haan
God keeps giving us reasons to praise Him.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
July 15, 2008
My Life’s Spiritual Honor and Duty
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians . . . —Romans 1:14
Paul was overwhelmed with the sense of his indebtedness to Jesus Christ, and he spent his life to express it. The greatest inspiration in Paul’s life was his view of Jesus Christ as his spiritual creditor. Do I feel that same sense of indebtedness to Christ regarding every unsaved soul? As a saint, my life’s spiritual honor and duty is to fulfill my debt to Christ in relation to these lost souls. Every tiny bit of my life that has value I owe to the redemption of Jesus Christ. Am I doing anything to enable Him to bring His redemption into evident reality in the lives of others? I will only be able to do this as the Spirit of God works into me this sense of indebtedness.
I am not a superior person among other people— I am a bondservant of the Lord Jesus. Paul said, ". . . you are not your own . . . you were bought at a price . . ." ( 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ). Paul sold himself to Jesus Christ and he said, in effect, "I am a debtor to everyone on the face of the earth because of the gospel of Jesus; I am free only that I may be an absolute bondservant of His." That is the characteristic of a Christian’s life once this level of spiritual honor and duty becomes real. Quit praying about yourself and spend your life for the sake of others as the bondservant of Jesus. That is the true meaning of being broken bread and poured-out wine in real life.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Night Lights - #5612
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Our former offices were on this long hall, and each night the last one got to walk that long hall and make sure all the doors were locked and the lights were turned out. And with the amount of work the team had to get done each day, it was pretty close to "beddy-bye" time when some of them left. Of course, Daylight Saving Time meant that you could leave well into the evening and it would still be light. Maybe that's why the lights in some of our closets were accidentally left on sometimes. When it's still bright outside, it's easy to miss a light that's on. But in the winter, when it's dark, you can't miss the light!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "Night Lights."
The familiar and very challenging words of Jesus are our word for today from the Word of God. It's Matthew 5:14-16 where He said, "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."
If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, I wonder if you realize how important you are! Think about when you walk into a totally dark room. What's the most important thing in that room? Isn't it the light? Who's the most important person where you work, or you live, or go to school? Isn't it the one who's the light? Jesus said that's you. If the light isn't working - if it's dim - if it goes out, there's only darkness.
You may say, "You don't know how spiritually dark it gets where I am!" And you're right. I don't know all the details. But it probably looks something like this: the talk is dirty or blasphemous or profane, sin is something to laugh at and brag about, people are routinely backstabbed and wounded verbally, honesty and integrity are hard to find - maybe even unappreciated, Christians are stereotyped as being intolerant, old-fashioned, condemning, and irrelevant. Maybe you'd like to add a few more layers of darkness to describe the place where you're trying to be like Jesus.
But remember those office closets with the light left on. Where it's bright, you don't see the light much. But the darker it is, the more the light cannot be missed! The darker the darkness, the more the light shows up! Paul talked about that contrast when he said in Philippians 2:15, "Become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which "you shine like stars in the universe" as you hold out the word of life."
A star can barely be seen in a bright sky. But up against the stark darkness of the night, a star is something beautiful. That's supposed to be you in the universe where God's put you. So don't keep trying to hang out in places where there is already plenty of light; places where you feel safe because they're Christian places. You're needed where it's dark, where the lost people are. You can enjoy believers in heaven forever. Your job now is to get more people to go to heaven with you!
We always told our kids as they left for school in the morning, "Go MAD today." And that means "make a difference!" That's what Jesus is saying to you each morning, "Go Make a Difference there." Be a living alternative in a place where truth doesn't matter, always tell the truth. In a place where dirty is cool, don't dignify the dirty. In a place where people cut each other up, you build people up! In a place where it's everybody for himself, you be the one who always puts other people first. In a place where Christianity is laughed at or misunderstood, you let them know what Jesus is like!
Don't be intimidated by the darkness - you are the most important person in that dark place because you have the light of Jesus. Without you, darkness is all there is. Humbly, gently, lovingly, be the light there. You are one light that should never be turned out!
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
July 15
A Father’s Pride
God is being patient with you. He does not want anyone to be lost, but he wants all people to change their hearts and lives.
2 Peter 3:9 (NCV)
[To those who embrace Christ as Savior,] he has promised a new birth.
Does that mean the old nature will never rear its ugly head? Does that mean you will instantly be able to resist any temptation?
To answer that question, compare your new birth in Christ to a newborn baby. Can a newborn walk? Can he feed himself? Can he sing or read or speak? No, not yet. But someday he will.
It takes time to grow. But is the parent in the delivery room ashamed of the baby? Is the mom embarrassed that the infant can't spell...that the baby can't walk...that the newborn can't give a speech?
Of course not. The parents aren't ashamed; they are proud. They know that growth will come with time. So does God.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Isaiah 25
Praise to the LORD
1 O LORD, you are my God;
I will exalt you and praise your name,
for in perfect faithfulness
you have done marvelous things,
things planned long ago.
2 You have made the city a heap of rubble,
the fortified town a ruin,
the foreigners' stronghold a city no more;
it will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore strong peoples will honor you;
cities of ruthless nations will revere you.
4 You have been a refuge for the poor,
a refuge for the needy in his distress,
a shelter from the storm
and a shade from the heat.
For the breath of the ruthless
is like a storm driving against a wall
5 and like the heat of the desert.
You silence the uproar of foreigners;
as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud,
so the song of the ruthless is stilled.
6 On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare
a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
the best of meats and the finest of wines.
7 On this mountain he will destroy
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
8 he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears
from all faces;
he will remove the disgrace of his people
from all the earth.
The LORD has spoken.
9 In that day they will say,
"Surely this is our God;
we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the LORD, we trusted in him;
let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation."
July 15, 2008
Silent Helper
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Isaiah 25:1-9
I will praise Your name, for You have done wonderful things. —Isaiah 25:1
The discovery of penicillin revolutionized health care. Prior to the 1940s, bacterial infections were often fatal. Since then, penicillin has saved countless lives by killing harmful bacteria. The men who recognized its potential and developed it for widespread use won a Nobel Prize in 1945.
Long before the discovery of penicillin, other silent killers were at work saving lives by destroying bacteria. These silent killers are white blood cells. These hard workers are God’s way of protecting us from disease. No one knows how many invasions they have stopped or how many lives they have saved. They receive little recognition for all the good they do.
The Lord gets similar treatment. He often gets blamed when something goes wrong, but He seldom gets credit for all the things that go right. Every day people get up, get dressed, drive to work or school or the grocery store, and return safely to their families. No one knows how many times God has protected us from harm. But when there is a tragedy, we ask, “Where was God?”
When I consider all the wonderful things that God does silently on my behalf each day (Isa. 25:1), I realize that my list of praises should be much longer than my list of petitions. — Julie Ackerman Link
God’s goodness undergirds our lives
In many silent ways;
His blessings are beyond compare—
For them we give Him praise. —D. De Haan
God keeps giving us reasons to praise Him.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
July 15, 2008
My Life’s Spiritual Honor and Duty
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians . . . —Romans 1:14
Paul was overwhelmed with the sense of his indebtedness to Jesus Christ, and he spent his life to express it. The greatest inspiration in Paul’s life was his view of Jesus Christ as his spiritual creditor. Do I feel that same sense of indebtedness to Christ regarding every unsaved soul? As a saint, my life’s spiritual honor and duty is to fulfill my debt to Christ in relation to these lost souls. Every tiny bit of my life that has value I owe to the redemption of Jesus Christ. Am I doing anything to enable Him to bring His redemption into evident reality in the lives of others? I will only be able to do this as the Spirit of God works into me this sense of indebtedness.
I am not a superior person among other people— I am a bondservant of the Lord Jesus. Paul said, ". . . you are not your own . . . you were bought at a price . . ." ( 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ). Paul sold himself to Jesus Christ and he said, in effect, "I am a debtor to everyone on the face of the earth because of the gospel of Jesus; I am free only that I may be an absolute bondservant of His." That is the characteristic of a Christian’s life once this level of spiritual honor and duty becomes real. Quit praying about yourself and spend your life for the sake of others as the bondservant of Jesus. That is the true meaning of being broken bread and poured-out wine in real life.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Night Lights - #5612
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Our former offices were on this long hall, and each night the last one got to walk that long hall and make sure all the doors were locked and the lights were turned out. And with the amount of work the team had to get done each day, it was pretty close to "beddy-bye" time when some of them left. Of course, Daylight Saving Time meant that you could leave well into the evening and it would still be light. Maybe that's why the lights in some of our closets were accidentally left on sometimes. When it's still bright outside, it's easy to miss a light that's on. But in the winter, when it's dark, you can't miss the light!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "Night Lights."
The familiar and very challenging words of Jesus are our word for today from the Word of God. It's Matthew 5:14-16 where He said, "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."
If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, I wonder if you realize how important you are! Think about when you walk into a totally dark room. What's the most important thing in that room? Isn't it the light? Who's the most important person where you work, or you live, or go to school? Isn't it the one who's the light? Jesus said that's you. If the light isn't working - if it's dim - if it goes out, there's only darkness.
You may say, "You don't know how spiritually dark it gets where I am!" And you're right. I don't know all the details. But it probably looks something like this: the talk is dirty or blasphemous or profane, sin is something to laugh at and brag about, people are routinely backstabbed and wounded verbally, honesty and integrity are hard to find - maybe even unappreciated, Christians are stereotyped as being intolerant, old-fashioned, condemning, and irrelevant. Maybe you'd like to add a few more layers of darkness to describe the place where you're trying to be like Jesus.
But remember those office closets with the light left on. Where it's bright, you don't see the light much. But the darker it is, the more the light cannot be missed! The darker the darkness, the more the light shows up! Paul talked about that contrast when he said in Philippians 2:15, "Become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which "you shine like stars in the universe" as you hold out the word of life."
A star can barely be seen in a bright sky. But up against the stark darkness of the night, a star is something beautiful. That's supposed to be you in the universe where God's put you. So don't keep trying to hang out in places where there is already plenty of light; places where you feel safe because they're Christian places. You're needed where it's dark, where the lost people are. You can enjoy believers in heaven forever. Your job now is to get more people to go to heaven with you!
We always told our kids as they left for school in the morning, "Go MAD today." And that means "make a difference!" That's what Jesus is saying to you each morning, "Go Make a Difference there." Be a living alternative in a place where truth doesn't matter, always tell the truth. In a place where dirty is cool, don't dignify the dirty. In a place where people cut each other up, you build people up! In a place where it's everybody for himself, you be the one who always puts other people first. In a place where Christianity is laughed at or misunderstood, you let them know what Jesus is like!
Don't be intimidated by the darkness - you are the most important person in that dark place because you have the light of Jesus. Without you, darkness is all there is. Humbly, gently, lovingly, be the light there. You are one light that should never be turned out!
Monday, July 14, 2008
2 Corinthians 6, daily reading and devotions
July 14
The Message of God to Man
When Jesus tasted the vinegar, he said, "It is finished." Then he bowed his head and died.
John 19:30 (NCV)
"It is finished"
Stop and listen a moment. Let the words wind through your heart. Imagine the cry from the cross. The sky is dark. The other two victims are moaning. Jeering mouths of the crowd are silent. Perhaps there is thunder. Perhaps there is weeping. Perhaps there is silence. Then Jesus draws in a deep breath, pushes his feet down on that Roman nail, and cries, "It is finished!"
What was finished?
The history-long plan of redeeming man was finished. The message of God to man was finished. The works done by Jesus as a man on earth were finished… The sting of death had been removed. It was over.
From: No Wonder They Call Him the Savior
Copyright (Multnomah Publishers, Inc., 1987)
Max Lucado
2 Corinthians 6
1As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain. 2For he says,
"In the time of my favor I heard you,
and in the day of salvation I helped you."[a] I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation.
Paul's Hardships
3We put no stumbling block in anyone's path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. 4Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; 5in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; 6in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; 7in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; 8through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; 9known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; 10sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
11We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. 12We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. 13As a fair exchange—I speak as to my children—open wide your hearts also.
Do Not Be Yoked With Unbelievers
14Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15What harmony is there between Christ and Belial[b]? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."[c]
17"Therefore come out from them
and be separate, says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing,
and I will receive you."[d]
18"I will be a Father to you,
and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."[e]
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Romans 12
Living Sacrifices
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual[a] act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
3For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his[b]faith. 7If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
July 14, 2008
Living Sacrifice
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Romans 12:1-8
Present your bodies a living sacrifice. —Romans 12:1
When my son Steve left home in the summer of 2006 to join the US Navy, he knew the gravity of his decision. He understood that once he walked onto that naval base for boot camp, he was giving up everything a teenager lives for. He was leaving behind his freedom, his guitars, his music, and his girlfriend. He surrendered the right to make his own choices and to do what he wanted to do. He said, in effect, “I am making myself a living sacrifice. I no longer do things for me; I do them for the service of my country.”
The sacrifice Steve and thousands of others make when they enter the military service reminds me of what the apostle Paul taught in Romans 12:1. In that passage, he urged us “to present [our] bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” This means we are to give up our selfish ways and surrender ourselves completely to God. We are to seek to be “holy” in all we do—to have a godly character (1 Peter 1:16), which is acceptable to God.
It wasn’t easy for Steve, who cherished self-determination, to give it all up for the Navy. But he did it. And it isn’t easy for us to completely surrender our will to God. How can you and I be a living sacrifice for God today? — Dave Branon
Here is my heart, Lord Jesus,
I have but one for Thee;
Oh, let my heart be Thine alone,
Thy will be done in me. —Mick
A life given fully to God is at the heart of true sacrifice.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
July 14, 2008
Suffering Afflictions and Going the Second Mile
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also —Matthew 5:39
This verse reveals the humiliation of being a Christian. In the natural realm, if a person does not hit back, it is because he is a coward. But in the spiritual realm, it is the very evidence of the Son of God in him if he does not hit back. When you are insulted, you must not only not resent it, but you must make it an opportunity to exhibit the Son of God in your life. And you cannot imitate the nature of Jesus— it is either in you or it is not. A personal insult becomes an opportunity for a saint to reveal the incredible sweetness of the Lord Jesus.
The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount is not, "Do your duty," but is, in effect, "Do what is not your duty." It is not your duty to go the second mile, or to turn the other cheek, but Jesus said that if we are His disciples, we will always do these things. We will not say, "Oh well, I just can’t do any more, and I’ve been so misrepresented and misunderstood." Every time I insist on having my own rights, I hurt the Son of God, while in fact I can prevent Jesus from being hurt if I will take the blow myself. That is the real meaning of filling "up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ . . ." ( Colossians 1:24 ). A disciple realizes that it is his Lord’s honor that is at stake in his life, not his own honor.
Never look for righteousness in the other person, but never cease to be righteous yourself. We are always looking for justice, yet the essence of the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount is— Never look for justice, but never cease to give it.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Bridges to Nowhere - #5611
Monday, July 14, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
A few summers ago, I went on a river trip with some young people. It was a river that had not been nearly so friendly just three months before. The spring rains had been record breakers and the resulting floods had even redirected parts of the river. Our guide took us down a whole new channel of the river that hadn't even been there three months earlier, and he pointed out this palatial home that was built near the river by a multi-millionaire. The flood had suddenly made his home very vulnerable. It was saved only by a hastily constructed brick wall. A lot of the landscaping around that home could not be saved, like the bridges for example. You see, since this had been just a little stream before the flood, the homeowner built some charming wooden bridges across it at several points. Now the bridges weren't really destroyed, they were just like relocated. As we moved downstream, we saw a charming wooden bridge sitting in the middle of an island of mud in the middle of the river. Later we saw another bridge, pretty intact, just sitting on the riverbank. Oh, they were nice bridges all right, they just didn't go anywhere.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "Bridges to Nowhere."
One of the most defining, most bottom-lining statements in all of the Bible is our word for today from the Word of God. It's Acts 4:12; the disciples of Jesus have just been talking about the name of Jesus Christ. Listen to this. "Salvation is found in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." In our age of pluralism and tolerance, and eclectic spirituality, those are pretty loaded words about Jesus.
Salvation is in no one else. We have to be saved by His name. How can this be? Mankind seems to know instinctively that we need some kind of bridge to get to God. We feel the distance between us and the one who made us, and maybe you do. We're trying to discover what will get us to Him. So, we have the Protestant bridge to God with good works that are supposed to take us to God, and the Catholic bridge with good Catholic things to do, and the Jewish bridge, and the Muslim bridge, and the Buddhist bridge, and the Hindu bridge, and the bridge of New Age spirituality, etc. Our human nature wants to believe that all those bridges end up the same place with God. But Jesus defied our preferences when He made this incredible claim. He said, "I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." In other words, even though all those religious bridges are beautiful, they're bridges to nowhere.
Why? Because of what it is that stands between us and the God that we're desperately trying to get to. In simple words, it's a death penalty. The Bible says, "The wages of sin is death." All of us have missed the way we were created to live with God running things. We've hijacked our lives really from our Creator, we've run our lives our own way, and the penalty is death. You can't pay a death penalty by any amount of doing good.
There's only one way. Someone has to die, and someone did. But not the one who deserved to die for my sin. I should have, but the Bible says, "Christ died for our sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God." Out of His amazing love, Jesus was God's sinless Son - did all the dying for all the sinning we ever did. And while there are many religions, there's only one Savior, and only He can take me across that gap between me and my Creator.
So, everything depends on what you do with Jesus. Maybe you've been on a spiritual bridge trying to find a relationship with God but it's been a bridge to nowhere. But right now, God, who loves you so very much is pointing you to the bridge He built to bring you to Him. It's the cross where His one and only Son paid for you. The bridge God has provided cost Him what mattered most to Him. It cost Him His Son.
This could be your day to begin your relationship; to cross the only bridge that will get you to a relationship with God and to His heaven. If you want to begin that relationship, tell Him right now, "Jesus, I'm Yours." And let me invite you to our website. It's yoursforlife.net, because there you'll find, I think, all the information you need to begin your relationship with Him.
Don't depend on any other bridge; every other bridge is a bridge to nowhere.
The Message of God to Man
When Jesus tasted the vinegar, he said, "It is finished." Then he bowed his head and died.
John 19:30 (NCV)
"It is finished"
Stop and listen a moment. Let the words wind through your heart. Imagine the cry from the cross. The sky is dark. The other two victims are moaning. Jeering mouths of the crowd are silent. Perhaps there is thunder. Perhaps there is weeping. Perhaps there is silence. Then Jesus draws in a deep breath, pushes his feet down on that Roman nail, and cries, "It is finished!"
What was finished?
The history-long plan of redeeming man was finished. The message of God to man was finished. The works done by Jesus as a man on earth were finished… The sting of death had been removed. It was over.
From: No Wonder They Call Him the Savior
Copyright (Multnomah Publishers, Inc., 1987)
Max Lucado
2 Corinthians 6
1As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain. 2For he says,
"In the time of my favor I heard you,
and in the day of salvation I helped you."[a] I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation.
Paul's Hardships
3We put no stumbling block in anyone's path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. 4Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; 5in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; 6in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; 7in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; 8through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; 9known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; 10sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
11We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. 12We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. 13As a fair exchange—I speak as to my children—open wide your hearts also.
Do Not Be Yoked With Unbelievers
14Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15What harmony is there between Christ and Belial[b]? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."[c]
17"Therefore come out from them
and be separate, says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing,
and I will receive you."[d]
18"I will be a Father to you,
and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."[e]
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Romans 12
Living Sacrifices
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual[a] act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
3For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his[b]faith. 7If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
July 14, 2008
Living Sacrifice
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Romans 12:1-8
Present your bodies a living sacrifice. —Romans 12:1
When my son Steve left home in the summer of 2006 to join the US Navy, he knew the gravity of his decision. He understood that once he walked onto that naval base for boot camp, he was giving up everything a teenager lives for. He was leaving behind his freedom, his guitars, his music, and his girlfriend. He surrendered the right to make his own choices and to do what he wanted to do. He said, in effect, “I am making myself a living sacrifice. I no longer do things for me; I do them for the service of my country.”
The sacrifice Steve and thousands of others make when they enter the military service reminds me of what the apostle Paul taught in Romans 12:1. In that passage, he urged us “to present [our] bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” This means we are to give up our selfish ways and surrender ourselves completely to God. We are to seek to be “holy” in all we do—to have a godly character (1 Peter 1:16), which is acceptable to God.
It wasn’t easy for Steve, who cherished self-determination, to give it all up for the Navy. But he did it. And it isn’t easy for us to completely surrender our will to God. How can you and I be a living sacrifice for God today? — Dave Branon
Here is my heart, Lord Jesus,
I have but one for Thee;
Oh, let my heart be Thine alone,
Thy will be done in me. —Mick
A life given fully to God is at the heart of true sacrifice.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
July 14, 2008
Suffering Afflictions and Going the Second Mile
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also —Matthew 5:39
This verse reveals the humiliation of being a Christian. In the natural realm, if a person does not hit back, it is because he is a coward. But in the spiritual realm, it is the very evidence of the Son of God in him if he does not hit back. When you are insulted, you must not only not resent it, but you must make it an opportunity to exhibit the Son of God in your life. And you cannot imitate the nature of Jesus— it is either in you or it is not. A personal insult becomes an opportunity for a saint to reveal the incredible sweetness of the Lord Jesus.
The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount is not, "Do your duty," but is, in effect, "Do what is not your duty." It is not your duty to go the second mile, or to turn the other cheek, but Jesus said that if we are His disciples, we will always do these things. We will not say, "Oh well, I just can’t do any more, and I’ve been so misrepresented and misunderstood." Every time I insist on having my own rights, I hurt the Son of God, while in fact I can prevent Jesus from being hurt if I will take the blow myself. That is the real meaning of filling "up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ . . ." ( Colossians 1:24 ). A disciple realizes that it is his Lord’s honor that is at stake in his life, not his own honor.
Never look for righteousness in the other person, but never cease to be righteous yourself. We are always looking for justice, yet the essence of the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount is— Never look for justice, but never cease to give it.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Bridges to Nowhere - #5611
Monday, July 14, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
A few summers ago, I went on a river trip with some young people. It was a river that had not been nearly so friendly just three months before. The spring rains had been record breakers and the resulting floods had even redirected parts of the river. Our guide took us down a whole new channel of the river that hadn't even been there three months earlier, and he pointed out this palatial home that was built near the river by a multi-millionaire. The flood had suddenly made his home very vulnerable. It was saved only by a hastily constructed brick wall. A lot of the landscaping around that home could not be saved, like the bridges for example. You see, since this had been just a little stream before the flood, the homeowner built some charming wooden bridges across it at several points. Now the bridges weren't really destroyed, they were just like relocated. As we moved downstream, we saw a charming wooden bridge sitting in the middle of an island of mud in the middle of the river. Later we saw another bridge, pretty intact, just sitting on the riverbank. Oh, they were nice bridges all right, they just didn't go anywhere.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "Bridges to Nowhere."
One of the most defining, most bottom-lining statements in all of the Bible is our word for today from the Word of God. It's Acts 4:12; the disciples of Jesus have just been talking about the name of Jesus Christ. Listen to this. "Salvation is found in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." In our age of pluralism and tolerance, and eclectic spirituality, those are pretty loaded words about Jesus.
Salvation is in no one else. We have to be saved by His name. How can this be? Mankind seems to know instinctively that we need some kind of bridge to get to God. We feel the distance between us and the one who made us, and maybe you do. We're trying to discover what will get us to Him. So, we have the Protestant bridge to God with good works that are supposed to take us to God, and the Catholic bridge with good Catholic things to do, and the Jewish bridge, and the Muslim bridge, and the Buddhist bridge, and the Hindu bridge, and the bridge of New Age spirituality, etc. Our human nature wants to believe that all those bridges end up the same place with God. But Jesus defied our preferences when He made this incredible claim. He said, "I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." In other words, even though all those religious bridges are beautiful, they're bridges to nowhere.
Why? Because of what it is that stands between us and the God that we're desperately trying to get to. In simple words, it's a death penalty. The Bible says, "The wages of sin is death." All of us have missed the way we were created to live with God running things. We've hijacked our lives really from our Creator, we've run our lives our own way, and the penalty is death. You can't pay a death penalty by any amount of doing good.
There's only one way. Someone has to die, and someone did. But not the one who deserved to die for my sin. I should have, but the Bible says, "Christ died for our sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God." Out of His amazing love, Jesus was God's sinless Son - did all the dying for all the sinning we ever did. And while there are many religions, there's only one Savior, and only He can take me across that gap between me and my Creator.
So, everything depends on what you do with Jesus. Maybe you've been on a spiritual bridge trying to find a relationship with God but it's been a bridge to nowhere. But right now, God, who loves you so very much is pointing you to the bridge He built to bring you to Him. It's the cross where His one and only Son paid for you. The bridge God has provided cost Him what mattered most to Him. It cost Him His Son.
This could be your day to begin your relationship; to cross the only bridge that will get you to a relationship with God and to His heaven. If you want to begin that relationship, tell Him right now, "Jesus, I'm Yours." And let me invite you to our website. It's yoursforlife.net, because there you'll find, I think, all the information you need to begin your relationship with Him.
Don't depend on any other bridge; every other bridge is a bridge to nowhere.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
2 Corinthians 5, daily reading and devotions
July 13
“No More”
The Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command.
1 Thessalonians 4:16 (NCV)
Have you ever wondered what that command will be? It will be the inaugural word of heaven. It will be the first audible message most have heard from God. It will be the word that closes one age and opens a new one.
I think I know what the command will be. I could very well be wrong, but I think the command that puts an end to the pains of the earth and initiates the joys of heaven will be two words: “No more.”
The King of kings will raise the pierced had and proclaim, “No more.”
The angels will stand and the Father will speak, “No more.”
Every person who lives and who ever lived will turn toward the sky and hear God announce, No More.”
No more loneliness.
No more tears.
No more death. No more sadness. No more crying. No more pain.
From: And the Angels Were Silent
Copyright (W Publishing Group, 2003)
Max Lucado
2 Corinthians 5
Our Heavenly Dwelling
1Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
6Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7We live by faith, not by sight. 8We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
The Ministry of Reconciliation
11Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. 12We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. 13If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
16So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21God made him who had no sin to be sin[a] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
July 13, 2008
The Time Of Anyone’s Life
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Galatians 6:6-10
Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. —Galatians 6:9
What am I getting out of life? That’s a question often asked by those who focus only on themselves. But as believers, we need to ask: What am I putting into the lives of others?
Years ago, Dr. Wilfred Grenfell served as a medical missionary in Labrador. On a recruiting tour, he challenged nurses at Johns Hopkins Hospital to join him for a summer in his difficult ministry. He promised them hardship and discomfort. He warned that instead of earning a salary, they would have to pay their own expenses. But he also promised them they would experience joy because “it’s having the time of anyone’s life to be in the service of Christ.”
A nurse who accepted that challenge wrote this after her return from Labrador: “I never knew before that life was good for anything but what one could get out of it. Now I know that the real fun lies in seeing how much one can put into life for others.” If we change that word fun to blessing, we have the key to Christian self-fulfillment.
Take the apostle Paul’s encouragement: “[Do] not grow weary while doing good . . . . Do good to all” (Gal. 6:9-10). Put yourself into the lives of others for Jesus’ sake. You’ll experience a fulfillment beyond compare. — Vernon C. Grounds
Make me a channel of blessing today,
Make me a channel of blessing, I pray;
My life possessing, my service blessing,
Make me a channel of blessing today. —Smyth
We are at our best when we serve others.
Galatians 6:6-10
6Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor.
7Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature[a]will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
July 13, 2008
The Price of the Vision
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord . . . —Isaiah 6:1
Our soul’s personal history with God is often an account of the death of our heroes. Over and over again God has to remove our friends to put Himself in their place, and that is when we falter, fail, and become discouraged. Let me think about this personally— when the person died who represented for me all that God was, did I give up on everything in life? Did I become ill or disheartened? Or did I do as Isaiah did and see the Lord?
My vision of God is dependent upon the condition of my character. My character determines whether or not truth can even be revealed to me. Before I can say, "I saw the Lord," there must be something in my character that conforms to the likeness of God. Until I am born again and really begin to see the kingdom of God, I only see from the perspective of my own biases. What I need is God’s surgical procedure— His use of external circumstances to bring about internal purification.
Your priorities must be God first, God second, and God third, until your life is continually face to face with God and no one else is taken into account whatsoever. Your prayer will then be, "In all the world there is no one but You, dear God; there is no one but You."
Keep paying the price. Let God see that you are willing to live up to the vision.
“No More”
The Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command.
1 Thessalonians 4:16 (NCV)
Have you ever wondered what that command will be? It will be the inaugural word of heaven. It will be the first audible message most have heard from God. It will be the word that closes one age and opens a new one.
I think I know what the command will be. I could very well be wrong, but I think the command that puts an end to the pains of the earth and initiates the joys of heaven will be two words: “No more.”
The King of kings will raise the pierced had and proclaim, “No more.”
The angels will stand and the Father will speak, “No more.”
Every person who lives and who ever lived will turn toward the sky and hear God announce, No More.”
No more loneliness.
No more tears.
No more death. No more sadness. No more crying. No more pain.
From: And the Angels Were Silent
Copyright (W Publishing Group, 2003)
Max Lucado
2 Corinthians 5
Our Heavenly Dwelling
1Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
6Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7We live by faith, not by sight. 8We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
The Ministry of Reconciliation
11Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. 12We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. 13If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
16So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21God made him who had no sin to be sin[a] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
July 13, 2008
The Time Of Anyone’s Life
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Galatians 6:6-10
Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. —Galatians 6:9
What am I getting out of life? That’s a question often asked by those who focus only on themselves. But as believers, we need to ask: What am I putting into the lives of others?
Years ago, Dr. Wilfred Grenfell served as a medical missionary in Labrador. On a recruiting tour, he challenged nurses at Johns Hopkins Hospital to join him for a summer in his difficult ministry. He promised them hardship and discomfort. He warned that instead of earning a salary, they would have to pay their own expenses. But he also promised them they would experience joy because “it’s having the time of anyone’s life to be in the service of Christ.”
A nurse who accepted that challenge wrote this after her return from Labrador: “I never knew before that life was good for anything but what one could get out of it. Now I know that the real fun lies in seeing how much one can put into life for others.” If we change that word fun to blessing, we have the key to Christian self-fulfillment.
Take the apostle Paul’s encouragement: “[Do] not grow weary while doing good . . . . Do good to all” (Gal. 6:9-10). Put yourself into the lives of others for Jesus’ sake. You’ll experience a fulfillment beyond compare. — Vernon C. Grounds
Make me a channel of blessing today,
Make me a channel of blessing, I pray;
My life possessing, my service blessing,
Make me a channel of blessing today. —Smyth
We are at our best when we serve others.
Galatians 6:6-10
6Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor.
7Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature[a]will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
July 13, 2008
The Price of the Vision
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord . . . —Isaiah 6:1
Our soul’s personal history with God is often an account of the death of our heroes. Over and over again God has to remove our friends to put Himself in their place, and that is when we falter, fail, and become discouraged. Let me think about this personally— when the person died who represented for me all that God was, did I give up on everything in life? Did I become ill or disheartened? Or did I do as Isaiah did and see the Lord?
My vision of God is dependent upon the condition of my character. My character determines whether or not truth can even be revealed to me. Before I can say, "I saw the Lord," there must be something in my character that conforms to the likeness of God. Until I am born again and really begin to see the kingdom of God, I only see from the perspective of my own biases. What I need is God’s surgical procedure— His use of external circumstances to bring about internal purification.
Your priorities must be God first, God second, and God third, until your life is continually face to face with God and no one else is taken into account whatsoever. Your prayer will then be, "In all the world there is no one but You, dear God; there is no one but You."
Keep paying the price. Let God see that you are willing to live up to the vision.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
2 Corinthians 4, daily reading and devotions
July 12
Our Courteous Christ
The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.
Mark 10:45 (NKJV)
I had never thought much about the courtesy of Christ before, but as I began looking, I realized that Jesus makes Emily Post look like Archie Bunker.
He always knocks before entering. He doesn’t have to. He owns your heart. If anyone has the right to barge in, Christ does. But he doesn’t. That gentle tap you hear? It’s Christ. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock” (Rev. 3:20 NASB). And when you answer, he awaits your invitation to cross the threshold….
And when he enters, he always brings a gift. Some bring Chianti and daisies. Christ brings “the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). And, as he stays, he serves. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve” (Mark 10:45 NIV). If you’re missing you apron, you’ll find it on him. He’s serving the guests as they sit (John 13:405). He won’t eat until he’s offered thanks, and he won’t leave until the leftovers are put away (Matt.14:19-20).
From: A Love Worth Giving
Copyright (W Publishing Group, 2002)
Max Lucado
2 Corinthians 4
Treasures in Jars of Clay
1Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. 3And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 6For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness,"[a]made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
7But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
13It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken."[b]With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, 14because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. 15All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
July 12, 2008
Marriage Before Love
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Genesis 24:61-67
Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun. —Ecclesiastes 9:9
A man went to his pastor for counseling. In his hands were pages of complaints against his wife. After hours of uninterrupted listening, the pastor couldn’t help but ask, “If she is that bad, why did you marry her?” Immediately the man shot back, “She wasn’t like this at first!” The pastor, unable to hold back his thoughts, asked, “So, are you saying that she is like this because she’s been married to you?”
Whether or not this story is true, it does suggest an important lesson to be learned. At times, feelings toward a spouse may grow cold. But love is much more than feelings—it’s a lifelong commitment.
Although most people choose to marry only because of love, in some cultures people still get married through matchmaking. In the lives of Isaac and Rebekah recorded in the book of Genesis, love came after marriage. It says in chapter 24 that Isaac married Rebekah and then he loved her (v.67).
Biblical love is about our willingness to do what is good for another. Husbands are instructed to “love their own wives as their own bodies” (Eph. 5:28).
So, walking in obedience to the Lord, let’s keep our marriage vows to love “till death do us part.” — Albert Lee
“For better or for worse,” we pledge,
“Through sickness and through strife”;
And by the help and grace of God
We’ll keep these vows for life. —D. De Haan
Love is more than a feeling, it’s a commitment.
Genesis 24:61-67
61 Then Rebekah and her maids got ready and mounted their camels and went back with the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left.
62 Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. 63 He went out to the field one evening to meditate, [a] and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching. 64 Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel 65 and asked the servant, "Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?"
"He is my master," the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself.
66 Then the servant told Isaac all he had done. 67 Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
July 12, 2008
The Spiritually Self-Seeking Church
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
. . . till we all come . . . to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ . . . —Ephesians 4:13
Reconciliation means the restoring of the relationship between the entire human race and God, putting it back to what God designed it to be. This is what Jesus Christ did in redemption. The church ceases to be spiritual when it becomes self-seeking, only interested in the development of its own organization. The reconciliation of the human race according to His plan means realizing Him not only in our lives individually, but also in our lives collectively. Jesus Christ sent apostles and teachers for this very purpose— that the corporate Person of Christ and His church, made up of many members, might be brought into being and made known. We are not here to develop a spiritual life of our own, or to enjoy a quiet spiritual retreat. We are here to have the full realization of Jesus Christ, for the purpose of building His body.
Am I building up the body of Christ, or am I only concerned about my own personal development? The essential thing is my personal relationship with Jesus Christ— ". . . that I may know Him. . ." ( Philippians 3:10 ). To fulfill God’s perfect design for me requires my total surrender— complete abandonment of myself to Him. Whenever I only want things for myself, the relationship is distorted. And I will suffer great humiliation once I come to acknowledge and understand that I have not really been concerned about realizing Jesus Christ Himself, but only concerned with knowing what He has done for me.
My goal is God Himself, not joy nor peace, Nor even blessing, but Himself, my God.
Am I measuring my life by this standard or by something less?
Our Courteous Christ
The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.
Mark 10:45 (NKJV)
I had never thought much about the courtesy of Christ before, but as I began looking, I realized that Jesus makes Emily Post look like Archie Bunker.
He always knocks before entering. He doesn’t have to. He owns your heart. If anyone has the right to barge in, Christ does. But he doesn’t. That gentle tap you hear? It’s Christ. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock” (Rev. 3:20 NASB). And when you answer, he awaits your invitation to cross the threshold….
And when he enters, he always brings a gift. Some bring Chianti and daisies. Christ brings “the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). And, as he stays, he serves. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve” (Mark 10:45 NIV). If you’re missing you apron, you’ll find it on him. He’s serving the guests as they sit (John 13:405). He won’t eat until he’s offered thanks, and he won’t leave until the leftovers are put away (Matt.14:19-20).
From: A Love Worth Giving
Copyright (W Publishing Group, 2002)
Max Lucado
2 Corinthians 4
Treasures in Jars of Clay
1Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. 3And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 6For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness,"[a]made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
7But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
13It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken."[b]With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, 14because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. 15All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
July 12, 2008
Marriage Before Love
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Genesis 24:61-67
Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun. —Ecclesiastes 9:9
A man went to his pastor for counseling. In his hands were pages of complaints against his wife. After hours of uninterrupted listening, the pastor couldn’t help but ask, “If she is that bad, why did you marry her?” Immediately the man shot back, “She wasn’t like this at first!” The pastor, unable to hold back his thoughts, asked, “So, are you saying that she is like this because she’s been married to you?”
Whether or not this story is true, it does suggest an important lesson to be learned. At times, feelings toward a spouse may grow cold. But love is much more than feelings—it’s a lifelong commitment.
Although most people choose to marry only because of love, in some cultures people still get married through matchmaking. In the lives of Isaac and Rebekah recorded in the book of Genesis, love came after marriage. It says in chapter 24 that Isaac married Rebekah and then he loved her (v.67).
Biblical love is about our willingness to do what is good for another. Husbands are instructed to “love their own wives as their own bodies” (Eph. 5:28).
So, walking in obedience to the Lord, let’s keep our marriage vows to love “till death do us part.” — Albert Lee
“For better or for worse,” we pledge,
“Through sickness and through strife”;
And by the help and grace of God
We’ll keep these vows for life. —D. De Haan
Love is more than a feeling, it’s a commitment.
Genesis 24:61-67
61 Then Rebekah and her maids got ready and mounted their camels and went back with the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left.
62 Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. 63 He went out to the field one evening to meditate, [a] and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching. 64 Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel 65 and asked the servant, "Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?"
"He is my master," the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself.
66 Then the servant told Isaac all he had done. 67 Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
July 12, 2008
The Spiritually Self-Seeking Church
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
. . . till we all come . . . to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ . . . —Ephesians 4:13
Reconciliation means the restoring of the relationship between the entire human race and God, putting it back to what God designed it to be. This is what Jesus Christ did in redemption. The church ceases to be spiritual when it becomes self-seeking, only interested in the development of its own organization. The reconciliation of the human race according to His plan means realizing Him not only in our lives individually, but also in our lives collectively. Jesus Christ sent apostles and teachers for this very purpose— that the corporate Person of Christ and His church, made up of many members, might be brought into being and made known. We are not here to develop a spiritual life of our own, or to enjoy a quiet spiritual retreat. We are here to have the full realization of Jesus Christ, for the purpose of building His body.
Am I building up the body of Christ, or am I only concerned about my own personal development? The essential thing is my personal relationship with Jesus Christ— ". . . that I may know Him. . ." ( Philippians 3:10 ). To fulfill God’s perfect design for me requires my total surrender— complete abandonment of myself to Him. Whenever I only want things for myself, the relationship is distorted. And I will suffer great humiliation once I come to acknowledge and understand that I have not really been concerned about realizing Jesus Christ Himself, but only concerned with knowing what He has done for me.
My goal is God Himself, not joy nor peace, Nor even blessing, but Himself, my God.
Am I measuring my life by this standard or by something less?
Friday, July 11, 2008
2 Corinthians 3, daily reading and devotions
July 11
Life Is Long Enough
All the days planned for me were written in your book before I was one day old.
Psalm 139:16 (NCV)
No person lives one day more or less than God intends. “All the days planned for me were written in your book before I was one day old.”
But her days here were so few…
His life was so brief…
To us it seems that way. We speak of a short life, but compared to eternity, who has a long one? A person’s days on earth may appear as a drop in the ocean. Yours and mine may seem like a thimbleful. But compared to the Pacific of eternity, even the years of Methuselah filled no more than a glass….
In God’s plan every life is long enough and every death is timely. And though you and I might wish for a longer life, God knows better.
From: Traveling Light
Copyright (W Publishing Group, 2000)
Max Lucado
2 Corinthians 3
1Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? 2You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. 3You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
4Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. 5Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
The Glory of the New Covenant
7Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, 8will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!
12Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. 14But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect[a] the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
July 11, 2008
Savor The Flavor
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Galatians 3:26-29
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. —Galatians 3:28
America has often been called “a melting pot.” But obviously that is not the case. Politicians tend to fuel sensitivity to class and color divisions for their own gain. Gender tensions abound. Generational differences are more marked than ever. In fact, cultural observers are starting to say that the “melting pot” metaphor is outdated—that the goal should be a cultural “stew” in which the distinct taste of each ingredient is enhanced by the contribution of the other ingredients.
In a world where pride and prejudice abound, Jesus offers us the joy of unity across all the lines that so easily divide us. In His church, the unique flavors of our diverse backgrounds can complement each other, united “through faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:26) and empowered by His Spirit and our submission to His principles. In Him our diversity doesn’t divide but rather unites and enriches us as we recognize that we all have Jesus, His Word, and His ways in common. As we embrace Him together, our differences become secondary and our mutual love for Him drives us to love each other as He has loved us.
Jesus is the master mixer! In His kingdom, pride and prejudice are out, and love and mutual acceptance are the order of the day. — Joe Stowell
Within the church of Jesus Christ
The joys of unity abound
When love accepts diversity
And prejudice cannot be found. —Sper
Christ’s love creates unity in the midst of diversity.
Galatians 3:26-29
Sons of God
26You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
July 11, 2008
The Spiritually Vigorous Saint
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
. . . that I may know Him . . . —Philippians 3:10
A saint is not to take the initiative toward self-realization, but toward knowing Jesus Christ. A spiritually vigorous saint never believes that his circumstances simply happen at random, nor does he ever think of his life as being divided into the secular and the sacred. He sees every situation in which he finds himself as the means of obtaining a greater knowledge of Jesus Christ, and he has an attitude of unrestrained abandon and total surrender about him. The Holy Spirit is determined that we will have the realization of Jesus Christ in every area of our lives, and He will bring us back to the same point over and over again until we do. Self-realization only leads to the glorification of good works, whereas a saint of God glorifies Jesus Christ through his good works. Whatever we may be doing— even eating, drinking, or washing disciples’ feet— we have to take the initiative of realizing and recognizing Jesus Christ in it. Every phase of our life has its counterpart in the life of Jesus. Our Lord realized His relationship to the Father even in the most menial task. "Jesus, knowing . . . that He had come from God and was going to God, . . . took a towel . . . and began to wash the disciples’ feet . . ." ( John 13:3-5 ).
The aim of a spiritually vigorous saint is "that I may know Him . . ." Do I know Him where I am today? If not, I am failing Him. I am not here for self-realization, but to know Jesus Christ. In Christian work our initiative and motivation are too often simply the result of realizing that there is work to be done and that we must do it. Yet that is never the attitude of a spiritually vigorous saint. His aim is to achieve the realization of Jesus Christ in every set of circumstances.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Same Old Baggage - #5610
Friday, July 11, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
When my airplane flight is over, it's not really over. You see, there's that closing chapter of a trip that you get to spend at baggage claim. At my home airport they have these big carousels where suitcases are dumped out and where they circle until their owners claim them. Now, my bags seem to have a knack for waiting until almost all the other bags are out, for some reason. So I just keep watching those suitcases of all shapes and sizes and conditions appear, and waiting for one I like - no, no, no. I mean, one I recognize. But there always seem to be some phantom bags there. They just keep circling and circling and circling. And since the luggage carousel is all I really have to look at, the show gets pretty boring! Yep, there goes that baggage again!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Same Old Baggage."
Probably the most curious question Jesus ever asked is in our word for today from the Word of God. It's in John 5:3-9. There was a pool where people went out to get their diseases healed and it says, "Here there was a great number of people and they used to lie there, the blind, the lame, the paralyzed, and there was one who had been an invalid for 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time he asked him, 'Do you want to get well?' 'Well sir,' the invalid replied, 'I have no one to help me to get into the pool when the water is stirred.'" That's when the healing time was. "While I'm trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.' Then Jesus said, 'Get up, pick up your mat and walk.' At once the man was cured, picked up his mat and he walked.'
Now, this man has been a victim of paralysis for 38 years and Jesus says, "Do you want to get well?" Why? Well, let's stop for a moment and consider the condition that you are in, maybe. Something that fits the Biblical description that's given here, "In this condition for a long time." Maybe it's the pain or the memory of some past hurt or past abuse or past betrayal. It's haunted you; it's even held you back for a long time. Or, it could be that you've carried feelings of worthlessness for a long time, and they've caused you to make some very hurtful choices. It may be some enslaving sin that's held you down for a long time, but like this man at the healing pool, you've been in some way emotionally, or spiritually, or relationally paralyzed for a long time. And then along comes Jesus with this strange question - the one that comes before the healing, "Do you want to get well?" Or to put it in airport terms, "Are you tired of watching the same old baggage go by again and again?" In a way, those memories and those resentments, those no good feelings, those sins, they are the baggage in your life and they just keep replaying and replaying and causing more frustration and more damage.
Why does Jesus ask us if we want to get well? Because sometimes we're afraid to change. We've gotten used to playing the victim role, the loser role. We've settled into an identity that revolves around that same old baggage. Notice the man didn't just say "Yes." He responded with a nobody cares complaint. He's gotten used to being the guy with the problem, he was stuck in his victim identity, but Jesus acts miraculously and that man walks away carrying what had been carrying him for years.
Now, that's what He wants to do for you. He's got the power to do it. He wants to help you put the pain and paralysis of the past once and for all behind you once and for all. To take away the victim card and to replace it with one that says, "More than conquerors through Him who loved us." He wants to help you make today the day that you wrap up the past and put it in a book called Volume 1, and leave it on the shelf forever. Today is the beginning of Volume 2, one in which you release the hurt through forgiving the hurter, you release the sin through aggressive repentance, and you release the worthless feelings by living like the masterpiece God created you to be. That all happens when you come to the cross of Jesus and say, "Jesus, I'm Yours. You died to free me from all of this."
If you want to begin with Him today, I encourage you to go to our website. It's YoursForLife.net. And find some help to get connected with Him unless, of course, you'd rather just keep watching the same old baggage go around and around for the rest of your life. Do you want to get well? Then the next thing is the miracle.
Life Is Long Enough
All the days planned for me were written in your book before I was one day old.
Psalm 139:16 (NCV)
No person lives one day more or less than God intends. “All the days planned for me were written in your book before I was one day old.”
But her days here were so few…
His life was so brief…
To us it seems that way. We speak of a short life, but compared to eternity, who has a long one? A person’s days on earth may appear as a drop in the ocean. Yours and mine may seem like a thimbleful. But compared to the Pacific of eternity, even the years of Methuselah filled no more than a glass….
In God’s plan every life is long enough and every death is timely. And though you and I might wish for a longer life, God knows better.
From: Traveling Light
Copyright (W Publishing Group, 2000)
Max Lucado
2 Corinthians 3
1Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? 2You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. 3You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
4Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. 5Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
The Glory of the New Covenant
7Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, 8will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!
12Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. 14But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect[a] the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
July 11, 2008
Savor The Flavor
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Galatians 3:26-29
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. —Galatians 3:28
America has often been called “a melting pot.” But obviously that is not the case. Politicians tend to fuel sensitivity to class and color divisions for their own gain. Gender tensions abound. Generational differences are more marked than ever. In fact, cultural observers are starting to say that the “melting pot” metaphor is outdated—that the goal should be a cultural “stew” in which the distinct taste of each ingredient is enhanced by the contribution of the other ingredients.
In a world where pride and prejudice abound, Jesus offers us the joy of unity across all the lines that so easily divide us. In His church, the unique flavors of our diverse backgrounds can complement each other, united “through faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:26) and empowered by His Spirit and our submission to His principles. In Him our diversity doesn’t divide but rather unites and enriches us as we recognize that we all have Jesus, His Word, and His ways in common. As we embrace Him together, our differences become secondary and our mutual love for Him drives us to love each other as He has loved us.
Jesus is the master mixer! In His kingdom, pride and prejudice are out, and love and mutual acceptance are the order of the day. — Joe Stowell
Within the church of Jesus Christ
The joys of unity abound
When love accepts diversity
And prejudice cannot be found. —Sper
Christ’s love creates unity in the midst of diversity.
Galatians 3:26-29
Sons of God
26You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
July 11, 2008
The Spiritually Vigorous Saint
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
. . . that I may know Him . . . —Philippians 3:10
A saint is not to take the initiative toward self-realization, but toward knowing Jesus Christ. A spiritually vigorous saint never believes that his circumstances simply happen at random, nor does he ever think of his life as being divided into the secular and the sacred. He sees every situation in which he finds himself as the means of obtaining a greater knowledge of Jesus Christ, and he has an attitude of unrestrained abandon and total surrender about him. The Holy Spirit is determined that we will have the realization of Jesus Christ in every area of our lives, and He will bring us back to the same point over and over again until we do. Self-realization only leads to the glorification of good works, whereas a saint of God glorifies Jesus Christ through his good works. Whatever we may be doing— even eating, drinking, or washing disciples’ feet— we have to take the initiative of realizing and recognizing Jesus Christ in it. Every phase of our life has its counterpart in the life of Jesus. Our Lord realized His relationship to the Father even in the most menial task. "Jesus, knowing . . . that He had come from God and was going to God, . . . took a towel . . . and began to wash the disciples’ feet . . ." ( John 13:3-5 ).
The aim of a spiritually vigorous saint is "that I may know Him . . ." Do I know Him where I am today? If not, I am failing Him. I am not here for self-realization, but to know Jesus Christ. In Christian work our initiative and motivation are too often simply the result of realizing that there is work to be done and that we must do it. Yet that is never the attitude of a spiritually vigorous saint. His aim is to achieve the realization of Jesus Christ in every set of circumstances.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Same Old Baggage - #5610
Friday, July 11, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
When my airplane flight is over, it's not really over. You see, there's that closing chapter of a trip that you get to spend at baggage claim. At my home airport they have these big carousels where suitcases are dumped out and where they circle until their owners claim them. Now, my bags seem to have a knack for waiting until almost all the other bags are out, for some reason. So I just keep watching those suitcases of all shapes and sizes and conditions appear, and waiting for one I like - no, no, no. I mean, one I recognize. But there always seem to be some phantom bags there. They just keep circling and circling and circling. And since the luggage carousel is all I really have to look at, the show gets pretty boring! Yep, there goes that baggage again!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Same Old Baggage."
Probably the most curious question Jesus ever asked is in our word for today from the Word of God. It's in John 5:3-9. There was a pool where people went out to get their diseases healed and it says, "Here there was a great number of people and they used to lie there, the blind, the lame, the paralyzed, and there was one who had been an invalid for 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time he asked him, 'Do you want to get well?' 'Well sir,' the invalid replied, 'I have no one to help me to get into the pool when the water is stirred.'" That's when the healing time was. "While I'm trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.' Then Jesus said, 'Get up, pick up your mat and walk.' At once the man was cured, picked up his mat and he walked.'
Now, this man has been a victim of paralysis for 38 years and Jesus says, "Do you want to get well?" Why? Well, let's stop for a moment and consider the condition that you are in, maybe. Something that fits the Biblical description that's given here, "In this condition for a long time." Maybe it's the pain or the memory of some past hurt or past abuse or past betrayal. It's haunted you; it's even held you back for a long time. Or, it could be that you've carried feelings of worthlessness for a long time, and they've caused you to make some very hurtful choices. It may be some enslaving sin that's held you down for a long time, but like this man at the healing pool, you've been in some way emotionally, or spiritually, or relationally paralyzed for a long time. And then along comes Jesus with this strange question - the one that comes before the healing, "Do you want to get well?" Or to put it in airport terms, "Are you tired of watching the same old baggage go by again and again?" In a way, those memories and those resentments, those no good feelings, those sins, they are the baggage in your life and they just keep replaying and replaying and causing more frustration and more damage.
Why does Jesus ask us if we want to get well? Because sometimes we're afraid to change. We've gotten used to playing the victim role, the loser role. We've settled into an identity that revolves around that same old baggage. Notice the man didn't just say "Yes." He responded with a nobody cares complaint. He's gotten used to being the guy with the problem, he was stuck in his victim identity, but Jesus acts miraculously and that man walks away carrying what had been carrying him for years.
Now, that's what He wants to do for you. He's got the power to do it. He wants to help you put the pain and paralysis of the past once and for all behind you once and for all. To take away the victim card and to replace it with one that says, "More than conquerors through Him who loved us." He wants to help you make today the day that you wrap up the past and put it in a book called Volume 1, and leave it on the shelf forever. Today is the beginning of Volume 2, one in which you release the hurt through forgiving the hurter, you release the sin through aggressive repentance, and you release the worthless feelings by living like the masterpiece God created you to be. That all happens when you come to the cross of Jesus and say, "Jesus, I'm Yours. You died to free me from all of this."
If you want to begin with Him today, I encourage you to go to our website. It's YoursForLife.net. And find some help to get connected with Him unless, of course, you'd rather just keep watching the same old baggage go around and around for the rest of your life. Do you want to get well? Then the next thing is the miracle.
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